Verdict: PLDT’S Home Wifi Prepaid Advance Kit is a big upgrade to the telco’s previous offering, bringing faster internet speeds as well as more ports to users without compromising price. If you’re looking for a fast, no-hassle wat to get internet at home for WFH and homeschooling purposes or don’t want to commit to monthly bills, it’s definitely something you should consider.

The best part is that you can get the PLDT Home Wifi Prepaid Advance Kit for just Php 1,995 from their official reseller’s website and have it delivered straight to your home via Grab.

Pros:

• Can reach faster speeds compared to the previous PLDT Home Wifi Prepaid kit
• Connects up to 10 devices

Cons:

• Speeds depend on the location and connectivity capabilities of your device or cable

Getting internet at home has never been as important as it is now during our plague-ridden year. But with new applications taking literal months to be approved and connected, many people are now turning to prepaid broadband solutions to fill the gap. PLDT has upgraded its previous mobile modem with a new model, promising faster internet speeds as long as you have a strong Smart 4G signal.

Packaging, contents, and overall design

Out of the box, the PLDT Home Wifi Prepaid Advance kit comes with the modem itself, two antennas, a LAN cable, a DC power cable, a manual, and a Smart LTE Sim which comes pre-installed into the unit. When placed side by side with the regular PLDT Home Wifi, the advance modem is visibly larger. it also offers more in terms of speed compared to the regular prepaid kit. We recommend looking for a nice spot for it in your house where there’s a strong signal for you to be able to enjoy the fastest speeds this modem can bring you.

Another improvement on this modem is the added support for ethernet cables. The modem has two LAN ports on the back of the unit where two antenna ports are also located which means you can hook up your PC to this modem, something that the more basic model lacked.
Setting up the modem is easy since it’s a plug and play device. Simply fire up the modem and visit pldthomewifisettings.net where you can change the username and password. Your default username and password are listed behind the modem for your reference.

Performance and speeds

Our speed tests show that the device can reach decent speeds up to 48 Mbps, with average speeds hitting 20 Mbps. That’s a reasonable speed for most people for both WFH and homeschooling applications.

Take note that your speeds will largely be dependent on where you are in the metro, as the modem utilizes Smart’s cellular network. Your home’s layout as well as overall signal strength for Smart’s 4G network is the major determining factor of the speeds you’ll be hitting as well, so take that into consideration before you buy this.

One way to determine if your home is ready for a device like this is to conduct a speed test with your phone’s cellular data in an area where you plan to put the modem. If your signal is strong and your speeds good, it’s more than likely you’ll be getting roughly the same (if not slightly better) speeds.

 

Wrap up and conclusions

PLDT’s Home Wifi Prepaid Advance works great as a temporary internet solution as well as a more long-term arrangement while you evaluate your WFH and study-from-home needs.

It has two ethernet ports for better connectivity to more traditional devices like laptops and desktops, and its bigger antennas will be able to cover a bigger area that traditional pocket WiFi kits or phone hotspots can’t match.

Reloading is easy as well, and is something you can do via PLDT & Smart stores, sari-sari stores, Paymaya, pasaload, or through your myPLDT smart app. The app lets you manage and monitor your prepaid credit as well as purchase surf promos like famload.

The PLDT Home Wifi Prepaid Advance is available for only PHP 1995 from its original price of PHP 2,495 until November 30. It comes with 10 Gigabytes worth of load that’s valid for 7 days. If you’re keen on getting one, make sure to get it soon because it runs out of stock on Lazada and Shoppee quickly. If you can’t find it at the places we mentioned, you can also grab it at its sane, non-overpriced SRP from official sellers here.