Prepaid Fiber Should Be Everywhere In The Philippines

One of the most common questions I’m asked in my capacity as an EIC in Unbox aside from which phone people should buy is which company they should go to for fiber internet. It’s one of the most hotly debated topics in Facebook groups I’m in whenever it comes up, and the answer that they get from me almost always underwhelms them: it depends. That’s why I’m a firm believer that prepaid fiber should become more widespread in the Philippines.

That’s because a large part of your decision-making process whenever you’re getting a fiber connection should be WHERE you’re getting it. What do I mean? Well, where I used to live, my PLDT Fiber connection very rarely had problems. Each year it’s been as stable as a rock, and I can count on one hand the number of times it went down for more than a day for the past five years.

That’s the same for Converge. When I moved to San Juan, the condo that I moved to didn’t have an option for PLDT, and instead only had Converge as an option. Initially, I was worried because I heard from friends in San Mateo where I used to live that they had issues with them, but I took the plunge anyway. Six months on, I’ve yet to have a major issue with them.

The point is that the quality of service for the available providers depends on where you are. In a perfect world, location shouldn’t matter when evaluating your fiber options. Still, we live in an imperfect world, which is why all of the major internet providers should have a prepaid option for customers.

That way, customers will have a way to test a company’s service in their area without a commitment before they fully commit to a 24-month lockout, which in turn, will increase customer satisfaction overall. Prepaid fiber options in the Philippines also need to level up, and all operators should have affordable prepaid options for people to try out.

Right now, Globe and Converge have prepaid fiber services, though PLDT doesn’t as of yet. That’s unfortunate because, despite all of the complaints you hear online, my personal experience with them and the experience of a large chunk of my family have been mostly positive. Say what you want about them but they’re the leading ISP for a reason, and I’m convinced that the company needs a prepaid option to help combat the usual bad press that they receive from social media.