Smart LTE Prepaid and Smart LTE Postpaid speeds are not the same

Being not satisfied with only having an unlimited LTE mobile phone connection from Globe–to which I heard Globe has stopped offering unlimited LTE plans to their subscribers… anyway, I recently purchased a Smart Prepaid LTE pocket wifi.

At this day and age, what’s worse than being under this scorching summer heat is having no stable internet connection.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m perfectly happy with my Globe LTE. It has helped me won my Twitter award while I was having our trip with 2Go Travelwhich, by the way, proved that Globe can kick Smart’s ass in some locations.

But since my new location has proven that Smart has a stronger hold on the area, I decided to get myself a Smart LTE modem.

At PLDT’s Ultera Home LTE Launch

I got myself a Smart Prepaid LTE kit since the postpaid plans available for both Smart and the recently launched PLDT Ultera are both per GB-based. I was looking for something that can offer unlimited and it was with Smart’s Prepaid LTE.

I don’t really download too much. I normally use my internet for social media, youtubing, and blogging… so my per-GB usage might be enough for 10GB. I dunno, I guess I just like the comfort of having an unlimited plan so it eliminates the risk of me getting a heart attack during billing.

Thinking that my Smart Prepaid LTE will perform the same speed as my boyfriend’s Smart Postpaid mobile LTE speed, I was surprised that they’re nowhere near apples to apples. Check out their speedtest comparisons:

Here’s another test I made on a good day (today):

Smart LTE Prepaid
Smart LTE Postpaid

My sister, who has both 3G pocket wifi in prepaid and postpaid, also noticed the difference. In her experience, her postpaid has more coverage than her prepaid Smart 3G pocket device.

So… why the discrimination, Smart?

By the way, it gets worse for Globe, since they have already launched their GoSurf plans to replace their SuperSurf and PowerSurf plans.


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13 responses to “Smart LTE Prepaid and Smart LTE Postpaid speeds are not the same”

  1. glaizalove Avatar

    Oh my. 🙁 that sucks

  2. Paul Avatar
    Paul

    This sucks! Although I’m getting high speeds. Do you think Smart Bro Prepaid LTE is also slower? Maybe you’ve used it on downloading torrents.

    1. CouchWasabi Avatar

      Yes I use both prepaid and postpaid Smart Bro LTE for downloading torrents. Prepaid is much much slower.

      1. kutr cobain Avatar

        better use idm rather than torrent… iis faster… torrent is faster on dsl type connnection..

  3. DX Avatar
    DX

    You can achieve unlimited LTE on Globe Postpaid by GoSurf by utilizing it’s anti-billshock feature. It will cost you at least 1500 pesos though.

    1. CouchWasabi Avatar

      Hm.. I don’t think paying an extra 500 for 2GB is worth it for Globe. I’d rather use my Smart Prepaid since I’m getting an awesome 18mbps on Smart for only Php995 unlimited on non-peak anyways.

  4. Geoff Avatar
    Geoff

    Smart LTE Prepaid is slower than the postpaid. i had it complaining with their customer service… my ipad is postpaid, i just use tethering on my phone to get more speed instead.

  5. Jerry Avatar
    Jerry

    This is the same for all prepaid services in the Philippines, Smart is not the only culprit. Globe does the same thing but in a different way, giving unlimited services to postpaid subscribers while giving a 800mb per day limit to prepaid subscribers. It truly is discrimination too, seeing as if you add up the amount paid for the prepaid service it ends up costing more money than the postpaid ones, and the people likely to subscribe to prepaid are poorer. It’s been this way for years and likely will never change, it directly influences the high rate of fraud these services experience too. If these scumbags would just offer an honest service to the people of the Philippines they might just get honest customers.

  6. Mai Casanguan Avatar

    But we pay same amount.Hate to know this because i used prepaid grrrrrr!

  7. Orlie John Deferia Avatar

    Here in Cebu City is very much much much much much slower than you imagine the speed of Smart Prepaid LTE here is only 0.1 mbps – 1 mbps :'(

  8. Alvin Moreno Bedes Avatar

    As of today, in SMARTprepaid and SMARTbro, Every user that uses high bandwidth for downloading, will be blacklisted to access the internet for GOOD….YES, I buy almost 6 simcard and all are blacklisted to access the internet…Yes you can still send and receive text and do call but not web browsing…So beware…do not buy smart/smartbro simcard if you are downloading torrent and watching movies online.You will get yourself banned from accessing the internet without prior warning or any messages.If i can just sue SMART for their sevice, I will do it…
    Want to download torrent movies and watch youtube to the max? Just load 100 pesos and registered it with flexitime 100 for 15 hours of internet for 7 days. Connect it to your laptop and surf all you want….After 12 hours of downloading through torrent, i was banned to access the internet….frustrated,,,,!!!! but i can’t do anything…I still have 3 hours….Although that 3 hours is still there because not accessing internet will also stop your time. But theres no way you can connect online……just buy another simcard….

  9. raymar Avatar
    raymar

    just an FYI for everyone. sorry but i didnt see if they used the same lte device for
    both sim cards. i use smart lte pre paid on a huawei b315s and i’m getting 18-20 mbps on download and 8-10 mbps on upload. i use either giga surf or surfmax promo.

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