It was supposed to be just a normal weekend, spending time at home, doing chores, watching movies while eating, the works. Until I have observed however that my connection speed has gone significantly slow and until I ran a test did I measure just how slow it is:
I work for a US Telco account, so my initial instinct would be to call customer care. It was then that while the CSR did ran his tests (I use the same stalling alibi believe me) was I told that I have exceeded the bandwidth for the month and that they recently implemented a "fair usage policy". Ok, well, thing is I have not been informed about this prior nor was I given any satisfactory answers. My subscription is at fixed speeds (max 1mbps) and UNLIMITED at 999 per month. Now, they have capped to only 15GB and beyond that, your speed would dwindle to a mere 20kbps as shown above, and it will persist for the rest of the month. Only consolation is, your connection would not be interrupted, only slowed down. Deliberately. In addition to adding more insult to injury, the CSR attempted to upsell to a higher plan which costs twice as much and had to be bundled with a landline.
About myBro’s Fair Usage Policy. myBro understands your need for fast and reliable connectivity, and is obligated to efficiently manage the network to guarantee that all subscribers have fair access to network resources. myBro has adopted a Fair Usage Policy to provide the best fixed wireless internet experience to all subscribers.
Conditions Covering Fair Usage Policy. Certain peer-to-peer and machine-to machine software/applications are used by customers to send and receive files containing very large amounts of data. These activities may cause network congestion and can negatively impact the quality of service that other subscribers will experience. myBro fulfils a service level that is based on equitable share of network resources among all of its customers. Thus, the service level and/or connectivity to users of peer-to-peer and machine-to-machine software/applications is modulated to ensure that all customers get the best fixed wireless Internet experience.
Upon reaching the optimum volume allocation for a single user, the subscriber will still be able to enjoy unlimited access to the Internet, but at a lower speed. This was implemented to manage overall internet usage and to ensure that all myBro subscribers can enjoy satisfactory internet service.
Ensuring Fair Usage For All. myBro intends to preserve the integrity of the network in order to provide all customers with high quality fixed wireless Internet services. myBro reserves the right to suspend or terminate service to customers whose practices or use of the internet far exceeds that of a personal consumer and, as a result, impairs the quality of service that other customers experience. myBro also reserves the right to modify the Fair Usage Policy without immediate notice in order to maintain the integrity of its network services.
I tried to research further on this and found more people under the same predicament. While others were able to suggest different workarounds, which did prove effective for a time, a complaint is still being over social media sites.
If it were only clearly described as such, I believe people would be able to make a more informed decision in choosing their provider. To quote a fellow complainant: "Yes, MyBro is a wireless connection. However, please do check that most U.S. carriers have both capped and unlimited packages. Basically, they have a DATA plan & an unlimited plan. What Smart/PLDT is marketing is unlimited, but they will cap your bandwidth. Although throttled down, this is still considered Deprivation of services paid for, which is against the Philippine Consumer Act."
How all of this would turn out, I do not know, but definitely I will not bow down to it.