Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Randy and I woke up early so we can go to the bank at 9 AM.

Unfortunately, we couldn't leave until Bayan DSL contractors showed up. At noon, some linemen from ADTEL came and yet, they annoyed me to the max! They said, the service order to transfer our phone line and DSL were wrong. They said someone else, not them, should fix our line.

Still annoyed, I called Bayan Hotline 4112000 and Anne answered my queries. I also talked with Vince Dimaculangan, Anne's supervisor, and informed them about the ADTEL boys who came over our place. After an hour, Lumen Cruz (Tel. No. 4498046), a Bayan Account Manager called up and tried to know my DSL concern. I told her more than 26 hours now we do not have internet.

Then, Raffy aka Rafael F. Chavez, another ADTEL guy came over at 3 PM. He checked both DSL and phone line and left. I wanted to call Bayan Hotline again but I found out our phone line has no dial tone. I sent SMS to Bayan 09178932189 to inform them we have dead DSL and phone line.

In between these BAYANTEL drama, Randy and I were watching the continuation of Season 1 of CSI. Oh! Well... funny how both of us forgot those episodes we watched in 2007.

At 4:45 PM, Raffy came back and bundled our phone line and DSL by using a splitter. At 4:47 PM, BAYAN phone line is working but DSL internet worked for 30 minutes and DSL went dead again. We didn't have internet access again for 45 minutes. After I called Tech Support, Randy and I gave up the internet, moved away from PC and laptop, then watched TV.

Although I don't know whether I should pay the current telephone bill covering 6/13/09 to 7/12/09, I'd like to thank Chris for helping us bundled our phone line and DSL so I have to pay only one monthly bill. I subscribed to BAYAN DSL Plan 2699 on August 02, 2006 but upgraded to Net Basic Plan 1024 on September 11, 2006 in less than a month due to crappy dynamic internet service. Net Basic Plan is bundled with a single phone line but I didn't get the free phone (for two years) for some unknown reason until I applied for a single telephone line on June 05, 2007, after 9 months of waiting to have a bundled phone line from Bayantel.

Today is a very stressful day. Glad Randy is here with us in Manila. 28 hours of no internet access will be too much for me and Randy to be apart that long...

Friday, July 04, 2008

Randy and I went to Smart Wireless Center located at Cyberzone, North EDSA, Quezon City.

I retained my Smart Gold subscription plan but, I didn't liked the FREE HANDSETs available under Retention Plan: Sony Ericsson W910i, Sony Ericsson P1i, Nokia 6500c, nor the Nokia E65. So, I picked instead N82 Warm titanium, and paid Php 6,000.

We did some grocery shopping before going home.

At home, Randy bakes bread and cake while preparing dinner. I was too excited to explore N82 features but I think I corrupted the installation of NSeries PC Suite in my PC. It failed to communicate with my N82 device due to a mistake when I stopped Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 installation, as it was taking long time. I forgot that the Microsoft .NET Framework is a platform that connects information, people, systems, and devices.

Worst of all, when exploring my N82 device, I got this message: Sim card registration failed.. I checked online and found out that many mobile users encountered the same problem. I called *888 from Tintin's cellphone but customer care gave me a Smart Hotline to call: 8110211. The problem was still there so I asked my son to fix it. Voila, my new cellphone is working again!

Anyway, if anyone of you encountered similar situation, reboot your cellphone. And, also, make sure your SIM card registers your new cellphone model, even though your new handset has pre-loaded phone settings...

To set-up MMS/GPRS/3G, text SET <handset model> and send to 211. Example: "SET MMS N82"
NOTE: Save your MMS/GPRS/3G settings upon download. Key in 1234 when prompted .
To activate MMS/GPRS/3G feature: Key in "MMS ON" and send to 3401.

Smart Mobile Services:
* 3G
* i-mode™
* MMS and GPRS
* MMS Mail
* Mobile Decode
* Mobile Exchange
* Mobile Internet
* myTV
* Voice Txt

Oopppsss... time to sleep: phone has low battery... I missed my daughter, she's the one doing all these settings and pc installation for me.

Friday, August 24, 2007

At 9:30 am, Bayantel DSL lineman arrived to our place, while Randy and I were chatting.

In spite of tough assurance that the problem wasn't on our side, the kids advised me to let the guy pull out my workstation and checked all wirings. Then, the guy left and told us he will check physical lines outside the building.

At 11:43 am, two linemen arrived with their tools. They clipped their detector to DSL cable and off they went downstairs. I went to the balcony and took pictures of what they were doing. In case, they made mistakes, I have evidence. Well, I had bad experiences with Bayantel guys working on phone lines and cables. I was still then a PLDT DSL subscriber when one of their guys cut off my line and erased PLDT name off the box and steal it. Three days I didn't have internet and phone line that time. I found out only about it when PLDT lineman showed me that a Bayantel phone line was hooked up in my PLDT box!

Anyway, at 12:09 pm. our DSL line is back. I dropped my dialup internet access and ran Skype. Randy and I voice chatted and able to pray again. I can barely remember, though, what have caused the interruption of DSL service... and, whether I will get rebates for the inconvenience or not, I still have to call their accounting department.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

This is the Third day of my Bayantel DSL nightmare and what's worst, Bayantel tech support said their service has been restored since yesterday morning....

Someone from Bayantel dropped by at 11:00 am in our place but he just stared at the modem and left. He said he will be back later and will just check the cabinet where my DSL cable is hooked up.

Randy and I missed our usual prayers because Skype failed to run on a dialup internet connection.

I found out later from tech support that the Bayantel cabinet where all DSL and phone lines are hooked up in my area has a pending case and it's locked until case is resolved. They will send someone again tomorrow morning to check physical lines.

In the meantime, kids and I are thinking of moving somewhere else IF our DSL broadband service won't be restored.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

This is the second day of my Bayantel DSL nightmare.

Yesterday, they admitted having outage of Major International Cable Facilities which started at 9:00 am. At 7:00 pm, I couldn't browse international sites anymore which continued until I logged out at 12 mn.

This morning, my internet connection partially improved until Randy logged out to bed at past 2:00 pm. I had an afternoon nap then and woke up at 6:00 pm. To my surprise, our modem didn't have DSL and Internet status on, except Power and Router, which means our DSL access is totally dead.

As expected, their hotline 4112000 was busy and my call get through only at past 7:00 pm. I reported the matter but the ticket 313303 from yesterday's complaint is still active and they cannot make a new ticket report until the other complaint of slow connection is resolved. My goodness, so how the records will show that I didn't have DSL? Tech Support promised that a field technician will check our DSL line by tomorrow.

Randy and I chatted briefly on Skype via BL@ST prepaid dialup internet access, but were unable to pray the rosary. It's kind of annoying experience knowing I paid Php 3,360 (US$78.00) monthly for a Business Net Basic DSL plan to ensure guaranteed uninterrupted DSL service. I feel cheated when my friends online have a faster connections than mine and they are Globe subscribers paying less than 1k a month.

Lack of competition in the internet industry made local internet providers get away with their lousy services. PLDT owed me some rebates for the DSL and phoneline, I pray that NTC will do their jobs in monitoring the quality service of top ISPs.

Anyway, enough of that DSL thingy, today is my brother's 36th birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EGAY!!!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

I was upset that Randy and I failed to recite the rosary this evening before he left to work due to Bayantel DSL's Outage of Major International Cable Facilities which started at 9:00 am.

My modem resets its connection at 9:00 am, and that's how my internet nightmare started. Good thing that Skype was working until he logged off to bed at 2:40 pm. I could barely open pages, browser had an error: "The connection has timed out. The server at uc3.gamestotal.com is taking too long to respond." Worst thing happened at 7:00 pm before Randy comes online. I couldn't browse any more and I couldn't logout from UC either to refresh connections. Even messages in Yahoo had delays. But, at least, I was able to let Randy know that internet is not back up yet.

Before giving up waiting for some bandwidth at past 11:00 pm, I tried inquirer.net and my blog's MT Editor. It looks like I can access local sites so I read news while trying to access UC. Unfortunately, while blogging, I accidentally clicked something and next thing I know, when page reloaded, my entry was gone. Anyway, there is something interesting that caught my eyes: British, wife lose P50K in Equitable-PCI’s online banking. In the news, Neil Honeyman and his wife, who reside in Bacolod City, said that P50,000 was fraudulently withdrawn from their bank while making phone banking transaction last August 16. The bank refunded the money but it was not mentioned who did it and which account the money has been transferred.

I have reason to be alarmed. Randy sends his XOOM remittances to my Equitable PCI Bank account and I monitor transactions via FASTNET online.

In December 2006, I had lost Php 10,000 while taking some money from my Equitable PCI Bank ATM, using ChinaBank ATM machine at SM North EDSA. I was charged for unsuccessful transaction. I reported the matter to EPCIB. Then, I followed it up via mobile calls but nothing has happened yet. When Randy was here in Manila, we both dropped by to the bank and made a followup. They only returned/deposited the money into my account after 3 weeks of waiting. Shiela, my daughter's friend, mentioned that her Aunt had a similar ATM experience with EPCIB. Guess my bank have a lot of depositors and cannot handle loads of transactions.

Anyway, I am tired and it looks like Bayantel DSL will not be restored until midnight.... Tech Support did not mention whether it's Asia-Pacific Cable Network (APCN) or GPT, AGC, C2C, SEMEWE3 which caused all Bayantel subscribers internet disruptions.

Friday, February 02, 2007

I woke up very early today than usual.

Since I was out of Damage Protection, I did something in Unification Wars to avoid huge planet loss. Unfortunately, no one has posted their reinforcements in the Outpost (OP) except Biovirus and Dodger. The latter posted over 500 Million PR while Biovirus has lower than 25% PR (of my total PR) in his OP. Anyway, as soon as I built my first ship, I got attacked and I had lost over 60k planets.

Then, Randy arrived home from work and as I was selling the blogs we normally trade in Blogshares Fantasy Stock Market everyday, my UPS blinked. A sign that we had a power interruption! I've waited for about two minutes hoping the power would come back, but, then, I decided to logout and close all my programs. Maybe I was too slow, it's hard to shut down PC knowing power outage does not take that long. I was still voice chatting with Randy when all of a sudden, my UPS shut down my PC, modem, and router. I then called Randy to let him know what happened.

Bored, I went out in the Balcony and looked down at the national road. I checked for possible reason what have caused the brownout. I even asked my student neighbor whether they also have power interruption. Convinced that the brownout is not only limited to our apartment unit, I called 16211 Meralco Hotline at 9:15 in the morning. Guess what they told me? There's a scheduled replacement of post in our area and power would be interrupted from 8:30 am until 2:30 pm! Shocked, I yelled at the guy who answered my call. I asked why they didn't announce it on TV while I do watch the news from morning until in the evenng. I then immrediately called Randy in San Diego to tell him I won't be able to login back until after they replace the post at past 3 in the afternoon.

Living in this building caused us inconvenience whenever there is power outage. No power, no water! How I will deal with my boredom if I cannot do anything? I couldn't do some cleaning without water nor sleep without fan or aircon. Anyway, I called the parlor which is just opposite the building and I had my hair treatment (without blower), foot spa, and pedicure. I even consider going to the gym and release my disappointment with the irresponsible Meralco employees for not informing the people in our area of the scheduled interruption. Randy and I had been exchanging SMS thru Yahoo!

At home, I called again Meralco at 2:45 pm. They said we're going to have the power back anytime starting from my last call. Randy decided to go to bed at 2:55 pm. As he shuts down his PC, our power has been restored. I jumped out of bed and called him. David answered it and called Randy. It's too late on his side and I told him to go ahead while my PC loads windows.

On the lighter side, both Randy and I missed each other so much. The time seemed quite long and boring. Due to their negligence to inform us in advanced, it cost me couple of overseas calls to get in touch with Randy.

Times like this, I hate the incompetence and lousy service of big companies in this country. Like PLDT, grrrr to Meralco!

Monday, January 15, 2007

Ela called me this morning and congratulate me for the new telephone line. She also asked me whether Marissa return the money already. I told her about the SMS message I received from Marissa this morning. Marissa kept mentioning the name of Mike while in fact, Mike dropped by here yesterday with Ela to prove to me that he doesn't receive any thing from Marissa.

So, I had thought to visit Bayantel office in Roosevelt Branch to inform them that their agent might be using their company to attract people to subscribe to their service and yet, something like my experience might happened with others, too. But, early in the afternoon, Marissa came over and handed me the money. It's just a small amount really but, I told her it wasn't nice to waste our time and tell us tall tales.

Anyway, glad it's Monday and kids will be busy in school until Friday. Sometimes, I feel that this household is too small for all of us. I feel it's unfair that they always feel bad whenever I protect one of them from the other. How they will understand me and how's my feelings right now unless they become parents too?

Thanks, God, that there are couple of games that I can play with Randy online. I restarted Unification Wars this afternoon when I realized it will take me a week to make a profit what Randy could make in a day. All ministers in the game could be level up to 999 and each minister has 4 skills. So, from Terran Race, I switched to Aspha Miner temporarily until I level up all ministers. Researching and upgrading were very tiring. Waiting for the 45 turns to end seemed quite long. The game server isn't that bad today compared yesterday.

It's 9 mins before midnight and Randy will be online soon. I better post this one before I close the browser by mistake. Several times it happened to my entries. I'd thought I published it only to find out it wasn't publish nor save yet.

Now that I got my money back, I really thanked God that I don't have to file a complaint against Marissa. Am sure she needs her job and hurting someone just because of small amount isn't fair with her kids...

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Bayantel technician came early this morning and installed our new telephone line. They had difficulty with the wiring but after an hour of dedication, they hooked up a new telephone line for us.

While the Bayantel men are working, my kids embarassed me not only to those people but to all the neighbors who reside in the building. They had heated argument over the house keys of Junjun and Denise which accidentally were thrown to the garage of our neighbor. Pearl arrived at past 2 am and needed a key to open the gate. Both Junjun and Tintin were playing a local network game, they hurriedly throw the key from the balcony but they miscalculated it and it landed in our neighbor's garage downstairs.

Because of misunderstandings between my kids, only Paul Denise joined me to hear the 5 PM mass at Lady of Hope Parish. Rev. Fr. Jun Pascual said the mass and assisted by a deacon, Rev. Fr. Bong Turingan. It's the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. The First Reading was Is 62:1-5 and the Second Reading was 1 Cor 12:4-11. The Gospel was Jn 2:1-11. Rev. Fr. reminded us about the importance of family and marriage in God's eyes.

After the mass, Denise and I did some grocery shopping at SM - North EDSA. Pearl followed us later and helped us with the shopping. When I was almost done with the shopping, Ate Neth met us inside the grocery section and handed me Flora's Christmas gift. A Victoria's Secret cream and an umbrella with her recruitment agency logo. Flora worked for my EX as Liaison Officer in Saudi Embassy for several years. Whatever made her remember me, I didn't call her even Ate Neth gave me her cellphone number.

The annulment case is on-going and I didn't liked to have any connections with the EX and his employees. Calling her would reveal my contact details and being quiet about the gift is better than losing my privacy.

Now that we have a new phone line, it only proves one thing, I must forget about the past contacts and must move on. I thanked God I have Randy...

Friday, January 12, 2007

Ela of Bayantel was looking for me early this morning.

She said someone from Bayantel told her about me regarding new phone line application. We were all surprised about what she told us. I told her we already gave our payment with Marissa on Jan 6th and we're just waiting for our new phone line to be installed.

I found out from Ela, too, that Marissa is connected with SKY DSL internet and has nothing to do with telephone lines in our area. Besides, Marissa didn't give me any OR but, she received Php 750 from me six days ago. Then, I called Marissa couple of times but she didn't answer my calls. I sent her SMS and told her to answer her cellphone because it's urgent. Ela furnished me a new Bayantel PhonePlus Application Form (Ref No 125126) and OR 890773 with a guarantee that we could have a phone line by tomorrow or the next day. Marissa then replied to my SMS. I talked to her, let her talked with Ela and then, Marissa promised that she will give the payment with Mike tomorrow so we could have the telephone line the next day.

At times like this, I couldn't blame my daughter for doubting Marissa. Roella introduced Marissa to us in August 2006. I applied for telephone line with DSL 2 mbps package but after I paid Php 2,000 for line application, they told me that there's no available line but, a DSL could be installed even without phone line. Due to serious problems with PLDT myDSL's unreliable internet service, I was forced to grab the offer. Payment has been made, and there is no refund.

Now, the kids blamed me for trusting too much Marissa, my Bayantel contact, as referred by Roella to me. Roella is my sister's contact agent in Bayantel.

Anyway, Randy was late again tonight logging online and I prayed the rosary alone. According to him, it's hard to wake up in a cold weather and besides, he's so tired from playing online games with me. Both Randy and I are hooked up playing [SFU] Unification Wars since he arrived in San Diego.

The game is giving away a bounty Donation Points (DP) for linking their site to any online games. Although I didn't earn any DP for adding [SFU] Unification Wars link to this blog, the UC admin gave me a link to a their CPA Referral Program wherein I could earn DP for every succesful registration. So, to those who wish to beat me in the game, you are welcome to join [SFU] Unification Wars game.

Back to my telphone line application, with my fingers crossed, wish we could have a phone line by tomorrow.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Happy 50th Birthday to my elder sister, AT, who is currently working in Hong Kong.

I spoke with her over mother's cellphone when Mama called my sister to greet her. Mama had been bugging me so early in the morning why she couldn't send text or get her voice call through. Maybe this is one reason why I woke up so late...

Anyway, speaking of phones, I paid Php 750.00 to Marissa for a new residential telephone line application with Bayantel (PhonePlus, Ref 125126). She dropped by to pickup my payment to Bayantel, who is my current DSL internet provider (since August 2006) and thanks God, I didn't encounter serious internet problems, so far, compared with PLDT myDSL.

PLDT kept ripping me off with a promise of restoration of phone line if I will settle the blah blah amount, only to end up waiting for three months already without phone line. We had lost valued contacts and potential income from online auctions due to incompetent and unreliable PLDT service beginning April 2006 through this blogging moment.

Oh! Randy sent me videoclips and photo images which we had taken on our way to the airport. Here is one copy:

Randy is late again this evening and I guess I would take a nap while waiting for him to come online so we can recite the rosary together via Skype... he went to bed past 2 am and he's still adjusting himself to San Diego time. Besides, he started playing Unification Wars which to my surprise, I can hardly understand how to play.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Randy sent payment to PlogHost XOOM account, for ladylaila.net's Custom Plan 1G webhosting package (PlogHost Invoice #4185) from 01/13/2007 thru 01/13/2008, in the amount of US$ 186.00 (US$11.00 service fee included). That's US$ 175.00, a total of Php 8,400.00: Php 7,500 for one year site webhosting plus Php 900.00 (12% TAX)!

Three years ago, I just started with Plan 75 but in less than a month, my site had been inaccessible due to bandwidth overload. Next thing I did, I upgraded my plan to the next level but, the site suffered the same inconveniences until I ended up with a Custom Plan 1G to meet bandwidth and server load needs.

Less than two months ago, I paid the amount of Php 2,016.00 (PlogHost Invoice #4022) on Nov. 20, 2006, for ladylaila.net's Domain Renewal Fee for 3 years, covering the period 12/13/2006 thru 12/12/2009.

Meanwhile, the internet is so bad today that I couldn't watch Judge Judy, two episodes of NCIS, and Shark via Skype due to intermittent internet connection caused by Taiwan earthquake.

However, the slow connection didn't stopped us from voice chatting on Skype and we even played some of our favorite online games together. I gained some picture pieces from the World Challenge and converted 4 picture gallery which I collected from Moon Rock Rampage, Toybox Escape, Typing Terror, and Web of Vernax. The latter game didn't award me any picture pieces even if I won a picture piece. According to The Neopets Team (TNT) custom message: "It looks you have collected all the pieces for the picture(s) in the world that this game is set in or have not converted the completed picture yet, so no piece has been awarded." So, I had thought to convert all the 4 picture gallery, that's a total of 80 picture pieces and each one could be sold in my neoshop for 25,000 NP each, that's approximately about 2 Million Neopoints. Upon converting the pictures, I got 8,000 NP plus Striped Paint Brush, Brown Paint Brush, Usuki Paint Brush, and Mutant Petpet Paint Brush, which would give me a total of less than a million NP if I want to auction them.

Anyway, in spite of our enjoyment playing online games, I was wondering how much ladylaila.net webhosting package (and domain fee, too) would cost us in the next five years... many thanks to Randy for his continuous support to this blog, otherwise, I probably shut this down and/or move this blog to a public server.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Today is Day 2 of Randy's fourth visit in Manila.

Randy and I had recited the rosary first before going to our buffet breakfast at the hotel's Penthhouse by the pool. We arrived late and all tables had been taken but there is one available under the sun. For less than 30 minutes of sitting under the sun, I had some sunburn on my face and neck! Anyway, the breakfast was good.

We're back to our nest after our breakfast and had a brief nap, as Randy is still adjusting to our local time. Since we have an appointment with the kids later in the afternoon, we got up and we watched more CSI Disc 2, Episodes 205-207: "Scuba Doobie-Doo", "AlterBoys", and "Caged" while waiting for the kids. I had been checking the kids occassionally whether they had been preparing or not.

Junjun, Paul Denise, Pearl, Tintin, and Shiela were waiting downstairs for over 30 minutes at the hotel parking when I remember to call them up again. They had thought we're going downstairs ourselves and calling us had not been an option. Anyway, we hurriedly went down and meet the kids. As the kids welcomed Randy, we handed them their Christmas presents while we're on the way to hear the 5 pm mass. At Sto. Domingo Church, we're happy that the place is big enough to accomodate all of us in one bench.

The first reading was Zephaniah 3:14-18a, the second reading was Philipians 4:4-7, and the Gospel was from Luke 3:10-18. The message the Father put out was about sharing.

After the mass, we went to Dad's Restaurant for Ultimate Buffet Dinner. We have a 6:30 pm reservation for 15 people but we arrived there 30 minutes earlier but, the place was almost full. So while waiting for Edith, Vera, Sherwyn, Delia, and Ate Neth, we started enjoying the Filipino, Japanese, and American dishes. Ate Neth arrived couple of minutes earlier than Vera, Sherwyn, and Delia and as usual, we had fun talking about the latest happenings in Better Living Subdivision, where we once lived for 16 years!

Guess what I found out from Delia about PLDT? They were billed by PLDT for VIBE dialup internet even though no one among her family members are using internet at their home. Also, they were shocked that until to this writing, PLDT does not restore yet the illegal disconnection they made on my phone line.

We're upset that Edith, the manager of Allied Bank, was unable to join us. She's been wanting to meet Randy whenever I talked to her over the phone but, we're surprised she didn't make it again this time. At 9:30 pm, we decided to leave and called it a night. Everyone had a feast, enjoyed the stuffed toys, and the dinner!

Kids dropped us at the hotel and we watched Disc One, NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigation Service: "Yankee White" and "Hung Out To Dry", before retiring for the night.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

This morning, daughter had been going back and forth in Unit P to get her cellphone back. On the third visit, she met the culprit and immediately returned to my daughter her lost SAMSUNG D500 cellphone but, without its cover!

My daughet, Pearl, found out that a sim card had been inserted based on new messages sent under sent folder. Its unbelievable that this old taxi driver would know how to turn off that unit unless he's well familiar with high-end phones. Pearl also mentioned that she saw our neighbor was using a PDA when she's knocking at the taxi window. She calmly ignored her as if she didn't hear nor see her asking for her cellphone that was left at the spot where she moved her butt.

Anyway, although we know she was just forced to return the unit, thanks to God daughter recovered her cellphone back. Living without telephone line set us back as we had lost contact with friends, families, and clients. I hate PLDT for causing us all this inconveniences. I still have to draft my complaint letter to NTC against PLDT's illegal disconnection of our phone line, a possible strategy to avoid returning my rebates for DSL payments I made since last May this year when their DSL service turned into a nightmare!

Since daughter had sleepless night worrying about her cellphone, only Paul Denise accompanied me to hear the 5 pm mass at the Lady of Hope Parish near Cyberzone SM North EDSA. Today was the First Sunday of Advent and the first reading was Jeremiah 33:14-16. The second reading was 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 and the Gospel was Luke 21:25-28, 34-36. Rev. Fr. Bart Sagadal said the mass.

After the mass, we went to Smart Communications and upgraded my Plan 1200 to Plan 1800. While waiting for approval, we had dinner at Pizza Hut with Pearl, Shiela, and her sister, who all meet us at Smart Business Office. After an hour, we went back to Smart, my plan had been approved and a NOKIA 6233 unit has been given for free. Its lock-in period is two years but I could get a new unit for free by June 2008! I'm happy with my NOKIA 6630 so I gave the new cellphone to Pearl, who will be celebrating her birthday on the 5th. As a bonus for my son, Paul Denise, for being faithful today, I told Pearl to pass on to her brother her SAMSUNG D500! Then, I instructed her to auction Paul Denise's old cellphone unit for cash as her birthday allowance.

Meanwhile, Randy had been ill these past few days and fixing electrical wiring at the attic made his flu worse. I felt bad that I couldn't do anything as we are 7,401 kilometers away from each other. Anyway, we have only twelve days to deal with and we're going to see each other again. When he logged in the morning (on his side), I told him that I got a new NOKIA 6233 from Smart! I sold some blogs that we're trading in Blogshares and then we recited the rosary before he went to hear mass with Judy and Carlos. I then logged out and went to bed.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Daughter sent me couple of SMS messages while waiting in a taxi cab downstairs but, because I couldn't read messages while seriously talking with my brother, Bhoie, on my cellphone, she called my son's cellphone instead. Well, up to now, PLDT never reconnect yet our phone line in spite of the fact we do not have outstanding balance with them, so, daughter was pretty upset no one was answering her call.

When I saw that daughter was calling Paul Denise' cellphone, I found out she's just downstairs and need some money to pay the taxi driver. That time, mama and I had serious conversation about my brother, Egay (who is in Saudi Arabia), and his wife, Ana (who is here in Manila with their kids). Since I was too in a hurry to give to my daughter the money, I just threw my coin purse from the balcony and daughter got off and picked it up. Then, she unloaded her bags and while paying the taxi driver, our female neighbor immediately went inside the cab and told the driver she's going to Makati.

When daughter was picking up all her things, she found out her cellphone was left inside the taxi! She ran after them and had been knocking at the side window but both driver and our neighbor didn't bother to open and ask what she wants. Instead, the driver sped up while daughter was running after them until she saw another taxi approaching from opposite direction and daughter asked the driver to follow the first cab. Pearl even borrowed the taxi driver's cellphone to inform us that she had left her cellphone in the cab.

All of us had been calling her cellphone. At first, it was ringing but, no one answers and the next couple of calls made was a failure as the unit had been turned off. When daughter came back to our building, she asked again some money to pay for the other taxi.

She's too upset and nervous, we suggested that she should checked all our neighbors in the building who recently had a female visitor who was wearing black and going to Makati. When Pearl and Paul Denise came back, they found out from our neighbor in Unit P that her daughter had an emergenccy meeting in Makati. The mother called her daughter's cellphone and based on her daughter's report, the taxi driver got my duaghter's cellphone and turned it off. The mother assured my daughter that she could pick it up at 10 am tomorrow morning since her daughter claimed that she got the cellphone back from the driver.

Based on my daughter's story, the mother probably had thought that her daughter had an accident that's why she opened the door for them otherwise, my sweetie would not be able to find out who is that dishonest neighbor who had evil interest to hide her cellphone instead of giving it right away when she was knocking at the taxi's side window.

At times like this, too seldom we can find honest people in this world and I cursed whoever stole my daughter's cellphone would get the wrath from heaven!

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

I submitted today demand letter addressed to PLDT - Muñoz Branch asking for rebates for failure to deliver PLDT DSL and phone line services... all clerks abandoned their posts and had an emergency meeting with their supervisor to discuss my claim.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

After whole day of collecting facts and figures yesterday, Randy finally corrected the PLDT complaint letter I drafted. Then, after Pearl printed them for me, Pacette and I dropped by to PLDT Business Office and settled with MS. ADELIZA M. ISIDRO my disconnected phone line before doing my shopping to celebrate my son's birthday.

I was fortunate that customer ticket no. 78 was assigned to her as she was the representative who received modem instrument I surrendered on August 11, 2006, when I terminated PLDT MyDSL subscription due to frequent downgrade / interrupted bandwidth speed. I let Ms. Isidro acknowledged the 3-page complaint letter I submitted with subject line: DISCONNECTED PLDT PHONE LINE XXXXXXX.

Ms. Isidro and I spent almost three hours of discussion over how much I should pay so my disconnected phone line could be restored. At first, she told me to pay over 6k, after ignoring DSL charges billed in my account but I told her she's charging me back the disputed amount we already settled in August until she came up with over 4k. Nervous, I already raised my voice and I stood up and asked if there's anyone among other representatives or clients can help us with the computation.

I told her to follow the figures in my letter and have it marked so they can understand well how much I have to pay only. She seemed annoyed already and insisted that she only followed their system computations which made me more nervous. I told her if that similar situation happened to her, what she's going to do about it? Since it's my money and I know how much I have to pay for the phone line basic charges plus IDD/NDD toll charges, I asked her to write the following, to understand better how much I have to pay:

• For September statement: Php 29,715.49 (current charges) less Php 28,224.01 (September DSL), that's Php 1,491.48 I have to pay.
• For October statement: Balance forwarded, Php Php 1,491.48 less Php 773.73 (adjustment), that's Php 717.75 (Sept balance) plus Php 1,046.21, that's Php 1,763.96 I have to pay for the months of September and October phone line with IDD/NDD charges.
• After issuing the check, I remembered that I have to pay for the splitter for Php 200.00 so I cancelled the check and issued another in the amount of Php 1,963.96!
• I reminded Ms. Isidro that for three consecutive months (May, June. July), I paid Php 2,500.00 monthly for DSL subscriptions that they failed to render. Since I expected rebates, they should reflect them in my October bill but, instead, they disconnected my line for not paying 'September and October DSL charges' which they billed in my account even though I terminated already my subscription since August 11.

I told Ms. Isidro that I need an apology from the billing section whoever made a mistake charging me Php 28,224.01 for September. That's equivalent to eleven months of internet usage! I also told her not to charge me for reconnection fee since I didn't owe them anything. As far as payment is concerned, I still have money with them which I paid in advance for DSL service that I didn't get for three consecutive months. Ms. Isidro apologized to me and she said she represented the billing section as well.

After Pacette paid the bill, she gave Ms. Isidro the OR no. PLAOR000013644 so she can request for reconnection of our untimely disconnected line. Then, Pacette followed me in Jollibee where we had our lunch. I called Randy that we would go straight to SM North after we're done eating. He's happy that I didn't pay the ridiculous charges PLDT billed me in my last two statements.

We went to Cyberzone and inquired about SMART's retention plan and they handed me models of cell phones I can choose from when I want to renew my current subscription plan. My mind is numb worrying too much what to prepare for tonight's dinner. So, I just decided to pay Bayantel SkyDSL NetBasic bill and accompanied Pearl, who met us while in Bayantel. We spent so much time looking for USB mouse for her new laptop. I got myself a keyboard light which is perfect also for her laptop.

I'd thought we're not going to have time to do the grocery shopping but, thankfully, my daughter made up her mind what item to buy. Electronic items these days are so fashionable that it's hard to select which style best suits the budget and its usefulness.

Grocery budget had been tight for this month because I have three students helping me spend the money. After doing my shopping, it's late for me to cook so I bought 3 layer birthday cake from Goldilocks, two stuffed family sized pizza from Pizza Hut, Birthday noodles from Super Bowl of China and some chick-n-chips in a basket from Shakey's.

Kids were starving when I arrived home and we had our happy dinner together. HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY, Junjun!!!

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

DHL delivered DELL Inspiron 6400, Intel Core Duo processor T2300E (2MB / 1.66GHz / 667MHz) Randy purchased for Pearl this afternoon.

Daughter's excited and happy that she got a new laptop. Gloria's eVAT, however, made us Php 6,396.00 poorer...

Anyway, thank you very much, Randy, for fulfilling my daughter's wish! You're indeed a wonderful man and I was so touched with the way you care for my children. Wish God will return the blessings to you a thousand-fold.

Behind the overwhelming excitement we had this afternoon upon receipt of my daughter's laptop, PLDT had been always a kill joy! They disconnected my phone line for not being able to pay over Php 34,000 for phone line subscription only for which amount was intentionally charged into my account for giving up PLDT myDSL subscription in August 2006.

If the media would like to investigate the irregularities this giant telephone company had been doing against their subscribers, I would love to furnish them my complaint letters and proof of statement of account wherein I am supposed to be given a refund instead of charging me their monthly DSL fees, even if I already surrendered the unit in August and had been given up on hoping they will be able to fix their service.

I was wondering how many subscribers are suffering like from this PLDT telephone company!

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

This afternoon, my sons are enrolled in the same school but will be taking up different courses.

This evening, Pearl installed Creative PC CAM 750 and also Windows Office in my PC in preparation to my online date with Randy who will celebrate later his 51st birthday on his side, as soon as I login tomorrow morning.

I'm so excited to celebrate Randy's birthday online. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RANDY, with love and devotion from all of us!!!

Meanwhile, I talked with a certain TJ c/o PLDT Hotline 171 regarding high charges on my latest two statements. I had been wanting to send them a complaint email but since I didn't have office program installed in my pc, I kept delaying drafting the complaint.

I terminated already PLDT myDSL since August when I got Bayantel DSL subscription but, to my surprise, they kept charging me with unbelievable charges until to this date, even if I already surrendered their modem and cable!

Monday, September 11, 2006

Wow! Ten days I didn't publish any blog entry?

Well, maybe I was so selfish not to blog the latest news about me lately but, rest assured that I am well and very, very happy. Many thanks to the man who made me really a special one, Randy!

Guess what? This afternoon, Randy surprised me again with two dozen bouquet of Roses, chocolates, perfumed candle, and Passion room freshener from Islandrose.net! He's sweet indeed and I love his style of surprising me...

When he logged out to sleep, I went to Bayantel with Tintin and upgraded Sky DSL Plan 2699 to NetBasic 1024 kbps Business package, with 4 free static IP address. It will cost me Php 3,300.00 (US$64.00) a month, inclusive of taxes! Since I switched to Bayantel last month, we always experienced intermittent connection, especially this week that our modem kept dropping my connection and resets all the time. It's kind of annoying though but it's more convenient to deal with Bayantel tech support because they can reset my DSL connection instantly unlike PLDT staffs who kept promising me a technician had been dispatched yet no one is coming to visit us to check what's wrong with our DSL connection.

We didn't stayed that long in Bayantel Customer Service. We then did some grocery shopping at SM Supermarket and I got shocked with what I paid for 21 bags of groceries. The cashier, Judy Pelanog, told me that they made some price adjustments again this month. With what I heard, I remembered that Randy mentioned to me that prices of goods went up as well in their local grocery stores.

Budgetting lately had not been easy. Everything is going up and the Filipinos' quality of life had been quite difficult nowadays.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

I rushed to PLDT Business Office late this morning even Randy was still online. I had to confront anyone there for billing me PhP 6,352.97 this month while in fact, I didn't have phone line and myDSL for two weeks!

On my way downstairs, my neighbor complained too about their dead phone line for almost two weeks now. She gave me her statement of account so I can notify PLDT about it.

It was almost lunch time when I arrived at PLDT Office, Muñoz Branch. A certain Remedios Cruz attended to my complaint and after showing her my previous statements and adjustments made by another customer care clerks, I ended up paying Php 2,026.00 and a promise of two weeks rebates on my next bill. I was informed that their computer system recognizes changes only after two months and since what Adeliza Isidro made prior to my complaint thirteen days ago had not been in effect yet even I already surrendered my modem, PLDT still billed me for DSL internet for this month.

Somehow, I feel sorry for those people who kept paying and / or being billed by PLDT even though this company failed to deliver the services many of us subscribed for, kind of a simple ripoff one can hardly notice...

Anyway, since Bayantel's Sky DSL internet had been installed two weeks ago, so far we are happy that we're getting the true bandwidth speed based on 1.5 mb plan subscription. I made several bandwidth speed tests from different sites to determine differences:

2Wire Speed Meter: Your bandwidth was clocked at 2.33 Mbps

ZDNet Bandwidth Test: 1052.9 Kbps

Sky DSL Download Speed Checker: Your download speed is: 1476.28 kbps

speedtest.ph: Your current bandwidth reading is 1.13 Mbps

Bandwidth Directional Speed Test: 1221 kbps Download and 56 kbps upload

Bandwidth Speed Test: Communications 677.5 kbps and Storage 82.7 kbps

A Beltronica: (24-08-2006 07:24:08 Philippines) Download, 1085.76 kbps and Upload, 188.48 kbps

GlobeQuest Bandwidth Meter: Your current bandwidth reading is 1290.04320 kbps, which means you can download at 161.26000 KB/sec. from our servers.

When PLDT offered me an upgrade last April, their 2.2 mpbs broadband boost promo was misleading because instead of getting a faster DSL broadband speed when they upgraded my account from Plan 2500 to Xcel 3000 on May 9th this year, that's the time I had online nightmares of slow bandwidth speed ranging from zero kbps up to 4 kbps almost everyday that I gave it up this month to stop them from ripping me off.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Pacette arrived at 7 am this morning and we left to RTC to attend a hearing for Case II, for the Correction of my Birth Record.

Our case is number 9th in the court calendar. The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) filed its Notice of Appearance on July 27, 2006 and delegated authority to the Prosecutor's Office to represent the State in the instant case. My counsel undertook to furnish the Prosecutor a copy of the Petition within 5 days from today.

Next hearing is on October 18th at 8:30 am. As usual, I gave Atty. R her appearance fee before Pacette and I went to Smart Wireless Center and Abenson.

At Cyberzone, I went to Smart Wireless Center first and took a number then I proceeded to Abenson to claim the washing machine hose. We found out that all new washing machine does not provide any hose anymore but, they gave me a free laundry basket instead, as part of their washing machine promo.

We then went back to Smart Wireless Center and I complained about the annoying experience we had in Hong Kong when incoming calls and text messages failed to get through my mobile. Text messages had been sent a day later and identical messages were sent repeatedly in different times. When I verified how much international roaming calls and text have I spent for the entire Hong Kong trip, the Php 5000 I paid in advance had all been consumed!

When Ate Neth picked up her Chinese slimming tea last night, she told me that even Smart's local SMS were received and sent late since we were in Hong Kong, cited her experience with her text message to mama as an example.

Anyway, am upset that the correction of my birth record is causing us so much time and money. I was wondering how many more months will I have to wait to get favorable result...

Meanwhile, Randy made it to San Diego minus his luggage at past 3 in the afternoon my time. PAL flight to SFO had been delayed and unable to release his luggage. United Airlines will deliver his luggage tomorrow.

Unfortunately, we're not able to recite the rosary before he left to work because his rosary and prayer book were inside his luggage. Also, he's still suffering from severe pain on his left lower rib, which he got when he lifted one of our luggages out of the bus service in Hong kong airport.

Get well soon, Randy!

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Our phone line is dead for almost a week now and DSL is very unstable!

Besides, it looks like my ISP, PLDT myDSL, will never be true when it comes to providing me the service I subscribed for, currently, bandwidth speed should be up to 2 mbps, but, I was getting only this one:

Many PLDT myDSL subscribers had probably been cheated of their true bandwidth speed. My plan is currently at myDSL XCEL, with a promised of up to 2 mbps, and I was billed monthly for Php 2,545.00 for this kind of service. However, I was provided way below the dialup bandwidth speed. If PLDT will only charge us based on our actual bandwidth figures, I would probably be paying less than Php 500 a month!

Below this result was (as of 8:31 am 30 July 2006): "Your IP Address Is : 58.69.7.XXX. You may download up to 4.08 Kilobytes per Second from PLDT Play."

Who wants this kind of bandwidth speed these days? Anyone?

Friday, July 28, 2006

This is the third day we didn't have phone line and DSL internet after series of rainshowers for couple of days. :(

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Following my telephone conversation with a certain Nanette "Candy" Mangalindan c/o PLDT HOTLINE 171 Billing Section, yesterday, she said I can pay now my latest bill in the amount of Php 5,138.38 LESS Php 1,294.85 disputed amount, that's Php 3843.53!

However, I received email from PLDT Customer Service Supervisor, Miss Doreen Agbayani <dragbayani@pldt.com.ph>, with subject line, "FW: DSL Connection - PL# XXXXXX" and mentioned the following:

1. we shall grant you a rebate equivalent to 14 days covering the dates from June 8-21, 2006 when you experienced slow speed.
2. The rebate will be credited to your account on the next billing period.
3. be advised that you still need to settle the vibe usage charges in the amount of P 1294.85 (vat inclusive) since you were able to use the service when the DSL was down.
4. we have issued a service order to cancel the Vibe Pay per Surf service on your telephone which will take effect within 3 to 5 days.

I replied a long message to Ms. Agbayani and CC it to NTC <ntc@ntc.gov.ph>, Mike Enriquez <imbestigador@gmanetwork.com>, and also to Malen Ordoñez <customers@pldt.com.ph>... signing a petition is probably imminent because of the following reasons:

1. Service denial took place between May 9th and June 9th but PLDT will give me rebates only for slow bandwidth for the period of June 8-21, 2006!
2. I received June's statement of account and current charges include Php 3,095.07 for DSL and phone line (June 07 - July 06, 2006); 1,156.12 for PLDT VIBE Pay per surf; 336.65 for NDD/IDD; plus, 550.54 for EVAT (12%). Total amount? Php 5,138.38! This is insane!
3. PLDT Vibe dial up actually cost PHP 140 a month only and at 36 kbps bandwidth speed. I subscribed for DSL unlimited broadband internet at 2048 kbps. Why charged me more at a slower bandwdth speed when there was denial of service?
4. Actual test made by Mr. Ely Cansilao happened in mid June. So, in fairness, PLDT should actually give me a full one month rebate for the month of May, when PLDT's Data Center had serious technical problems!
5. I need rebates immediately since I already paid in advanced myDSL subscription for the month of May.

I also included Bandwidth Speed Test Result as of 2300 H 26 June 2006

• GlobeQuest Bandwidth Meter: 497.21280 kbps
• Bandwidth Speed Test: 347.2 kilobits per second
• Abeltronica: 626.16 kbps
• PLDT Play Bandwidth Test Results : 1.10 Mbps (I find this result very exaggerating as I was still getting the same speed like before except that PLDT meter showed I have faster connection.)

Friday, June 23, 2006

I was shocked when I received PLDT's latest Statement of Account.

Current charges include Php 3,095.07 for DSL and phone line; 1,156.12 for PLDT VIBE Pay per surf; 336.65 for NDD/IDD; plus, 550.54 for EVAT (12%). Total amount? Php 5,138.38!

Malen Ordoñez <customers@pldt.com.ph> told me earlier this month that she would call me as soon as she gets feedback from the person in charge of the billing for their recommendaton and approval. As of this writing, she doesn't call me yet.

In my latest PLDT Bill, just now I noticed PLDT already charged me in advanced for last month's myDSL PERSONAL covering May 07 - June 06, 2006 because I have to pay for June 07 - July 06, 2006!

Whew, how come they charge me in advance for a slow DSL broadband internet? Not to mention that unhappy PLDT DSL subscribers (like me) were complaining of NOT GETTING THE CORRECT BANDWIDTH SPEED we subscribed for. In fact, my DSL EXCEL Plan had been activated last month, May 9th, for 2048 kbps! YET, my agony started the same day they activated my account, I didn't have DSL access for almost the entire month and for this reason, a rebate is urgently sought so I can pay also for this month's bill!

But, instead of seeing the deductions reflected in this month's bill, I was surprised that I was also being charged additional amount of Php 1,294.85 for VIBE dialup pay per surf internet!

Malen Ordoñez, where is my rebates please???

Sunday, June 11, 2006

A certain Malen Ordoñez for PLDT Consumer Affairs Referral called me in the afternoon and assured me for an immediate attention and appropriate action against my complaint of slow PLDT DSL bandwidth speed as well as rebate and cancellation of Vibe dialup charges. After I blah blah blah to her all my heart out, I received this email from her, as part of my complaint that I didn't receive any formal notice of scheduled maintenance of whatsoever from their tech support informing me in advance that they will cut off their DSL service while maintenace is on-going:

"Per our telecon, we wish to inform you that we have already forwarded your DSL problem to the Division in-charge for their immediate attention and appropriate action. With regards to DSL rebate and cancellation of Vibe charges, we will forward your request to the person in charge for their recommendaton and approval. We shall advise you accordingly as soon as we receive their feedback."

The copy of this mail had been CC to ntc @ ntc.gov.ph and Grace Marietta G. LERIOS GMGLERIOS @ pldt.com.ph. I sent PLDT a complaint letter on the 25th of May 2006 at 13:26:58 and CC it to ntc @ ntc.gov.ph and imbestigador @ gmanetwork.com so the proper authorities will be informed, too, what kind of inconvenience I had been paying for a service I didn't get since they claimed they upgraded my DSL account to 2 mbps on May 19th. Since they upgraded my account on that day, their Deteriorating Subscriber's Line (DSL) supplied me 4 kbps bandwidth speed enough to login to their server but unable to do browsing nor retrieve my mails.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Paul Denise is back this evening from his vacation in my elder sister's house after I convinced him that DSL broadband internet speed had been restored since yesterday morning.

Speaking of DSL, I talked with a certain Jo when I called PLDT 171 Hotline early this morning, and I asked for rebates covering the period from May 19 up to June 1. I mentioned to her my sentiments about their lousy tech support service, the poor bandwidth speed I was getting after they upgraded my account, and the corrupt DSL staffs who allegedly were selling extra accounts and passwords to subscribers of Plan 999. She was surprised with what I said but I gave her the link of pinoydsl.com and find out for herself what other DSL subscribers were talking about the PLDT company she's working for. I also asked her what bandwidth I am supposed to get if my plan has been upgraded to 2 mbps. Ever since I subscribed for their DSL service two years ago, I had been getting 500 kbps and below. Now that they upgraded my account, the agony of 4 kbps bandwidth speed everyday for two weeks gave me and Randy hard time running skype and webcam. PLDT VIBE dialup internet helped me communicate with Randy, retrieved mails, and do some Blogshares thingy but, not Neopets. Also, I told her that we had lost some important calls because I disabled calling waiting to have continuous internet connection.

Anyway, Jojo was with Paul Denise when they arrived home. He sang few videoke songs while my boys played their R.O.S.E. (Rush On Seven Episodes) game. Mama and I were busy in the kitchen preparing dinner. She cooked pork adobo and I fried chicken tempura. The dinner was good and I feel better now that my son is back at home.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

I was upset when my Paul Denise wants to have two weeks vacation in Ate Neth's house after finishing his remedial class in Physics.

When I asked him why, he said he just want to spend time with his cousin, Jojo, who will leave to Saudi Arabia, along with his father, to work for a kind prince in the Palace. He packed some canned goods and clothes plus some cash. Paul Denise, like Randy, doesn't like to eat fish and mother used to cook fish and vegetables in Ate Neth's house.

Before Paul Denise left with Christine, his girl friend, I asked him again the reason why he wants to stay there in my sister's house. He said he cannot play R.O.S.E. (Rush On Seven Episodes) because we do not have DSL!

When I talked with Mama over the phone to check the condition of my son later in the evening, she told me a funny thing. She said, Jojo, in return, was bugging his mother so he can spend some days vacation here at home because he loves to do videoke before finally leaving for work... ahhhhh, kids!!!

Meanwhile, my problem with PLDT DSL continue... am still using dial up! I called PLDT 172 Hotline couple of times and reminded them that I was paying my bill on time and they do not have any reason to deny or delay the DSL service I subscribed with them. The evidence of inconvenience brought by this deteriorating subscriber line (DSL) was evident when my son, Paul Denise, left home!

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Randy and I had a great time trading in Blogshares due to uninterrupted DSL internet connections. I just wish PLDT DSL will give us now the right broadband speed based on our corresponding subscription plan although I was wondering why I haven't experienced yet the promised 2 mbps upgrade.

After Randy logged out in the afternoon, the kids, Tintin, and I attended the 5:00 o'clock afternoon mass at Our Lady of Hope Parish. Today is the Seventh Sunday of Easter, a celebration of the Ascension of the Lord and the 40th Feast Anniversary of Our Lady of Hope. Rev. Fr. Sonny Merida said the mass today. The First Reading was Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26 and Second Reading was 1 Jn 4:11-16.

When the mass ended, the kids and I went to the mall to watch X-Men but, when they started smelling the food from the different Fast Foods in the mall, we decided to eat in the Food Court located in the basement of the mall. I bought some from Bodhi Vegetarian Restaurant while the kids got their orders from Jollibee.

When we satisfied our hunger, we watched X-men, The Last Stand in Cinema 1. I never watch X-men and if kids didn't explained to me the previous stories of X-men, I will never understand what I was watching.

When the kids and I arrived home, we're disappointed that we didn't have DSL internet again.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

I logged in using dial up internet early in the morning so that Randy and I can recite the rosary online before our connections deteriorated due to more number of people coming online.

Curious what's going on with DSL subsribers, I googled PLDT DSL keyword and I found interesting links and stories. I also registered with PinoyDSL.Net this morning, a Philippine DSL Network Forum which is maintained by several DSL subsribers. The site is designed for Philippine DSL users and subscribers with the idea of helping fellow DSL users with DSL problems, questions and optimize its usage to the fullest SINCE my ISP, PLDT DSL, neglected their subscribers to provide uninterrupted broadband internet service.

Based on what other subscribers' experiences posted in the forum, accounts and passwords were sold by some PLDT DSL crews. It's alarming and made me worried that someone had been using my DSL account and password this is why my connection dropped to 4 kbps or was it the PLDT Data Center really had technical trouble with their network? Besides, I have doubts that the best skilled engineers had been deployed outside the country and the less skilled people are the ones working for local companies. Six days of no internet access means denial of service...

What's funny with the PLDT DSL ads, it says "At Rocket speeds, PLDT DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) gives you fast and reliable 'always-on' connectivity. Guess they should re-edit their site and rephrase rocket speed with zero speed. In fact, their 172 Hotline was busy all the time and I'm at lost whether to get a new DSL from Bayantel or stick with PLDT who failed to give me DSL broadband internet service for six days now? Rowela is waiting for my call so they can pick up the Application Form she sent last Monday through LBC.

Only in the Philippines this is happening... I sent a complaint through email addressed to NTC but, I was wondering whether they will consider it or just send my email to trash folder. Media is our last hope.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

My communication with Randy had been affected severely because of my ISP problem. I cannot even play in Blogshares and Neopets, too, and I had lost opportunity to gain some B$ and neopoints this evening.

PLDT DSL's hotline has been busy continually and I am at a loss on whether to get a new DSL service from Bayantel or stay with PLDT, even though they have failed to give me the service they promised for five days now. I already talked to the owner of the building. Since each unit was provided with a single phone line conduit, I will have to buy the telephone cable myself if I subscribe to another phone company, Bayantel. We already established our contact telephone number and we wouldn't give it up, just the DSL, if possible.

Meanwhile, Randy told me an alarming news before he logged out to work. He said that the Veterans Administration reported that one employee decided to take home a bunch of disks for a project he or she was working on and had them stolen in a home robbery. Randy was worried that all his personal informations, including security number, benifits, and credit card details will be stolen or sold.

And as soon as Randy logged out, my PLDT DSL broadband internet turned totally dead, and it affects nationwide subscribers now! Kids were bored and played PS2 games instead after I sang few karaoke songs.

Ah! Mother never told me there will be uneasy days like these...

Saturday, May 20, 2006

I used PLDT VIBE dialup internet early this morning to recite the rosary with Randy since we cannot talk well on SKYPE using my PLDT DSL broadband internet. Furious with interrupted chat with him, I called PLDT 171 and found out from Edna that my account has been upgraded yesterday morning up to 2 mbps EXACTLY the same time my internet agony started.

Based on my email transactions, I sent them three emails today at 8:43 AM, 12:48 PM, and 9:37 PM just to let them know I was on PLDT VIBE dialup internet because my DSL internet speed was only 4 kbps. I was sure that their Data Center made a mistake and they promised to send a technician to us tomorrow.

Ate Neth referred me to Rowela of Bayantel. Rowela said she will send me the Application Form for DSL internet. It will cost me PHP 1,999 for installation fee and PHP 3,000 monthly for both 1.5 mbps DSL internet and phone charges.

Randy was upset and had been wishing I could have the same speed of his internet as I had been complaining I couldn't do anything with the blogs' shares I held even I know someone was trying to slump its price before HTO. I cannot retrieve my emails, cannot run skype in the evening and I was wondering what's going on with PLDT DSL and how many subscribers are currently suffering like me.

Friday, April 21, 2006

I had a problem with myDSl connection and it prevented me to access my favorites sites. I sent them a complaint message.

We did breakfast and had eaten with the kids before meeting Rose and Fred to meet Riel and Save The Children staffs plus our (BlogShares) sponsored child, Sarah Alea.

Staffs of the Save The Children - Philippines Field Office.

After meeting the staffs and Riel briefed us about Save The Children. We then meet Sarah and her family who were waiting for us at McDonald's. Sarah's mother works as a fish vendor but, it is a really low paying job which is equivalent of 4 -5 dollars a day. Anyway, I learned a lot about the program by talking to some of the Save The Children workers and Sarah's family. Sarah didn't speak English so I translated the conversation to Randy.

Randy, me, and Sarah.

Sarah with her mother and sister.

We then went to a community center where they were teaching job skills with materials they have available. Randy felt really bad as this was an extremely poor area, but the folks at the center were working hard, and there were many volunteers there helping them out.

Tomorrow, we will be taking Sarah out on a shopping trip to a mall. We were thinking of school supplies but after I talked with Sarah, I guess we will be going to do grocery shopping instead, as Sarah prefers grocery items and rice for her family. As a rule, we are not allowed to give any cash donations to Sarah or her family.

Anyway, after that it was time for the long ride home. My left knee gave me so much pain. Somehow, it is really nice to finally put a real child in place of the picture and letters.

We're excited to take her and family out for shopping tomorrow...

Friday, April 07, 2006

Guess what? I believe I deserve a refund this month from Philippine Long Distance Telepnone Company (PLDT) for giving me a dialup internet speed for ten days now with myDSL personal subscription plan, at PHP 2500 per month!

This morning, I dialed 172 myDSL HOTLINE and Lloyd answered my call but, I asked for their supervisor instead. Belle accomodated my call and asked me to test my bandwidth speed under resources link on their PLDT PLAY website and I got this result:

When I told Belle the site was timing out, she asked me instead to check my bandwidth speed using their rival company website, GLOBE and fortunately, the site was running well and had given me this result... Ouch!

This is unbelievable. I got 77.68 kbps only!?! What shocked me most was PLDT myDSL tech support and linemen were using Globe website instead of their own. I was wondering whether GLOBE knows that a big company like PLDT was using their service...

Also, last February, if I wasn't mistaken, I didn't received my February Bill and I was surprised I received a disconnection notice last March! I barely noticed that I neglected paying my bill because my mind was too busy completing requirements on the three cases I filed with RTC.

Grrrrrr... I'm so lost what I should do about this lousy service. Am I going to get a refund for paying a DSL subscription but getting a dialup speed? How about the charges when I used PLDT VIBE when their internet was completely dead on April 2nd??? I was told they were upgrading their service last week but how they will explain that my bandwidth speed kept dropping as days passed by? Someone out there from PLDT must do something with my dissatisfaction, it's kind of annoying not to get a service what I'm paying for.

My internet is toooooooooo slowwwwwwww while blogging this entry.....

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

I had been enduring for couple of days now a very poor and intermittent DSL internet connections which affected my daily online activities.

PLDT myDSL lineman came here in the afternoon and checked the brand of DSL modem assigned to my account as their main office had difficulty communicating with my modem each time I complained of poor internet connection. I found out that they didn't updated their records when they replaced the old modem assigned to us.

Anyway, I conducted this Personal test from Bandwidth Speed Test and emailed the result at 4/4/2006 9:08 PM to PLDT MyDSL Customer Care <rbgdsl_helpdesk@pldt.com.ph> :

Speed:

189.9 kilobits per second
Communications 189.9 kilobits per second
Storage 23.2 kilobytes per second
1MB file download 44.2 seconds
Subjective rating Mediocre

Info:

Date & time Tuesday, April 4, 9:06 PM
Test type IDT4 Free
Connection type ADSL
Region Asia
Data size 1024KB

I have noticed that I have also a new IP address but I was wondering, I have three IP addresses instead of one, which Randy provided to me this evening...

Monday, March 20, 2006

After ten days of bad fall in the bath room, I had been enduring another knee pain but, this time, it was more painful than what I had in September 2005. I had that previous knee injury from doing my workout while this time, it is from the fall and prolonged sitting in front of the computer!

I was feeling guilty for having an inactive lifestyle. Even if I want to do my workout, there's always a valid reason prevented me to do it, just like this time. When I was doing my workout last year, I developed some skin allergies in my thighs and my skin became sensitive from the tights I used for my workout. Now that I want to tone muscles and shape up a little bit, here comes the knee injury.

While I know lack of regular exercise and walking habits probably made my knees weaker, going out for a walk or window shopping is not my cup of tea. The Web MD's Coping With Knee Pain link Randy provided me gives me enlightenment how to deal with knee injury at home!

Meanwhile, while blogging this entry, PLDT messenger buzzed my unit and asked me to go down to get the bill. Daughter and I waved him to go up but, he shouted, "Why you didn't like to go down?"

Furious, I went downstairs limping and I whispered to him, "I have left knee injury this is why I cannot go down." Then he presented me the bill and I acknowledged the mail. He gave me my copy after tearing the attached note i signed. Puzzled, I asked what is that for and he told me it was a disconnection notice!

In my anger, I didn't know how I went upstairs. I hurriedly checked my check book but, there was no payment made last month. I remember paying some bills in cash last month to beat their due dates. And what gets to my nerve? The demand letter was delivered late too. I have to pay my telphone and DSL today or get service interruption! I have something to complain again with the owner of the building. Their maintenance boys were lazy to deliver the mails to the right unit.

Guess I have severe headache now than knee injury.... (mother never told me there will be days like this... gasp...)!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Dealing with lawyers and staying outside most of the time caused so much inconveniences without a gadget to use to call the kids home. So, I decided to buy an affordable cellphone, N 6630. I like its size, very similar with my stolen N 3660.

Meanwhile, the pickpocket who stole my cellphone was still using my SIM number and we traced the thief roaming around Apalit, Pampanga area.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Who said that Friday, the 13th is an unlucky day and causes fear ((known as paraskevidekatriaphobia)? When I woke up this morning, I was happy to find out that water service is finally restored contrary to what I was told few days back when I called 1626!

On the lighter side, I got this e-mail from Jan Campbell:

"Eleven people were hanging on a rope under a helicopter, ten men and one woman. The rope was not strong enough to carry them all, so they decided that one had to leave, because otherwise they were all going to fall."

"They weren't able to name that person, until the woman gave a very touching speech. She said that she would voluntarily let go of the rope, because, as a woman, she was used to giving up everything for her husband and kids, or for men in general, and was used to always making sacrifices with little in return. As soon as she finished her speech, all men started clapping their hands..."

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Low water pressure is now being experienced in our area and I had been busy fetching water since yesterday afternoon filling up every container available. Starting tonight, most parts of Metro Manila will be waterless until midnight of Saturday due to replacement of MWSS Aqueduct located in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

To know schedule of water rationing in Metro Manila, call 1626 or 09187001626.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

My agony started between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm on Thursday, October 27th, when our phone line and DSL internet had been totally dead.

My son spotted downstairs that Bayantel contractor, plate no. WAV 991, was working on installation of a Bayantel phone line in Unit G of the building. Paul Denise went downstairs to notify them that we didn't have phone line and they might accidentally loosened our connection, just like what happened on June 29th this year! But, as soon as they completed their job, they ran away without fixing our disrupted phone line and DSL internet services.

Friday morning, past 7:00 a.m., I called Tel. no. 4121212 (trunk line of Bayantel) from the unit of Mr. Fernandez, who is a Bayantel subscriber. I spoke with Vangie Oliero. I informed her the inconvenience their contractor have caused us yet, she insisted that it should be PLDT, my phone line company, who to address my complaints. Disgusted, I told her it wasn't the first time it happened with us and I won't tolerate that inconvenience over and over again whenever their contractor is installing a phone line in the building. She asked for plate number of their contractor but I told my sister, who is a pioneer Bayantel subscriber, to call Vangie and tell her my complete name, address, and the plate number of their contractor.

Friday afternoon, I went to PLDT office in Cyberzone, SM North, and informed their Customer Service clerk about my discovery that PLDT phone box assigned to me was unlocked and tampered: It's name, PLDT property (plus my bldg unit) were erased! It took me about an hour telling her my blah blah experience and I requested that I will be given a new phone box which I can put a lock on it and a new phone cable to make sure my phone line wouldn't be tapped. She told me that since all linemen were out in the field already, she will make sure I will be attended to early morning of the next day. And so, Tintin and I left the office but with unexpected expenses I made bothered me. I already bought two PHP300 Smart Buddy load and spent so much calls in my mobile, paid internet access in cyber cafe, and we're forced to go out of the house just to let them know about our phone line technical problem, not to mention I talked with a lot of people asking them to do things for me and call the attention of 173 PLDT repair service and 172375 for DSL.

And finally, this morning, PLDT lineman came and we found out my phone box had been stolen/used, and my line was hanging in the air! HUH? I couldn't believe what I saw. The lineman had to repeat five times explaining to me what actually happened with my phone line. Grrrr... a Bayantel line was installed in my phone box! He then took a ladder and made a new connection using a black box which is secured with a screw. Someone has to use a ladder to tamper my phone line again! We then removed the existing Bayantel cable installed in PLDT box before detaching it off the wall. I need it as evidence and took it with me upstairs and showed it to all people who were aware that we didn't have phone line due to the recent Bayantel installation in the building.

PLDT lineman: Main phone line had been cut-off. The line connected to the box isn't yours!

I then called Vangie Oliero (Bayantel operator), and informed her about my stolen phone box! I advised her, for Bayantel's sake, to change their contractor who was stealing PLDT boxes. If they want a box, they should have told me and I will donate one, no need to cut off my phone line and DSL.

Whoever is this Bayantel subscriber who will complain of dead phone line either today or tomorrow remains to be seen but, I will be closely watching anyone who will come near our building a vehicle with adjustable ladder.

How we found out the line installed in the stolen PLDT phone box wasn't mine? PLDT lineman clipped his handy phone into the installed wires (in the box), dialed my phone number, and he told me my line was ringing!

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Half- awake, I asked daughter to enter PIN code to lock IDD access while she's turning on PC this morning. She always received invalid error messages and I decided to request from 171 to reset our old PIN number to default when all of a sudden, our telephone line was dead and so was DSL!

I paused for a moment and jumped out of bed. I yelled while running to the balcony. I was right, I saw a man checking the telephone boxes downstairs. Without thinking, I grabbed my cellphone and went downstairs. I crossed the street and took this photo. To my surprise, daughter followed me and courageously taken a close-up shot of this man in the picture. We found out later that this guy was BayanTel's lineman upon his supervisor's clarification.

After thorough arguments why our telephone went dead, the BayanTel field supervisor asked my permission to open the telephone box which was locked by PLDT lineman yesterday. Voila! He detected our telephone line was active yet my daughter was yelling from the fourth floor that our telephone line remained dead. I stared at the lineman sharply. He stood firmly he didn't touch anything.

Then, the supervisor offered to check our telephone line upstair and found out it was really dead, he went down and inspect the wire connection from the box to the building. I was watching from the balcony when daughter shouted the line was restored. Damn! The stupid lineman caused the problem. The supervisor has to use a ladder to fix the loose connection.

Glad my intuition tells me to go out and check, otherwise, I won't have DSL and telephone today. PLDT often takes 2-3 days to respond to service request... by the way, DSL is running perfectly today!

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

After wiretapping discovery this morning and old modem had been replaced, I still do not have DSL internet access since 5:00 o'clock this afternoon. I have to connect using VIBE, PLDT's dialup internet, to access the net but, my usual online activities cannot be carried out due to very slow connection.

I have been enduring these inconveniences for the last ten days now. I called 172375 but their line was either busy or dead. I already sent two emails but never receive any replies from their technical staffs. MyDSL PLDT is a big company yet they gave poor service when it comes to internet.

Gone were the days Infocom handled my technical inquiries in real time when we were still in Parañaque City.

EEKKKK! Someone wiretapped us!

Since ten days ago, I was complaining with myDSL PLDT tech support about our intermittent internet connection. From morning until late evening, we couldn't complete any file download and caused me a lot of NP loses when playing Pawkeet slots.

My agony ends today (I hope) when they sent their lineman to check the quality of my telephone line. I asked him to wait an hour until I fired my plushie workers and read some mails. And, guess what he discovered? Someone wiretapped our main telephone box and hooked another telephone wire leading to the same building where we live!

My greatest concern now is, what if they made a lot of overseas call using my telephone line? Oh! God... why there are people like them exist?

Friday, April 08, 2005

For the record, I sent PLDT Customer Support this message last night:

Subject: SLOW CONNECTION
From: Laila*
Date: 4/7/2005 9:38 PM
To: PLDT Customer Care <customercare@pldtdsl.net>

I wonder why my connection is slower than dialup the whole day today? May I know what is going on? Your Hotline 172375 was too busy to accomodate calls.

I didn't like to think we, subscribers, were denied with 24/7 Technical Support...

Please reply.

Laila*

For which I received a reply this morning:

Dear Ms. Laila*,

This acknowledges your message regarding your MyDSL connection.

First, we apologize for the inconvenience you encountered in the use of our service and for having a hard time getting through our hotline. To date, we would like to inform you that we have forwarded the problem to the concerned group. Rest assured that this will be handled accordingly and will be given attention. Our team from rbgdsl_helpdesk@pldt.com.ph will update you anytime for any feedback on the problem you elevated to us.

Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention.

Respectfully yours,

Ms. BheLLe RaNCe OrDOña

PLDT Customer Care

Monday, March 28, 2005

Each time there is DSL internet service interruption and there is no way to connect to the internet nor inform PLDT DSL technical people that I didn't have internet access by calling their busy 172375 direct line, I couldn't help but feel they were cheating all their subscribers by not providing a 24/7 Technical Assistance. Any ISPs nationwide provide Technical Support, be it post-paid or prepaid internet. Only PLDT DSL breaks this protocol. What's worst, they won't e-mail us the reason why the sudden service interruption occurred.

And I am not really happy about this. Infocom handled 24/7 Technical problems before satisfactorily. Why PLDT had taken over Infocom Technical Support and 173 was accessible only during working hours. While 172375 is now available, we couldn't get through this hotline number whenever we had internet interruption problems. Even their website was inaccessible. How can I log a complaint ticket?

Also, I feel we were deceived with a promise of improved bandwidth speed instead of reducing broadband rates. I cannot express well how disappointed I am right now.

Can you imagine how it feels like to blog using a dial-up?

Thursday, August 05, 2004

I received a call for three consecutive days now from PLDT telemarketing that they have a Mega Bundle Promo which includes caller ID, call-waiting, call-forwarding, and three-way party conference features for only PHP 99.00 a month.

These features were requested with telephone line application form I submitted earlier but, when our telephone line was installed, all we had was basic feature and no IDD/NDD either. When I asked them when my caller ID will be activated, I remember they told me to buy a telephone unit first with caller ID feature but, I told them I had two units purchased sometime in October last year. Surpringly, they want me to register the unit at their nearest PLDT branch since they said both unit was not under my name! Well, what's the difference if the telephone unit was under the name of my daughter? We bought the units last year because of their promotional offer wherein they slashed 40% OFF its original price.

Anyway, I was too busy to think about PLDT promos as my things are crowding my room. Didn't know where to place the 5 Balik Bayan boxes full of my travelling clothes, coats, and lingeries: these boxes make my room ugly.

Friday, June 04, 2004

At last, i"m blogging using myDSL internet connection. Two linemen working on the activation of my account rehabilitated PLDT cable outside the building. They said it was grounded and kind of old cable type, they have replaced it. They started working on it as early as 10 in the morning and left after an hour when they couldn't login my account and password successfully. When they came back at 4:35 in the afternoon, just then we were able to use myDSL internet connection.

Fortunately, my eldest son was online because it was his day-off today. However, my daughter was the one who typed the messages for me since I was busy sewing the lace curtain.

Now that Sweety has to complete her books before the school opening on June 14th, I'm happy that we can freely leave the house without worrying about missing anything while we're away from home...