Smart's "Unlimited" Data Plan

Smart Communications started offering their Smart Gold Data Plan months four months ago. The plans combine unlimited data services with voice and SMS usage in one plan.

Billing issues. At the outset, despite the plan being a "unlimited" data plan, users have been billed for additional data charges under the standard rate of Php10 for 30 minutes for other postpaid and pre-paid plans. I myself have had the same problem, and the solution of many seems to be to seek a bill reversal. I have ask for a clarification of the "permitted" uses two weeks ago but to date have not yet received a definite response. Customer Service Representatives at the SMART Wireless Centers are unable to clarify the billing issues, and are awaiting the response from the head office. So at the present time, it is hard to determine how "unlimited" in terms of data this plan is. With that caveat, we will give our review of the service. 

Mobile phone date plan. One of the biggest objections to this plan is the 1.5GB data limit per month, after which Smart can slow down your connection. Granted 1.5GB per month is not a lot for a regular internet connection and another thing that should be stressed, using this plan as a modem for a laptop is not permitted. If that is what you need look elsewhere. But the 1.5GB  is more than enough for a smartphone data connection. 

In their review of the HTC Desire Z, techie.com.ph stated  "it’s an utter waste investing on a smartphone above P25,000 if you don’t subscribe to a data plan to maximize its features." In this review we want to examine this proposition.

Three years ago, internet on the mobile phone revolved around the web browser and voice over internet protocol (VOIP). The plans available offering time based internet access in 15 or 30 minute blocks were designed around this paradigm. If your purpose in availing of a data plan is internet surfing using a web browser or VOIP over Skype, you are better off with a time based plan. Watching a low resolution (360p) video on YouTube can consume over 5MB's in 1 minute. Making video calls over Skype result in large amounts of data consumption. For that type of use, your 1.5GB allocation can be consumed in just a few hours.

In addition, mobile internet services are dependent on many factors, but the main one is location. 3G data is transmitted using Near Line of Sight Technology. A tree or wall could seriously degrade the connection speed which could result in a lot of waiting heavy data use simply not feasible on a mobile internet connection. 

Today, internet on the mobile phone revolved no longer revolved around the web browser. Dedicated applications for accessing email, social networking sites, news, weather and other information can allow you to obtain the same information you would using a web browser at a fraction of the data usage. Data retrieval can also be automated so that it can be ready for you when you decide to look at it, and not have to retrieve the data on demand. 

Basically, it is a good plan which makes a smartphone a smartphone. But until the billing issues are resolved, it is really just one big head-ache. 


March 2011 update. Thanks to the help of Smart Communications Customer Service and Technical the problem of additional billing appears to be limited to using two applications: (1) the Opera Mini Browser and (2) Microsoft Active Sync based email clients. The Opera Mini browser is not the default browser on any modern smartphone, though it is useful since it reduces data usage. But I can live without it. On Android phones, the Microsoft Active Sync based email client is just the secondary email client so not being able to use it is not a deal breaker. Other than these two applications, I have been able to use all other Android applications without any problems. 


April 2011 update. For the most part every is fine. For the second month I got charged Php20 for 30 minute web browsing charges, and Php45 for the third month for web browsing (Php30) and video streaming (Php15). The amount is to small for we to bother complaining about. Am pretty sure the charges this month came from the YouTube application and widget. I do not use this one my phone, but it was updated last month so I tried out what the new app looked like. I am not sure if I did this on 3G or WiFi, but I have no other video streaming apps on my phone.


Best advice, if you get this plan and do not want to incur additional data charges do not use (1) the Opera Mini Browser, (2) Microsoft Active Sync based email clients and (3) YouTube or any other video streaming clients. I am still trying to get a clarification, especially since Smart banner does have the YouTube icon prominently displayed.