No Such Thing As Too Much Speed (Globe vs Smart LTE)

When I got my Xperia Tablet Z, it was specifically to load it up with an LTE SIM so I wouldn't have to tether it off my phone anymore. As useful as it was, tethering is just a waste of battery life.

There are 2 major telcos in the Philippines, Smart and Globe. I've been a Globe subscriber ever since and can't switch because of archaic Philippine policies on number portability (namely there is none). But since this is a data-only need, I could easily get a second SIM for my data needs on the device I use more often.

Upgrading my Globe line for LTE was quite easy, a quick visit to a Globe center and Php20 to upgrade the physical SIM to their LTE SIM and an hour later, I was online again.

I did an initial Speedtest in Fort Bonifacio Global City just to check things out.

Not too bad. Nothing great for LTE. At 7.35Mbps DL that's about the same as 3G speeds in Singapore. I'm still satisfied. And it didn't cost me anything extra over the Php20 SIM anyway, so it is worth the upgrade.

This was just a preliminary Speedtest. And since this is cellular tech, signal quality and speed will change DRASTICALLY with position and location.

Simply moving my tablet closer to one side of the window increases speed. So YMMV.

Now, my Smart SIM took longer. They were out of stock in 3 Smart Centers that I went to. But thanks to a friend in the company, I got one a few days later. And now the test. Test was done from the same area, looking for the best LTE signal strength.

Both tests were done while connected to each provider's respective servers so they do not reflect actual usage, but rather local loop speeds only. I used my tablet for both tests.

But so far, at 2x the download speed and nearly 4x the upload speed, Smart is the clear winner hands down.

Cost? Both providers currently offer LTE at Php995/30 days, currently no data cap as an introductory offer but hopefully both will keep it this way.