LIVID
This is me, livid. You can tell I am thermonuclear with rage because I am smiling but my teeth are not showing. If my teeth are showing, it is a real smile. This smile says, “I am going to dismember you and feed the chunks to your children.” Yes, I am going to go Titus Andronicus on your ass, and I don’t care that you don’t know what a Titus Andronicus is.
I am catatonic with fury because not only has my schedule been disrupted by my futile attempts in the last 12 hours to connect to the Internet using a prepaid Globe Tattoo portable broadband gadget, but a total of P430 which I loaded onto the Globe Tattoo prepaid SIM has disappeared into the ether. Which leads to the inescapable conclusion: GLOBE TATTOO PREPAID IS A WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP.
I had intended to review the Globe Tattoo Prepaid in my Gadgets column on Sunday, but blogging is faster and I do not have to wait three days to say that GLOBE TATTOO PREPAID IS A WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP. Do I sound unnaturally calm? I always sound too calm when I am incensed, my voice drops an octave, and I talk twice as fast as I usually do, which is FAST. Unlike the slow, inefficient, unreliable, and now thieving GLOBE TATTOO PREPAID, A WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP.
From the time I acquired a mobile phone five years ago I have been a postpaid subscriber. This is my first experience with a prepaid SIM, and I say to you prepaid mobile users: You’re getting screwed. We postpaid subscribers don’t get billed until we’ve used the service, and if the service fails we do not get charged. You have to pay before you get the service, and if you don’t get the service, the provider is not compelled to address the problem because hey, they’ve already taken your money. Whoopee-doo.
Consider this little experiment. The SIM of the GLOBE TATTOO PREPAID, THAT USELESS PIECE OF CRAP, could connect to the Internet easily enough, but its speed did not exceed 2 kbps. The unit still had a load of P100, which I know because I saved all the confirmation texts and balance reports. On the chance that the prepaid SIM was damaged, I took it out and replaced it with the postpaid SIM from my phone. Holy Cannoli, it worked perfectly. It achieved speeds I never knew were possible on GLOBE TATTOO PREPAID, THAT USELESS PIECE OF CRAP. Hmmm. Postpaid, fast. Prepaid, so slow as to be nonexistent. Draw your conclusion.
I know how these problems are always solved. You complain to someone you know high up in the Globe hierarchy, and the problem goes away. It is as if the problem never occurred, everyone is charming, and Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala will say, “Hey, how about that new Stieg Larsson book.” Guess what, I am not calling the overlords. This is not about friendship. Globe, you’re going to deal with me as a consumer. A very loud consumer. I blog every single day, and I enjoy it. For starters, explain to me how the balance on my GLOBE TATTOO PREPAID, THAT USELESS PIECE OF CRAP, can go from P308 to P142 in 12 minutes of surfing at 0.00 kbps, and where the P100 from last night went. Now.
This entry was NOT POSTED USING A GLOBE TATTOO PREPAID because GLOBE TATTOO PREPAID IS A USELESS PIECE OF CRAP.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
October 15th, 2009 at 16:26
had the same experience with the globe tattoo prepaid. at first it was working wonders at home, but the last few days were a total waste of time trying to figure out why it wouldn’t connect. naubos na lahat ng load ko kaka-connect. akala ko nasira. thanks for the info, jessica.
October 15th, 2009 at 17:11
Choosing between Globe, Sun, and Smart had been my dilemma for the past few days. My assessment: Globe–cheap, rumored to be slow, average network coverage; Sun–expensive, said to be the fastest of the three, coverage great in the metro only; Smart–average-priced, average in speed, most extensive network coverage.
I went for Smart. Just bought the USB modem this afternoon. I’m using it now and I can say that the speed is okay, though I’m sure it can be better elsewhere.
October 15th, 2009 at 18:00
I am familiar with the lividness. I took no trouble to try using globe tattoo prepaid to know that it sucks. But I’ve once used the other one, that Smart Bro, which goes without saying A WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP too. I’d my good share of similar experience as you ranted above. I was robbed of my money and I am very poor. So I just keep the sucker to gather dust somewhere, wait for some good inspiration to do something out of it to get my revenge, and stick to my DSL since then. Those guys in Globe Tattoo and Smart Bro should be hanged! Or burned! WHichever hurts nicely.
October 15th, 2009 at 18:21
I won’t even calm you down.
Good thing Globe’s “business” is now heard by someone with a voice.
It’s not only THAT USELESS PIECE OF CRAP that is useless. Globe Prepaid in general has a ruthless scheme in getting millions from the users’ loads.
By the way, though Sun has some problems with signal – I am now using Sun’s postpaid SIM and broadband. Their broadband is way better than Globe and Smart combined.
Back when I was stupid enough to be a Globe prepaid subscriber, I’d put Php300 load good for two months since I don’t frequently send out SMS. But the load would just disappear. Globe will get about a peso a day to each subscriber. I learned this since some of my friends complained the same thing. The subscriber couldn’t care less for a peso. But imagine how much they steal everyday (I dunno the total number of their subscribers). And they’re doing that every single day.
I was able to try the Globe broadband before, as well. The mere checking of email took me more than 30 minutes, and I am not even exaggerating.
October 15th, 2009 at 18:44
OMG! I had the same experience with Globe prepaid tattoo too! I thought the reason was Globe’s signal was weak in my room but come to think of it my pre-paid Globe cellphone was working fine. And yes, credits disappeared even when I haven’t even opened a single webpage! Thanks for writing about this JZ!
October 15th, 2009 at 19:52
Instead of the Tattoo, I am using Globe’s Prepaid Visibility. I could connect to the internet at say 4kbp, but that’s not enough to open a webpage and would frequently get a “You’re not connected to the Internet” message.” I thought I had simply ran out of load credits, but when I checked, there was over Php200 there.
This happens fairly regularly. It’s not just the signal then. But I’ve heard that Tattoo is much much worse.
October 15th, 2009 at 22:36
I’ve noticed that with 300-peso load, the connection is ok…but when it reaches 100 pesos the connection slows down significantly. I reckon 100 pesos is the “critical level” which prompts you to top up, even though 100 pesos should still give you 5 hours of crappy internet connection. This happens to regular folks like us, and we complain about it and nothing happens. Wait ’till a senator or a vice president is victimized….
October 15th, 2009 at 22:57
i have smartbro, and i bought mine when it still costed more than 3k.
it’s so useless i dont use it anymore.
all of my friends are using sun, and i think it’s the best among the 3.
the connection is not good in some areas, but at least you dont have to worry about your load disappearing.
October 16th, 2009 at 00:18
Pretty much any ISP service nowadays with the word “prepaid” sucks. I’m using a globe prepaid sim for my phone and it sucks. I’m using a prepaid smartbro usb and it also sucks (same as your globe tattoo). 90% of the telecoms’ business comes from prepaid subscribers but they prioritize more, servicewise the 10% postpaid subscribers. Why? Coz the one’s using the prepaid services are the masses while most of the postpaid “gold” “platinum” etc. accounts are the elite. They even have a separate customer service call center who handles prepaid and postpaid accounts and I tried calling both coz I also have a postpaid account and let me say this “mamumuti na ang mata mo sa kaantay ng action from them pero if you are a prepaid subscriber naku magsasawa ka sa kakaantay.” If you are a postpaid subscriber, it is easier to have your complaints taken care of. I AM JUST FRUSTRATED WITH THE SERVICES OF ALL THE MAJOR SERVICE PROVIDERS, BUT THE PROBLEM IS I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO AVAIL OF THEIR SERVICES BECAUSE THERE IS NO OTHER ALTERNATIVE!
October 16th, 2009 at 01:32
I don’t really have a first hand experience with Globe Tattoo, but a friend of mine from Davao has exactly the same experience as yours. She bought Globe Tattoo in the middle of last month and she was frequently disconnected and connection was very slow. Then she tried her Globe postpaid sim and her connection was continuous and fast.
October 16th, 2009 at 05:57
I have a relative working at Globe who advised me NOT to patronize their Tattoo or Visibility Kits because they are WORTHLESS PIECES OF CRAP.
I’ve been using Sun Wireless Broadband for months now and never had connection problems here in QC…until Ondoy (and they admited the tehnical problem when I called their helpdesk; they even profusely apologized). It was solved over the weekend. The downside to Sun though is you can only use this around the Metro.
THIS COMMENT IS POSTED USING SUN WIRELESS BROADBAND :D
October 16th, 2009 at 08:19
when my ordinary DSL fails, I use my phone to connect my PC to the internet, via bluebooth. Just install the Nokia PC Suite software and turn on both your PC’s and phone’s bluetooth devices, click the ‘connect to the internet’ option on the PC Suite and you’re on your way. For Smart, I think the charge is still 10 pesos per 30 minutes, block time, whether you’re on post or pre-paid.
Great when you’re inside the coffee shop and you’re not willing to pay 100 bucks an hour for wi-fi access.
The downside is that it eats up your phone’s battery power. So have a charger ready.
October 16th, 2009 at 08:50
Here’s a possible explanation on how you lost all those prepaid credits. Unlike Smart Bro and Sun, Globe Tattoo has P5-per-15-min-block charging. So each time you connect, if it’s NOT within 15 minutes since you last started a connection (and regardless if it’s slow or if you cannot browse at all), you AUTOMATICALLY lose P5. So if you attempted connecting many times within that 12 hours, even if it totaled to only 12 minutes of (slow, intermittent or useless) connectivity, losing P100+ is technically possible and unfortunately within the terms of use.
And that is why GLOBE TATTOO PREPAID IS A USELESS PIECE OF CRAP.
October 16th, 2009 at 09:40
I’m using Globe’s Prepaid Visibility. When I replaced the SIM with the SIM from my phone (prepaid also-with P500 load), it works, but, no visible change in browsing speed- it is as slow as snail. I can’t browse Youtube! But there’s a connection ha? After several minutes, I inquire for my load balance and – nak ng suso- zero balance na! A girl from Globe Customer Service said that there’s are 2 browsing preference: 1) time-based charging (P5 per 15 mins.) and 2)per kb charging (default setting-Php0.25 per KB!!!) in SIM. I, also, just don’t get where on hell my money (load) go…
October 16th, 2009 at 10:43
Got my Tattoo free with a laptop I purchased. I agree, it’s intolerably slow, to the point of uselessness. I can’t speak about load; I haven’t even consumed the PhP600 it came free with because every time I try to use it, it takes forever to initiate/engage/whatever it does to log on to the network, I end up walking to somewhere with free Wi-Fi..
October 16th, 2009 at 15:20
Maintain the rage, Jessica. The disaffected (and disconnected) masses are right behind you. We want to see you storm the gates of Globe and ransack their corporate dignity. I don’t have any way to work the fact that GLOBE TATTOO PREPAID IS A WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP into my comment, but I don’t want to be left behind. So there you go. Soon your site will be number one on Google for people searching for Globe and crap. Be prepared for an influx of strange visitors.
October 16th, 2009 at 15:23
have you, pray tell, checked your post-paid bill lately? please do. i’ve had the same shitty experience with their pre-paid SIM in that WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP that i had to experiment using my post-paid.
a friend warned me to check the post-paid charges and boy, i was charged a whopping P13,000 plus after having been browsing (using post-paid) for an hour or so!!! turned out i was on a per KB charge, and was told only later that i should’ve registered the damn post-paid SIM to time-based browsing. CRAP. it’s shady; you’d only learn of this discrepancy after having paid dearly for the experience.
thanks for giving us a voice, JZ! kalampagin natin sila!
October 16th, 2009 at 15:24
Actually, an excerpt from your blog on the PinoyExchange forums already comes up as number four when you search ‘Globe crap’. (http://www.google.com.au/webhp?hl=en#hl=en&source=hp&q=Globe+crap&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=Globe+crap&fp=2b6a54a9ce7131a8 )
You’ve hit the big time.
October 16th, 2009 at 15:38
same experience here. prepaid phone services sucks!
October 20th, 2009 at 09:19
binebenta mo ba ung globe tattoo mo?interesado sana ako bilhin
June 17th, 2010 at 16:40
I had to say I agree with Jessica, actually I also encounter that with my smart prepaid sim. Lets us say I reload P100 then suddenly or after hours of not texting or doing anything my load turns to P45. Sad to say I had experienced it many times. I would want to share My experience with Globe broadband DSL kindly check it out.
July 9th, 2010 at 09:12
I totally agree as well. I was using supersurf220 for a few hours and then the internet connection just stopped. That was in July 6, 2010. Up until now I don’t have any internet connection.
I was asking for help from @talk2GLOBE. At the end all they had to say was sorry and we won’t be giving you a refund.
Someone should put a stop to that kind of BS.
August 31st, 2010 at 16:20
Globe Tattoo prepaid vanishing load scam is still active. In fact I tried it last week and have proven it to Globe that their company is eating up my load. If you don’t complain, I doubt if they will refund the money. Can you imagine the money they make if this happens to their prepaid customers and if theoretically no one complains and if , again theoretically, Globe does not refund the lost credits?