Hi.
Can anyone tell me the availability of broadband in Pangasinan(Dagupan area),La union ( San Fernando,San Juan).
My wife lives in Urbiztondo,Pangasinan.and it is very slow,if ,and when there is a service!

Dear Roger the Dodger,
sold our beach house to a French guy and Filipino wife from Pampanga who used the new Globe "Wimax" broadband, 4G. The speed is fast and reliable. He brought 2 of the "towers" with him to Batangas and it works here too.
The cheapest setup is 750 pesos a month you can get a refund after 30 days if not satisfied. Give it a try.

Hi sunny,
many thanks.
I have been reading a lot of queries about getting pensions(U.K.) paid to the Phils.
I intend to keep my U.K.bank account, when I finally make the permanent move over there.
I find western union, is the quickest method to transfer money.
It costs a bit, but at least one can pick it up, without involving going to a possibly inconvenient ATM or bank to draw some Pesos.
My account with them, lets me send money, so that it is immediately available there.
regards and salamat
Roger

Roger,
Well worth your efforts to set up a sterling account with a major Philippine bank that has a branch in the UK. Much easier to do whilst you are there and with a UK address.
We like BPI and it has a branch in London, BPI Europe. Good online access and they have a priority lane for "Preferred clients" in the PI that gives you no queueing.
The BPI master cards work for on-line purchases in the UK and the Philippine branch actually ring you and confirm the purchase....

.....when you move over permanently bring some soup spoons because they are not available here and noodles/soup meals take ages with desert spoons

Ya and you should try with chopsticks.

I tried the Wimax when I was in Pampanga - in my experience it was very lagging and kept disconnecting. Very frustrating but more so when you complain to seek refund they make you jump through so many hoops to make you drop it.

wow, okay a bad experience. Very different from our buyer of the beach house who came from Pamapanga with 2 "towers" and spoke of his pleasure with the equipment. He did say that he needed to mount the external aerial on a mast and the positioning had to be critical.
At our beach house he just dropped the 2 towers on the floor and got good results......luckily for us or he wouldn't have got the place!
My position up the road is not ideal and I don't have the full speed but what I have is so much better than my previous Smart Bro.
There are more competitors now for high speed internet and so it should only get better

Sunnydays
Like you we found globe much better than smart, thier customer service is far better too..... although on some occasions it is a bit laggy but then so is NZ

Hi,

I live in a very remote barrio in Leyte where broadband wired or wireless is non existent. I used to travel to the nearest town to read/check my emails. A year ago, I got my long range Wi-Fi setup and running. I got a DSL connection in town put up antennas on both sites. I even expanded my area coverage and now selling bandwidth to some foreigners/locals living in the area. Just let me know if you want help in setting up one for you.