Smart Evolution takes the surfing experience to the next level

Imagine viewing a streaming video of the NBA finals live -- without buffering. Or think of videoconferencing that doesn't suffer from lag. What about playing DOTA AllStars online where all the action happens in real time, not seconds after you've clicked. Now imagine the surprise of four bloggers when they saw this for themselves!

 

As summer rolled in around April, SMART Communications Inc introduced the fastest 4G network to hundreds enjoying the hot sun, white sands and blue waters of Boracay. Dubbed the SMART Evolution, the LTE (Long Term Evolution) network wowed many with speeds exceeding 50Mbps, peaking at 75Mbps. Everyone was amazed. 

 

Recently, SMART invited four more bloggers to experience LTE first hand, for the very first time. They’ve all heard of LTE as a technology that delivers data at scorching rates. They know that LTE is an entirely new technology and not a mere upgrade of any existing system, hence an evolution. But now, a weekend in Boracay would make it tangible and real. The promise of taking the user experience to the next level was finally within grasp. 

 

Here’s what they had to say.

 

“I got spoiled. And I never wanted to leave again. I could load any Facebook page and YouTube video instantly. I could open any site within a second. So I got more time to socialize and hit the beach. Fast Internet to get some work done quickly then the beach when you’re done? Sounds like heaven on earth to me,” Dodge Ronquillo of Unbox.ph and NewMedia.com.ph said on his blog. 

 

For Hannah Villasis of FlairCandy.com, she ran out of new videos to stream online. “I was testing the SMART LTE dongle indoors and it only gave me 25 Mbps but I was already WOW-ed by the super fast streaming speed as I was watching HD videos over the Internet. It didn’t take us quite a while to test the broadband because everything happened so fast, I was running out of videos to watch,” she wrote.

 

Dodge compared the usual internet speed that he is used to back in Manila and LTE’s speed. “The average Internet speed in the metro is 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps if you’re lucky. SMART Evolution’s speed went as high as 45 Mbps during our test when directly connected to the source, and as low as 14 Mbps when we were using the LTE dongle at a place with 50% signal strength!”

 

Sportscaster Patricia Bermudez-Hizon, who watched a documentary on Vimeo in full HD, tweeted that “with the speed of SMART LTE, it’s like watching on TV! Zero buffering! It’s so fast! It’s really awesome! ”

 

IronWulf.net’s Ferdinand Decena relates that he never surfed on his laptop with as much speed. “I usually have different tabs open while loading regular pages. With LTE speed, I found the pages almost fully loaded already before I could open a new tab. Now this is a cure for my surfing ADHD,” he blogged.

 

Still not convinced? How about this: “Let’s put it this way, I played a 1 hour and 35 minute 1080p HP YouTube video on full screen. It only buffered for three seconds and I never had to pause it but the buffer just kept on growing and growing, until I didn’t have time to finish the video because we had to go,” Dodge said.

 

But their time on the island was not only spent online on laptops. Bloggers also enjoyed the fun activities that the island could offer like Paraw Sailing and its usual servings of great all-night partying. 

It was an extraordinary weekend for everyone. And on this island that inspires memorable summer moments, another adds to the list of unforgettable events – the Smart Evolution experience. 

 

According to SMART Chief Wireless Advisor Orlando B. Vea, SMART Evolution will be reaching other cities and provinces in the country where the demand for fast data is high. “It represents a revolution in technology that bears the consumers in mind and the ways to help them live their lives extraordinarily well,” he added.

 

Check out our bloggers’ websites: Patricia Bermudez-Hizon (www.patriciahizon.com); Ferdinand Decena (www.ironwulf.com); Dodge Ronquillo (www.newmedia.com.ph and www.unbox.ph) and Hannah Villasis (www.flaircandy.com).

 

Four bloggers with one extraordinary experience made possible by SMART Evolution, the fastest Internet connection in the country. Only from SMART as it makes Filipinos’ lives extraordinary.