Budget Internet Cards

Thanks to PLDT's very slow activation of our DSL line, I've been forced to use pre-paid dial-up cards. So far I've tried three 100 peso denomination cards, I-republic, Go!, and Edge Master, all of which have been disappointments – which even got me angrier with PLDT.

The biggest disappointment of the three was Edge Master, with two dial-up numbers which are mostly busy, frequently dropped connections, very slow internet speed, and support staff who are very incompetent technically (well atleast you can ask them for the dial-up numbers… which are not even indicated on the card!) I wanted to just shred the damn card even if it there was a free additional 25 hours after the card's credits have been spent.

I-republic and Go! could've been decent, if not for some flaws which still still frustrated me. I-republic has 30 hours worth of internet in a 100 peso card, it has three dial-up numbers, of which 2 are working but can get clogged during peak hours. The username and the password are pretty hard to type and almost impossible to remember. Once connected the speed is quite ok, in fact I use this card for chatting and playing trivia on MIRC against players w/ DSL and Wifi (I still get beaten but atleast I always have the "this is a bandwith handicap match" excuse). The biggest drawback to i-republic is the frequent disconnections… So if you are chatting and it looks like you hit the jackpot (an eb?) and then you got disconnected… all that countless minutes (hours?) of chat will be for naught (so u should ask your chatmate his or her number early… directly after the exchange of pics).

  As for Go!, it is the easiest ISP to connect to, but only has one dial-up line and I've had 2 occassions that Go! (from eastern telecom) had problems with the dial-up number and they didn't have any alternates… During peak hours there have been some problems with the number being clogged but it isn't as bad as the other two. The real downside has been their limitation on bandwith. If you are an ordinary net user you wouldn't really mind it, but for us who frequently download files (and browse picture galleries…) it is a big letdown.

So what card will I recommend among the three? I really don't want to endorse any… although I would tell you to stay away from edge master. As for the other two, pick your own poison. 

Now PLDT, where the fcuk's my DSL?!