Officials of the internet and digital service holdings company PLDT, Inc. in Puerto Princesa City found themselves on the hot seat Monday as city councilors grilled them with their subscribers’ complaints about continuous connectivity problems.
Appearing at the City Council’s Question Hour on Monday, the company’s local officials however blamed everything else but themselves on why their service has been poor, insisting instead that they have been “providing the required bandwidth” for their franchise area.
Modesto Perez, team head of the PLDT Palawan Field Office explained that despite the disruption of internet services, they are “providing the required bandwidth (allocation) for all subscribers” and that internet connection in the city is “stable.”
Pressed by Councilor Herbert Dilig to elaborate on the term “stable”, Perez however skirted the question.
Technical manager Rafael Ligayu II explained that the current connection problem being experienced by subscribers may be due to router issues or because of the sudden increase in the volume of users because of online classes.
“Possible na problema po natin is ‘yong router sa certain subscriber natin because of the line coming from the box up to his house. Possible na maraming losses yon, mga splices point – dugtungan na makaapekto sa transmission ng data,” Liggayu said
Perez said that there may have been a “shipping problem” that affect their equipment while being transported from Manila.
“From November 22, we are already fixing the problem which is not connected to the fiber break so it is already on the equipment side. November 22 advisory is just an intermittent connection. We made already isolation and then we found out on November 23 that the equipment must be replaced so we sought out to Manila. Due to a shipping problem with COVID, we received the equipment on November 24,” Perez said.
He also said the increase in online activities may have affected the connections.
“Yong may-ari ng company hindi expected ‘yong pagkakaroon ng volume ng connection dahil sa COVID na ito,” he said adding that they are currently doing augmentation to immediately restore the connection will roll out more fiber lines in the city to serve the increasing demand for high-speed internet.
“May ginagawa na po kaming augmentation para sa capacity namin kasi as we noted this pandemic, nag increase ‘yong mga subscribers natin. Sobrang daming nagpakabit lalo na ‘yong may online classes,” Perez said.
“Sa mga Barangay, mayroon nang kinakabit na mga line ngayon. Tuloy-tuloy po ‘yong pagkakabit ng fiber. Tuloy-tuloy din kasi ‘yong demand ng tao kaya ang company po tuloy-tuloy rin ang pagkakabit ng cable.” Perez added.
Meanwhile, Councilor Myka Magbanua also expressed disappointment over the PLDT line being unresponsive.
“Can you do anything about responding kasi in my experience, two hours ako nag-antay para lang may sumagot ng telepono. ‘Di lang one time ‘yon, at least tatlong beses. Gano’n din sa ibang channels walang sumasagot sa mga problems na nire-raise,” she said.
Liggayu said they already have an application available for android and iOs users to immediately respond to their concerns.
“Mayroon po kaming application, i-download n’yo lang sa android or iOs, tapos i-register n’yo lang ‘yong account number n’yo then if may problema kayong na-experience, ilagay n’yo lang doon at automatic namin mare-receive.” he said.
Furthermore, Magbanua suggested for additional personnel to cater to all the questions, citing that the telco giant being unresponsive was one of the factors that connectivity interruptions was not resolved immediately.
“Sana you can recommend to your higher management na sana puwede dagdagan ‘yong personnel to do that kasi we can’t really wait forever. That’s also the factors kung bakit hindi na-resolve ng maayos at mas maaga dahil ganoon nga katagal bago sila makasagot,” she said.
“Isa din ‘yan sa factors kung bakit hindi natin masisi ‘yong subscribers,” she added.
PLDT recently announced its subscribers in the city can avail of rebates on their December billing.
“Lahat po ng subscribers natin, buong Puerto Princesa po ay makaka-receive po sila ng rebates next month. Next billing po 14 days.” Susan Cayao, CDME Palawan Sales. (with a report from Romar Miranda)
