Netizens and Social Media aficionados, rejoice! I've never been so excited to share some good news. Let me cut to the chase, here it goes!

 PH goes ‘5G’Smart fires up LTE-Advanced

Co-founder and Chief Wireless Advisor of Smart Orlando B. Vea (first from left) during the tests of 5G LTE-A in Smart last year, where speeds reaching 209.66 mbps were recorded.

Two years after it pioneered the deployment of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or 4G technology in the country, wireless services leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) announced that 5G wireless technology LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), is now running in the Philippines’ largest and strongest network.


Smart switched on LTE-A at the Smart Jump Center in Mandaluyong City recently, setting the next phase of mobile communication technology beyond 4G LTE standards.

LTE-A, referred to as ‘5G’ by reports on leading global mobile operators AT&T and T-Mobile, delivers data from between 100 megabits per second (mbps) to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps), or ten times faster than 3G services and more than twice as fast as 4G services.

By firing up LTE-A technology on its network, Smart joins only a handful of carriers around the world with an LTE-A network, along with leading mobile operators in South Korea, United States, Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong.

“Even as our 3G and 4G networks continue to be unrivaled, Smart becomes the first operator to leap into the future and put the Philippines at par with the world’s most advanced countries in terms of mobile communications technology,” said Orlando B. Vea, founder and Chief Wireless Advisor of Smart.

With LTE-A, a 10MB file takes less than a second to download, YouTube videos no longer have to buffer, and video calls are almost lag-free. But beyond speed, LTE-A’s main feature is also its capability to allocate more network resources to users when the need arises. Smart started testing LTE-A across the country in August last year, delivering results of more than 100Mbps in Makati City, in Boracay, and in Davao City during the Kadayawan festival.

Internet for all

Ramon Isberto, Public Affairs head for Smart and its parent company the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), said that the recent development is part of the company’s multi-pronged approach in addressing the various needs for internet and data services in the market.

“The PLDT Group’s strategy has always been to create solutions that address the varying needs of all segments of our customers, to bring fixed, wireless and mobile broadband services where they really matter. They may be delivered at different speeds and volumes, using a variety of technologies, and meant to respond to a wide range of needs of the market – but all of it is aimed at bringing the benefits of the internet to every Filipino,” explained Isberto.

This strategy meant deploying a combination of Fiber-to-the-Home, Next Generation Network, Time-Division Duplex LTE, Frequency-Division Duplex LTE and vDSL to bring internet to every Filipino home, and 3G, 4G, and 5G or LTE-A for mobile subscribers, according to Isberto.

“We are able to deliver all these high-bandwidth services and applications on the strength of our transmission backbone network, which is the most extensive and most resilient in the country. Aside from allowing us to commit to speed, our unmatched network resources give us the edge in terms of efficiency and reliability,” added Isberto.

Smart’s nationwide coverage is backed by PLDT’s fiber optic cable connection which has now reached nearly 90,000 kilometers, or more than four times than competition. To further strengthen this domestic fiber optic network (DFON), PLDT also set up third legs in its fiber loops in key areas nationwide, the latest of which is the Bohol DFON project that provided redundant links between the Visayas and Mindanao.

Some risks are not worth taking and that's precisely why we have to be very careful about our privacy and security online. Sometimes, what applies in real life needs to be applied in our virtual lives. The online world could be a lot more dangerous than the world itself. There are cyber-bullies, scammers, online thieves, spammers and hackers that could ruin our reputations, devastate our careers and businesses or worse, destroy our lives.

I've once been a victim of one of those online threats. In fact, even up to now that nightmare is still far from over just yet. That's why I'm eager to let others know about how they can be safe amidst all dangers that lurks in the dark corners of the internet.

So check out my 10 Internet Safety Tips!

1.) Never Share Your Personal Information - This is good rule of thumb in the times when old friends wants to reconnect with us, acquaintances who wants to get to know us more, relatives who just wants to maintain the same kind of relationship we have with them from reality to the online world and strangers who seems intrigued by our existence. The problem there is that these people may not be who we think they are. Your so acquaintances, relatives and friends may be posers who wanted to take advantage of you. That's why we have to be cautious and verify their identities as well, how much more with strangers who we barely know. I think it's a no-brainer not to share personal info such as your finances, address, contact number and above all personal conversations. This brings us to a solution in number 2.

2.) Don't Talk to Strangers - You can always verify if your relatives and friends are really the one's you're chatting to. You can call them or ask them directly if you see each other or even during chat I'm sure your instinct will know if it's really them or not. Chatting with strangers is another story though. When you were a child I'm sure your mom taught you not to talk to strangers. That's actually a good first line of defense but apparently it's not the only one. And that brings us to number 3. Again, don't talk to strangers - most especially if you really don't have a good reason to do so.

3.)  Set Up Your Privacy -  Setting you privacy will do so much in Social networks. You can filter to which set of people or specific people can you share your thoughts and activities online. This will make you feel safe from unwanted prying eyes. But not if you're in an internet shop which is the case of the next tip.

4.) Avoid Public Computers - Your computer broke down! Your life is a mess so you went to find life somewhere else. Then you're back online, but this time, in an internet shop and you're using an old public desktop computer with other people around. The dangers of using public computer does not only include the probability that people surrounding you may have bad intentions (to you) but the softwares installed on that computer may actually put your identity in danger. Public computers might be infected with spywares, malwares and even viruses that can track your activity and hack your password. This leads us to the 5th tip!

5.) Install Antivirus - You should check if an antivirus software installed on your computer is still working or if there's even one. You see, antivirus is a necessity for your online or basic computer needs. It stops viruses, spyware, and solves all the problems in the 4th tip. Well, it depends on what you mean by a 'broken down' computer and an Antivirus cannot move internet shop bystanders away from you. The next time you use a public computer always check if they have installed an antivirus.

6.) Cancel Auto-Downloads - I know most of you love torrenting movies and tv shows. But I hope you understand that when you download you have to consider that whatever it is you downloaded is a potential threat to the health of your computer. And that's gonna lead us back to number 4 and 5. There are websites though that you can trust when it comes to download but you must be aware that there are pages in the internet that automatically downloads stuff on your computer. In the event that you'll open one, your browser may prompt a dialog box about the download and be sure to cancel it.

7.) Copyright Do it Right! - This has nothing to do with the 5 previous tips but most people upload and share a lot of their original photos, thoughts in the internet and it is best to keep them within the bounds of the privacy users set. But if you post it somewhere, like a blog or your public facebook page, then you must take great caution as some people can just steal your ideas, photos and videos online. Always remember that the internet is one big public domain. And everything you have publicly posted online can be credited to search engines and stolen from you. There are some laws, however, that states we are protected by a certain copyright law which starts the moment our crafts has been created. But it's always safe that we take precautionary measures on this line by placing watermark on our photos and videos and a disclaimer about our ideas. Remember, getting Sotto-ed is a pain in the ass!

8.) SHAMELESS PLUG - This tip is as simple as reading my post about avoiding the 20 kinds of websites I hate! If you do you will not only be saved from online threats but from headaches as well.

9.) Avoid Joining Heated Public Online Debates -  This tip is actually for everyone. Behind every facebook page you like, behind every forums you join and public threads you comment on there are page administrators and moderators. These people most commonly referred to as 'admins' can be as ruthless as Hitler and when one side crosses the line harsh moves will take place and result to the other one being cyber-bullied. Exercise Freedom of Speech only when necessary!

10.) Strong Password and No Hints! - Just because you want your relationship to be strong - by showing trust - you're gonna give away the log-in details in all of your cyber accounts. That's the trend recently whenever you're in a relationship. Passwords, when discovered by others, may result for your virtual life being destroyed.

So that's it! If you don't really want something to go around the internet, don't post it! It's as simple as being responsible and I hope you are and will be after this blog post.