Smart Broadens Wifi Footprint with Super-Speed Smart Wifi Rollout

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Close to a year after its first deployment, carrier-grade Smart Wifi can now be found in key airports and transport hubs, universities, hospitals and even entertainment hubs across the country, allowing more people to live their increasingly digital lifestyles to the fullest, like never before.

The Smart Wifi rollout is part of Smart’s network expansion program. It goes hand-in-hand with the ongoing Smart LTE rollout, which aims to improve LTE coverage and increase the capacity of Smart’s cell sites nationwide, so they can accommodate more calls, texts and ever-increasing data traffic.

With a backhaul capacity of up to one gigabit per second, Smart Wifi can support up to 3,000 connected users with robust Wifi connectivity. 

Smart Wifi for travelers

Passengers waiting for their flights can now access super-speed Smart Wifi in the four terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, as well as in 17 other key airports around the country.

Whether they’re traveling for business or pleasure, travelers from all networks can use Smart Wifi to check their flights and hotels online, update their social media and stream videos and music while waiting for boarding time.

Smart Wifi is also available in seaports in Puerto Princesa, Batangas, Calapan in Mindoro, Cebu, Dumaguete, Dapitan, Zamboanga, Tagbilaran, Bacolod, and in the gateways to premier island destination Boracay, the Caticlan Jetty Port and Cagban Port. 

Uplifting quality of life

On June 12, coinciding with the nation’s 119th Independence Day celebrations, Smart launched carrier-grade Smart Wifi on the MRT and along the stretch of EDSA to improve the mobile data experience of around half a million commuters who travel along the country’s busiest highway to get from their homes to their workplaces, and vice versa.

Commuters waiting for the MRT or riding on EDSA route buses can now stream music, watch videos or check email via robust Smart Wifi connectivity, which posted download speeds of between 200 to 300 Mbps from Taft Avenue station to North Avenue station during its first week.

Since the start of the year, several entertainment and lifestyle hubs called SmartSpots—high-traffic areas such as restaurant and bar clusters and malls where crowds often hang out—have also been launched, and are now also powered by Smart Wifi and Smart LTE.

Smart Wifi now also powers hospitals, government offices, city halls, provincial capitols, tourist spots and schools and universities across the country, making the digital lifestyle more accessible to people from all walks of life—a testament to Smart’s commitment to make #InternetForAll.

Subscribers from all networks can surf like never before on the Smart Wifi service, which is free for the first 30 minutes, without data cap. Load cards can be purchased to extend user sessions for P20 for 2 hours, valid for 2 days; and P50 for 10 hours, valid for 5 days. Smart subscribers can topup for as low as P10, for 30 minutes, valid for 1 day.

DOE Leads Forum On Energy Efficiency For Consumer Products

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Energy (DOE) recently held the second of a series of public consultations aimed at developing a national energy efficiency standard for household appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators and lighting products like LED lamps.

Holding the dialogue in partnership with the European Union, the DOE led other government agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and private sector representatives in culling inputs from experts, resource persons and the general public.

The collective inputs would be used to improve the proposed Particular Product Requirements (PPRs) that would help consumers choose wisely in buying household items that are energy efficient.

Once finalized, the PPRs will form part of the Implementing Guidelines for the DOE’s Philippine Energy Standards and Labeling Program (PESLP). 

Through the product standards, consumers will be better informed on the energy consumption and efficiency levels of specified consumer goods. 

Director Amelia de Guzman of the DOE’s Energy Research and Testing Laboratory Services stressed the importance of involving consumers and civil society in the deliberations in order to get the practical viewpoints of the end-users.

She explained that the PESLP not only benefits consumers by reducing their energy bills but will also help in significantly reducing carbon emissions that contribute to mitigating climate change.

In his opening remarks, Program Manager for Energy of the EU Delegation in the Philippines Willy Hick said, “The EU has been supporting the Philippine government through the years in reaching its energy efficiency and poverty reduction targets.”

The EU has allocated 60M Euros or PHP3.3 B in support of the Philippine government’s 100%-electrification target by 2022.

“European funding can never work without a strong partner,” Hick said during the Philippines’ and EU’s Access to Sustainable Energy Program (ASEP) Meet.

Aside from efficiency, the ASEP also advocates clean energy by providing grants to boost rural household electrification using clean energy sources.

The first public consultation was held last 24 May.

Apart from the consumer products mentioned during the first two conferences, the PESLP will also cover television sets, washing machines and even passenger and commercial vehicles.

Cover Photo Caption:

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT. The Department of Energy (DOE) and Access to Sustainable Energy Programme (ASEP) experts engaged industry participants in a two-day public consultation for the Particular Product Requirements (PPR) for LED lamps, air conditioners and refrigerators last 14-15 June 2017 at the F1 Hotel in BGC, Taguig City.

Mineski Infinity Blitz: The Philippines’ Most Advanced Cybercafe

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Mineski Infinity Cybercafes invited us to a closed doors pre-opening launch of the newest addition to their ever-growing cybercafe network - the Mineski Infinity Blitz.

With the biggest game titles becoming more and more graphically-polished, the hardware requirement of these games also increases. Avid gamers can sometimes find that the investment in an expensive gaming rig is what keeps the most highly-anticipated games out of reach for them.

That is, until the launch of the Mineski Infinity Blitz cybercafé, powered by ASUS Republic of Gamers. The MI Blitz is located in Wilson St., San Juan.

The MI Blitz will be the most advanced cybercafe in the Philippines, with state-of-the-art ASUS-powered desktops that are far and beyond the most powerful computers to be found in a cybercafe anywhere in the Philippines. No longer will gamers have to wax wistful about getting to play the latest triple-A titles at the highest settings.

Not only that, but these extremely high-end rigs will be available for use at convenient, user-friendly rates (exact rates to be announced soon). As the brainchild of Mineski Infinity and ASUS ROG, the MI Blitz is a project to bring the best gaming experience possible to everyday gamers who would otherwise never get the chance to play on high-end gaming setups.