Destiny Cable

[nix]

Look's like our Destiny is now, what with the new internet/cable tv company that has been taking Manila by storm (or at least those areas it is available in). If their boasts are half true -- 100 times faster than dial-up connections, no dial-up needed, unlimited access, all for the monthly price of 1200 pesos including the cable tv service -- then all the server companies, not to mention cable tv companies, must be quaking in their boots at the Destiny assualt.

But are there strings attached to this deal? Destiny must have already spent a fortune on advertising, what with all the television spots, and newspaper print-ads sporting the Destiny campaign, but the question lingers -- Can the deal be really that good?

Although this may be second hand information, a friend has told me that what Destiny doesn't mention (for good reason) in their advertisements is that you need to purchase their cable modem for a whopping price of 12000 pesos!!! Now that's a huge sum to pay for a one shot deal. But that same friend mentioned that you could rent the said device for 600 pesos a month, a sum which is much more affordable, but not quite as attractive as the initial deal of 1200 pesos per month. At a total of 1800 bucks, can Destiny still dominate its competitors? Survey says ...

[Mister Dean]

Mom wants the Destiny experience beause of the P1200, but I thought we could purchase the modem at an installment basis. In any case, I guess it's just a case of overexcitement on most persons' parts, not to mention rather sneaky advertising. What IS the lesson here: do your research? I know I didn't do mine when I logged onto a certain cellular phone company (ehem...)...

[Mikoid]

Nix,

There is no question that more bandwidth is better, and if you want to seriously get on-line -- with all the multimedia bells and whistles -- Destiny certainly has the bandwidth ticket.

I can imagine that the other ISPs are shaking in their boots ... how can a puny dial-up connection compare? This is even more profound for offices who are paying hundreds of thousands of pesos monthly for their leased lines.

As for the "deal", consider this: a full-time dial-up connection costs around P10,000 monthly. Destiny's offer is unlimited and probably faster than any dial-up -- all for a little more than a thousand.

Even with the P10,000 cash-out for the cable modem, you'll have saved much more than that for a yearly average.

Then again, I'm a Net-head, and I'm making my projections based on the fact that I want my computer to be wired 24 hours a day. Some people are happy to spend 5 minutes a day on the Net checking their e-mail -- and they don't need to spend P1,700 a month for their Internet use.

My Dad argues that the problem with Destiny is that you can't access the Net from anywhere like a dial-up. While that's a valid point, the mobile computing market is still in its infancy. I suspect, though, that this will be the direction these dial-up ISPs will take once Destiny eats them alive.

- Mikoid

[nix]

Your dad has a point there. But you're right, Destiny will indeed leave its competition eating its dust. Just yesterday a friend of mine was commenting, "I am paying 800 pesos for 30 hours of internet access, and 500 plus bucks for my cable tv, when I can simply pay 500 pesos more to get both, with unlimited internet access
to boot!"

[Agent 007]

In my opinion, I doubt if everyone can afford that kind of unlimited access. I also heard that PCs that have this kind of unlimited access are more vulnerable to hackers. I just don't know if this is true.

[nic]

too good to be true!!! i say it's GLOBE part 2!!! the first time i tried destiny, i was surprised on how fast it was -- it would just take a split second to get into a site!!! AMAZING!!!... after a month or so, i got to use it again and i was so disappointed... it was sooo SLOW that i ended up connecting through a phone modem instead! i guess, like globe, they could not cope up with the demand.

[exorsister]

I've heard that with cable Internet, you have to share the bandwidth with your fellow cable-users, so it's extremely fast when no one's on, and mighty sluggish when many are. Can anyone verify this?

[nix]

Well, Kaboom has Destiny Cable in his place and I've noticed that it has been getting slower by the week. Right now, my ISP is faster than it already.

exorcister -- Yes, you do have to share bandwith with other Destiny Cable users. No difference there with dial-up users.

[Ira]

I guess the nice thing about it though is its price. At less than 2500 a month for unlimited access it's still cheap, even if it doesn't deliver as quickly as it should. I wish they supply our area already, though.

[aris]

Home Cable will also have its cable internet very soon :)

[dave]

infocom is already offering cable internet in selected areas.
they call it, NOW cable internet. it's a merger of pldt, pldt's infocom, and pldt's home cable.

[maxwell]

ok...here's another net head's opinion. As soon as I arrived from my US stint, I wanted to grab the fasstest connection there is, which obviously was Destiny. So I inquired and talked to their sales person, but she told me that Destiny will be "upgrading their system and will be available at the first week of december. Anyway, I decided to get on line with a dial up connection.

After a few days, I heard that Destiny did go down and their speed was becoming sluggish. My option? Wait for more cable companies to join in the bandwagon then wait for ADSL to come in...hehehe

Sure, surfing speed "rox my nadz" but with the service that Destiny has been giving they've somehow become "K-lamerz" on my list.

While it is true that being wired all the time makes one vulnerable to being hacked, security of your PC is a simply a manner of knowing how to hide important information. I, for example, am online at least 22 hours a day and feel secure knowing that my important files are PGP encrypted.

anyone else uses PGP?

[MAJor]

cable network runs on 0.5 mbps and 1 E1R2 runs on 2mbps...sa AXTI internet 2 na ang E1R2 sa sky 7 daw

[exorsister]

MAJor, care to explain that in layman's terms for us? :)

[Kaboom!]

I've had problems with Destiny but lately, it has been super fast especially in the late hours. Maybe they did spend all that time upgrading stuff when it was constantly "down". It's definitely worth it if you surf a lot. Never having to dial up and use a phone line is a big convenience.

Peace.