1. What is Smart Bro?
2. What are Smart Bro’s packages?
3. What are Smart Bro’s advantages over other internet services?
4. What are the requirements to get connected to Smart Bro?
5. Are subscribers guaranteed the published speeds?
6. Where will subscribers apply for a Smart Bro connection?
7. How will Smart Bro subscribers be billed?
8. What will Smart Bro subscribers see in their first monthly bill?
   
   

Smart Bro is the amazing wireless broadband service from Smart. It is a high-speed broadband internet connection that uses the nationwide cellular network of Smart to wirelessly deliver internet service to a subscriber's PC. The "wireless" connection is from the nearest Smart Cellular Base Station to the sub's location where a Smart Bro antenna will be installed. There will still be in-house cabling from the antenna to the sub's PC.

The Smart Bro technology is called Broadband Wireless Access (BWA). Using the cellular phone network of Smart, Smart Bro antennas (called the "Canopy" CPE, or customer premises equipment) are installed in a specific location in your house that receives a certain radio frequency transmitted from the nearest Smart Cellular base station. Provided that the antenna is aligned at "line-of-sight" to receive the strongest signal possible, it will allow any household in the Philippines to now enjoy a high speed internet connection without the need of a physical cable/phone line, which is several times faster than any dial-up internet connection.

Smart Bro was launched nationwide on April 23, 2006 , supported by media and below-the-line activities.

Smart Bro is available in two packages: the residential package and the pangkabuhayan package.

• Residential Package (Smart Bro Plan 999) - up to 384 kbps of fixed wireless broadband internet connection that's up to 7x faster than dialup. Includes value-added services and other exclusive content to Plan 999.
• Smart Bro Computer Station - the pangkabuhayan package. This is the Plan 999 plus a complete PC package plus merchandising materials.

• Absolutely no need for a phone line, no need to wait for cables to be laid out
• Nationwidest broadband coverage o
  • Utilizes Smart's extensive Base Station coverage to provide a wireless broadband service from the Base Station to the Subscriber's residence
  • Antenna can be installed anywhere there is a strong signal association
• Anytime, Always-on, unlimited Internet Access.
  • No need to Dial-up to an ISP. No login required (after the initial activation).
• Best value for money because of its affordable rates.
  

The Subscriber’s system requirements are:

• Pentium II or higher.
• 128 MB of RAM or higher (preferably 256 MB of RAM)
• Ethernet/LAN Card
• At least 10GB of Hard Disk Space.
• Operating System: Windows 98, 2000, XP, Linux and Macintosh.

Smart Bro’s published speeds are the maximum possible speeds given in the broadband connection. While the speed can often burst to such levels, there are times when forms of technical interference such as noise, electrical shorts or software problems can interfere with the speed, which are beyond Smart’s control.

Also, certain websites may be suffering from slowdowns as well, especially very busy sites like Yahoo or MSN; as well as graphic-heavy sites such as ClickTheCity.com. The servers of most of these major sites are often located in other countries, such as the United States, which can further degrade performance due to the distance the signal must travel.

Furthermore, please note that Smart Bro is responsible only for providing the wireless broadband connection up to a single PC. Using multiple PCs can further slow down the speed since the bandwidth will be shared among them.

The Smart Bro service will be available for application at any Smart Wireless Center or PLDT Business Office nationwide, or through any accredited Smart or PLDT sales agents .

Smart Bro subscribers will receive a bill with the Smart Bro logo. Other than that, the process of payments will remain the same as that of Smart WiFi. That is, subscribers will receive a Statement of Account (SOA) by postal mail or courier service.

In fact, Smart will open up more payment channels within the next few months, making it even easier for Smart Bro subscribers to pay their bills.

Smart Bro bills its subscribers in advance. The subscriber’s payment of the installation fee and first month service fee will trigger the activation of Smart Bro. Hence, the first monthly bill will reflect the following month’s service fee.