Skycable Internet Broadband

Was thinking of getting a Skycable internet broadband subscription and am wondering if it is worth it.

Called up Skycable (631-000) at around 7am, and finally got to speak with someone regarding upgrading our cable subscription after hearing 10 "...all agents are busy..." messages. But I digress.

I'm particularly interested in their Plan 6 Mbps package, because I would like to try conducting a series of webinars (training seminars on the web) soon. The plan says you will get an upload (burst speed) of "up to 1 Mbps" but I don't know how often you will actually get that upload speed.

When you host webinars, having a high upload speed means that your audience will not have to wait too long before they see (on their screens) the changes that you, the webinar host or speaker, see on your screen.

If your upload or upstream speed is low, you'll end up with people saying they don't see what you're talking about.

I've attended several webinars conducted with the help of GotoWebinar, and have experienced cases where the delay or lag from the time the screen refreshes runs anywhere from 1 second to 17 seconds.

If the speaker is showing a PowerPoint presentation, he or she might be talking about Slide #2 but the webinar audience still sees Slide #1 on their screens.

So, is Skycable's Plan 6 Mbps internet broadband service worth the P3,999 (US$85) monthly charge?

If you read Sky Broadband: Is it Really Fast?, you'll find the results of their speed test:

Download speed: 0.86 Mbps to 1.08 Mbps
Upload speed: 0.48 Mbps to 0.86Mbps

The Plan 6 Mbps gives you a download speed of up to 6 Mbps, and an upload speed of up to 1 Mbps. Based on the results of the test, I'd say Skycable lived "up to" their promise. ;-)

[SIDENOTE: I used the Skybroadband Bandwidth Speed Test on a PLDT myDSL Plan 999 connection, and got a download speed of 0.53 Mbps, and an upload speed of 0.17 Mbps.]

What remains to be tested, though, is whether an upload speed of 0.48 Mbps is enough to keep webinar screen lags to at most 1 second.

If 0.48 Mbps is enough, and since the Plan 6 Mbps comes with a free Skycable Gold subscription, that will effectively bring my monthly cable internet broadband cost to P2,999 ($64/mo) because we currently have the Gold subscription at P1,000 ($21) a month.

So if we get the GotoWebinar unlimited webinar seats package at around $100/mo, then total webinar internet connectivity costs will reach $164 per month.

If the webinars will attract a total of at least 850 participants each month, then yes, Skycable's internet broadband package will still be worth it.

But if the webinar screen lag takes longer than 1 second, we might be better off using an internet cafe that has a minimum upload speed of 1.5 Mbps.

Alternatively, you can get hold of the services of a Webinar consulting company such as ProForaMedia.com to help lower your webinar costs.

Anyway, if you're interested in SkyBroadband, then check out http://www.skybroadband.com.ph today, especially if you want to test your broadband speed.

[ First posted on 10/23/2009 by Manuel Viloria ]