The outage affects SMARTBRO subscribers who represent the vast majority of Internet users, specially in rural areas outside of Puerto Princesa where high-speed Internet access is a rarity.
Apparently a SMART communications tower located in Coron, that acts as a connection bridge to transport the signal coming from Makati in Manila, has been severely damaged during the last tropical storm. We weren't able to determine how long it would take them to repair it and reestablish the service.
The only possible way of connecting to the Internet in many areas of Palawan right now is by using a USB modem stick (aka 'dongle') sold mainly by telecommunications providers SMART and Globe, that connects to the 3G and GPRS/EDGE networks where available. Speeds however can be excruciatingly slow, specially during peak times.
Given the crucial role that the Internet plays in Palawan specially concerning tourism, any interruption in the service is bound to have very undesirable consequences. However, in spite of this recent outage the Internet service in Palawan in general has improved greatly over the past few years, although is still far from being as fast and reliable as in other urban areas of the country such as Manila or Cebu. The capital of Palawan, Puerto Princesa and some areas in the north near Coron are reported to have the best quality.
For more information about the different Internet Service Providers currently operating in Palawan visit the following addresses and links (valid as of May 2012):
- SMART Communications,
NCCC Building, Lacao Street, Puerto Princesa
http://smart.com.ph/ - PILTEL/PLDT,
42 Roxas Street, Puerto Princesa
http://www.pldt.com.ph/ - Globe Telecom,
G7 & M7 Pacific Plaza Building, Rizal Avenue, Puerto Princesa
http://www.globe.com.ph/ - Bayantel,
Rizal Avenue, Puerto Princesa
http://www.bayan.com.ph/ - Sun Cellular,
Robinsons Place Palawan, Puerto Princesa
http://www.suncellular.com.ph/
