Broadband Internet
Written on Apr 8, 2026
The first time I got on the Internet in the United States was in 1994 and I was using a 56K dial-up modem. By the time I moved to the Philippines in 2006, I was using a cable modem at more than a megabit.
As far as the Internet is concerned, moving to the Philippines was like moving to the stone age. My wife, Josie, and I temporarily lived with her mother and I had to use prepaid cards for dial-up Internet. It wouldn't even connect at 56K.
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
After my house was built and Josie and I moved into it, I was able to get DSL from Subictel, the local telephone provider. The speed started out at 512K, but eventually increased to two megabits before the company was bought out by PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone).
By the end of 2010, I was getting three megabits from PLDT. Sometime after that, and a before I left for the United States in 2018, I was getting five megabits. Just before I left, I turned in the equipment and stopped the service. I knew I would be gone for more than a year.
Fiber Internet
From June 2018 until March 2022, Josie and I stayed with our children's families. We used whatever Internet service they were using in Florida, Hawaii, and Maryland. Both households had cable Internet of at least 30 megabits.
While we were in Hawaii in 2020, we had a relative (Alex) get fiber Internet for our house in the Philippines. We were providing Wi-Fi to the nieces and nephews living in our compound who were remote schooling because of the pandemic.
When we returned to the Philippines in 2022, the speed reached 500 megabits. I had Alex upgrade it earlier this year and it now reaches between 700 megabits and one gigabit. Even with the upgrade, it only costs me around $45 USD, depending on the current exchange rate.
Better Service Than Our Children
Both of our children are using T-Mobile Home Internet, in Arizona and Washington. Neither of them get speeds reaching 500 megabits and they pay more than I do for their services. They get minor discounts because their mobile phone services are with T-Mobile as well.
My service in the Philippines is more reliable because it's a fiber connection. Their services use 5G wireless Internet. My desktop computer in the Philippines is connected to the router by ethernet, not Wi-Fi, and it never pauses or lags for anything.