Anyone else with their SO in the Philippines?

[OhioJim]

It turns out that, among those countries that have internet, the Philippines has the worst service! I'm not just saying that. It has been documented.

It is terribly slow and, several times a month, goes out completely.

Patricia and I have been using Google Hangouts for text chat and many times, at her end, she gets "sending failed". And I don't even know if she got what I send. Difficult to carry on a conversation with 15-20 minutes between messages.

Forget about video chat! We tried that a couple times and it kept disconnecting at her end. We got maybe 2-3 minutes of good video, and no audio.

And she is in an urban area, about 10 miles from Manila!

Anyone else have this problem with the Philippines?

[ReroNeko]

My gf lives near Manila as well, before she changed her internet plan to more expencive one, there were a problem with connection due to provider cuts speed after reaching some data limit (couple GB a day i guess) Video chat was almost impossible. I guess the provider does it on purpose because after upgrade everything is fine.

You may also try to use mobile data, sometimes you can get lucky with good 4g signal if you on right spot there.

[Enric]

My boyfriend lives in Quezon City (Metro Manila) though he's originally from Aklan (Panay island). His Internet sucks, but he rarely pays for it... He usually gets free Facebook and from time to time he pays to get some MB to use Internet without restrictions. It's quite weird because he sends me a lot of photos without any restriction but when I try to send photos to him he says he cannot receive them unless he pays for data.

[OhioJim]

My boyfriend lives in Quezon City (Metro Manila) though he's originally from Aklan (Panay island). His Internet sucks, but he rarely pays for it... He usually gets free Facebook and from time to time he pays to get some MB to use Internet without restrictions. It's quite weird because he sends me a lot of photos without any restriction but when I try to send photos to him he says he cannot receive them unless he pays for data.

My SO is in General Trias, at her mother's house. Her mother is in St Luke's Hospital in Metro Manila.

My SO depends on a community wide WiFi connection. If it rains, it drops out. If there are too many other people on, it drops out. They are in the rainy season now, and I haven't heard from her in 2 days. Even a few words letting me know she is ok will brighten my day.

[Enric]

This is depressing... I hope she can message you soon. My SO messages me every single day but it's mostly texting in FB. Video chats or voice chats are rare for us.

There are many natural wonders in the Philippines but living there is a struggle for many people.

[OhioJim]

This is depressing... I hope she can message you soon. My SO messages me every single day but it's mostly texting in FB. Video chats or voice chats are rare for us.

There are many natural wonders in the Philippines but living there is a struggle for many people.

Yes it is depressing, Enric.

The other day we chatted for a couple hours. But today all I got from her was a quick note saying that she was OK and to not worry. Of course I worry anyway.

We have tried video chat a couple of times, but it last only about 10 seconds and then drops out. And we never did get the sound working (some setting in her laptop, I think).

Even though my SO has family there she would much rather live in the USA. (She was born here and has dual citizenship).