Ok, so we're off to Boracay thanks to the Ozbargain/Cebu Pacific deals.
Question, just how good is the internet speed etc at Boracay in general ? How can I speedtest from Australia ?
The plan is to use a free trial subscription (Netflix or Amazon Prime) on my smartphone and use chrome cast to watch said movies on the TV in the room.
This is our back up for raining days, sleep ins etc.
No, there is no in-house movie channels.
Suggestions please ?
Go on holidays enjoy yourself forget the internet tv and movies. On rainy days maybe make your own movies?
Depends on the trip, after many days touring you often need some down time. Familiar tv is great for this.
The internet is pretty crappy there.
You can just buy pirate dvds for a few dollars if you need to!
Good plan. I'll keep an eye out when wandering.
In the past I always brought them back home to watch.
I think this is crazy. Save all the media you might want to watch here on a memory card/HD. Trying to sort out a high speed Internet link for a tourist in a developing country is asking for costly charges.
Even if you don't have the technology to do it, you would be better off buying a $50 tablet from Coles and an SD card than trying to sort out high speed Internet, I reckon. Since you said you have a chromecast and smartphone, spend $20 on a 32gb SD card and fill it up here.
The Philippines still has one of the slowest Internet speeds in Southeast-Asia according to Akamai. In its latest State of the Internet Q2-2014, Akamai said the Philippines ranked 103rd on the list in terms of average connection speeds. Philippines only had an average Internet speed of 2.5 Megabits per second (Mbps) in the second quarter of 2014.[18]
It varies wildly depending where you are: the mobile network is appalling, and internet cafe speeds are unusable a lot of the time in most malls. I have relatives in Luzon and Mindanao with HFC internet that is faster and more reliable than Optus cable in Melbourne. That said, most urban areas of the Philippines experience rolling brownouts for most of the year (due to fluctuating baseload power, overpopulation and widespread utility theft) — so you might have great internet for some of the day and no power or net at all at other times.
Do not rely on the internet there for streaming. It's nowhere near as fast as here. Better save your movies in a memory card/usb
Thanks all.
Just to clarify, there's free WiFi in room, just not sure of the quality.
Consensus seems to be, take SD card full of media, and Chrome Cast, and pick up some dvds from the markets.
You can buy internet only sim cards there very cheaply. Just find any small shops on the back side of D Mall near station 2. I think it worked out about $8. Its a no brainer.
They will help you set it up. Ive been there twice and loved it, let me know if you need a heads up on anything.
Did Boracay/Station 2 last October for a week, bought a prepaid sim from the airport when I landed (SMART) and got decent speeds on my unlocked LG G3, if I recall correctly it was about 5-6 Mbps walking down the strip and restaurants, but when we were in our hotel room, signal was only at 1-2 bars so it will depend on which hotel you stay at.
I miss that place.enjoy Island hopping such a really nice place. Sorry I can't help
Thanks Red, Disco, Kiwi. Guess I'll do that too. Internet outside will help with on the spot Tripadvisor info/reviews.
Thinking of installing Parrot2 on my HTC to stream to chromecast - this and data SIM may be the answer.
would be good to log into Foxtelgo so not to miss Game of Thrones.
Island hopping, can't wait.
I personally load an Android tablet up with movies and connect via HDMI - a safer opption.
http://www.speedtest.net/wave/ebd21e1b13ca0411
However this is a Phillipines speed test I found on Google, have a search you may find one related to Boracay. Having said this hotels are always flakey.