Smart Unlisurf Ending, Replaced by Surfmax

October 24, 2015

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UNLISURF ENDS, TO BE REPLACED BY SURFMAX

The past several days, I have been getting reports that Smart is phasing out Unlisurf by the end of October.

Barat Ako readers have been reporting that they receive messages from Smart when registering to Unlisurf, such as:

Starting October 31, 2015, Smart Bro UNLISURF will no longer be available.Enjoy allday Surfing with the new SurfMax data package.
Available in the following denominations SURFMAX50 P50 valid for 1 day, SURFMAX250- P250 valid for 7 days, SURFMAX995- P995 valid for 30 days.
To avail, text SURFMAX to 2200 ex. SURFMAX50 to 2200.

Thank you to the Barat Ako readers who took the time to report this in the comments and thru email, you are awesome!

I called Smart’s customer service hotline at 888-1111 to get more information about Surfmax, but the customer service agent I talked to did not know anything about it. He said that they have not received any update at all about Unlisurf being phased out, or about the new Surfmax.

CONFUSED CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENT

So I called again, hoping to get another agent, and I got the same moronic, incompetent woman who took my call two months ago. She was more clueless than the last guy. She had no idea what she was talking about and was reading me their internal memo, thinking that it answered my questions (it totally didn’t). My questions were simple: Is Unlisurf being phased out? When? What can you tell me about Surfmax? I remembered her because her accent was unforgettable and she kept calling me “mem” instead of “ma’am”.

Talking to that incompetent woman gave me a headache. It was like talking to an idiot. I called the Prepaid Hotline and we were talking about Smart Prepaid, when she searches for and finds some memo on her computer and starts reading it to me, saying that Smart has discontinued unlidata plans starting January 15, 2015. Based on that, she kept insisting that Unlisurf has been phased out since January 15. I told her Unlisurf is still available even until today. She kept insisting that it wasn’t. I told her that I was asking about prepaid. She just repeated what she said (frustrated pa siya ha, as if I was the one who didn’t get it). I had to explain to her that the memo she was reading was talking about Postpaid plans! I am asking about Prepaid. Haay naku, Smart, customer ako, bakit ako pa ang nagtuturo sa agent niyo? (Hey, Smart, I am your customer, why am I the one teaching your agent all about your products?)

After I cleared that up, and slowly explained the information I wanted from her, she said, buti pa daw ako, mas updated ako kesa sa kanya (Good for me, I am more updated than she is). What? O.M.G. Smart, where did you get this woman? She then starts searching her system again for something, I don’t know, and tells me as far as as she knows, Unlisurf was phased out last month (oh really? Then what was all that January 15 baloney?). She then starts going on about some update status being yellow or orange. I’m guessing that’s an internal coding system that should be kept internal.

I gave up. I just said my thanks, goodbye, and ended the call. I have talked with this particular agent before and her utter incompetence made my blood boil the last time. I’m cutting this conversation short before I get more frustrated. It was pointless, anyway, since she obviously knew nothing (less than Jon Snow)!

ABOUT SURFMAX

So anyway, the point is, I wasn’t able to verify the info with Smart’s Customer Service. Checking Smart’s Twitter @SmartCares, it says:

SurfMax is the newest all-day internet offer from Smart. It allows you to enjoy all day surfing for as low as P50/day. Promo will be available on October 31, 2015 for SMART Prepaid, TNT, and SMART Bro Prepaid while for SMART Postpaid/SMART Bro Postpaid it will be on November 10, 2015 until April 30, 2016.

@imnotdudan Hey there, Dan. SurfMax is the newest all-day internet offer from Smart. It allows you to enjoy (cont) https://t.co/gCQT0NlcuO

— Smart Communications (@SMARTCares) October 23, 2015

Okay, from that, I am getting several things:

Unlisurf is ending on October 30, 2015 for Prepaid
Surfmax starts on October 31, 2015 for Prepaid

Unlisurf is ending on November 9, 2015 for Postpaid
Surfmax starts on November 10, 2015 for Postpaid

I think Unli LTE is also going to be phased out together with Unlisurf (unverified).

As of today, I couldn’t find anything on Surfmax except this page: http://smart.com.ph/pages/surfmaxguidelines

Smart says Surfmax is an “ALL DAY SURFING” promo. I don’t know what that means. Is it still unlimited internet? Is it going to be capped? Throttled? I have no idea.

I guess we’ll all have to wait until Oct. 31 to find out more. If you have any news about Surfmax, please share it in the comments!

UPDATE: Nov. 2, 2015

The guidelines for Smart’s new SurfMax is out, and for prepaid, there is an 800 MB/day cap. Boo! Good Lord, internet in the Philippines is regressing…

Smart SurfMax allows subscribers to enjoy all day surfing up to 800MB/day at optimal speeds. Once this is consumed, all day surfing services will still be active but connection quality may vary until 12 midnight.

To help subscribers better manage their daily usage, this service will send them free text alerts once daily usage reaches 640MB (80%) and 800MB (100%).

Upon reaching their Smart SurfMax daily limit, subscribers may also switch to any Smart Big Bytes offering to continue enjoying optimal speeds. They may do so by texting BIG <denomination> to 9999 (Example: BIG50 to 9999). For a complete list of Smart Big Bytes packages, they may also visit www.smart.com.ph/pages/bigbytes.

~~It doesn’t say if it is capped for postpaid.~~ Smart Postpaid cap is 1 GB / day.

For Smart Bro – for prepaid, the daily cap is 800 MB per day, while for postpaid, it is 1 GB per day.

Once you reach your daily limit, you have to wait until 12 midnight for it to reset.

You can read the entire FAQ for prepaid here: http://smart.com.ph/Pages/surfmaxguidelines

Update Nov. 26, 2015: Also, check out Smart’s Big Bytes 70 – it is P70 for 1 GB of internet, good for 7 days. I think it is currently the cheapest priced legitimate promo (per 1 GB) at the moment.