My current subscription:

I immediately called Globe but their IVR is too messy that there is no option for upgrade. Anyway, I just chatted with Globe and here’s our conversation. Personal details were asterisked. Notice that I was redundant about my questions. I want to make sure that the agent understands what I want to happen.

Carina:Hi! This is Carina, your live chat agent. How can I help you today?
herbert:Carina, I have a 1mbps + landline @ 1295 subscription with globe. But I saw on the flyers
and website that there is 2 mbps + landline @ 1299. Can I get an upgrade or do I need to get a new
subscription?
Carina:Before we proceed, May I have your name and your account number?
herbert:Herbert ******** / *******
Carina:Thank you o much for those information.
Carina:Mr. Carigma, Just to confirm, you’re inquiring for the account no.******?
herbert:yes
Carina:Going back to your concern, regarding your upgrade of plan inquiry
Carina:We also offer a Wifi router, would you likes to avail?
herbert:i want to know first if I could upgrade to 2mbps + landline @ 1299 with my current plan
Carina:Yes Sir. We can process your request for upgrade from 1mbps to 2mbps bundle.
Carina:Would you like me to process your request?
herbert:will that be for 1299?
Carina:Yes sir.
herbert:ok. please process my request for an upgrade, from 1 mbps + landline at P 1295, to 2 mbps
+ landline at P 1299
Carina:Allow me to verify your account.
Carina:May I have your complete billing address and your date of birth?
herbert:***********, ********, ******** / ********* **, ****
Carina:Thank you so much for those information.
Carina:Just to remind, your contract will be re-lock to 12 months.
herbert:ok. i understand. when will the 2mbps + landline subscription @ 1299 start?
Carina:Monitoring time for upgrade is within 24 hours.
herbert:ok. will get a wifi router?
Carina:If you want, you can also avail. Would you like to have?
herbert:is it free?
Carina:Yes Sir.
herbert:ok. yes, i would like to avail of that free router. when can I expect it then?
Carina:The delivery of router is within 3 to 5 days.
Carina:May I have your other contact number?
herbert:***********. can you also update my contact details on your record? i have switched from
prepaid to postpaid. Please delete *********** and make it ***********.
Carina:This is your reference number, ***********
herbert:is that the reference number for the upgrade, or for this conversation?
Carina:Yes Sir.
herbert:which one?
Carina:This reference number number, ***********, is for your upgrade of service, from
1mbps to 2mbps bundle.
Carina:Kindly monitor within 24 hours for the upgrade of your service.
herbert:thanks. when can I expect the router? i am not usually at home so I would want to be
contacted first before they go into our house.
Carina:Within 3 to 5 days .
herbert:ok. thanks.
Carina:Kindly monitor, just keep your lines open, our support team will give you feedback regarding
the delivery
Carina:You’re welcome.
Carina:Would that be all?
herbert:yes, that would be all. thanks carina.
Carina:Thank you for using Talk2GLOBE Chat! I’m glad to have served you today.

I will update you with my experience about the upgrade

But then again, I also have two Yahoo accounts – one personal, the other for business. Yahoo has a similar offering with that of a code that Google has. They call it “second sign-in verification.” If you login to your account using a non-recognized device or computer, Yahoo will prompt you to enter the verification code sent to your phone.

My problem, however, is that this second-sign in verification does not apply to one of my two Yahoo accounts. I have two mobile numbers, differentiated only by a number (different networks though)

This is my account that has the 2-step verification:

The other account that has NO 2-step verification:

I searched in Yahoo Help to no avail. Anyone else who has this problem?

To be honest, I don’t really believe in speed boosters. For me, the only way to get a faster speed to to spend more on your subscription. But since this piece of gadget was just given, again, by my brother, there’s no harm in trying it.

According to the user’s guide, “The Hawking HBB1 Broadband Booster eliminates the problem of Internet lag in home and work networks. When multiple internet applications such as, VoIP phone calls, streaming video, and online gaming run simultaneously on a given broadband network, internet lag is present as both applications fight for the same amount of bandwidth. The end result is choppy conversations for VoIP calls, dropped or “frozen” frames for video streaming and online gaming lag (unplayable online gaming experience). The HBB1 Broadband Booster solves this using an intelligent engine (StreamEngine Technology) to manage and prioritize all data traffic going out of the network for a seemless internet experience. The HBB1 is designed to enhance the playability of online games, maintain VoIP call quality, and improve the performance of all time-sensitive “real-time” internet applications without any configuration by the user.” The keywords here are “seemless internet experience” which basically translates to minimized lagging.

Anyway, the setup is very easy. There are three ports – modem in (labeled as “Modem”), router out (labeled as “Router) and the 110v power adapter. Just connect the modem and the router cables but make sure that the device is unplugged. There is no power switch so the power jack has to be disconnected from the device. Then, powercycle your modem and router and wait for them to stabilize. Wait for a minute before you connect the power to the HBB1. Blue light blinks to signify that it’s “boosting” your connection.

See how tangled the cables are.

Of course, the most important issue is, does the HBB1 works? I did a test in Speedtest and selected the server in Singapore, before and after I setup the HBB1. I am currently subscribed to Globe’s 1 Mbps DSL with landline. Here are the three results of the before-HBB1.

Average download speed: 0.76 Mbps

After HBB1:

Average download speed: 0.84 Mbps

It hasn’t been two hours since I setup the gadget, so I’ll do further testing and check if the thing really works.

Why SSS Antipolo, by the the way? For one, I don’t want to go to the main office, or any branch within Metro Manila. Second, the branch is on my way home, so its convenient. And third, learning from the experience of my sister, her ID got delivered one month after the application while my brother, who used to work in a building where the SSS branch in Makati is, received his ID six months after.

First thing you would need is the E6 or the Application for Social Security Card Form. You could fill it up and print it here, download the blank form here, or just get it in the reception/information area upon entrance. The form asks for your personal details.

On the back of the form is a list of IDs that you need to present together with the form before the SSS personnel. There are two options – government IDs, and everything else. For the government ID, you can present one of the following – valid passport, unexpired driver’s license, and any ID issued by the Professional Regulations Commission. For the everything else, you need to present two of, well, any ID that you might have – work, school, NBI or barangay or police clearance, postal ID, voter’s ID, even credit cards are accepted. It actually seems like any document that would bear your name will be accepted. In my case, I have my driver’s license.

You need to go to the second floor of the building to have your form verified. The door is on the side of the building. Once there, there is a sign on a computer table that says “E6,” where the employee will give you a number. Sorry, the employee will not give it to you. You have to ask for it. There are about 30 seats there, so they just give the numbers in sequence. I was given number 8, but they’re already servicing number 15, so I would have to wait. Waiting time is about 30 minutes. Two guys process your application. They go over the computer to verify your contribution. This is also the process where you have to present your ID. Verification would take about five minutes. No questions will be asked if you have filled out the form legibly.

The next process is to go downstairs and be ready for the picture taking. There is a Canon EOS camera setup, with an HP scanner, fingerprint reader and signature capture machine. Waiting time is about 20 minutes.

An Acknowledgement Slip will be given to you which contains the name of the verifier and the data capturer. I was told to wait for half a year to get my ID.

The Package
The package consists of the following: a cordless handset, cradle/charger, base unit with power adapter, telephone cord, ethernet cable, battery and battery compartment cover. Before you setup the phone, I assume that you have an Internet, a router (whether wireless or wired) and a landline phone. You should also have a Skype account.

The Setup
The setup is very easy. Just put the battery and its cover on the phone, place it on the cradle, and charge the phone up. Connect the base unit to the power outlet, connect the ethernet port to an available port in your router and the phone cable to the phone port. Since I have a ADSL connection, I connected the base unit to the splitter which my Globe phone used to occupy.

In the image below, the yellow ethernet cable is connected, from the modem to the router. The blue cable is from the base unit to another port in the router.

Skype
Now, unless your modem/router does Mac filtering, the base unit will automatically acquire an IP address, which you can see when you go to Menu > Settings > Network. Once connected to the Internet, you can sign up for an Skype account, or sign in with a previously created account.

Here’s how our phone looks like once signed in with Skype.

Making calls
Landline calls is easy. You just dial the number and press the talk button. To end the call, press the end button. As for Skype, there are two ways, depending on the Skype account. If it’s a Skype ID call, meaning, you want to call the username, you need to press the asterisk and spell the username of the person. If it’s a Skype Out call, meaning it’s a like an overseas number, then you dial the plus sign, country code, area code and the local number. Of course, you wouldn’t have to do this if the person you want to speak to is already in your Contacts. You can add 100 regular contacts and 200 Skype contacts.

The handset also serves as a speaker phone. On a call, you can press the Speaker button and press the up and down arrow keys to adjust the volume. I just wish the phone had a dedicated volume adjustment button on the side.

Reception
So far, I was able to test a Skype call when my brother called yesterday afternoon. Reception was crisp, although there were miliseconds of silent beeps. But according to him, on his end, it was seamless. He was using Skype on his mobile phone by the way. So maybe it was my Internet connected that had issues. I haven’t made a landline call.

The phone has a signal bar which displays the connection of the phone to the base unit. My room is upstairs and when I went there with the phone, the signal bar is still full. Suffice it to say, you can place the base unit near the router/modem and the phone somewhere else.

Issues
This phone was bought in Canada (see the link here). And being in Canada, the set can only be used in 110v power outlet. I have to use a computer AVR which has a single 110v port and plug a power cord extension. I just wish that this is a 220v set, but I think I can just buy another adapter from Raon (a place in Manila known for electronics).

And as I have mentioned earlier, I wished they had a separate volume control button. Another thing I noticed was an echo on Skype call on the first day. For some reason, it disappeared on the second day.

Other than on those issues, the GE 31591 is a great phone.

I immediately saw a gray/semi-white tall and sturdy tripod. I asked one of the sales crew, Jennilyn, that I want to purchase one and inquired if they have one on stock. The price: P 450. After checking, she found that there was no more in-stock and the remaining item is the one on display. Okay, I’ll just purchase that, I said. I volunteered to put the tripod in the bag, but it won’t fit. The bag is too small.

Here’s the tripod that still has the price tag on it of P 450. I did not put that sticker. CDR King did.

She checked the CDR King website and found out that there are two models of the tripod, with different prices, and that the tripod that I want was mislabeled. Mine was labeled as “LN 17.” WT-3520 was at 600 while the WT-3540 is 650. I asked her if she can identify which of those two matches the one they have in the store. The poor girl cannot determine the difference.

Alin, alin, alin ang naiba. Seriously, can you tell the difference between the two?

In the end, this CDR King store in Save More in Tanay did not allow me to purchase the item. Menchie, who I do not know is a staff or a manager, said that since they cannot determine the real price of the item, they won’t sell it anymore.

On Christmas eve, in the office, then came my gift. It was, lo and behold, a tripod. It’s not exactly the model that I want, but at least its something that I can use while I try to find a way to repair my real tripod. Interestingly, the giver is the same guy who gave me last year a CDR King CD holder which, up to know, is very usable.

So it’s lesson learned. Everything happens for a reason. If it’s not really meant for you, it won’t be given to you. Kung hindi ukol, hindi bubukol.

Last Saturday, traffic has been excruciating in Eastern Mega Manila. And when I say east, I refer to Pasig, Mandaluyong, parts of Quezon City, Marikina, Cainta, Taytay and Antipolo. Usually, travel time from our office to home is an hour and a half, if it’s during the day. That day, it was three hours and a half.

I traversed Manggahan and then Pasig Greenpark all the way to Junction in Cainta. That in itself took more than an hour. Another neck to neck battle in Tikling in Taytay due to a vehicle downtime.

When I came back to work, I learned that my officemates were late for work. One even walked in the rain because there were no vehicles to take on.

Come to think of it, we’re just complaining about traffic while on the other side of the Philippines, there’s being devastated by typhoon Sendong.

MANILA — Americans calling the customer service lines of their airlines, phone companies and banks are now more likely to speak to Mark in Manila than Bharat in Bangalore.

Over the last several years, a quiet revolution has been reshaping the call center business: the rise of the Philippines, a former United States colony that has a large population of young people who speak lightly accented English and, unlike many Indians, are steeped in American culture.

More Filipinos — about 400,000 — than Indians now spend their nights talking to mostly American consumers, industry officials said, as companies like AT&T, JPMorgan Chase and Expedia have hired call centers here, or built their own. The jobs have come from the United States, Europe and, to some extent, India as outsourcers followed their clients to the Philippines.

India, where offshore call centers first took off in a big way, fields as many as 350,000 call center agents, according to some industry estimates. The Philippines, which has a population one-tenth as big as India’s, overtook India this year, according to Jojo Uligan, executive director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines.

The growing preference for the Philippines reflects in part the maturation of the outsourcing business and in part a preference for American English. In the early days, the industry focused simply on finding and setting up shop in countries with large English-speaking populations and low labor costs, which mostly led them to India. But executives say they are now increasingly identifying places best suited for specific tasks. India remains the biggest destination by far for software outsourcing, for instance.

Executives say the growth was not motivated by wage considerations. Filipino call center agents typically earn more than their Indian counterparts ($300 a month, rather than $250, at the entry level), but executives say they are worth the extra cost because American customers find them easier to understand than they do Indian agents, who speak British-style English and use unfamiliar idioms. Indians, for example, might say, “I will revert on the same,” rather than, “I will follow up on that.”

It helps that Filipinos learn American English in the first grade, eat hamburgers, follow the N.B.A. and watch the TV show “Friends” long before they enter a call center. In India, by contrast, public schools introduce British English in the third grade, only the urban elite eat American fast food, cricket is the national pastime and “Friends” is a teaching aid for Indian call center trainers. English is an official language in both countries.

The Philippines has “a unique combination of Eastern, attentive hospitality and attitude of care and compassion mixed with what I call Americanization,” said Aparup Sengupta, chief executive of Aegis Global, an outsourcing firm based in Mumbai, India, that acquired Manila-based People Support in 2008 and now employs nearly 13,000 Filipinos. American companies are reluctant to discuss their outsourcing strategies, but privately some executives acknowledged that early on, they focused primarily on saving money. But as they gained experience in different countries, they realized that was not the best strategy.

“Certain phrases people use and idioms are important,” said an executive at a large American company that handles service calls through the Philippines. He spoke on the condition that he and his firm not be identified. “We are getting better at it, but of course it is still a hot button.”

Analysts said call centers in the Philippines appeared to have helped American businesses respond to complaints from consumers who said they could not understand Indian agents. But it is unlikely to satisfy critics who say outsourcing is sending too many jobs abroad as millions of Americans struggle to find work.

This year, for instance, US Airways stopped outsourcing customer service to Manila and hired 400 agents in Arizona, California and North Carolina as part of an agreement with the Communications Workers of America union.

Some American companies like Delta Airlines have said they moved call centers back to the United States to appease angry customers who wanted better English. Entry-level American call center agents earn about $20,000 a year, about five times as much as similar agents in the Philippines and six times as much as Indian agents.

Nevertheless, the financial benefits of outsourcing remain strong enough that the call center business is growing at 25 to 30 percent a year here in the Philippines, compared to 10 to 15 percent in India, according to Salil Dani, research director at the Everest Group, a firm that tracks the market.

American outsourcing or back-end companies like I.B.M., Accenture and Convergys along with Indian firms like Aegis, Infosys and Tech Mahindra have thousands of employees working from gleaming glass towers and even inside malls, which executives say young workers prefer so they can be close to shops and restaurants.

In addition to language skills, the Philippines has better utility infrastructure than India — so companies spend little on generators and diesel fuel. Also, cities here are safer and have better public transportation, so employers do not have to bus employees to and from work as they do in India.

Many of the workers are like Mark, 26, who answers tech support calls from employees of an American chemical company. He studied engineering but dropped out of college to support his parents and two younger siblings. He now makes 26,000 pesos ($600) a month, about the same as his father, who has a small school-bus business. (The average Filipino family earns 17,000 pesos a month.)

He spoke on the condition that his full name and the name of his employer were not revealed because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. His office is in a new development known as Eastwood City, east of Manila that, locals said, used to be fields a few years ago. Now, it is home to companies like I.B.M. and Dell, and has McDonald’s, Starbucks and bars where happy hour starts at 6 a.m. for call center workers who want a beer after their shift.

Mark is trim and has sharp features. He wears stylish canvas shoes and a striped shirt. His accent is more middle America than eastern Manila. He said his parents made him watch American movies and TV shows, read English books and speak the language starting at age 5. Still, he said he was fired from his first call center job after just two weeks because customers said they could not understand him.

“Sometimes, they would insist on being transferred to an American agent,” he said. “After a year, I was able to speak in an accent that they would like to hear.”

But now he is tiring of answering phones and is thinking about trying his hand at acting because he has a little money in the bank and his siblings have college degrees and are working.

The call center boom has also benefitted his country, previously a laggard among Southeast Asia’s tiger economies — its most popular exports were nurses. Last year, revenue from outsourcing, which also includes things like health insurance processing, animation development and software programming, totaled $9 billion, or 4.5 percent of the Philippine gross domestic product, up from virtually nothing in 2000. The government has tried to support the industry with tax breaks and subsidies.

In spite of its recent growth, the Philippines is a much smaller destination for outsourcing more broadly — India earns about 10 times as much revenue from outsourcing. That is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future given India’s 1.2 billion people, 31 percent of whom are 14 years old or younger. (The Philippines has 93 million people, about 35 percent of them 14 or younger.)

Executives expect the Philippines to continue growing at a fast pace and move up to higher-value services like accounting or the processing of insurance claims. But, like India, companies are grappling with higher costs and losing their best workers because of high domestic inflation and a shortage of skilled professionals. In the last two years, the Philippine peso climbed nearly 10 percent against the dollar, to 42.14, before weakening recently.

If the peso appreciates to 35 to the dollar, many of the call centers in the Philippines will not survive, said Narasimha Murthy, president of HGS USA, the American arm of an Indian outsourcing company that employs 4,000 people here. But things look upbeat for now, and Mr. Murthy was recently in Manila with a prospective American client.

Five years ago, he said, many clients would ask him if customer calls could be handled in the Philippines. “From that,” he said, “it has gone to ‘How well will you do it?’ ”

Neha Thirani contributed reporting from Mumbai, India.
Source: NYTimes.com

Tag People in Facebook with Any Name You Want
The Huffington Post will teach you how to tag people in a post with any name you want. It’s like making a hyperlink to people’s profile.

Coca Cola’s Where Will Happiness Strike Next
A tear-jerky promotion by Coca Cola where three selected OFWs, who have been away from the country for a long time, surprised their family family members when they arrived home.

Tech Company Wants Zero Email
This one is closer to home. The CEO of the French company Atos wants to have a “zero email” policy in 18 months. That’s still a long way to go, but for the meantime, what I want is to declutter my Inbox.

The Cognitive Benefits Of Chewing Gum
An experiment was performed between gum chewers and non-gum chewers and the result: gum chewers performed better.

Lastly, watch Maroon Five perform in Victoria’s Secret Fashion show. The girls are so damn sexy. I have to download the full show because of this.

But even if we lessen, if not totally eradicate plastic bags by using paper bags, then are we not also destroying the environment because we would have to cut down more trees? It’s no different from the so-called electronic jeepneys that use battery instead of diesel; electricity produced by burning fossil fuel is used in charging the batteries, which is basically the same as burning gas in the engine.

This essentially, is the first law of thermodynamics. Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. It can only change forms.