Is PLDT's (Mybro/SmartBro) Fair Usage Policy (FUP) fair?

If you are currently a MyBro (formerly SmartBro) subscriber, then you already know and experienced what I am about to tell you. But still indulge me so that you may get additional insight about the matter and please do share this article to others so that they get informed. By spreading the word, we might make PLDT/Smart to rethink about its Fair Usage Policy.

If you are not yet a MyBro (SmartBro) subscriber, you are in luck. Please read carefully and when you fully understand what has been written here you still wish to subscribe, then all the best to your browsing in the coming months.

From the TV ads, Smart has been using the term unlimited to their MyBro plan 999. No matter how you try to interpret this, it will always mean that you get unlimited internet access with up to 2Mbps. Please note of the phrase up to that just because the 2Mbps is there, mean that you will get 2Mbps internet speed. I will let other users to comment on it but just to give you a hint, a 1Mbps speed would already be very good.

List of MyBro plans including their monthly data usage limit. Plan 999 and 1299 states unlimited.

But wait, let us go back to their much trumped umlimited data usage. myBro has this thing called Fair Usage Policy (FUP). What is this and why would you care? Well, because this means each month you are actually limited to only so much download and upload (combined) data per month. How much? Many says it is about 15GB a month but PLDT has a very vague description of it. Below is an excerpt of it:

"Conditions Covering Fair Usage Policy. Certain peer-to-peer and machine-to machine software/applications are used by customers to send and receive files containing very large amounts of data. These activities may cause network congestion and can negatively impact the quality of service that other subscribers will experience. myBro fulfils a service level that is based on equitable share of network resources among all of its customers. Thus, the service level and/or connectivity to users of peer-to-peer and machine-to-machine software/applications is modulated to ensure that all customers get the best fixed wireless Internet experience.

Upon reaching the optimum volume allocation for a single user, the subscriber will still be able to enjoy unlimited access to the Internet, but at a lower speed. This was implemented to manage overall internet usage and to ensure that all myBro subscribers can enjoy satisfactory internet service."

Well, to be fair, it stated that you will not get disconnected but your speed will be reduced then by the next month, all will be back to normal. But many will attest that by reduced, it means it will go down to a crawl that a dial-up would even be better. So much for unlimited huh?

The reason for such a policy they say was for them to ensure the integrity of the network so they can continue to provide a fast and reliable connectivity and that all subscribers will have fair access to network resource. How noble, but say what?!

First off, why use the term unlimited to a service that is actually limited? At least they should have the decency to say that all users are subject to myBro's fair usage policy. Why are users being penalized for their usage patterns for an unlimited service that has been promised them? Why does Smart not upgrade so they can provide better service instead of penalizing them for downloading so much for using their (I will say it again) unlimited network service? If upgrade is not an option, then don't accept anymore subscriber. Shouldn't this be more fair?

Secondly, people use the internet a lot these days. They use facebook, skype (or any other VOIP services), e-mails, youtube, online games, system/software updates, file downloads (like e-books), the cloud (iphone music for example) and yes peer-to-peer sharing. Accept that all these are just normal for a user to be doing over the internet aside from the usual Google search for a how to, what is or for the latest news/gossip. Ask anybody if it is normal to be using peer-to-peer software and you will get a resounding YES. What then, will Smart want to change this behaviour? Like I said, stop using the word unlimited that way no one will get deceived and state flat out how much data they are allowed to use each month.

As if that is not enough, they added:

"myBro reserves the right to suspend or terminate service to customers whose practices or use of the internet far exceeds that of a personal consumer and, as a result, impairs the quality of service that other customers experience. myBro also reserves the right to modify the Fair Usage Policy without immediate notice in order to maintain the integrity of its network services."

If I am to understand it, it is all up to them to do no matter what they please so that they could provide a fast and reliable service. Ah! All in the name of good service. Is that what you can call fair? Fair to whom?

How about existing subscribers prior to the implementation of the Fair Usage Policy? They were promised unlimited network access, no conditions. Unlimited, period. Why apply to them? I almost forgot, they reserve the right to modify their policy, right! Well, could Smart at least give them the right to opt out from the subscription even within the lock-in period? The answer is a resounding NO.

OK I am done babbling about this policy. But just to give some insight as to  how far a 15GB will last for an average user (note, not a power surfer) here is a summary of usage with corresponding data. Please note this are only estimates and in no way is it measured scientifically.

Youtube (1min of video = 2MB; average youtube video per month = 1350 minutes that is 45 minute video per day) = 2.7GB <- note that you can download video faster than you can play them and most times you don't watch the entire length of the video especially if that video is not what you are looking for but you have already downloaded the complete video.

Facebook (50 pictures upload/month at 6MB/picture; 15MBper page @ 150page/month; 3MB per photo view@ 400 photo/month = 300MB + 2.25GB+1.2MB or roughly 3.75GB/month.

Skype (2.2Gb/hr; 20 hours/month) = 5.5GB/month <- me and my wife use more (way more, like 4 times more, than this every month).

Online Games (approximately 50MB per hour at 50hours/month; hahaha a little more than an hour a day of gameplay but indulge me) = 2.5GB/month

System/Software updates = roughly 1GB/month

This alone will already give you 15.4GB of downloaded data and that is a very conservative estimate. How about the bits of cookies and such that are also downloaded not to mention that each page you visit, you are also uploading some data. I also have not included a user's numerous Google search as well as page visits to different sites. Note that this is only for a single computer. What if you have more than one connected via a router? And let us not forget peer-to-peer download which could easily use 10GB in a month.

Lastly, to be fair, it is also worth noting that myBro is not alone in implementing a data limit. Globe as well as others have also their own data limit.

My advise learn your surfing habit and if you think you are within this limit then you can try subscribing otherwise look for an alternative. A local ISP perhaps that has no data limit or at least higher limit? But if you don't have a choice and you are a heavy user, then I feel for you. You may try prepaid plug-it and subscribe an UNLISURF 200 good for 5 days. I have inquired through their service representative and to this day,  this is still not covered by the FUP but most of the time it is also very slow (at least in my case). Just don't buy the dongle with a very limited settings selection in its UI like MF180 and MF190 by ZTE. It automatically connect once it is plugged and there is no way you can disable its autoconnect. I have that experience with the MF180, trust me it is a pain to use. Loosing my load before I could register it to UNLISURF.

Let me ask again, is the Fair Usage Policy fair?

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How to draw lines using CSS

Do you want some simple lines (vertical, horizontal,diagonal or slanting) but without using images?

It is quite simple really. By using CSS, you can create the above listed lines as well as circle.

Let us start with the simpler ones, that is horizontal and vertical lines. To do so, simply create a div element and define the border on one side and you already have a line then define its position so you can place it at the exact location you wish the line be displayed by using a combination of the top, left, bottom, right properties together with the position: absolute, position: relative or position: fixed.

Vertical line example:
<style>
#vertical
{
 height: 200px;
 border-left: 1px solid blue;
 position: absolute;
 top: 50px;
 left: 250px;
}
</style>

<div id="vertical"></div>

*You may also use border-right with the same values and it will have the exact same result. The bigger height it is the longer the vertical line.

Horizontal line example:
<style>
#horizontal
{
 width: 200px;
 border-top: 1px solid blue;
 position: absolute;
 top: 50px;
 left: 250px;
}
</style>

<div id="horizonal"></div>

*You may also use border-bottom.

For a diagonal line first create a vertical or horizontal line then add the rotate property.

Diagonal line example:
<style>
#diagonal
{
 width: 200px;
 border-top: 1px solid blue;
 -webkit-transform: rotate(36deg);
 -moz-transform: rotate(36deg);
 -o-transform: rotate(36deg);
 -ms-transform: rotate(36deg);
 transform: rotate(36deg);
 position: absolute;
 top: 50px;
 left: 250px;
}
</style>

<div id="diagonal"></div>
*A diagonal line is a horizontal or vertical line that is rotated at an angle.
**The -webkit-transform: rotate(xxdeg), -moz-transform: rotate(xxdeg), -o-transform: rotate(xxdeg), -ms-transform: rotate(xxdeg) and transform: rotate(xxdeg) all do the same thing. But each only works for a specific browser.
***Always supply the same angle to all, otherwise it will be displayed differently on different browsers.

For a circle, it is still a div element with rounded corners.
Circle Example:
<style>
#circle
{
 height: 200px;
 width: 200px;
 border-radius: 100px;
 border: 1px solid blue;
 position: absolute;
 top: 50px;
 left: 250px;
}
</style>

<div id="circle"></div>

*To create a circle, the div element has to be a square thus height and width must be equal.

**The value of the border-radius must be half that of the side (or half of the height or width value).

Now let us use a combination of these to draw a very big stickman.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
#stick_head
{
height: 100px;
width: 100px;
border: 1px solid blue;
border-radius: 50px;
position: absolute;
top: 200;
left: 400px;
}

#body
{
height: 240px;
border-left: 1px solid blue;
position: absolute;
top: 120px;
left: 450px;
}

#left_arm
{
height: 130px;
border-right: 1px solid blue;
-webkit-transform: rotate(50deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(50deg);
-o-transform: rotate(50deg);
-ms-transform: rotate(50deg);
transform: rotate(50deg);
position: absolute;
top: 140px;
left: 400px;
}

#right_arm
{
height: 130px;
border-right: 1px solid blue;
-webkit-transform: rotate(130deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(130deg);
-o-transform: rotate(130deg);
-ms-transform: rotate(130deg);
transform: rotate(130deg);
position: absolute;
top: 140px;
left: 500px;
}

#left_leg
{
width: 180px;
border-bottom: 1px solid blue;
-webkit-transform: rotate(100deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(100deg);
-o-transform: rotate(100deg);
-ms-transform: rotate(100deg);
transform: rotate(100deg);
position: absolute;
top: 448px;
left: 345px;
}

#right_leg
{
width: 180px;
border-bottom: 1px solid blue;
-webkit-transform: rotate(80deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(80deg);
-o-transform: rotate(80deg);
-ms-transform: rotate(80deg);
transform: rotate(80deg);
position: absolute;
top: 448px;
left: 376px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="stick_head"></div>
<div id="body"></div>
<div id="left_arm"></div>
<div id="right_arm"></div>
<div id="left_leg"></div>
<div id="right_leg"></div>
</body>
</html>

Of course this is not how you would use a line to style your page but just to give you an idea as to what extent you can do with it and what has just been demonstrated is the very basic. There are more that you can do with it specially when used together with javascript or similar language.
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How to customize a Google Visualization Table to best fit your page

If you are using Google Visualization Table to show your data like when making Google Spreadsheet as a database, you may have learned that customizing it is not simply declaring an ID to the containing element.

The declaration google.visualization.table in itself contains its own CSS styles which defines what you see when the table gets drawn like background color, font size, font face and so on. There are readily available options that you can turn on or off like alternating background color per row but sometimes that is not enough as what is readily available may not be suited on how your page looks like.

How to override the default styles
For this to work the option allowHtml must be set to true. Also, there should not be any formatting on the source spreadsheet.

For the purpose of this post, let us go back to a previous article that illustrates how to use your google spreadsheet as a database. Let us make this table transparent so that it will match and adopt your page's background color.

• Define the CSS styles for the table elements - create a css class for the following: headerRow, tableRow, oddTableRow, .selectedTableRow, headerCell and tableCell. Set the the background color to transparent and since by default there is no border define one for it as well. Also, since all will be having the same styles, just lump them up in a single declaration within the <style> </style> tag. Here is an example:

Example: 
.hrowclass, .trowclass, .otrowclass, .strowclass, .hcellclass, .tcellclass
{
 background-color: transparent;
 border: 1px solid #c8c8c8;
}

• Use declared classes in the table.draw using the cssClassName property - locate the javascript function containing the actual code that displays the table. In this case it is table.draw(data, {'allowHtml': true, 'alternatingRowStyle': true, 'page': 'enable', 'pageSize': 10, 'sort': 'enable', 'sortAscending': false, 'sortColumn': 0}); and add this 'cssClassNames': {'tableRow': 'trowclass', 'headerRow': 'hrowclass', 'oddTableRow': 'otrowclass', 'selectedTableRow': 'strowclass', 'headerCell': 'hcellclass', 'tableCell': 'tcellclass'}. The final result will be this:

table.draw(data, {'allowHtml': true, 'alternatingRowStyle': true, 'page': 'enable', 'pageSize': 10, 'sort': 'enable', 'sortAscending': false, 'sortColumn': 0, 'cssClassNames': {'tableRow': 'trowclass', 'headerRow': 'hrowclass', 'oddTableRow': 'otrowclass', 'selectedTableRow': 'strowclass', 'headerCell': 'hcellclass', 'tableCell': 'tcellclass'}});

Now save your work and you will have a transparent table with a gray background. You can even change the color of the border or make it thicker, add more styles as you see fit. Try playing on it to give you what you wanted.

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Nokia Asha 501 Review/Spec

Nokia Asha 501 Dual Sim |
image source: http://www.nokia.com.ph

Nokia Asha 501 (Dual SIM)

Here is an inexpensive Nokia phone that would be new phone owner want to buy. At first glance this phone may look like a Lumia only smaller.

Apparently the Asha 501 tries to go against the current norm and went smaller instead of bigger. The Asha 501 is small at 99.2x58mm (h x w) compared to what we are normally sold in the market these days. There was a time back in the early days of cellular phones where smaller is better, this phone is trying to prove that. Of course the only disadvantage is that with a smaller body, you will also get a smaller display which is not so good when you are browsing or playing games or videos.

Here are some positive notes about this phone

Easily swap SIM withou loosing each SIM's settings |
image source: http://www.nokia.com.ph

• Low data usage full browsing experience - It also tries to minimize data usage while browsing with its Nokia Express Browser. It uses less data while still richly displaying content.
• Get Social all-in-one screen - With a single swipe, it brings out your social media interface in a single screen. Updating status and receiving them are all in a single screen.
• Swapping SIM has never been easier - Now it is possible to swap SIM cards and never have to worry about the settings in each SIM. It remembers settings of up to 5 SIMs.

User experience:

Here are some comments from people who have already used the device.

• Pros:

1. Good battery life
2. phone is good for its price
3. gives smartphone experience for a phone that is not

• Cons

1. small browsing screen
2. no support for apps like nimbuzz and whatsapp.

Price	Php3,000 - Php4,500
Name	Nokia Asha 501
Release Date	June 2013 (Announced May 2013)
Operating System	Nokia Asha software platform 1.0
Dimensions	99.2 x 58 x 12.1 mm (3.91 x 2.28 x 0.48 in)
Weight	98.2 g (3.46 oz)
Network Type	GSM 900 / 1800 - RM-899; 850 / 1900 - RM-900; GSM 900 / 1800 - SIM 1 & SIM 2 - RM-902
SIM	Optional Dual SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by)
Display Type	TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors
Display Size	240 x 320 pixels, 3.0 inches (~133 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Display?	Yes, Up to 2 fingers
Vibration Alert	Yes
MP3 Alert/Ringtones	Yes
Loudspeaker	Yes
Speaker Jack	Yes, 3.5mm jack
Internal Memory	128 MB, 64 MB RAM
Memory Expansion	Yes, microSD, up to 32 GB, 4 GB card included
GPRS	Yes, Up to 85.6 kbps
Edge	Yes, Up to 236.8 kbps
WLAN	Yes, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth	Yes, v3.0 with EDR
USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0
Primary Camera	3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels
Secondary Camera	-
Video Capture	Yes,QVGA@15fps
Accelerometer	Yes
Proximity Sensor	Yes
Other Sensors	-
Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, IM
Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
Radio	Yes, FM only
GPS	No
Java	Yes, MIDP 2.1
Color	Bright Red, Bright Green, Cyan, Yellow, White and Black
Battery	Li-Ion 1200 mAh battery (BL-4U)
Battery | Stand-by	Up to 1152 h (dual SIM: Up to 624 h)
Battery | Talk Time	Up to 17 h (dual SIM: Up to 17 h)
Battery | Music Play Time	Up to 56 h
Battery | Browsing Time	-
SAR US	1.41 W/kg (head)
SAR EU	0.96 W/kg (head)
Support Page	http://www.nokia.com/ph-en/support/

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Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 2 7.0 Review/Specs

Samsung Galaxy ^TM Tab2 7.0 front view |
source: http://samsung.com

Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 2 7.0 (Wi-Fi) 8GB

Last April 22, 2012, Samsung has released another tablet from their 7-inch series. The Samsung Galaxy Tab^TM 2 7.0 seems a rehash of the earlier released Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus.

To be honest, because many loved the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus but had reservations in buying due to its price, they have this released.

Looking from a distance the it looked like the Tab 7.0 Plus. Only at closer inspection will you see the difference in thickness (Galaxy Tab2 7.0 is slightly thicker). There are also several other downgrades here and there like its front camera which is VGA resolution from an HD quality in 7.0 Plus. CPU speed is now 1Ghz from 1.2Ghz in 7.0 Plus.

Still, many of the selling point of the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is carried to it like its bright TFT LCD display, microSD slot and rear camera. 

Here are some positive notes about this Tablet

• Loaded with lots of apps and can carry lots of content - Although not necessarily a plus, it comes pre-loaded with apps from social media to weather updates, access to Google Play Store, entertainment and many more. Of course a user can always remove apps he/she deems not necessary. And with an external microSD port (up to 32G) of files and media storage couple that with a cloud storage of 50G (good for 2 years free), an owner could carry virtually everything he/she needs.

Endless apps and content at your fingertips | source: http://samsung.com

• Easily customized - With Touchwiz, things is easily customized and organized giving easy access to contents.

Add a touch of TouchWiz and contents are accessed easily | source: http://samsung.com

• A home entertainment Tab - Stream shows from TV screens using SmartView. If you lost your TV remote, this Tab can do it for you.

• Extendable Memory - With the built in microSD slot, memory can be extended and give up to 32G more memory of storage for files like photo, documents, video and music.

Load up more data with up to 32G more memory | source: http://samsung.com

User experience:
Here are some comments from people who have already used the device. Most feedback are positive.

• Pros

1. Bright display.
2. Built-in speakers.
3. Leight weight.
4. Inexpensive.
5. Realistic color.
6. Solid feel
7. With flash player

• Cons

1. Can't install apps on the microSD.
2. Most apps from Google Play are supported but there are still some that it does not support.

Here is the complete list of its specifications:

Price	Php11,000 - Php12,800 (as of July 31, 2013)
Operating System	Android 4.1, Jelly Bean
Processor / Chipset	TI OMAP4430
	-
Graphic	'none'
Display	7"; 1024x600Pixel (resolution)
Touchscreen	Yes
LCD Features	-
	-
	-
Memory	8GB (internal); micro SD card slot supports up to 32GB (external)
Hard Drive	-
HDD Interface	-
Color	Titanium Silver
Multimedia	3.0 Megapixel (rear)
	Music: MP3, AAC/AAC+/EAAC+, WMA, OGG (vorbis), FLAC, AC-3 ; Sound: AVideo Codec: Mpeg4, H.264, H.263, VC-1, Divx, VP8, WMV7/8, Sorenson Spark;
	Format: 3gp(mp4), wmv(asf), avi(divx), mkv, flv, webm
	Format: 3gp(mp4), wmv(asf), avi(divx), mkv, flv, webm
Communication	Wi-Fi Only
	Bluetooth
Ports	802.11n wireless network support
	Proprietary USB and power connection
	-
	-
	-
	-
Input	-
Power	4,000mAh (Battery)
	-
Dimension	4.8" x 7.6" x .41" (W x H x D)
Weight	0.76 lbs
Software *Software can be changed without notice	-
	-
	-
	-
	-
	-
	-
	-
	-
	-
Others	-
	-
	-
	-
	-
Warranty	1 year limited warranty period for parts
	1 year limited warranty for labor
Samsung Support Page	http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/GT-P3113TSYXAR (includes manual downloads and FAQs & How Tos)

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Samsung XE700T1C Review/Specs

Samsung XE700T1C overview | source: http://www.samsung.com

Samsung ATIV SmartPC Pro XE700T1C-A01US

The XE700T1C is one of Samsung's latest in tablet PCs. Although they were not the first to have thought it, it has revolutionized user's computing experience by combining the power of a notebook (or in the case a desktop) and the convinience of a tablet.

It is comparable to a notebook because it comes with a full-sized keyboard out of the box which you can mount if needed. It is like a desktop PC because it uses an Intel® Core™ i5 Processor 3317U (1.70GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) to drive it. Now that is what I call a tablet with a punch.

Here are some positive notes about this Tablet

• Intel® Core™ i5 processor - This tablet is fast and it owes it to its processor.

• Tablet convertible to Notebook - for more productivity, this tablet comes with a keyboard that you can dock to it for faster typing.

Front of the tablet. It uses Windows 8 for its OS | source: http://www.samsung.com

When docked onto its keyboard:

Docked onto its keyboard, it becomes a notebook for productivity | source: http://www.samsung.com

• Sketching/Drawing/Creating an art is much easier and faster - With the S-pen and its 1024 level pressure sensitivity, graphic designers will surely love its accuracy.

• It has multi-touch capability - With its 10-points multi-touch capability, it provides more control by allowing you to use all ten fingers at the same time as opposed to the traditional 2-points multi-touch that we have been accustomed to.

Here is an overview of its ports:

Ports overview of the device | source: http://www.samsung.com

User experience:
Here are some comments from people who have already used the device.

• Pros

1. Indeed this tablet is very fast.
2. The keyboard, although a bit cramped, is good for typing and is very easy to get accustomed to.
3. Very slick and stylish design.
4. It has a solid feel, given that it has a plastic casing.
5. Very good for doing artwork.
6. Bright display

• Cons

1. Docking into the keyboard is not very easy.
2. Keyboard gets disconnected easily due to improper docking.
3. No battery on the keyboard. It gets power from the tablet instead of it providing for the tablet. Many users asked this improvement.
4. The S pen is a hit or miss to people as opposed to what Samsung's sales pitch to be very good. Others like it while others say it is too small on their hands. One artist mentioned it to be too smooth that there is not much felt while drawing/writing thus it is very easy to go over.
5. Battery capacity to device power consumption limits a user to at most 5 hours based on their actual experience.
6. Touchpad on keyboard is not so accurate.

Here is the complete list of its specifications:

Operating System	Genuine Windows 8 (64-bit)
Processor / Chipset	Intel® Core™ i5 Processor 3317U (1.70GHz speed, 3MB L3 Cache)
	Intel HM76
Graphic	Intel® HD Graphics 4000
Display	11.6" FHD LED Display (1,920 x 1,080 resolution)
Touchscreen	Yes
LCD Features	Gloss, 16:9, 400 nits SuperBright Plus Technology
	Touch Screen with Digitizer S Pen
	LED Full HD Screen
Memory	4GB DDR3 System Memory at 1600MHz (on BD 4GB)
Hard Drive	128GB Solid state Drive
HDD Interface	SATA2
Color	Black
Multimedia	Stereo Speakers ( 1 watts x 2 )
	SoundAlive™
	Internal Dual Array Digital Mic
	2.0 megapixel Webcam (front), 5.0 megapixel Webcam with Flash (rear)
Communication	Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6235, 2 x 2 802.11abg/n (up to 300Mbps), Widi Support
	Bluetooth V4.0
Ports	1 Micro HDMI
	1 USB3.0
	MicroSD Multi-media Card Reader
	1 Headphone out/Mic-in Combo
	1 Dock Port™
	1 DC-in
Input	Touch screen
Power	4Cell (49Wh)
	40 watts AC Adapter
Dimension	304.0 x 189.4 x 11.9mm (11.97" x 7.46" x 0.47")
Weight	0.888kg (1.96lbs) [Wifi Model]
Software *Software can be changed without notice	S Note
	S Player
	S Gallery
	S Camera
	PowerDVD
	Settings
	SW Update
	Recovery
	Norton Internet Security (60 days Trial)
	Norton Online Backup (30 days Trial)
Others	Ambient Light Sensor
	Accelarometer Sensor
	Compass Sensor
	Gyro Sensor
	Prominity
Warranty	1 year limited warranty period for parts
	1 year limited warranty for labor
Samsung Support Page	http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/XE700T1C-A01US (includes manual downloads and FAQs & How Tos)

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Speed up internet browsing by skipping server side DNS lookup and blocking unwanted ads

Use Hosts file to speed up browsing

The title says it all. Page load speed can be increased if only host name resolution can be done within your computer and you don't have to wait for all the ads in a site to load.

In a previous post, I mentioned that you can increase browsing speed (page load speed) by using other DNS servers like Google Public DNS and OpenDNS instead of using your ISP's DNS service. This is because your ISP may be over saturated that it is having difficulty coping up with all the requests.

But using Google Public DNS or OpenDNS  is still in the internet and so you still need to go through it to resolve a host name.

But there is a way to resolve host names within your local machine. In the old days, host name resolution is done by using the Hosts file (this file has no extension). This file resides in:

C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\

The Hosts file is a simple text file that contains IP address with its corresponding host name. It maps a host name to its corresponding IP address. We can read and edit its content by using a text editor like Notepad.

How to add a host name and its corresponding IP address in the Hosts file?
If you open your Hosts file now in Notepad, you will only see one entry for localhost, 127.0.0.1     localhost also called the loopback address.

The format for adding to the list is the IP address first, then a space and finally the host name. It does not matter if you have one, two or as many spaces between IP address and host name as the succeeding spaces will be ignored but for readability everyone use the tab.

If for example then we wanted to add www.google.com using the IP address 74.125.128.191 (one of many Google's IP address). It would look like this: 74.125.128.191     www.google.com and if I decided to add one for this blog: 74.125.128.132     cyberliving.blogspot.com. The content would then look like this:

# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

127.0.0.1       localhost
74.125.128.99 www.google.com
74.125.128.191 www.blogger.com

Save this file. Please note that notepad automatically adds extension to saved files so do not use Save as... just use Save to preserve the property of the file.

Once the file is saved, the effect of it is immediate. There is no need to restart or disconnect/connect to the internet. While using Chrome version 28, it is not necessary to restart the browser as well but some browsers may require restarting.

Guides to Host file editing
Here are some rules that must be strictly followed in order that you will not wreck havoc with your networking.

It is recommended that you back-up your Hosts file before you edit it. Just create a back-up folder within the C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\ folder then copy the Hosts file and paste it inside the created back-up folder.

1. Each entry should be kept on individual line. One IP address and host name per line. If a host name has more than one IP address, then add it in another line with again its host name.
2. IP address is placed in front of the host name separated by at least one space.
3. Do not associate host name with any programs. Watch out when opening the Hosts file as you might accidentally associate this with a program like Notepad. Never click the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" radio button to avoid this.
4. When saving, just click on Save and not Save as... to avoid placing an extension to the file. Notepad and other programs automatically ads the default extension when Saved as... is used.

To block a site or ad from loading
In order to do this, give the host name where the ads are coming from or the site you wish to block with the localhost IP address (127.0.0.1)

Benefits of using the Hosts file
By using your machine to look-up sites, it will be much faster for it to resolve their host names and consequently land to the page faster.

Blocking ad sites from loading will also make the page you are trying to visit load up faster. The downside though is that you will see some content of the site not loading or with an error message.

Blocking some malicious sites containing malware or trojans (or phishing sites) will protect you from accidentally landing on them thus preventing you from downloading said malware and/or trojans. You will also be prevented from entering phishing sites thus your username and password is protected.

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Use custom CSS fonts to enrich your page

How to add stylish and curvy fonts to your blog post/page using CSS?

You may have observed while visiting other sites that they have very nice looking fonts specially with their qoutes. But however you hard you try to find what font they used, you can not duplicate it. How was that possible? It is by using custom CSS fonts.

Today many are already offering such fonts like fonts.com and face-fonts. But most of these needed that you upload them to your server and access it from there. There is one alternative though that does not require uploading to your server. It is Google Web Fonts or simply Google Fonts.

To give a sample of the fonts, here is a famous line from Confucius:

“Chose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
-Confucius

The custom font used above is cursive Bilbo from Google Web Fonts. The texts affected by the custom font are the quote

Here is how it is done:
Using custom fonts with CSS. Here is the code for the above quote:

<blockquote style="font-family: 'Bilbo', cursive http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Bilbo stylesheet text/css; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.45; margin: 0.25em 0; padding: 0.25em 40px; position: relative; width: 500px;">
<span style="color: lightgrey; font-size: 130px; left: -30px; position: absolute; top: -50px;">“</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Chose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.</span><br />
<span style="color: lightgrey; font-family: 'Bilbo', cursive http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Bilbo stylesheet text/css; font-size: 15px;">-Confucius</span></blockquote>

Google Fonts' instructions in using their fonts is to include a code into your website. For blogger users, you will have to include it into your template. By doing so, the said font will be available anytime you want to use it. The downside to it is that, the more fonts you add into your template, the slower it is for your site to load. And since you are forced not to add as much custom fonts as you want, you don't have that much flexibility in using all these custom fonts.

Fortunately there is another way of coding it that will only require to add a code into your browser. What I will describe below  does not require you to add anything in your template. But this will still add into the loading time for the page/blog post you will apply it with but not on your whole site.

• Follow the basic format for the code as shown below. Just include the code as inline CSS to the element you wish to place it. In the case that there is already an existing inline CSS in the said element, just copy the texts inside the double quotes and insert it inside the CSS.

style="font-family: 'Bilbo', cursive http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Bilbo stylesheet text/css;"

Note the different colors of the texts. The red ones represent the URL for the font and the blue ones represent the name of the font.

• Get the font URL for the custom font.
1. Go to http://www.google.com/fonts/ and browse through the list then choose the font that you wish.
2. When you have chosen, click on the quick use button at the lower right for each font.
3. You will be redirected to another set of selections. If the font you selected had more than one style, you will need to choose for the style that you want. Choose only one. Actually it is possible to choose all but that is if you will be placing your code on your template.
4. You will also need to choose a character set in case there are more than one. Again just choose one for the same reason as above.
5. Finally, you will see some code similar to this:

<link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto+Slab&subset=cyrillic-ext' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>

Copy all the text inside the single quote after href= and then in the basic format mentioned above replace the red texts with this. In the example above, replace http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Bilbo with http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto+Slab&subset=cyrillic-ext.

• Get the font name for your chosen font
1. Just below the link code is another code that looks like this:

font-family: 'Roboto Slab', serif;rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>

Copy the font-family until the first semi-colon (semicolon not included) and go back to your inline CSS to replace the existing font-family similar to the way you did with the URL. In the example above, replace font-family: 'Bilbo', cursive with font-family: 'Roboto Slab', serif.

That is it, you now have custom fonts inside your content and you can use different font type for different page and still not affecting the loading time of your site.

It is up to you know how big yo want it. What color and the positioning of the texts to make it even look better.

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Smart Bro DNS vs. Google Public DNS

Here is a study comparing the DNS server from Smart Bro performance against that of Google Public DNS.

It has been thought that because Google has a large database that using their public DNS server would increase internet speed. So how true is it?

To begin, let me illustrate what happens when we browse the internet. At least as I understood it.

It starts from our computer. When we open our browser and type in a URL in the address bar called host name (like www.google.com), our computer sends out this information to the internet. But every machine, including the servers that host a domain, do not have word names, it has numeric names called IP address (like 173.194.38.144). The words are only for humans because we are better at remembering words than numbers.

To resolve this, another server is needed to translate the host name into an IP address before your request for a web page can continue. That is the job of a DNS server, to resolve host names into its equivalent IP address then directs you to the proper server.

Your computer sends out request to a host name, host name gets translated into an IP address by a DNS server, target IP address sends out requested data to your computer.

Smart Bro vs. Google Public DNS
To compare the two let us take the latency by using the ping command to check for delay but according to Google the delay in internet browsing also includes the host name resolution time.

"In addition to the ping time, you also need to consider the average time to resolve a name. For example, if your ISP has a ping time of 20 ms, but a mean name resolution time of 500 ms, the overall average response time is 520 ms. If Google Public DNS has a ping time of 300 ms, but resolves many names in 1 ms, the overall average response time is 301 ms.

The formula then for delay is:

Delay = connection latency + host name resolution time

To get the host name resolution time, I used the nslookup command in a batch file in DOS. I have taken some data at different times of the day as internet traffic varies during the day. Here is a summary of the result.

Time	Host Name	Ping Result		DNS Server Resolution Time		Total Delay
		Smart Bro	Google Public DNS	Smart Bro	Google Public DNS	Smart Bro	Google Public DNS
Day1 @ 1am	www.google.com	312 ms	479 ms	1110 ms	1130 ms	1422 ms	1609 ms
	www.facebook.com	447 ms	290 ms	1140 ms	1050 ms	1587 ms	1340 ms
	cyberliving.blogspot.com	518 ms	446 ms	1160 ms	2170 ms	1678 ms	2616 ms
Day1 @ 9am	www.google.com	331 ms	512 ms	1290 ms	1120 ms	1621 ms	1632 ms
	www.facebook.com	433 ms	474 ms	1080 ms	1140 ms	1513 ms	1614 ms
	cyberliving.blogspot.com	486 ms	507 ms	1380 ms	1130 ms	1866 ms	1637 ms
Day1 @ 4pm	www.google.com	411 ms	318 ms	1020 ms	700 ms	1431 ms	1018 ms
	www.facebook.com	358 ms	283 ms	880 ms	640 ms	1238 ms	923 ms
	cyberliving.blogspot.com	420 ms	303 ms	1090 ms	700 ms	1510 ms	1003 ms
Day1 @ 9pm	www.google.com	509 ms	438 ms	1140 ms	900 ms	1649 ms	1338 ms
	www.facebook.com	399 ms	330 ms	1020 ms	870 ms	1419 ms	1200 ms
	cyberliving.blogspot.com	510 ms	447 ms	6390 ms	940 ms	6900 ms	1387 ms
Day2 @ 12am	www.google.com	344 ms	298 ms	700 ms	550 ms	1044 ms	848 ms
	www.facebook.com	288 ms	255 ms	710 ms	430 ms	998 ms	685 ms
	cyberliving.blogspot.com	302 ms	325 ms	670 ms	640 ms	972 ms	965 ms
Day2 @ 10am	www.google.com	645 ms	349 ms	1670 ms	750 ms	2315 ms	1099 ms
	www.facebook.com	505 ms	288 ms	1450 ms	720 ms	1955 ms	1008 ms
	cyberliving.blogspot.com	566 ms	300 ms	1650 ms	720 ms	2216 ms	1020 ms
Day2 @ 7pm	www.google.com	378 ms	330 ms	840 ms	570 ms	1218 ms	900 ms
	www.facebook.com	428 ms	303 ms	740 ms	560 ms	1139 ms	863 ms
	cyberliving.blogspot.com	305 ms	349 ms	810 ms	820 ms	1115 ms	1169 ms

​
Comparing the two, in general, using Google Public DNS gives a latency and host name resolution that is lower, thus the overall delay is much lower compared to that of my ISP.

It is interesting to note though that my first two results in Day 1 is showing a better performance for my ISP. And this is during a non-peak hours my time. But otherwise, Google Public DNS is thus far winning the battle. That is, of course, only one part of the problem solved. We have only looked at the delay from the moment our computer made the request until we got a response.

What does it mean to you? When you go to a certain web page, your computer actually makes several http requests. This is because web pages have javascript, CSS, html, images, Flash, etc. which are separate files in themselves saved at the same domain or from other domains and each one requires a separate request (http request) to the same domain.

Here is an example:
If I would have visited www.facebook.com on Day1 @ 9pm and it requires a total of 5 http requests, using my ISP's DNS would have a delay of 7.095s (5*1419ms) while with Google Public DNS it would only be 6s (5*1200ms) or a difference of approximately 1 second. With higher http request for a page the longer you will have to wait and the bigger difference between the two.

Throughput Speeds
How about the download and upload speed (Throughput) of our internet connection? Does using other DNS server improve it? For this, I have to use the online testing tool at speedtest.net. I choose three locations to test my download and upload speed. One nearest my location, one midway between my location and the Americas and one in the United States.

Time	Down/Up Speed	Tarlac		Lutsk		Sioux Falls SD
		Smart Bro	Google Public DNS	Smart Bro	Google Public DNS	Smart Bro	Google Public DNS
Day1 @ 10am	Download Speed	0.35Mbps	0.25Mbps	0.40Mbps	0.30Mbps	0.53Mbps	0.43Mbps
	Upload Speed	0.15Mbps	0.15Mbps	0.21Mbps	0.17Mbps	0.23Mbps	0.17Mbps
Day1 @ 4pm	Download Speed	0.46Mbps	0.55Mbps	0.77Mbps	0.71Mbps	0.32Mbps	0.71Mbps
	Upload Speed	0.16Mbps	0.18Mbps	0.23Mbps	0.20Mbps	0.17Mbps	0.29Mbps
Day2 @ 12am	Download Speed	0.94Mbps	0.34Mbps	1.03Mbps	0.30Mbps	1.11Mbps	0.48Mbps
	Upload Speed	0.15Mbps	0.13Mbps	0.25Mbps	0.18Mbps	0.29Mbps	0.29Mbps
Day2 @ 10am	Download Speed	0.20Mbps	0.43Mbps	0.53Mbps	0.46Mbps	0.36Mbps	0.48Mbps
	Upload Speed	0.14Mbps	0.15Mbps	0.20Mbps	0.21Mbps	0.26Mbps	0.27Mbps

The result above is now reversed. This time, it looked like Google has lower download and upload speeds compared to Smart Bro.

If I am to translate this into browsing speed, it will be like this. It is thought of that currently, the average size of a page is 1.3MB. Let us say I wanted to visit a site (www.exampleLutsk.com) located in the area of Lutsk, Ukrain during the time Day1 @ 10am, it would take me to download the content of the page (1.3MB) in 26 seconds (0.4Mbps=0.05MBps) using my ISP's DNS while with Google it would be 30.5 (0.3MBps=0.0375MBps) seconds or a difference of 4 seconds between the two.

Summary
With the tabulated results above, I could say that there is no difference with using my Smart Bro's DNS against that of Google Public DNS in terms of internet browsing speed. That is because, whatever advantage Google had with latency and host name resolution was erased by the download and upload speed. One reason I see that caused the bandwidth reduction in using Google's Public DNS is that it could be redirecting me to a server further from my location. But this is something that I have not verified and is beyond the scope of this post.

Increased HTTP look-up or not, notice at the tabulated ping results that my round trip time (RTT) is quite large. If some believe that an RTT below 100ms is what is deemed good/acceptable couple that with an average of 0.58Mbps (only results using Smart Bro DNS was used in the calculation) when it is rated at 3Mbps then what I have is mediocre at best.

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