In celebration of its 31st Year of Service as Mindanao’s Pioneer Premier Cable TV and Internet Service Provider (ISP), Parasat Cable TV Inc. rolls out starting July 15, 2021, its new F.A.B. (Faster Affordable Broadband) Plans which are much cheaper yet faster internet plans bundled with an unprecedented number of cable TV channels you won’t find elsewhere.
“Basically, our long awaited “Faster Affordable Bundles” (or FAB) are new packages which are very competitive to current internet only plans sold by PLDT and Globe,” said Engr. Elpidio M. Paras, president and CEO. “We actually brought down the rates and increased the speeds to address the perennial demands of customers for faster and more affordable, yet reliable internet services.”
Our Community, Our Responsibility
Paras said they FAB plans were conceptualized in response to the vastly increased demand for the internet as a basic need for education, work, communication, information, business, news and entertainment, and the cry of subscribers for faster and more reliable connectivity at affordable rates.
“Unlike the past decade, internet service speeds have largely been very slow and expensive. Parasat intends to break that barrier with very affordable bundled plans which include Cable TV programming at no additional cost to internet subscriptions,” Paras said.
With the covid-19 crisis affecting face-to-face classes in all levels, online education has now become the new norm. The demand for affordable internet especially from the public-school sector has never been more pronounced during this pandemic, he added.
Free Upgrades
The best part of Parasat’s Community Social Responsibility (CSR) is its speed BOOST program which increased internet speeds for existing customers by as much as 300%
(up to 3 times) depending on the particular plans.
“For example, during the last two weeks, customers subscribed to a 3mbps plan now get 10mbps (which is boosted by at least 300%),” Paras disclosed.
Parasat also plans another Speed Boost for all previous plans so current customers whether in HFC or Parafiber networks, can now level up with new plans. In this way, old Parasat internet customers would enjoy faster speeds proportionate to their current contracts. Current customers can also opt to recontract their cable and internet bundle based on the new plans without additional charges.
Parasat uses two redundant network infrastructures , Parasat HFC (its legacy hybrid fiber co-axial cable network) and Parafiber (its pure fiber delivery network using FTTH, (Fiber-To-The- Home technology). It is also now rolling out its FTTH infrastructure to its other service areas outside Cagayan de Oro.
Discounted Faster Internet
Parasat which pioneered its highly successful PISONET plan three years ago, provided cable customers with a lifeline 1 Mbps plan for an additional one (1) Peso.
Unfortunately in today’s environment, that kind of speed could not be usable for online meetings like Zoom and other solutions.
Parasat HFC’s P699 plan now provides unlimited 8mbps at only P200 more than the original Pisonet Plan(w/ Starter Cable 56 channels).
“This kind of pricing program is definitely cheaper and more convenient for those using prepaid load for their children’s online classes,” Paras noted.
“Parasat’s WiFi enabled cable/fiber modems allow multiple users per plan. Parasat commits to provide its current and new customers better choices which are very competitive to current “internet only” plans sold by its competitors,” he stressed.
The Cable ISP also dropped the price of its 15mbps Work from Home plan by 54% from P2149/month to only P999/month.
For families with multiple users and doing online selling, the new P1499 and P1999 plans gives them a whopping 40Mbps/70Mbps with a limited budget. Plans from 100Mbps to 300Mbps are also available for Small Business users and heavy downloaders of videos and games.
How We Did It
To bring its bandwidth costs down, Parasat Cable actually acquired multiple routes from bulk bandwidth Telco providers in order to have a resilient and reliable internet distribution network covering most of Cagayan de Oro barangays; Misamis Oriental towns Opol, Alubijid, Laguindingan, Libertad and El Salvador City to the west; Tagoloan, Villanueva, Jasaan and Balingasag to the East; Manolo Fortich, Malaybalay and Valencia Cities in Bukidnon province.
The company now has enough bandwidth capacity to service its current and new customers under the new speed requirements.
In this day and age of unrestrained demand for Social Media, the company also acquired equipment and technology which allows for a faster connectivity to the likes of Google, YouTube, Facebook and Netflix.
The state-of-the-art content servers in the data center, now enable users a low latency (below 5 milliseconds) connection to these major content sources, resulting in decreased buffering of videos and movies and a satisfying viewing experience for the customer.
Internet Overdrive
PARASAT Parafiber brand for its Fiber To The Home (FTTH) network now covers major areas of the city from Bugo to Iponan and the Uptown areas. The fiber optic plant can now service business or institutional customers for speeds up to 1Gbps (1000Mbps) and provide special business users who demand reliable point-to-point fiber connectivity to as high as 10Gbps. It is currently embarking on a large scale upgrading of its FTTH network citywide to cover most of its franchise areas within the year.
Parasat also upgraded its legacy Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) network to be compliant with DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) version 3.1; which will eventually be as efficient as fiber technology in providing internet connectivity. This HFC upgrade will allow current coax cable customers to access speeds up to 300Mbps from a previous 50 mbps limit.
More Value for Money
Unlike other CATV providers, Parasat Cable leverages its being a cable operator to bundle cable tv programs with its Parafiber and Parasat HFC internet brands, thus giving customers one solution in delivering traditional TV entertainment and internet based new communication and media platforms.
“Having one unified billing system for both cable and internet coupled with multiple modes for payment like online banking, GCash, ECpay and the like, with several payment offices in different locations , is definitely a big advantage for Parasat HFC/Parafiber customers,” Paras points out.
To date, Parasat has branches in Cruz Taal, Corrales, Bugo, Centrio, Limketkai, Puerto, Villanueva, Balingasag, Manolo Fortich, Malaybalay, including the recently opened Uptown branch along Masterson Ave.
Parasat currently operates in the key cities of Cagayan de Oro, Malaybalay, Bukidnon, San Carlos, Negros Occidental , several towns in Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon, as well as with strategic partners in other areas such as Valencia City, Bukidnon.
