I've never wished I could buy stock at no better time than now, with VMWare going public. Not necessarily because its done as well as it had - I was sure it'd do well but certainly not this well - but also because of the clear message this sends to bad ol' Microsoft.

VMWare simply put is software that gives the ability to run services on a computer regardless of operating system by allowing several operating systems to run alongside one another in one machine. In effect it brings sanity in a world where choices aren't necessarily made in favor of the best.

I don't really wanna get in the intricacies of what virtualization is about right here. I was about to start a paragraph explaining it a bit, but I realized I was quickly getting much too techie and was losing focus on what I was trying to say.

The point is this: Virtualization allows a Mac to run Windows and a Mac OS at the same time, or on a larger scale, a large server to run both Windows and Linux and Mac and whatever, again all at the same time.

For me, that ability is a direct blow to Microsoft's constant nagging to make you use theirs and only their brand if you choose to use any at all. By blurrying the distinction between which OS does what the user makes the choice to use whichever he feels best allows him to get the job done.

Microsoft is of course, frothing at the mouth and responded by entering the field themselves plus some legal maneuverings (what else is new) to try and get customer base to agree to terms clearly counter - virtualization (as summarized here).

However, the volley has been launched and VMWare's public offering success is a virtual, if you may, sign signifying the public's acceptance of the technology and rosy outlook of it's use. A sign of confidence that the technology is no flash in the pan and that here is a truly important and revolutionary situation that's not only potentially, but actually going to change the server playing field - an area in IT that's hungry for a radical change imho. The new technology has required some rethinking and possibly new processor designs, plus the fact that this allows for energy conservation - an issue hardly discussed in the server room, as lesser physical machines or even one machine can do the job of several.

I realize that the reason I am excited about this isn't necessarily a techie one. Sure I was always interested in the technology, but what really turns me on is the idea that big ol bad MS plans falling to counter it falling by the wayside, and the user, via technology, is getting a choice. Tech has always been a favorite topic of mine primarily because it has the ability to make the truth come out. Because tech is so pervasive, it forces us to use it because we really need to. However there will always be certain parties who think that we should use it their way, and in a manner that fits their plans, and there is no such prevailing entity demonstrative of this fact than big ol MS.

Mind you I don't necessarily feel they shouldn't do what they do, being as they are, in the business of making money. Obviously however, this does not necessarily connive with furthering technology for the user's sake. Just the fact that you have to make agreements with users to make them use the software they buy in specific ways is contradictory to what technology is supposed to be about. Technology is supposed to be pioneering, always changing, metamorphosizing into the new and the better, to better fit into a person's life at every step - how is that going to happen when you discover a way to make it better but are constrained by User Agreements?

My belief in technology is confirmed by this. But I suppose it doesn't need any further confirmation. That's just the way Tech is.

Today, there's a request for me to assist someone to set up his email account. Which is perfectly reasonable if not for the fact that this same person has pretty much been using the same computer, the same operating system, the same email client, and the same email account, username and password and all, for the past five years. In fact, to add perspective to this, in the same period my nephew has grown up from grade school to high school, and now knows how to set up an email account with the ease of, well, a grade schooler. During which time, person requiring assistance has apparently learned nothing.

I know this is a 'hate post' of sorts, hate post being the term I use to describe blog posts that achieve anything but solve the issue with which it rants about, but please.

In truth, I am probably the most patient individual you'd ever meet with regards to explaining and helping people out tech - wise. In fact, I recognize my patience to be the reason why I had managed to get writing and consulting work in the past. The key is in knowing that people are generally afraid to ask questions feeling they are already stupid just by having them. I realize this fully and so take time to explain things clearly beforehand in order to avoid them having questions to begin with. This saves a great amount of time and more importantly, inspires confidence in people whom, after realizing their questions are valid, are therefore more open to asking them, and as such are on their way to learning more for themselves. This is a win win situation I've affected in more than one working scenario. It has also helped me become a better writer, I think, just because I am aware of what the reader is thinking and take time to make sure the proverbial light bulb is alight after reading what I write or listening to me explain.

However, this is a two - way street. It pains me to think that a Kikay Exchange featured article - something that a lot of shop owners, designers and backyard beauty product manufacturers are starting to line up for (we have backlogs of requests), is going to waste because the girl is just 'not an email person'. How hard is it to merely reply to emails, reply to comments or even read them for that matter. It cannot take more than 15 minutes a day, and the consequences of such will surely pay for itself later on. It reminds me of a friend of mine who spent a fortune getting a website done SIX YEARS ago, beating many rivals by years. But for some strange reason (and he snickers as he relates this to me), he never answered any emails, NOT EVEN ONCE. As far as I'm concerned the whole investment has surely gone to pot, and he'd probably have done better if he just bought an ad in the paper (that's how much they charged him).

And this other guy, asking me to come over and 'fix his email', which is essentially type in his username, password and the email host at the appropriate fields and press ENTER? He'll have to wait. I figure if he still can't do something as simple as that after five years, it's worth punishing him. Maybe it might give him ten second pause to fiddle with it, and in half that time get it to work.

And so it turns out, it's just me, an underpowered Karen (for the work I wanna do), Robinson Galeria's Free WiFi, and a shitload of work today. Going home this afternoon isn't a good idea as I wanna play in our weekly ballgame this evening. The trip from Ortigas to Cainta and back again is a major pain that'd leave me too wasted to work. And if I do work, I'm sure I'd be too wasted to play afterwards.

Which leads me then to my main topic: The myopia of restaurants at the 'tech lounge' that see it fit to charge P50 / hour to plug a laptop into their outlets, regardless of whether you ordered anything or not. To me, it's painfully obvious how disastrous that move is in terms of PR. You can show me all the stats, bills and studies made about customers over - using their privilege and so on, but all I have to do is one thing : Tell people (via my blog or whatever) that restos at the 'tech lounge' charge P50 / hour whether you order anything or not - and you should get my point.

And if you don't get my point, well, here it is: The moment I blog that and tell people like me about it (who in turn, will tell others about it. Don't underestimate how small this world is), - people are gonna start avoiding the place. And all those restos (I really wish I could name but fortunately for them I forgot their names. I only remember one but to be fair, I wanna name all of them), can stick all their bills and cost analysis of why it costs P50 / hour to plug a 12v DC laptop up where the sun don't shine.

And to top it all off? Here I am at Burgoo's at the top level, enjoying a P50.00 bottomless Diet Coke while writing this and, you guessed it, Karen happily plugged away at the wall. Further to this, I really like the sitting position here. The couch is soft and comfy, while the table is big and sturdy. It would be nice if they could play something else other than that crazy elevator music Tadao Hayashi crap (patawarin), and I wish I could remove this big piece of paper they use as a table cloth, but I'm not gonna bitch. The staff is nice and courteous, they let me use the outlet while I 'work' away, and they refill my P50.00 bottomless Coke no problemo. Meanwhile the restos 4 floors below can go ahead and charge their P50.00 / hour to use their outlets, while in the meantime here I am, writing about a better deal four floors above, and whoever reads this will know, learn it for themselves, tell others maybe, and maybe even blog about it.

Well, ok, I did order a P125.00 meal along with the Coke. And no, I don't think I'd do this to Burgoo if the resto was full (it's 4pm and it's near deserted), and no I don't think I'd do this either if I was just gonna order a Coke. But hey, the privilege of using a free service goes both ways. I, as the customer, will exercise restraint while in the meantime, the establishments need to exercise common sense.

And so what would I do if I were managing one of the restos below? Well, any one of a number of things I guess. Charge a minimum fee (aka, make people buy something)? Give a drink to go along with the P50.00 / hour? Schedule an allowed time for free users (their slowest times of the day I imagine)? Charge less, maybe P25 instead? I dunno. I don't see their costs so I'm just shooting in the dark here.

What I do know however, is that charging P50.00 every hour is too much, and is silly. Especially in the light of two things: 1. It's only a 12v DC charger - the equivalent of - I dunno - a small lamp?, and 2., All the other establishments at the other floors, where Free Wifi is just as available, are charging bupkus.

I didn't want to write the usual "Best Viewed by using Firefox", because I didn't want there to be any mistake. The sites still work alright on Internet Explorer (well at least I think so), but the term "Best Viewed.." might mean that I have only made them work on Firefox, which isn't true.

I also didn't want to use the standard 'Get Firefox' buttons over here, because those tend, I think, to be ignored, or mistaken to be paid promo ads. I always design my sites not for techies, but for the ordinary, non - Internet users out there. I don't have to worry about techies. If you're a techie, I presume you should already know that Firefox is the better deal. Its the ordinary user I want to help out, and saying 'Exchange.ph encourages you..' means that it supports and recognizes Firefox and would like (but is not forcing!) everyone to use it, whether or not Exchange.ph looks better on it or not.

Whew. That's a lot to say huh.

But anyway, it's on the sites now, with a link leading to the download Firefox site (I hope they never change that!).

You know, I can't say enough of how important the browser is not only as far as our Internet experience is concerned, but this has to do with things like freedom of speech and the ability to access services freely as well. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs talked about it on the surface a little bit on their discussions at at the All Things Digital 5 Conference, and it always sends chills to me as to how absolutely crucial it is that the browser remain completely independent of any bias, whether corporate, political, geographical or whatever.

I know that sounds a little off, but think about it. Both Jobs and Gates (especially Gates), if they had their way would want you to use the 'net to buy stuff off of their companies or company's partners. And you can't blame them. That's what companies do - try to make money. But if we were to allow them to make our browsers, then they'd shape it in such a way so as to favor theirs over everyone else's. Why do you think MS is more in the news for their litigation situation rather than their products? Jobs on the other hand, wants to, and I have no doubt, will do the same if he could, and might even do a better job at it, since he controls both hardware and software. Proof? The much touted iPhone is closed to 3rd party apps. Why? Obviously because he wants his own apps, and in so doing removing innovation from the equation in pursuit of his company's goals. More proof? Safari is now available for Win. There is no other compelling reason to make it so if it wasn't a commercial reason, right? I mean, why even bother spending the money and effort making it suitable for Windows if there wasn't some prize at the end?

And again, you can't blame him. That's his job, and he's hella making a lot of money for his stockholders, making him very good at it.

All over the world, people, governments, companies, etc., want to control the Internet. And the best way, really, is via control of the browser. Most everything funnels down to the browser. It is our window to what's out there, and if there is even so much of a smudge on that clear glass pane, keeping us from seeing things clearly, then we are being kept from seeing what we want to see, and this defeats the great promise of the Internet.

Damn I realize now I've spent waaaay too much time talking about this. I need to finish something, get my car in the garage, get my new laptop (HOOORAAAAAAAAYYY), and maybe play ball later. See ya'll and have a nice weekend :)

This is alarming because basically, almost all my financial activities revolve around access to such, and immediate as in immediate (as in should have been yesterday) plans were in the works for me to up the ante even more, resolving to go tentatively at first, but full blast as quickly as possible, into the business of hosting. Hosting in the level of involvement I was planning to go into requires at the very least a fast connection, and at best one backup should things go awry, a situation aptly describing that of today.

Internet access had already been at a high level of importance to me that I would sacrifice living in less than ideal conditions if only to satiate my need for such. Venturing into said activity obviously further emphasizes this requirement tenfold, requiring me not only to have double the access (if so possible) but even surgically attach a device to my person and find suitable connectivity in whichever way possible should I venture outside it's reach (the resulting inconvenience which, incidentally, was the primary reason I had pushed this idea aside for the longest time, only doing so now because the Exchanges have reached a stage of growth and traffic, making it practical).

But what can I do. Fate and Ye Internet Gods have conspired against me, the resultant inactivity I deal with as best I can.

And so I have been spending a lot of time reading China Hands, the book I mentioned in my last post. Unfortunately I am a slow reader, which I find annoying and am quite embarrassed about it to tell the truth. Remember when sometimes, you have to read an article together with someone? Well, I try to avoid that as much as possible because the person I'm reading with usually gets really impatient waiting to turn the page while I mosey along in slow motion reading bliss. So I like absorbing each word what can you do?

At any rate, the chief, in his great wisdom and benevolence, has found it fit to lend me a copy of The Cuckoo's Egg, which he wrote about here, and the book 'Takedown', re Kevin Mitnick hacker extraordinaire. These comprise my reading list in addition to "Where The Game Matters Most", which I intend to begin directly upon finishing what I'm reading now.

Which may explain my high spirits regardless of the situation, fueled, as one can see now, by the wealth of books and the fortune of time to read them as I wish. While the world busies around me completely engrossed in itself as it tends to be, I am on my bed, or sitting by our garden, relishing in literary bliss.

Which I grant myself, for the moment, as I can't do anything but.

callcenter person (after asking my telno, name, and relation to account owner): ah sir, matagal na po ito ano ho? tinawag ninyo noon 17 pa. Alam nyo na po kung ano yung reason ng pagkawala ng connection ninyo?
me: grunt (meaning neither yes or no, just tell me).
callcenter person: kasi po may problem yung switch namin sa inyong area. Ibig sabihin po nito karamihan din po ng mga sa inyong area wala rin pong service.
me: grunt (meaning tell me something I don't know).
callcenter person: Itong switch po ang responsible for... (some semi technical whatever chuva explanation re how important this switch is).
me (finally getting a word in): estimated time?
callcenter person: baka po umabot ng a few weeks.

me: WEEKS?!?!?!

callcenter person: (somewhat taken aback and quickly searching for something to say) opo, kasi po itong switch na ito ay .. (reverts back to chuva explanation re the switch.).
me: MORE THAN ONE WEEK???!?!?!
callcenter person: opo may possibility po. kasi po.. (didn't hear him anymore. thinking about work, deadlines, alternatives.. ).
me: ok thank you.
callcenter person: ok sir (sounds relieved) is there anything else I can...
me: (hangs up. sorry, I know that's rude but really, what else is there for us to discuss?)

So there you have it. Whatever that switch is, it's so tremendously difficult to replace it that the collective might of one of Asia's most powerful companies cannot remove the offending equipment, order one from inventory, deliver to site, replace, test and bring to production within, oh say, a reasonable three days. Nope, they need weeks to replace it. Weeks.

Hayy but what do I know. Maybe the callcenter guy's just bluffing, and the thing will be up way before that to make everyone feel that they've done a fantastic job. Or maybe he really doesn't know (which is likely). Or maybe it's not just a switch problem at all, and some underground seismic activity has awakened a long frozen prehistoric monster buried along PLDT's Cainta lines, and that scientists around the world are converging at Valley Golf as we speak to witness it's rebirth, quickly seconding the importance of our DSL connection as it is obviously a less important event.

Whatever the reason is, it's certainly not good enough to base the operations of my business on. I'll have to think of something fast.

Oh and btw, Kikay broke 100 members today. My God isn't that so amazing?? I am just astounded by its growth, really.

This is my 2nd post today. I call the house from time to time hoping someone would pick up as this would indicate that phone (and maybe DSL) service would have been returned, to no avail. It is dawning on me that this situation is getting dim. Not only can it get expensive (obviously I don't spend on just the 'net access, but on food and other important stuff as well, like videoke sessions), but it's also very boring. I cannot work on the Exchanges and my clients at internet cafes. It just don't work that way. The most I've done is send a billing statement, and that's it. That's work for the day. Whoopee.

So anyway, I was gonna write my todo list when I decided, why not blog it, right? So here it goes.

1. try out rtorrent as I am looking for a command line bittorent client that I can access via remote. The geekness factor of this is just mind - blowing, added to the possibility of downloading stuff via a 24 hour connected machine. I honestly cannot wait and will be posting about that soon as well.
2. finally lick that problem with Kikay Ex that has the sidebar going beneath the post when looking at individual posts. I've exhausted every.possible.solution I can think of, when it dawned on me that Dandyna's templates, the Italian girl where I got the WP template from, is just not WP 2.1 compliant yet. So I have to revert back to second to latest version, which I've never done before. I figure once I've done that, the only thing left is to write my own template, which again I'd do if I had a connection. Damn.
3. Fix some of my client's sites. The fact this is a mere third on my list (especially after learning about command line torrenting) belies my work ethics. Let this post never be seen by any of my clients.
4. Finally transcribe and finalize the audio and video files I need to transcribe and finalize. I know you don't need Internet for that sort of stuff, but I want Internet, ok? I WANT INTERNET. BRING BACK MY INTERNET!!!!

I'm sure there's a whole lot of other stuff, but I think I've spent too much time at 'Excel' Internet Cafe Jhologs Central already, and should go now. But the prospect of going back to my house, as nice and comfortable as it is but without Internet, is just too goddam depressing. Besides, it's just too distracting to check out the 'My Documents' folder in these cafes, where various chicks, guys, chickguys and guychicks seem to like leaving revealing webcam quality pictures of themselves in.

There's this ultra hot pic of a girl someone probably sent someone, which is great except I've seen it probably a thousand times before. There's even one of Sandara Park in a magazine cover pose wearing a dominatrix get up, titled 'Meeeeeeeeh.jpg'. It's not so much that someone's sending somebody else's pic and claiming it to be themselves that bothers me. It's the fact that she likes to sound like a goat when referring to herself.

Anyways I'm off again. Hope I don't have to come back here tom.

What to do? Well, here's one response:

..and that, really, is all the reaction I can have about that.

Its very very fortunate I've pretty much finished most of the work on my projects. Without the internet, my computers are absolutely still, not downloading, accessing doing anything. So I've spent my time doing all the other stuff non - Internet related, like drilling holes for new shelves I've wanted to put up, cleaning up here and there, and shooting hoops. I tried to work on a few video files I wanted to edit and audio files of interviews I've been meaning to transcribe, but without the 'net, it just feels all weird to be turning the PC on at all. I even tried playing NBA Live, which I've kept on my PC as an ISO for the longest time, but it only made me wanna go out and play ball. The recent NBA All Star festivities also made me wanna do that.

Ok I think I'm rambling now. I'll just end this by saying how, when our neighbour texted me asking what 'noise' could we make to make PLDT fix things up, I thought to myself 'What reason do we have to believe they're not doing what they can already'? I know it's unpopular in this country to actually defend PLDT, but if they're run by sysads who are anything like the sysads I know, they'd be up all night trying to fix the problem. And until I have proof against it, I don't feel like ranting because really, it pretty much sounds like an accident, and there is no way for me to know they're not doing their job anyway, other than actually driving around looking for PLDT trucks and asking around, which I don't think I'll do.

And I don't even bother anymore listening to their harrassed call center kids trying their hardest to placate customers like me with words like "Sorry sir but line testing takes 24 - 48 hours." and "We are checking our computers to see what the problem is at our end." What good is it if I go amok on these kids? They're just mouthing stuff from some manual or something, and honestly, they couldnt care less whether they sound like they do or not. I mean if I were they, I wouldn't, so why should I expect them to? I just call them from time to time to make them indicate they have received my complaint call, and pretty much say goodbye after that.

And don't think I spend all my time writing about how fucked up PLDT is, because somewhere in this blog (I dunno where but it's there trust me), I've written praises re them on how great their DSL service is, as they've been pretty fast back at Mandaluyong, at my client at Ortigas, and where I live now. I would've written about how normal things have become now since the Taiwan thing, except I've been waiting for news reports to indicate the thing has actually been patched up, but there hasn't been one yet. Surely there will be soon though. PLDT has got PR people for that.

Ok enough rambling. Have a good day y'all.

 
It says "Oh my God, the cables around this area have been severed, leaving the poor, unimportant z-rated bloggers around that area of the world cut off. But really, who cares? They don't know half of what they're talking about anyway. And besides, it makes the Internet just a little bit faster for the rest of us. Whoopee!!"

No, it doesn't say that. I just wrote the first things I would say if I were in an area outside of where those cables affect. And of course if I don't speak Spanish, so don't even ask me what it means. A fat lot of good those Spanish units back in school have brought me.

So anyway, here are a few things I noticed re "The Slow". I am blogging this because, well hell there isn't much else work to do anyway, since The Slow is upon us.

• Anytime I download anything that has multiple ftp mirrors, I wonder where is the best area to download from. Now, because of maps such as above, I know that neighboring countries are best. Of these, HK, Sing and Taiwan usually have mirrors of things from Sourceforge.net. I dunno why there isn't one in the Philippines except one I saw going to SkyiNet once. Anyway let's not go there.
  
  Ok end of good thing I found out. Here's the rest.
• The other day, I woke up at 6am to find the Internet blazingly fast. In an amazing 3 hours of glorious, glorious speed, I updated (almost) all my blogs to WordPress 2.0.6, fixed this, and uploaded / downloaded that. However, once the clock struck 9 or 10-ish, The Slow came once again.
• However, my client with a corporate account maintains reasonably acceptable speeds. This basically means the obvious, PLDT is routing traffic to their higher - paying customers, regardless of the fact that hey, I am a customer too.

At this point, one would expect me to once again perform that time - honored Filipino tradition that is to bash PLDT. But you know what? No I won't, because it's just too tiring and ultimately, useless. I can call them, they can call me, we can call, text, sms, fax, email and telepathize hate - hate and love - love feelings toward each other, and by golly, The Slow would still be there. And believe me, I am not one of those writers who like to bash PLDT. In fact, I once wrote (I dont know where it is but I'm sure its somewhere around), that I am a fan of theirs, since both DSL accounts I signed up for back in Mandaluyong and now in Cainta were very reliable and fast.

And you know what? It looks like its gonna take even longer. I wrote once that it'll last till Feb. The guys in charge have since said it'll last till end of Jan, but with comments like "..the rest of the repairs would be completed by the middle of February, if weather permits.", well, I dunno about you, but 'if weather permits' sounds a lot to me like 'don't hold your breath'.

And what's with Inquirer.net's silence about it all? I dont wanna take a screenshot, but the tech page right this very moment is completely silent about the whole deal. I want detailed, up to the minute reports, gentlemen. I want a guy there, standing on the deck of one or two of those repair ships, with a camera crew and a sat connection, reporting every foot of that cable getting dredged up, patched, and sunk down again. I want another news crew at the factory of where those cables are made, showing them getting ordered, pulling them out of inventory, onto a truck and onto the docks. I want a 24 hour cam on the guy in charge of it all, with his terror stricken face plastered on my tv mouthing soothing words in Chinese and with an English interpreter, explaining in detail how things are going.

Sigh, The Slow is getting me and everyone else riled up. We might as well get some form of entertainment from it all.

At any rate, I had been invited by Hingemedia super head chief editor gadget head in, err, chief Adel to contri to P.W.I.T., (Philippine Week in Technology), the resulting acronym possibly recognizant of how he feels about it, but more likely because he thinks it sounds fun. A fun and intelligent man, Adel is. And surprisingly athletic! When we were in Tagaytay we caught MS Windows PM Chay Saputil smiling and enjoying an m|ph issue and I swear I'd never seen a man run, flip open his Canon 400d, get down on his knees and take a magazine worthy snap in, oh, that must have been .5 seconds! Amazing.

So anyway, let me take you to his post in PWIT, where he describes in light detail how affected they are at the office. Here he says:

In my office in Makati, chaos reigns. We can’t get or send critical business email, can’t FTP feeds from abroad, can’t access reference sites. We are suddenly forced to hand-deliver multi-gig magazine layout files to our printer in Laguna instead of just zapping them over.

Let's channel my inner accountant and try to put a value to that:

1. can't send critical emails - Solution: send via cds. Price of CD: p10.00. Price of courier within metro Manila: p50.00. Total: P60.00
2. can't FTP feeds from abroad - Solution: send via dvds. Price of DVD: p30.00. Price of courier from US to Manila: p1,000.00. Total: P1,030.00
3. hand deliver multi - gig mag layouts to printer in laguna - Solution: send via dvds. Price of DVD: p30.00. Price of courier from US to Manila: p50.00. Total: P80.00

Total: Php 1,070.00

This does not include the extra man hours and possible overtime to burn files and prepare them for transit, possible extra overhead from all this activity, the transit itself, a margin added for errors (returned because of damaged / list disks, incompatible cd / dvd players, broken or lost, etc.) and so on.

If you do above activities daily, you multiply that with the number of workdays (22), then you get Php 23,450.00 / month. P23,450.00 you have to make up for because you have unreliable internet access. So you might say, "oh no, sometimes a large email or FTP passes through!". For the sake of easy accounting, it either can or cannot, so you assume nothing gets through and you have to rely on messengers for the business period of January. That's my inner accountant speaking, and he's almost hardly ever heard, so you better listen up when he does.

So what's the point in all this channeling? Well, to everything there is some cost, whether exact or (reasonably) assumed. And all this slowness is costing us, so why not let's find out just exactly how much? Again, for what purpose? Well, maybe you have an inner accountant too, and would like to try it yourself. And also maybe, just maybe, it may come in handy if we decide to, oh you know, sue.

For not finding an alternative means of reliable internet connectivity during said time period.

For losses incurred by my internet - reliant business during period, both for present and future activities.

For relying their long distance and internet business on underground cables that connect to a country that is known to lie on an earthquake fault.

Should I be billed my full PLDT DSL bill during said period, and not given a discount or rebate, whether I ask for one or not, I will sue them for this as well.

Nah I'm just kidding. But someone should, don't you think?