Finding the Best Internet Connection in Angeles City

Fast wifi for streaming Youtube

The best internet I’ve found so far in Angeles City hotels is by asking Royal Amsterdam hotel to put a router in my room.

Normally their internet is poor, slow with lots of disconnections like all other Angeles hotels I’ve stayed in – Field’s Hotel, Galaxy Hotel, and Kokomos hotel I’ve tried so far.

ABC hotel I’ve also stayed in and that had decent internet but you’d expect that for the price ($100+). All the others (~$45 range) were frustrating.

Best Hotel Wifi in Angeles

On a recent trip I was staying in Angeles City a bit longer than usual, not just a brief banging holiday where I don’t mind about fast wifi. I needed to get some work done.

I called Royal Amsterdam reception to ask them to reset the router, when I’d lost connection for the second time that day. They offered to put a router in my room, which I didn’t realise was possible.

Router @ Royal Amsterdam

Now I ask for a router every time, they have about 4 of them. With one in your room you suddenly get a ~10Mbps connection. You aren’t sharing your connection with the whole floor of the hotel anymore, and it doesn’t disconnect.

I always get a room on the ground floor. Royal Amsterdam doesn’t have an elevator and the window views aren’t great on the higher floor rooms anyway.

Having a router in your room on a higher floor will probably be the same as the ground floor but I haven’t checked. The speed test below was on the ground floor.

Wifi speed with router

Installing Internet

If living in Angeles long term I’d probably get a condo and have PLDT wifi installed, rather than live at Amsterdam hotel.

They discount the room rate 20% if you stay 10 days or more, it’s the perfect location, no utility bills and you get daily maid service… but still it would be a bit much to pay 45k pesos a month for more than a few months (1890 php cheapest room, multiplied by 30, minus 20% = 45k).

I’d probably move into Kandi Tower condo for the nice gym and pool and install a PLDT line in the room, then just pay the cancellation fee (~$100) if I left before the end of the 2 year contract PLDT requires.

I haven’t tried Airbnb in Angeles yet as I like being on walking street so I can pop my head in and out of the gogo bars in seconds, and step outside my room and bump into a freelancer.

For Manila though the best wifi can be found by using Airbnb instead of hotels, e.g. Gramercy and Knightsbridge are in a ‘PLDT Fibr village’, a zone with fast speeds. Airbnb unit owners there all install their own PLDT.

Those two Makati condos have listings on Airbnb for $30-50 a night, much better value than hotels given the facilities.

I’d assume Airbnb owners in Angeles have private wifi installed too, so either try that or ask Royal Amsterdam to put a router in your room if you want to be right in the thick of the action.

Those would be the two best options for internet in Angeles City.

Mobile Data

In terms of mobile 3G I’ve found Globe is better than Smart for Angeles (and everywhere else). I had a Globe SIM but they cancelled my number after leaving the Philippines for over 2 months.

Then I tried out Smart and noticed it was a lot worse than Globe in both Manila and Angeles, I’d get no service in places where I had 3G before. Smart is very spotty on walking street in Angeles for some reason.

So get a Globe SIM if you can.

31 Responses

  1. Steve says:

    Isn’t cheaper to travel with a buddy and rent a condo with 2 bedrooms from Airbnb and share the bills?

    Same with any hotels. When you book a room, it’s usually for 2 persons even if it’s only booked for single person. Just make sure it’s got twin beds. Some girls don’t mind a gangbang if that is your sort of thing, lol! Otherwise, someone’s got stay at the bar or cafe for a bit longer.

    • Reader says:

      Guys who stick around Asia long term like me, jspill and k2d are usually aggressive individualists + SEA is not the place where you can trust random foreigners easily as way too many run out of money.

      2BRs in BKK are usually not much cheaper than 2 studios btw.

    • jspill says:

      Also a lot of girls will ask ‘you stay alone?’ and be shy to go home with you if you don’t.

  2. Steve says:

    Oh! guess the question is, how long can you put up with each others’ annoying little habits before both of you try to kill each other, LOL!

    • Thibault says:

      once you re padt cthe age of 25, this thought doesnt criss your mind again. how about bringing a girl to your parents while we re at it?
      believing in shared appartments is as stupid as believing in pair bonding. 1+1 =/= 1
      take a bunk bed in an hostel if you like community.
      tip: girls wont fuck if there is someone else, and they are against 3 somes outside ofvthe worst slut4pay.
      grow uo, stop backpackibg and become a real sex tourist like everybody.

  3. kick2dante says:

    no thanks on a roommate, thats the easiest way to ‘unfriend’ someone in a hurry

  4. RealGuy says:

    Best value for globe SIM: gotscombodd70 to 8080. Eats 70 pesos for a week of 1GB data and 1000 texts. Still have to pay for calls. Text surfalert on to 8080 so they dont randomly drop your promo and charge you data costs. With this your monthly cell phone bill should come to a little over P280/month. Hard to beat that for value.

  5. Jobo says:

    Angeles… It’s a good day here if we have electric, water and internet. Welcome to the jungle!

  6. Tony says:

    Thank you for this great blog .first of all.you are living the life.i want to live and I will do .the lady in the photo is so sexy .this blog is the bible of angeles city for me.one question please which month is the cheapest to vist angeles city for a month ? Really don’t care about the weather

    • jspill says:

      No huge difference, just go whenever’s convenient imo. But over low / rainy season some hotels and condos might lower prices a bit, this Kandi realty sign says they have a cheaper ‘rainy promo’ – https://www.instagram.com/p/BV4-3EfBy9_/ Most just keep the same price. Airfares drop a bit too but not much. Low / rainy season is June – October.

      In low season girls will have less customers so you might get better deals, sponsors and boyfriends might arrive around Xmas time (peak season). But then again some girls might only work in high season, or work every day compared to only weekends in low season. You see both more girls and more guys in high season.

      • Steve says:

        Generally i don’t go during the rainy season because of bad flooding that occur frequently and the shitty infrastructure in Manila cannot cope with it. But not sure it if is that bad too in Angeles?

        • Steve says:

          It’s also the typhoon season around June and July most of the time.

        • jspill says:

          Haven’t seen any flooding in Angeles, must have better drains or just wider flatter roads with less trash clogging the drains. Manila is worse I’d agree with you there. Hasn’t stopped me doing anything though. Unlike Bangkok which really can’t seem to cope with it at all, massive clusterfuck every year with floods

  7. Tony says:

    Thank you so much for your help.

  8. Jobo says:

    Jspill you should do more posts about all the bullshit in the Philippines. For instance some experiences off memory:

    1) Realtor pretends to own house to bait and switch to a much higher priced place. Calls on houses and apartments go unanswered. The ones you do get ahold of you are given an inflated Foreigner price.
    2) Every time entering a store you are hounded by sales associates. If you ask them what you are looking for they don’t have or are out of stock if. End up finding the item yourself, turns out they are too lazy and stupid to know what they sell.
    3) Go to pharmacy to buy medicine but told “sorry sir” out of stock. Speak to manager and the item is now magically in stock but you need a prescription. Next pharmacy no issue, prescription not needed.
    4) Riding motorbike with no helmet as everyone else does but since you are white you are stopped and license seized and ticketed. Continue to watch as unhelmeted Filipinos drive by with no issue.
    5) Internet service goes out weekly. Local isp doesn’t have a way to get ahold of them online. (Why should an internet company have an online help system?) Calls to isp fails repeatedly after a few minutes on hold burning up load. Drive to local isp office and wait in line for an hour for customer service. Customer service rep claims no issue sir. Return home.. Internet still down.
    6) Buy $600 television from store at Mall. 3 Associates check that everything is complete in the box. Get home… All accessories for the TV are missing or broken. Turns out the associates kept the accessories for the display models.
    7) Took car to mechanic to repair alignment, power steering leak and alignment. After one month of calling him I’m told to visit the shop. Car is disassembled and his workers left. After telling him to hurry the fuck up he returns my car with 37000p bill. Did he fix anything? Nope, head gasket still leaks, power steering still leaks, suspension still clunks… As a bonus it now leaks oil too.

    That’s it for now.

    • jspill says:

      Main things that get me are
      – ‘Do you have small bills sir’, they don’t seem to have change anywhere even in 7/11 sometimes
      – Trikes charging foreigners 100 and locals 20
      – The viagra cialis guys following you down the street charging more than pharmacies do
      – ‘Not available Sir’ is the reply to the first thing you point to on the menu in the restaurant. Choose something else, then they mess up the order anyway
      – Asking for a tip, as if it’s not optional but obligatory, or pointing out you didn’t tip enough

      Still gotta love the place tho’

      • cavitiesfiller says:

        3 long stays these recent years : 100% agree + feelippines + pollution + beggars + crazy condo prices rent or sale + lack of infrastructures 80% of country(sidewalks !) + kind of westernization mentality/attitude towards men from provincial(2&3 tier cities) girls

      • NormalNomad says:

        lol “small bills” for a $10 or $20 USD equivalent always cracks me up.

    • RealGuy says:

      Loled. This is an incomplete list for sure. If I learned anything about living in the Phils, its keep only one foot in, and one foot out. If you try to invest too much of your time and money into anything here, someone will always be there to fuck it up and hit you with a bill, and scam you. Often its the government whose the worst offender.

      The less you put in the Philippines, the less they have to break or steal.

      • Mark says:

        LOL! some times i think Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos is still a role model in the Philippines. Ironically, they looted his own people.

        Despite all that, Duterte last year gave a hero’s burial for Macro. What a bunch of retards.

        PH is a nice place to visit but think twice before you consider staying there on long term basis.

        • Ploff says:

          Marcos welcomed foreigners and made Ph rich. You prefer the declinr and deep poverty that followed with Corazon? Asias second richest became the poorest, hows that for robbing the country? Not to mention the farmers massacered in Luisita by the Aquinos?

          See South Korea? Taiwan? That should have been Philippines, and it would be if Marcos foreign and financial politics had been allowed to continue. The Aquinos robbed philippines of foreign capital, thats the true looting. Marcos just took a few billions, while Corazon declined trillions from investors.

    • Thibault says:

      sorry jobo, but, as always,ceverything is your fault. nit because you did dimething wrong, but because you alliwed yourself to be put in such situation.
      point by point:
      1) you expect realtirs not to be fucktard. i ve never met one in the west that was not. why would it be different in th me pines?
      jyst dont use their servuces, i hope you dud not intend to buy anything… jyst livevin hoteks / airbnb. dont intend to make your lufec there.
      2) just try to find yourself anyway. its horrible, but theycre just useless.
      3) same, just go to another pharmacy. never intend to find what you re searching for the first time. never count on not liising time for vmundane tasks. i hope you dont intend to work. only retirees/ digital wankers should go there anyway.
      4) this one is easy, and fiir vonce you re really wrong. put a fucking helmet. their life dont matter, yours do. they repriduce like rabbits, we dont. think hajnal, r/k selection, if you want, anything , but its unimportant. your life matters to you.
      5) why you even try to do anything about it? things dont wirk, thats a part if lufe, you re not in a first workd country. if its down fir everyonr, i guarantee you they wont fix it quucjer because you vtell them. its like that in the west too.
      6) easy. dont buy one so expensive. you want to keep up with the joneses or wgat, you re still in the matrix? dont own anything nice. dont be a dante if you want, but even jspill and hus iphone is taking a risk.
      a 200 $ tv works, and you should not even buy one as you should only sta temporarily in furnushed homes, remember?
      7) ultimate slavery: own a car. its stupid in the west, its even more there. you gonna be racketed , if there us an accident its fir you…
      your car should not even gavevpiwer steering anyway, a wwii jeep is too high tech to own imho. if you have anything to transport that dont fit in a suitcase, you re not nomad enough. if you have a family, you re utrerly fucked. if you dont leave just near the whores, whyvthe fuck do you even go to the pines. ffs, stay in the west to be a skave.

      • Ploff says:

        Having a great life in PH with a car and no offense but other foreigners i know there with cars are nearly the only ones who can pass as normal. Not that i claim to be one.
        I cant even begin to count how many girls i fucked in my car but the passenger seat a lot seen more 18-22yr old pussy than the drunk guys who basically live in bars.
        You need a car in Ph, but impatient drivers or persons phrone to stress should stick to the bus/jeep.

    • Ploff says:

      I have mostly good experiences with mechanics, some dont put all the parts back but those are now screened out and i found some awesome skilled mechanics. Changed all bushings and ball joints in front plus two other parts, for 7000 including parts.

      I rather warn against vulcanizers, a racist moron tightened only one bolt, it broke after less than 1km. I now always retighten all bolts before leaving the vulcanizer though the two local ones i use now are nice people.

      If i need anything from a machine shop, machine part or custom made stuff, i look for a Chinese place to make sure i get exactly what i want and pay the same as everyone else.

      But yeahh, annoyances everywhere, it gets better though, we who been here more than a decade have learned patience. Dont waste calories on what you cannot change.

  9. Tony says:

    Eat,fuck,sleep sounds good.what do we expect.they just see as cash signs.they what money I want pussy.life is so short

  10. Ploff says:

    Clarkton hotel has great intenet, a steady 10mbps, their total bandwidth is 89mbps or more so speeds dont drop in peak hours and full hotel.
    NOTE that using private routers (like LTE/3G/pocketWifi) is strictly not allowed as it interfers with the hotels Wifi.
    Its also not allowed to use their wifi for porn, good, it ensures good bandwidth for more important things, like upgrading your macbook OS and apps.
    Disadvantage: Clarkton is like 4 kilometers from Walking street, price is not the lowest and does not include breakfast, and its old.

    • jspill says:

      Good tip.

      I’ve read they pick you up from the airport if you stay at Clarkton, so it’s not a bad spot to start a trip.

      There’s a gogo next to it, Pan Am bar, took a cute girl from there for 2500 barfine after a few games on the pool table.

      And the cheaper perimeter bars (Blue Sapphire, Det 5, Honey Kos etc.) are walking distance away.

    • justin says:

      You’re missing something with your declaration bro: “NOTE that using private routers (like LTE/3G/pocketWifi) is strictly not allowed” – that means cell phones are banned too. How do you think your phone is pulling up webpages? LTE and 3G, that’s right. It exactly no different from when your “router” uses LTE and 3G to pull up a webpage, except that the data bounces over to your laptop by USB cord or bluetooth

  11. I am going to stay in Angeles City soon, and I really need a hotel with a strong WiFi connection. I am glad I have discovered this blog. It’s actually hard to find hotels in Angeles City with a strong internet connection. Thank you for sharing this., I now know where to book my stay in there.

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