Smart Bro blocked tumblr...

...it's a nightmare and their technical support doesn't even know anything about it!


It all started on the 2nd Friday of December, when I thought that the internet was just down again, as usual... Connection either slows down or drops out at around 7pm, then goes back to its normal 0.80mbps speed around 9pm. Then the next day, I wasn't able to access tumblr the whole day whereas I can access all other websites normally.

With the help of google, I learned that what happened is called selective browsing, which, apparently, was an issue with smart bro and pldt in 2011. I was able to unblock tumblr by changing the DNS settings on windows 7 using google's IPV4 addresses: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 . Problem solved? Not yet.

How to change DNS settings

What we have at home is Smart Bro canopy. My mum is on a landline and DSL bundle, but since PLDT DSL is not available in Binan due to local ISP's monopoly, PLDT gave us that canopy instead which is hell crappy, yet still better than sun and intelco. The canopy is connected to a D Link DIR-600 router that way everyone home could just lie down and browse wirelessly just like now.

Problem is, tumblr is still unaccessible when on wifi. I initially thought it's just the browser/app cookies so I cleared cookies and reinstalled the app. Tried other devices, still doesn't work. I tried changing the DNS settings on the router, but tumblr connection is still intermittent. Most of the time, tumblr is 'down'.

me trying to access tumblr on wifi/smart bro canopy

Since I hate sitting down in front of the computer after facing the computer for 8 hours at work, I am always on my mobile. Always. And sharing posts from facebook or weibo to tumblr has become a nightmare! Switching the pc on just to share a single photo is not practical. Really! The only time I use the pc is when I have/want to make gifs (unless I can install photoshop cs5 on android, that would be perfect!)

The only solution I had was to use 4g. Luckily 4g is available in our area, and tumblr is not blocked from the network. I just have to shed out extra money though. I was enjoying the speeds of 4g until two weeks ago, when I noticed that the max that I get is HSDPA+ and tumblr is 'down' again. That's when I contacted their technical support and the bloke just told me that it's a problem with the tumblr app (which annoyed me as I told him that I cannot open it from the browser).

Anyhoo, after weeks of cursing smart googling, I finally realized that I am not the only one who is experiencing this nightmare! Ate Fal can only access tumblr in firefox, lucky her! I also found a screenshot from twitter, posts of people complaining about tumblr being blocked and yet Smart seems like ignoring those tweets. (I tagged tweets to Smart Cares, but it seems like they do not care at all).

screenshot from @LetMeJoe

another screenshot from @LetMeJoe

At present, I still have no other option. I subscribed to a prepaid 4g internet offer recently so I have to stick with smartbro for the meantime. So unless smart/pldt fixes this issue, I'll try tattoo when my subscription expires.