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| In the Converge ICT's FTTX plan, the Committed Information Rate (CIR) is displayed as "Minimum Speed" |
One of the hidden terms that our ISP failed to disclose in their ads is the CIR "Committed Information Rate." It is important to know what CIR is especially when it acts as a "guarantee" that the internet connection will be having it's minimum bandwidth that the users can utilize in the plan. Why is it important to know what is CIR? It's plainly simple, it gives the user assurance of a certain minimum speed that they can receive especially when the ISP is overloaded with bandwidth users.
What is CIR? (Committed Information Rate)
CIR or Committed Information Rate is a fair way of guaranteeing a user that he/she will be receiving at least a part of bandwidth speed at all times, no matter how loaded or busy the network would be.
To translate this jargon into an understandable term, CIR is also called "Minimum speed" as depicted on the images below:
here's PLDT's Minimum speed according to their website:
Here's Converge ICT's Minimum speed according to their website:
To simplify the meaning of CIR, just think of the Internet Service Provider as the water company, the internet bandwidth speed is the water, and the plan package is the water pipe, CIR acts as the lowest water pressure that can possibly go out from the pipe, while "Burst Rate" is the maximum amount of pressure you can expect from the pipe.
Why don't I see "CIR" on Major ISP's Advertisement?
Actually, The CIR of each ISP is now being declared on their website. It is simplified as minimum speed, but we fail to notice it since it is written in a really tiny italized text placed on the bottom part of the website that the user can hardly read.
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| Converge's fab declared their minimum speeds per plan |
Two years ago, the minimum speed isn't displayed on ISP's website since no one bothers to complain to NTC on their internet speed. As the Internet users are being aware on the technicalities of quality internet service, most have complained on the "slow, and inconsistent" service they receive. After DOJ has called the attention of the ISP giants, they have started including their minimum speed on their website, but they won't still explain it to users, so... it's still hard to comprehend.
Upon checking both websites of Globe and PLDT. The CIR indicated on their all their data plan is fixed at 256kbps. Yes, it's 256, regardless if you have the most expensive plan, or the basic plan, DSL or wireless, it's 256kbps. Meanwhile, Converge ICT's ads and flyers have minimum speed written on every plan for transparency reasons.
How Important is Committed Information Rate to Users
Most of us are familiar to "Skype" and other communication tools such as Yahoo Messengers and Mobile based communication tools like Line, Kakaotalk, and WeChat. All of these requires data use in order to connect to their servers. Messaging tools require a certain bandwidth speed to make the call/chat work. There's an approximately 20kbps minimum requirement for a call to be connected, if the connection is below the said margin, the call will automatically disconnect.
CIR will play a vital role in this part. If the ISP doesn't guarantee any minimum speed on plan, it means that they will not give the user bandwidth speed when their network become busy. Therefore, the user might experience a hard time connecting on the internet.
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