DITO Home UNLI 5G WIFI experience - Stable fiber-like DL speed without breaking the bank!

The country's official third telco DITO has recently amped up the rollout of its 5G service. As a result, they now have unlimited data offers.

DITO Home UNLI 5G WIFI

One of its newest plans due to its expanded 5G footprint in the country is the DITO Home UNLI 5G WIFI. This promo provides a FREE 5G modem/router with up to 500+ Mbps speed for just PHP 1,490 per month. It'll even come with FREE Prime Video streaming for 30 days.

On paper, this could be the affordable mobile data-based home WiFi that you can bring anywhere with a DITO 5G connection for remote work, online schooling, and even leisure activities like enjoying your social media accounts, streaming videos, e-shopping, and casual gaming.

Recently, me and my team had a chance to try this new service, and here's what we think about it.

DITO Home UNLI 5G WIFI experience - Stable and superb speed without breaking the bank!

First, to apply for this service, interested customers may visit DITO Experience Stores in NCR, Laguna, Cavite, Davao, DITO booths in select communities, and the DITO Home website. 

Make sure to bring one valid ID and proof of billing.

DITO Home UNLI 5G WIFI is available in Cavite, Davao, Laguna, 490 Barangays across NCR, 50 Barangays in Cebu, and 11 Barangays in Mandaue.

The setup

Once you have your unit, setting it up is a breeze.

The box

All you need to do is simply unbox the modem/router device, plug it in, and place it near the window for better signal reception.

Everything inside the box

By the way, the device that DITO uses is the ZTE MC888S with stand-alone 5G support, dual-band AX3000 WiFi 6, up to 128 user access, and 4x GE ports.

Next, you connect to WiFi once it shows up. The password is for the WiFi and connection settings are found at the bottom of the device.

After logging in, just follow the on-screen instructions and you will be able to enjoy browsing.

To change its password and have access to the Connection Settings, simply type 192.168.8.1 into the address bar of your browser and enter the login details. All of the device settings are found there.

The experience

Under the Speedtest by Ookla app, we are getting at least 200 Mbps of download speed. The highest is 395 Mbps for download and 20.7 Mbps for upload with a 20ms ping.

Fiber-like download speeds!

This is way better than the telco's average speed of 55 Mbps and near its up to 500+ Mbps max speed. Except for the upload speed, the 200 to 300 Mbps download speed is similar to what I'm getting with our wired fiber internet. DITO claims that its service reliability is at 80 percent.

What impressed me the most was that we were able to get those speeds despite having just 2 to 3 bars of signal in our area (Mandaluyong). This means that what we are getting is really 5G with 10 to 100x faster speed than 4G.

Its router also has support for standalone 5G once DITO's network is ready. It is designed to deliver faster speeds with lower latency.

Remember, DITO is a new player and they will only get better. Once DITO completes its network upgrades, imagine the speed it can achieve.

In real-life applications, we enjoy really fast browsing speeds even if 3 to 5 devices are connected to the same network at the same time.

As a result, we were able to enjoy high-speed streaming on YouTube, Netflix, Prime, and Disney+. It rarely lags at 1080p videos and it can load 4K videos nicely as well.

Doing our GIZGUIDE work which includes a lot of online research work and making articles on our website is also a breeze. It is also more than passable for uploading photos and short videos on social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok.

While it may take quite some time, uploading our full video reviews on YouTube is also possible with DITO’s unlimited 5G service. We get similar but a bit more stable upload speeds from other 5G services in the same location.

For gaming, we tried it with Genshin Impact and it is playable. The lag we experienced is due to our use of a slower mid-range smartphone, not because of the internet connection.

5G data like this helps reduce lag and jitters in the games you are playing. Overall, it creates a smoother online gameplay than 4G.

The range of the router is also impressive as it covers around 80 sqm of floor area with minimal signal drop. Even with wooden doors, the WiFi signal is at 3 bars.

Things to remember

1. The Postpaid Plan 1490 that we tested has no data cap. It simply means that it is unlimited. But if you opt for the 990 per month plan, it is capped at 200GB per month. The booster price is PHP 190 for an extra 20GB.

2. To pay for your bill, you can visit DITO Experience Stores or pay via the DITO App online using a Debit or Credit Card (VISA, Mastercard, and JBC), GCash, Maya, GrabPay, ShopeePay, WeChat Pay. Users may also pay via Pay & Go payment kiosks.

3. Users may also earn rewards on the DITO App by clicking the Rewards icons. According to DITO, they can use the points to redeem data rewards or vouchers for food, essentials, gaming, shopping, and more.

4. For Prepaid subscribers, users can enjoy unlimited internet speeds of up to 500Mbps+ for only PHP 1090 per month. Customers can also opt for a data-capped plan with the same internet speed for only Php 590 monthly. Do note that customers acquiring prepaid offers are required to purchase the DITO Home Starter Kit for Php 7,990, which includes the modem/router. 

Also, DITO told us that if the customer experiences a slow down, it means that their system is being refreshed and upgraded as they are trying to improve its service so subscribers can enjoy unlimited 5G speed internet connection at a fair price.

DITO's customers can also experience up to 500 Mbps with an average speed of 50 Mbps and a minimum speed of 10 Mbps at 80 percent reliability for areas within 500 meters of the serving site.

Our thoughts

The DITO Home UNLI 5G WIFI is a pretty good primary internet for those who do not have a fiber connection at home yet. It is also an excellent backup or emergency internet for those with existing connections at home.

Our experience with it is generally smooth even with just 2 to 3 bars of signal allowing us to enjoy near lag-free browsing and streaming.

Overall, the DITO Home UNLI 5G WIFI is as good as advertised as long as there is a DITO 5G connection in your area.

At just PHP 1490 per month (24-month contract period), it is a superb deal.

By the way, we earlier learned that newly acquired subscribers and existing subscribers shifting to DITO Home UNLI 5G Postpaid Plan 1490 between July 8 to October 6 will enjoy an introductory price of just PHP 745 per month for 6 months.

For more information, visit https://dito.ph/home5gpostpaid.