The national Social Weather Survey of November 21-25, 2020, found 39% (correctly rounded) of ODL families – households with members 5-20 years old and currently enrolled through online distance learning or ODL – saying they have ‘strong’ internet connection. This is the sum of the 26% who said their internet connection is somewhat strong and the 14% who said it is very strong.
On the other hand, 31% (correctly rounded) of ODL families said their internet connection is ‘weak,’ with 21% saying it is somewhat weak and 9% saying it is very weak.
The remaining 29% said the strength of their internetccis fair. (The assessment of the strength of the household’s internet connection is given by the household head.)
Moreover, the November 2020 survey found 86% of ODL families spending an average of P901 (median: P800) per month as additional expenses for internet connection.
Only 3% said they have no additional spending while 2% said they get free internet. Nine percent did not give an amount.
The survey also found 56% of ODL families using pre-paid internet connection, 41% using post-paid connection, and 5% renting internet. (Percentages add up to more than 100% since this item accepts multiple responses.)
The last group covers those who go to internet shops to rent internet-equipped computer terminals at time-bound rates. Examples of these are internet cafés which typically allow users to rent on a per-hour basis at the minimum. A cheaper alternative is pisonet (a portmanteau of ‘piso’ which means ‘coin’ in Filipino, and ‘internet’) shops where computers are activated by coins inserted into a pisonet machine that is attached to a computer unit. The rates and equivalent time of use in both options are set by the shop-owner and therefore vary.
More ODL families in Balance Luzon consider their internet connection to be ‘strong’
By area, the percentage of households with ‘strong’ (% very strong plus % somewhat strong) internet connection is 46% in Balance Luzon, higher compared to 36% in Metro Manila, 38% in the Visayas, and 30% (correctly rounded) in Mindanao.
Meanwhile, at least one-fourth of ODL families have ‘weak’ (% very weak plus % somewhat weak) internet connection across areas: the percentage is 36% in Mindanao, 34% in Metro Manila, 33% in the Visayas, and 25% in Balance Luzon.
The distribution of the responses does not differ much between urban and rural localities.