Rob Chien on keeping a happy home life

MANILA, Philippines - Robert Chien has two things that most people today covet — a highly-successful career and a happy home life.

It’s a careful balancing act, he admits: “Balancing home life and work is very important to me. It’s something I’ve been focusing on recently. I think the ‘how’ is accomplished by intentionally setting time apart for both.”

He adds, “If there are two competing events that seem equally important, I make sure that I give extra priority and attention to the one I don’t choose.”

Rob and wife Lea Salonga spend plenty of time with their only daughter, Nicole, whom Rob describes as “seven going on 17.” Their small family prefers staying at home to going out for leisure.

“One of the most fun things we do is watching the latest family movie at home. Since we avail of cloud services, we always stream our movies over the Internet,” he reveals. This family of movie buffs patiently waits for months for a new family movie or blockbuster to be available online so they can watch from the comfort of their own home.

“We rarely go out to the movies, so our Internet connection has become indispensable to us — imagine the horror if something finally comes out and our Internet fails us!”

Fortunately, the Chien family has chosen PLDT Fibr to do the job. “With PLDT, we haven’t missed a single movie yet,” shares Rob.

Fibr derives its name from the fiber-optic cables that provide a dedicated net connection to each subscriber — no more sharing and splitting bandwidth with other subscribers living in the same area. You can get speeds of up to 10 Mbps, so multiple devices can use the Internet without slowing others down.

Fibr offers movies-on-demand through Clickplay, where subscribers have access to over 200 blockbuster movies (the latest titles include The Great Gatsby, Hangover 3, Pacific Rim, Elysium and Man of Steel). You can also stream high-definition TV through Cignal Digital TV.

“I’ve used Fibr to coordinate with partners abroad and it hasn’t failed me, but to me, that’s the easy part. It’s the streaming of full HD movies and TV shows that is most impressive, and at peak hours, too. It’s quite incredible,” says Rob.

It has also been an important tool in keeping their family connected despite Lea’s professional engagements abroad. Rob says, “When Lea is traveling or working abroad, we also use a lot of video chat, which is very reliable on Fibr. Seeing her clearly makes her seem so much closer. Hands down, it’s the best Internet connection we’ve ever tried. It’s fast no matter what time of the day, relatively hassle-free. I’m so glad we have this in the Philippines. I recommend it whenever I can.”