Our precious votes will be transmitted through the use of a modem or a Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) antenna.
Now most of us know what a modem is, but a BGAN? From wikipedia:
BGAN is a global Satellite Internet Network with telephony using portable terminals. The terminals are normally used to connect a laptop computer to broadband Internet in remote locations, although as long as line-of-sight to the satellite exists, the terminal can be used anywhere.
The Board of election inspectors or BEIs will connect any of the above transmission device to the PCOS machine. Once connected, they will initiate transmission of the data.
I think the recipients of the transmitted data are pre-programmed like:
- One – Municipal Board of Canvassers
- two – COMELEC head quarters
- Three – PPCRV
Now, who knows which telco is used for the modem?
We’ve used the option1(PCOS Modem) in our area since we are not included in what do they call “remote areas”.
PCOS modem can use either Globe, Smart or SunCel sim depending on the signal strength. We’ve used Smart.
It is nice to know that a backup plan/ the use of BGAN is available for remote areas, we were never informed about the second option.