Cell Phones in the Philippines & Internationally

[brat4300]

In the US we have Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint as major carriers of cell phones. Most of us pay for a 2 year contract that gives us service for whatever we choose; phone, text, internet, etc.

It seems to me that the cell phones in PI are mostly disposable and nobody there has contracts. What I understand is you simply have a sim card, which you can switch out from phone to phone and you pay for a "load" each day or week or whatever? That is my understanding on how it works... can someone clarify to me how it actually does work there?

Are there kiosks all over that you just walk up to and load your phone for the day or week or whatnot?
Can you pay for you loads a month at a time?
Can you do it all through the internet?
Do you have the major carriers we have in the US there or are there different cell carriers there?

I am just trying to get an understanding of how it works in PI so any of you ladies (or gents) that can clarify this all for me I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

[jadegil6]

The three main carriers are Smart, Globe, and Sun, and we don't have any of those in the US. They do not have Verizon or ATT, or Sprint there. The cell phones are not disposable. Some are top of the line, and some are cheap. You can find many places that sell new and used phones, especially in the malls.
These cell phone services have sim cards and load cards. You purchase a sim card that comes with a phone number, and then afterwards, you purchase load cards that are similar to a long distance phone card in the US. You all a number on the card, enter the unique number on the card, and your phone number, and you have that loaded into your cell phone. You can purchase loads from 100 to 500 pesos, and most services charge 2 pesos per text message. I am not sure how much for a voice call, but it is much higher.
You can buy load cards for internet access if your phone has that capability. You can buy mobile internet devices for a computer, and then buy load cards for the internet usage for pc's, too. It is completely different than what we have available in the US.
Maybe some of you filipinas can add to this thread since I am not as knowledgable about it as you are.

[crisipicada]

Actually, those three network, Smart, Globe and Sun have plan too. You can pay 800 a month plan or more. It depends on how much you want. My niece Frances has 500 a month plan to the Globe. After the amount consumed, instead of 8 pesos call per minute, the network only charge 2 pesos exclusive for their network, then you can reload at any store. After two-year plan, then the phone is already yours and you do not need to pay for it. You can continue the plan or you can have it prepaid. It depends on what kind of phone you have.

Before, i bought a quite expensive phone. I can access internet wherever I go as long as there is signal. But lately last January I bought a cheap one cost 1250 for sending message and call only. It is not durable and not reliable because it is always got low battery again

So i suggest if you want to buy cellphone here in the Philippines see to it that you buy the original one because it has one year warranty and it is durable

[Edwin]

We are on a plan with our daughter which makes our service cheaper. We had one phone that the kids loaned us that worked pretty well. Our daughter who lives over by Spokane gets a new phone every so often as part of her plan so she gave us her old phone. It worked well, and I understood that phone, but the battery went down quickly, constantly. I think it needed a new battery. She gave us another phone that was replaced for her. I don't understand this phone as well, but the battery holds up well. I had to google to find out how to turn it back on, once the battery went clear down and shut it off.