Peaceful John

One More, this is just my thoughts.........It doesn't matter who you use to get your shipment from its destination, when it gets to the Philippines it slow, slower, and slowest. I have found that the shipper from the origin has to hand it off to a local shipper and that's where it falls apart. Good Luck my friend.

Is there a waiting list? I'd love to get on it.

HK.....unless I am mistaken, Cignal is owned by PLDT corporate. I don't see any way someone could afford or want the Cignal service. But then again, who knows........Thanks for the info.

Jim, HK, I have found that with PLDT it really doesn't matter what they are "required" to give you, etc. PLDT is a master of deception and the problem Jim is having has been going on for over a year. If you read the articles from their corporate leadership, their goal is increasing revenue, and the only way they can do that is through increased customers, and attempting to increase the fees the current customers pay. This is why they have had a constant marketing campaign trying to get you to increase to their 200+ mbps, when in fact, everyone experiences high mbps rates during low usage times, and.....everyone experiences low mbps rates during high usage times. You get what you get and if it is slower speeds than you pay for, there's not a thing you can do about it except get mad, leave, and wait 2 months for new service that's even worse. If you call and report it to get it fixed, they act like they don't have a clue what you are talking about and there must be a problem with you, not them. They take you through the basics of trouble shooting, and when it shows nothing, they tell you to keep a log so you can prove it to them. If you try to call right when it's happening, you can't get anyone to answer the phone. But then I get a message from them the next day "We see that you called our help line.....are you having problems, if so, please call us." You call them, and you start the process all over again. If you ask for a Service Tech to come to your house, they will do all they can to deny this. When you demand it, someone will show up during one of the low usage periods and claim there's no problem and close the help ticket. Bottom line...... they will not acknowledge they are over selling their capacity and your only option is to quit..... and they could careless as they just make room for the next person in line. Our only real option is to wait until another fiber company comes our way, or hope Elon Musk's Starlink comes our way. I truly apologize for my long negative ranting about this but PLDT is one of my few "triggers" here in the PI as they don't even hide the fact that they are scamming their customers. Good Luck my friend.

RBM......I would suggest FUBO with a VPN. I use Express VPN and it's easy to set up and they have customer service that will help you with most any issue. I am able to watch most all of the sports venues and it works good with all of my streaming apps, such as Prime, Netflix, Philo, etc. I'm able to put it on my cell phones too so I can have my banking apps and other info apps that require me to be in the US. Good luck.

My My, I didn't know my Aussie buds were having to deal with that. I must say I'm quite surprised! I hope it's not in the future for the US, but chances are it is. Another headache to deal with. Good luck my friends.

Geoff, are you saying you must have an exit pass/permission to travel from Australia even if you are a citizen?

You should qualify "longway" as long as you have a DD 214. It saves you a good bit of money.

Yes, any country that's allies with the Philippine military should qualify for the Special Expanded Courtesy Visa. That's the route I took and it is considerably cheaper with good benefits. I would strongly recommend it for those of you who are retired or veterans.

Do you have any military service "longway"?

I hate to add to the negative "longway", but I was also told the same about the SRRV Visa. My info comes from a Visa and Passport agency in Cebu who ask this specific question of the PRA. I sincerely hope I'm wrong because in my mind and logic it makes absolutely no sense at all. But making sense and having any logic to it is definitely not a prerequisite for decision making here. You might want to consider contacting one of these in country agencies, or contacting the PRA direct. Good luck to you my friend and God Bless. JWS

James, I use prepaid, almost exclusively, for my day to day purchases and transactions. I bank with Navy FCU and Bank of Hawaii, and although they both provide great protections on their cards, I still don't trust the odd chance of getting cards stolen or electronically scanned. Here's a recap of my situation (and I've been using prepaid here for over 5 years). I use a PayPal prepaid Mastercard that is administered thru Netspend. The card/account is FDIC insured and has all the same protections that my other real credit cards (1 master and 1 visa). I have no problem using it anywhere here as it is treated like a regular credit or debit card, and it's the same at the ATM too. I have an online app for it and 24 hour customer service. I can conduct all my normal bank functions, ect, online or using the app. No difference than the other cards and you control the balance. Now here's the bonus........ I have one of my retirement checks direct deposited to it each month and I receive the money, credited to my account, 5 to 7 days early, every month. There's many other things I could mention, but the bottom line is, it is safe, secure, and is accepted everywhere a credit or debit card is accepted. Feel free to ask any questions you have, and best of luck. jws FYI............I forgot to mention, I have an extra care in my wife name for here to use too.......the same as with any credit or debit card.

But don't forget.......If you don't get the vaccine, you will die!!!!! said Duterte, but food for the children and poor.......we'll work on it after the election.

Hello Phil and welcome to the forum. I won't spend time repeating was everyone has stated already, but please put all of their comments together and take them to heart. Making a move here as you have described (with children, etc.), is a major event, with numerous complications and rules that are elusive and change by the minute. In my opinion, to have a successful life here you must be very flexible, and extremely patient. Many of the laws and rules here are designed to not allow foreigners to take advantage of the country and the mainly passive population. So the laws can be very frustrating and make virtually no sense, but follow them or trouble follows. In regards to your love of bike riding, I share this love with you, but I do not attempt to enjoy it here. Most of the locals lack driving skills and in a report I read today, the government estimates over 50% of the active drivers do not have drivers license. The law of the road is....first one to the intersection wins and coming across someone driving in your lane going in the opposite direction is very common. It is extremely dangerous on the open roads here and accidents is one of the leading causes of "unplanned deaths" here. Once you move here, you will have to wait around a year to get a drivers license, but you can drive on your current license for 30 days (but check on that to ensure its still valid). In regards to children, I have 2 and they attend private schools. Very expensive, but no way would I allow them to attend public schools (approximately 140,000 pesos plus uniforms, special fees, meals, and supplies). Philippine schools are rated some of the worst schools in the Asian region, and even the private schools are rated low, but they are better than the public. There is a few of the specialized schools that are much better, but that's usually because they design there own curriculum based on international standards, and not Philippine. We hire tutors for our children, again, expensive, but very important to us. As far as your budget, if your spouse is not Philippine, then you will most likely pay a higher foreigner price for most everything, with some exceptions (i.e. groceries, etc.,). Your place on the beach is doable, but might be a bit hard to find, but doable, but it will not be cheap, unless it's an open air place with bamboo or thin walls, no ac, but you can find better places, just be patient and keep looking. Remember, most people here don't list homes or property in the paper, online, etc. It's mainly word of mouth, the exception would be the major cities (Manila, Cebu, Davao, etc.) Prices for rent or purchases for homes or land will be higher if they know you are a foreigner. My wife is local so she always does the negotiating with me completely out of the picture. Example, my wife approached a family about a nice piece of property they wanted to sell. They quoted her 850,000 pesos ( around $18,000). When we met with them a week later, and I was with my wife, the price was now 1,900,000 pesos ($40,000). My wife ask why, and they said they "misspoke before". You will find that the word "misspoke" is a common word used here, especially by elected officials, who don't want to explain conflicting things they have said in the past. Last thing I will comment on, I'm sure there might be areas in the provinces that you can jump on your bike and ride to the wind... but since the pandemic started, I haven't a clue where those places are. Most of the country is locked down and "bubbled", so traveling from place to place is virtually impossible. But from what I have heard.......Cebu is the best place currently (but I'm sure many will disagree). One last FYI.... Your monthly income is adequate to have a comfortable life here, but as with anyplace, you must budget it or it will be gone quickly. The times of everything is cheap and live like a king, no longer exist. If you live and eat live a local, life is cheap. But if you live and eat like a foreigner, life is expensive here. Foreigners love their comforts, and they usually take electricity. My monthly electric bill is 16,000 pesos plus ($325). But again, I'm a spoiled foreigner I apologize for the gloomy message my friend, but I feel it's important to communicate what you will experience when you are here..........and keep in mind, watching the YouTube flicks showing the paradise and "Born Free" bike rides, are a very small depiction of life here. They get paid based on how many people view their videos, so keep that in mind. It can be a beautiful, blessed place, but you must transition to the way of life here. Good luck to you Sir, and God Bless. JWS

Or maybe........ the Dear Stranded Reverend doesn't even exist and it's just another soapbox scam.......