Need Cell Phone Advice

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simplymikee
Posted
Posted

new to cell phones, currently in dumaguete.

have nokia with dual sim globe and sun.

globe not working where I am, sun works but not always.

which prepaid (anonymous) plan can i use that I don't have to visit cell centers every other week.

I do not do much texting and my calls are maybe 1 to 2 a day. Most of the prepaid cards I have seen which are only available certain stores only are good for like 30 days. Is there one that is good longer where I don't have to mess with it.

Really cell phones are a royal PITA to me. Just want a good working phone I do not have to mess with all the time. Also what are the prefix numbers generally used for cell to landline calls and when do you have to use area code prefixes. Here in Dumag. we do not need to use area code to cebu so I am guessing Duma is in the same area code?

Also calls to USA are almost always poor quality and have to repeat voice communications frequently. Is there a way to get better quality calls? I also have a PLDT card I bought in Cebu for pay phone calls, can that be used for cell as well?

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Dave Hounddriver
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As far as I know, all prepaid phone loads expire (in Philippines and many other countries too). The higher the load amount, the more time you have until they expire. I would suggest making friends with someone who sells eloads and having them sell you a 100 load every couple of weeks (as example only). Yes the loads will expire but its the cost of operating here. The alternative is to wait until the load suddenly disappears on you and then have the hassle of finding a load retailer.

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Classic Dry
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Don't know if this is useful or not, but I would like to know the truth of it myself.

I was advised before I left the Philippines to buy a 300 peso load card, this I was told, would give me unlimited time.

Being incompetent re such things, I handed my phone to the lady in the phone store, and without telling her why,

asked her to load it with 300 pesos. Unseen by me she loaded it with 3x100 peso cards. Didn't strike me til later.

100 pesos only gave me 15 days, and 3x100 still only 15 days. Oh well, you live and learn.

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Steve & Myrlita
Posted
Posted (edited)

Hello Simply Mike & Welcome to the forum. In Dumaguete, the city (Area) code is 035 whereas Cebu island, the code is 032. Here in Bacolod, it is 034. Cell phones use their own prefix codes to keep them separate which can be useful. It lets the cell network work nationwide as a local network. Calling landlines with cell phones are about P7-P8 /min. To call a land line, put the city code as a prefix ie: 035-225-xxxx. Hope this will help you.

Edited by Steve & Myrlita
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sjp52
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Posted

New Load Expiration Validity for Globe, Smart, TM, Talk N Text and Sun Cellular

10 pesos -or-less load – 3 days

10-20 load – 7 days

20-30 load – 10 days

30-40 load – 14 days

40-P50 load – 17 days

50-60 load – 20 days

60-70 load – 21 days

70-80 load – 24 days

80-90 load – 30 days

100-150 load – 45 days

150-200 load – 60 days

200-300 load – 90 days

300-600 load – 150 days

600 to 1,000 load – 180 days

So if you are going to stay in the Philippines for 6 months or longer get 600 to 1000 load good for 6 months. They also have deals for one day or a week that they will text you.

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Jack Peterson
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Posted

New Load Expiration Validity for Globe, Smart, TM, Talk N Text and Sun Cellular

10 pesos -or-less load – 3 days

10-20 load – 7 days

20-30 load – 10 days

30-40 load – 14 days

40-P50 load – 17 days

50-60 load – 20 days

60-70 load – 21 days

70-80 load – 24 days

80-90 load – 30 days

100-150 load – 45 days

150-200 load – 60 days

200-300 load – 90 days

300-600 load – 150 days

600 to 1,000 load – 180 days

So if you are going to stay in the Philippines for 6 months or longer get 600 to 1000 load good for 6 months. They also have deals for one day or a week that they will text you.

Good information But surely if you keep topping up the time limit will expand, My wife uses the Top up system from Globe and has had the same number for 8 years. the object surely, is top up before the expiry date as any pay as you go system in the world.??

http://answers.yahoo...22132135AA4ZzLE

http://www.globe.com...es/autoload-max

just trying to help a little here.

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Dave Hounddriver
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Topping up did not help me. Example. I put on a 500 load and then topped up regularly with 100 peso loads. Suddenly it was all gone. Seems like the 500 peso load got used first as I bought it first and the 100 peso loads were expiring unused.

This is purely anecdotal, happened to me, evidence but I would not do it again.

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adventureguy
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I think your real problem has nothing to do with your phone. It is your service provider. Smart has the best infrastructure in Philippines. That does not mean that they will always provide you better service, but they will in more areas than Globe and Sun. Get yourself a Smart sim card and try that.

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sjp52
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Topping up did not help me. Example. I put on a 500 load and then topped up regularly with 100 peso loads. Suddenly it was all gone. Seems like the 500 peso load got used first as I bought it first and the 100 peso loads were expiring unused.

This is purely anecdotal, happened to me, evidence but I would not do it again.

What I do is buy 500 load and when that is gone I get another 500 load. I never lose any load. Also I don,t know about you guys but I mostly text so my load lasts along time

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simplymikee
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Thanks for all the good replies. Just after the original post I made the stupid mistake of calling USA relative. 10 minute call exhausted my 300p Globe load, charging me 25-30 cents a minute. What a ripoff, will change my globe sim out for a smart one. My long time friend here suggested an IDD sun card which supposedly gives you 25 min of calls to usa and some other countries for P50.

This cell phone thing is a big racket imo. I only had a landline in the U.S. but even with that quality of calls to Phil was really bad.

The other irritating thing is all the spam these cell companies send u unsolicited. Add to that that governments and maybe others can trace your comings and goings. Maybe I am getting old but the whole thing stinks to me.

The thought occurs to me that possibly VOIP is an answer to minimizing cell phone use.

But many tell me internet is equally bad in the Philippines.

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