Cell Phones

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I am moving in a week or so and was wondering about cell phones.  I know everyone there has a phone.  Most of them I saw in Cebu won't put the darn things down!   My question is what is available?  Is the service good enough to support smart phones or are they mostly on regular phones?   I would assume it is cheaper to buy one when I get there instead of buying something here, getting it unlocked, and hoping it works there.  Also I will be sort of in the boonies... (Antique Province - Panay Island) not complete boonies but not Iloilo or Cebu.  So I am concerned about good coverage and internet availability.  What do y'all have and what do you recommend?

 

I probably should not care but I have used PDA's for years, old Palms then the smartphones, it is kind of a crutch ha ha. 

 

Well I hope to be on the beach more than the phone.... so maybe it is no big deal  :tiphat:

 

 

 

 

 

.... and BTW I am moving in about a week!  :dance:   Have I mentioned that lately?   :540:

[Call me bubba]

 here are some links to past topics that could be helpful

Consider a QUAD-BAND as that will work well here..

on cost? your choice,

can you afford a LOST $$ if it disappears or is damaged?

 

again, what is best for me, may not work out for you.

...................................................................................................................................

Cell phones that will work in the Philippines.
The Philippines uses 900 and 1800 mhz, so any phone that includes both
of those frequencies will work the best and phones that have at least
900mhz will also work but not as good.

.

All phones must be open line (unlocked to allow
any provider). Dual band phones in US come both 900 and 1900 mhz or 850
and 1900. The 900 and 1900 will work because they include 900 which was
the first frequency

they used in the Philippines and they have since

upgraded to also use 1800.Tri band 900/1800/1900 or quad band
850/900/1800/1900 phones work the best because they will work in most
countries and also work great in the Philippines because they includes
both 900 and 1800.

It should be noted that in the USA they also make
triband phones that use 850/1800 and 1900 and those will not work very
well, if at all in the Philippines because 850 is not used there

.

http://www.philippines-expats.com/topic/64-cell-phones-that-will-work-in-the-philippines/

 

http://www.philippines-expats.com/topic/14443-just-bought-a-new-cellphone/

 

I agree, i bought a Nokia 1112 (advertised as the 'indestructable
phone') on sale for P995. I dropped it down a flight of stairs and the
thing is still working no problem. Buy cheap, buy local, buy disposable.
And when you are ready to leave, give it to your g/f as a present, she
will love you more...

http://www.philippines-expats.com/topic/12963-buying-a-cell-phone-to-take-back-to-philippines/

 

http://www.philippines-expats.com/topic/7403-unlock-your-cellphone/

 

http://www.philippines-expats.com/topic/426-dual-sim-cards/

[brock]

I had a samsung galaxy, didnt have to unblock, just changed sim card

[i am bob]

If you want to use an iPhone, Smartbro utilizes bands 1, 3 and 5 for their LTE.  The frequencies are, 850, 1800 and 2100 MHz.  In other words, if you have an iPhone 5 international model (GSM model A1429), it will work on Smartbro just about anywhere there is sufficient signal signal on any of these frequencies. Android and Windows phones will work just as well under those frequencies if they are LTE compatible. 

 

Note that Globe is only using the 1800 MHz frequency for their LTE.  This won't make a difference as long as there is signal in the 1800 MHz frequency range.

[OnMyWay]

My question is what is available?  Is the service good enough to support smart phones or are they mostly on regular phones? 

 

They have a wide variety of phones in all price ranges, so no worries there.  Go to the SMART or Globe websites and take a look, or you can look at the manufacturers Philippines websites, e.g., Samsung, Nokia, Apple, Sony, MyPhone.

 

I was told in another thread that it is best to buy a unlocked smart phone in the US rather than here, because the cost is about 25% higher here.  I'm in the market for a phone too and when looking at the stores in the malls I see that the newest high end unlocked smartphones are 15-25k pesos, so not cheap!

 

I think there are plenty of little shops that can unlock a phone for you, if you want to bring a locked phone.

 

I am looking for a low to medium priced smart phone with a tactile keyboard.

Edited February 2, 2013 by OnMyWay

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I just checked some online prices and the 15-25P seems about right - ouch!  So yeah I will be looking for a phone locally before I go.   No time to order one online.   Amazon and ebay are cheaper...  but no time ha ha. 

[GregZ]

I just checked some online prices and the 15-25P seems about right - ouch!  So yeah I will be looking for a phone locally before I go.   No time to order one online.   Amazon and ebay are cheaper...  but no time ha ha. 

Good call! :tiphat:

[i am bob]

If you don't need the qwerty keyboard on an Android, I would recommend looking at MyPhone.  They seem to have very good prices, many of the phones are dual SIM so you can run both Globe and Smart (or Sun) and the quality is suppose to be reasonably good.  I am like many others and I'm hoping that they will come out with a Qwerty Android model soon.  

 

Another company that made a real nice inexpensive slide-out Qwerty Smartphone was Alcatel but they did not keep the technology updated on this style.  

[Tukaram (Tim)]

The MyPhone site looks pretty good.  I saw this one for P9,490 ($233 USD) http://www.myphone.com.ph/#!a919-duo/csw0  It looked pretty good but I couldn't stay on the site too long - I could not turn off the music so I left!   Why do sites add music without a very obvious "shut the damn music off" button?  Oh well... after I am done listening to my music I can mute the computer and go look some more.  Looked like some pretty good phones....  :tiphat:

 

 

 

 

~Edit

Ok the link does not work.  but the phone I was looking at is a A919 Duo, for ₱9,490.  A bit steep but it looks pretty good.  I will go out tomorrow and see what i can find locally before I leave.

 

Edited February 3, 2013 by Tuka Ram

[Bigdog]

they might be able to "unlock" your phone..but usually by installing an out of date operating system...you can never sync or up grade or the phone will relock..best just to get an unlocked phone in the US or just get one of the cheapy china phones here...also a plus with the chinese phones here are most are duel sim..can use two different carriers , just have to remember just about any "load" you put on they have rules and ways to make sure it runs out/expires...getting a phone snatched is a common thing and an expensive smart phone just makes you a target..i brought my old out of contract ATT&T iphone 3, which ATT&T will unlock if out of contract, so if it gets snatched not a big deal..then i would ask your girl which carrier works best in her area, I guarentee she will know lol