Utilities & Mobile Prepaid Load - (Off Top Thread Split)

Sounds like you had it under control. I too ran into the need load problem with a Filipina and I taught her to never send 1 word texts. If you don't have more than 1 line to send, wait until you do. It cut her texts down by about 50%. It may or may not work for you but it's worth a try.

 

Viber is the app I use on my phone. It's an internet based program so it doesn't use text messaging. It seems like most of the girls have it.
It's a great program to message with people back home and it does have video calling (but remember internet can be poor in PI).

 

I don't really have a nee to make calls and everyone I know is on Globe or TM. I found a create your own promo deal that I like. 1,000 texts to Globe/TM and 1Gb (with a G) data for 7 days for p70. So p140/week, p560/mo for two phones and Never have a load problem.

 

I would put 500php on my phone twice a month get 10php discount 170 free texts. That 1k was my total phone and internet cost for the month. I once DL 6GB of oil well files in 2.5 hours for 50 php. 5 php for a 15 minute unlimited segment. I've been told that if you get throttled on a promo that you can text stop and go pay as you go but I don't trust that as the one time I tried it with a promo, I was still throttled after texting stop.

The biggest benefit other than not being asked for money for load is what do you really get out of one word texts? I would rather not get them.

Nice! LOL! Hi! ; ). Each one of those is a separate text message.

More of my favorites are...Are you up? at 2 am. I reply I am now. She says..."Sorry". I don't reply. She says: I just wanted to ask you something. I ask what is so important that she needs to wake me up at 2 am? She says: Can you send me 100p load? 4 texts to do the work of one. I realize that Filipinos are in constant contact but I'm not convinced that they are communicating.

 

There is also Facebook Messenger, Line, Skype and many others to use that are better than sending regular texts for p1

 

Presupposing you are someplace you have wi-fi. Then too if you are at home, is the wi-fi free? If not, how much did it cost? When you are not someplace where you have wi-fi, do you still use FB Messenger, Line, or Skype?

 

I usually kept the data connection turned off when I'm out and about so save on eating up the load. So I must use regular text messaging when I'm out. I tried Smarts plan that lets you download like 800 MB per day only problem is with the speed it would take 23 days to download. Hehe

 

Obviously assuming WiFi is available. In a home/work situation it is usually an assumed in the 21st century and also where most people spend the largest chunk of their of day whether they avail of the WiFi themselves or not is up to them but if available much more cost effective than spending p1 per text unless they sign up for a promotion being run by their mobile carrier such as p15 for text to all networks for 2 days as an example...

 

If it isn't too personal, how much are you paying per month for that internet so you can have wi-fi at home?

My total cost for phone and internet was 1k peso a month. Usually I wouldn't use all of it unless I made an international call which I think I only did 3 times in 11 months, mainly because I was relaying instructions and e-mail worked much better for that. I never worried about the Wi-Fi any place I was because I saw how slow it was for other people using it. Taco Tayo for instance. I DL a picture of a motorcycle I was talking about and it took about 3 seconds for the page to load. The guy told me, they HAVE Wi-Fi here. He DL a picture of a different bike, only took him a couple of minutes. I told him I don't sweat the 5php. I also sent a short e-mail and checked all my e-mail accounts in that 15 minute segment of time. I had the time because we were waiting for his pages to DL.

I used to use Viber on the go because I liked how easy it was to snap a picture add a couple of lines and send it.

There is no perfect answer. Not everyone is the same. If one doesn't need to be connected 24-7 and you don't need the absolute fastest speed but you don't want to be throttled either. Pay as you go could be the best/ cheapest option. My connection at home wasn't the fastest but I could watch you tube videos in 1080p without buffering which is mostly what I did when I was at home, awake, not doing chores and so on.

I think they don't throttle the pay as you go because you can always switch it off if they did. As I have said before I DL 6GB of PDF files in 150 minutes 50 php worth. An unlimited plan in the US would cost me at least $100 a month and to just pay for what I used, 6GB would cost about $60. I find the quality of internet and phone service of poor quality in the Philippines but I didn't find it expensive doing it my way.

Added benefit of not being connected all the time, my laptop is always exactly like I left it when I take it out of hibernate