Smart or globe; postpaid or prepaid in the USA

[kurt]

hi

my sister is going to the states for studies

which do you think is the best and most affordable way to communicate? mostly via SMS-MMS

she will be using the trusty old nokia 6610, which is triband

do you think having a Smart or glode postpaid account with international roaming activated over there is ok? the charges will not escalate over the monthly service fees. she has a plan600 with smart-gold.

if its prepaid account, how will i load credits to the simcard. which is better globe or smart?

thank you for inputs

[jim]

for prepaid account its better you use globe kasi activated na roaming nun. my brother who is in california uses globe prepaid and sa amin pa sya dito sa pinas nagpapa-load. for smart yung prepaid ata wala pa roaming dun tapos mahal pa-activate. yung smart gold dating linya rin nung brother ko pero dahil mahal daw roaming nag-switch sya sa globe prepaid na lang.

[av8or5]

kurt: i work for globe...and i pretty much know the difference...lets discuss prepaid first. with smart prepaid sim, using intl roaming is only good for text. they dont have calls. if you use globe prepaid sim for intl roaming, you get the best of both worlds, that would be text and calls. the rate would be p25.00 for outgoing text and free incoming text. regarding call, its P80/min outgoing and P50/min. incoming..with postpaid, well, you have to dep P2500 for smart postpaid to haveyour roaming activated versus globe, no dep needed.i truly suggest getting a prepaid sim for roaming for ur sis. as far as 6610 is concerned...that unit it ok. unfortunately, globe doesnt have mms for roaming yet.

[ssaloon]

i'd go for globe. based on experience, parang mas ok ang roaming service nila sa smart. pag prepaid naman gamit mo, you can have your bank account (BPI for globe) wired to your simcard para auto-refill ang credits. wont the roaming charges/fees be over and above that of the monthly rate of your plan?

[icon]

im in vancouver right now and i got smart prepaid. though receiving lang sya. serves its purpose naman.

ang problem sa postpaid e you have to deposit around 2.5k ata and hindi consumable yung plan mo. it's like paying your plan600 just to maintain the line, which i think really sucks.
alam ko may sabit din yung globe prepaid kaya i just got the smart one. if i'm not mistaken may bayad ata ang incoming text messages sa globe.
sa smart prepaid 15 per outgoing text, libre incoming text.

di ko sure kung kaya pa din ba yung MMS pag nagroaming ka.

if your sister has access to the internet, chikka na lang gamitin nya in sending. free lang. pag reply nyo sa line nya na lang para 1 peso imbis na 2.50 pag sa chikka.

yung loading pala sa smart pwede sa smart money or yung mga P300 call cards. or dun sa mga nagpapaload na kaya 300. di kaya sa pasaload kasi 15 max lang daw yon. nabwisit nga ako sa customer service nung sinabi sa akin na ipasaload ko na lang daw ng tig-15 para umabot ng 300. ah eh, 20 times din yon.

hth

[kurt]

thanks for the info.

globe prepaid does have an advantage when using international roaming. and roaming with postpaid is definitely out. deposit palang talo na

but will still visiit their respective wireless or business centers, bka may promos

i do think she will be using the cellphone to recieve SMS, even maybe calls

and she plans to reply via internet - chika, icq maybe

[Kicker15]

mas mura magtxt sa smart to smart phones kahit international text Piso pa din unlike globe na 10 yung isang international text.

[the_wildthing]

av8or5:
Uy free incoming text sa globe pag international? Yung magte-text from here, piso din ba?

So if I get a prepaid Globe now, automatic on ba ang roaming or do I need to have it activated?

Might be leaving this year for a while...

[yebo]

i use globe din for raoming, prepaid.

you need to call 211 to activate

P25 na ba ang text??? shete! sabi sa akin nuon P10 lang. kaya pala ubos agad yung load ko!

but for calls di ko magamit, but i can receive calls. ewan ko ba, ilang beses na ako tumawag sa globe para alisin yung call barring e di pa din ako makatawag. bobo siguro yun nasa customer service nila???

if your sister will have a computer in the US, just use chikka text (www.chikka.com), it's P2.50 per text that YOU send to her but it's free when she sends you text to your cel. kaya lang dahil ang globe at smart eh mahina (and that is being kind!), then minsan nawawala ang text message. nababawasan naman ang load pero yung text message mo nag-disappear na lang basta. pero at least sa globe nasa 5-10% lang nawawala. sa smart ibang klase dun, mawawala yung 1 message mo then mag-send ng madami sa iyo. wala ka control dun, send lang sila ng send kahit di ka nagse-send. paulit-ulit yung message. so ang result, e di ubos load mo! hinayupak na smart yan!

[empy]

yebo, good advice re: chikka. my sister turned me on to that app and it's a very easy way to communicate between the philippines (where sms is the preferred way of online messaging) and the states (where IM is king)

now, we use chikka almost exclusively to communicate with relatives back home