1 PLDT wireless landline (Personal and business)
1 Smart Prepaid (Business)
2 Smart Postpaids (1 personal, 1 business)
1 Sun Postpaid (Personal)
1 Globe Prepaid (Business)
1 Globe Postpaid (Mobile Broadband)
I don't bring with me all of those everyday but they are used one way or the other as specified. I keep some numbers private just in case I don't want to be bugged. Admittedly, the hardest ones to maintain are the prepaid numbers. You have to load credits from time to time unless you want your credits expired and eaten up.
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| Image source: Sxc.hu |
Just today, I read that Globe offered a feature for prepaid called Load Watch and their roll over policy. Just recently, my Globe prepaid load was about to expire. A pop-up message appeared on my phone telling me that my load is about to expire. Well, I was impressed at the notification message but honestly, after less than 10 minutes, I already forgot all about it. If you're doing a lot of stuff, it's easily forgettable. It's a very cool feature but correct me if I'm wrong with the roll over policy. It has been there ever since, right? From what I understand, I have to reload before my current load credits expire. So I guess, only the load watch feature is new.
But my real problem isn't actually solved here by telling me when my load expires. Yes, sometimes, I can quickly buy a load and reload it to prevent credits from expiring but there are times when I am just so busy or out of the country that it is not that easy or possible to load credits on my prepaid number(s). I've wasted nearly 5,000 pesos in accumulated load credits because of expired load. If you're following me on Twitter, I've ranted out 1 or 2 instances there within this year.
First of all, this post is not in any way sponsored by Smart. Let's be clear on that. I was invited to attend the Smart Freedom Plan launch but I wasn't able to go.
The solution for me is actually Smart's Freedom plan. I was soooo happy when they came out with that plan. It's a ZERO postpaid plan which means that, you only have to pay for stuff that you've used. If you think about it, this is consumer-centric because they don't care if they don't earn from the subscriber.
Me and my friends were joking around and said, "what if we just sent out a single SMS for a certain month? Won't it be more expensive for them to print out a bill, put it in an envelope and send it via courier?" Apparently, I think the billing will be online but I'm not yet too sure because I've yet to receive my first bill. Bottomline, we know who Smart prioritizes.
My mom who doesn't use mobile phones very much loads 300 pesos every 2 months. At the end of the second month, she still has nearly 200 pesos in load credits that has a risk of being "eaten up". By getting the Freedom plan, she will actually save 100 pesos a month (based on 100-peso monthly average usage).
Going back to the expired load, a warning will really help remind but not actually save your credits from expiring. Both Smart and Globe's prepaid credits expires. This is why I highly recommend Smart Freedom Plan.
I don't know if it's only me but I can feel a certain force in the webosphere. As the release date of the Apple iPhone 5 (or whatever they may call it) nears, you can feel the heat from the friction created by two telcos who are offering the most anticipated smartphone ever.
Both of them released teasers already.
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| Smart's Teaser |
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| Image from Vgooo |
Smart's launch last year was a really really grand one! They closed down Rockwell mall just to launch iPhone 4s! Free food, booze, games and LOTS of prizes were up for grabs for the first batch of buyers! Imagine, they gave out prizes that have way much higher value than the iPhone 4s itself? Well, they did prove that they know how to launch a product. I attended Globe's launch last year and I it was just so-so. I'm looking forward to Smart's iPhone 5 launch soon! :)
Smart LTE Just in Time
Smart just launched their Multi-band LTE recently and this is just in time for the upcoming launch of the newest iPhone. We are really one of the firsts few countries to have commercially rolled out the LTE service. Here's a tweet from Rene Ritchie,
Well, we are lucky aren't we? and since it is said that the iPhone 5 will be the first LTE compatible smartphone here in the Philippines, it is just in time! Smart has the same band as Japan's NTT DOCOMO. We just have to hope that the new iPhone will be compatible with the 2100 or 1800 band. I do really hope that WE (The Philippines) will be one of the first countries in Asia to get the newest iPhone!
Monitoring the tweets from both network is very similar to watching the DLSU-ADMU game! Can't wait! Few more days until the official launch!
Cheftonio
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3 comments:
It seems Globe and Smart, two of the biggest telecommunications company here in the Philippines, have a friendly competition with the release of iPhone 5s. This is interesting, whether, who among the two have great benefits in terms of postpaid subscriptions.
The release of iPhone 5s really made this two companies companies compete if whoever can attract a lot of subscribers. Postpaid have a lot of benefits and its up to the people, who can deliver a better one.
Thanks author for this nice article. The release of iphone 5 in the market is indeed a history in the smartphone industry.
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