The Cost of Staying in Touch !

any of you guys use viber? I use it to chat to my gf, so its like a messenger and we can call through it aswell but, on the my version of the app it doesn't seem to allow video call but on hers it does

Think this is ok if you've got good internet in the philippines end

Think this is ok if you've got good internet in the philippines end

We have used it.. and it's very good , but the Globe free facebook, which includes fb messenger, available in the Phils, means it's not really needed.

edited to add:... and of course video out of the question if signal is weak.

we find it really good and reliable. I think to be honest its my signal here that plays up sometimes when I travelling during work, at home when on wifi its fine messages come through really quick etc and call quality is good, she lives in Makati its fine there and when she with her family in pangasinan its no problem there either and there they live high up in the hills too.
I find with skype the video call quality can be poor at times its really hit and miss for us with skype, but I'm guessing again its probably my broadband connection here in north Norfolk not very good lol

me and my fiance video chat on skype when we are both at our homes, but when one or both of us are out we use viber.

the video calls on viber are really awful, i dont recommend it for video, only for text/voice call

we used to use kakaotalk but found viber was quicker specially when sending photos and videos

My wife lives in Pangasinan... just North of Dagupan. Poor phone reception though.

Roger that, ta. I'll look into it as maybe a back up. Dial123 seems to be ok at the moment.

I'm interested at trying to sort out the comms out there though with some reliable internet but I think cost maybe too much to make it worth while

Initially my then girlfriend used Globe Tattoo mobile internet, which was very frustrating. The signal was poor and kept dropping out.

She lived at a place round the back of her landlady's house, who had a landline and proper internet connection.

In the end, they ran a cable from the landlady's router, over the roof and into her room then the two of them shared the cost. Skype wad good after that.

Haha no chance of a landline where we are. There is a ruddy great tower not far away actually that I guessed was for comms but last time we where there comms was bad so not sure what its for. The niece in the province who is dealing with the money for our house build has now got a dongle so I've asked the wife to find out which she has as it now appears she can send pictures via facebook messenger. I think they charge it by going to the barrio and getting 50php credit transfered by the woman at the sari sari. That 50php is valid for 24hrs I think.

I think I had a globe tattoo dongle a few years ago for the province ans it was indeed rubbish. I think I binned it in the end.

Melody and I both use our mobiles more than a pc. We've exchanged over 100,000 messages with each other using Messenger, Viber and now IMO. We use Messenger to make free phone calls to one another, and now, using Messenger and IMO, we make free video calls.

When available, I would suggest people use them rather than paying for Skype.

BTW, a log of your Messenger messages could be a useful tool if you were required to prove your relationship by some bureaucratic Nazi.

Skype is free too if you both have an internet connection.

now that a much larger percentage of Filipinos possess internet phones, it is a lot easier and much cheaper to keep in touch with a large volume of them than it was before.

previously, like six/seven years ago my UK text messaging bill was much more, than it is now. In those days, texts alone might cost me £100 per month. But it was what you needed to do to keep in touch with them everywhere. There was no alternative. It was the only way you could message them wherever they were. On the jeepney. While they were making dinner. Anywhere. Not just those comparitively rare times, when they are sitting in an internet cafe.

to receive large numbers of text messages from the Philippines what you needed to do, and still do, was/is activate SMART roaming while you are in the Philippines.

to do this just text ROAM ON to 333 an hour before you leave the Philippines.

this will enable you to receive text messages from the Philippines, anywhere in the world and it does not cost you a penny to receive them.

it costs them exactly the same as it does within the Philippines i.e 1 peso per text message. And it also works,if they are on a text/call promo like the SMART Mega250 promo which gives them unlimited texts to SMART/SUN numbers and 180 minutes of calls to SMART/SUN numbers over a month.

6-7 years ago when I was in the UK, and hardly any Filipinos had internet phones, I would receive an average of 50-60 text messages a day from the Philippines.

these days it is much less, but still about 10 a day. What they do now is send less text messages, and more messages from internet phones using Facebook and Viber, Whats App, etc.

but there is still a place for text messaging. And of course there is still many Filipinos who only have 'normal' phones and not internet ones.

the cheapest company to send text messages to the Philippines from the UK using a PAYG mobile is WHITE MOBILE. Although their prices have increased. Last year it was 8p per text message. This year it is 12p. WHITE MOBILE'S closest competitors, Lebara, Lycamobile and Vectone Mobile have also increased their prices by the same extent. Last year their average was about 12p. This year it is about 18p.

these prices are really high. It is much more expensive to text the Philippines than nearly all other foreign countries, like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, etc. It is almost as bad as the real bandit countries, like North Korea.

but the Philippines is still bandit country for telephone rates and were it not for SMART roaming, they would find it almost impossible to send anything more than a few texts abroard. In the Philippines texts are 15 pesos per text internationally. In Thailand they are half that. In Malaysia, they are a third of that.

there is now a UK SMART Sim card https://www.smartsimuk.com/

I have one of these, but but this doesn't enable you to call or text the Philippines for any cheaper than a WHITE MOBILE Sim does. The only advantage that it has is that people in the Philippines, can not only text you, but can call you as well for the same price and on promo like they can in the Philippines.

people in the Philippines cannot call SMART Sims in the UK when they are set to roaming. They can only text them. This is the advantage that the UK SMART Sim has.

at the moment, you can only use UK SMART Sim's in the UK. You cannot reset them to work in the Philippines when you are there.

whereas with SMART roaming numbers, all you have to do on arrival in the Philippines is reset them by texting ROAM OFF to 333 and they will work perfectly. Filipinos, who previously could not call you when you were in the UK, but only text, can now call you.

I have had the same SMART number for 9 years and have used it interchangeably to receive texts in the UK, and as a normal Sim to text and call when I am in the Philippines. I cannot praise the SMART roaming system highly enough. It works brilliantly. GLOBE roaming which I have tried several times as many Filipinos are GLOBE users who are reluctant even to text SMART numbers, doesn't work anything like as well as SMART does and in fact despite numerous attempts I have never got GLOBE roaming to work in the UK at all.

Good post young man, and welcome to British Filipino

Whippy is back, I see ....

Smart and Globe sound great until they start stealing back the load you paid for.

I also find their constant bombardment of confusing 'promos' infuriating.

For me... for emergency use only.