Cell Phone Question for Parents in Philippines

[anotherPassword]

Hi,
Wife and I live in US (just celebrated our 23rd anniversary!). Her parents are in Pangasinan in North Luzon. Figured I would start here with a cell phone question as I am sure many of you are familiar with how they work in the Philippines. 
Wire's parents are older and we want to get them a smart phone so they can do Facebook messenger, etc. I personally like iPhones, so that is the direction we are leaning. They DO have internet, so it would be possible to just send them a used iPhone I have and use that, but electric is unreliable and  of course they keep turning it off to save electricity.
My wife does not trust their maid to help them setup a cell phone as that would involve the maid handling their money and information for purchase and billing etc, as they do not get out much. 
I would LIKE to get a pre-paid plan, but have us pay the bill, not the parents. Pre-paid also may be an option, but either way I would like to have it setup where the bill gets paid automatically thru some acct.

is there  a way to get a cellphone setup and pay from US? What are the other options?

thanks,

ds

 

[graham59]

I would go for an Android phone in this situation, personally...as that is the most widely used operating system here by far . (Few can afford a REAL iPhone...though I do have three older models. I don't like them...or Apple). Just a status symbol for the locals. 

You can easily top up another person's phone in the Phils , using a site such as recharge .  com.  Just need the phone number.  Pick the load amount or the promo yourself.  No rocket science involved. 

Oh, and you could buy the phone through Lazada, or Shoppee, and have it delivered to their door. 

Edited September 5, 2020 by graham59

[anotherPassword]

Yeah, I just happen to always have iPhone and we have a spare since wife upgrades so I would be most familiar with that. I found someone on ebay that sells Philippines sims, so technically I guess I could get that, put it in phone, then they could activate and I could load it from here. May be making things hard on myself that way :)

Wife did mention Lazada, we use them sometimes. So, I could buy a phone on say globe from Lazada, then use recharge dot com to charge it when needed. 

Either way, the missing piece was the recharge site, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

ds

[Jollygoodfellow]

1 hour ago, anotherPassword said:

so it would be possible to just send them a used iPhone

Phones from the US wont necessarily work here. 

I dont know if that is still the case but someone here will remember.

Quote

Cell networks in the Philippines uses the 900 megahertz and 1,800 megahertz frequencies of the GSM network, while GSM operators in the United States use the 850 MHz and 1,900 MHz bands, according to Planet Omni and CNET. In other words, just having a GSM phone does not necessarily mean you can use the GSM network in the Philippines. Your phone must be a multi-frequency GSM phone with the capability to operate at either 900MHz or 1,800MHz.

 

[anotherPassword]

Yeah, I was wondering. But while researching, I read a lot of people buy Globe pre-paid sims at Manila airport when they arrive and use them, no one mentioned issues with carrier frequencies?

[Jollygoodfellow]

Just now, anotherPassword said:

Yeah, I was wondering. But while researching, I read a lot of people buy Globe pre-paid sims at Manila airport when they arrive and use them, no one mentioned issues with carrier frequencies?

I forget but maybe check here , https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker/PH

[anotherPassword]

Yep, looks like it will work. One more question, when recharging, what is the difference between 'data' and 'phone credit'?

[Jollygoodfellow]

1 hour ago, anotherPassword said:

Wire's parents are older

The other thing is will they know how to use a modern gadget?  Personally I would buy new but older models here. New models come out all the time so price comes down quick plus you dont have to worry about them getting here with shipping. You dont need a high end phone for Facebook Etc and they run the risk of being stolen. 

 

[Jollygoodfellow]

2 minutes ago, anotherPassword said:

Yep, looks like it will work. One more question, when recharging, what is the difference between 'data' and 'phone credit'?

Data is internet, phone credit is used to buy Load as its called or Data. 

Your wife should know these answers 

[anotherPassword]

Wife has lived here 23 years and did not have a cell in Philippines ever. So you load the phone with an amount of money, then use that load to purchase data and/or minutes?