Cell Phone Question for Parents in Philippines

[Dave Hounddriver]

44 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

they run the risk of being stolen. 

Yeah.  The people in the province sometimes live like one big commune with neighbor's kids running in and out of each other's houses and taking anything that they like that is not locked down.   My wife's sister just lost her cheap cell phone that way.  Luckily they found it and saw that the neighbor's 10 year old kid had taken a selfie before dumping it in the bushes.  Still. .  an Iphone?  Good luck.

33 minutes ago, anotherPassword said:

So you load the phone with an amount of money, then use that load to purchase data and/or minutes?

You buy a load from a reseller and they transfer it to your phone.  OR you buy a card and load it direct.  The "load" is actuall cash and every time you use the phone for data or texts or calls then a certain monetary amount is deducted from your balance.

[GeoffH]

7 hours ago, 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?

If your USA carrier uses CDMA and you have a CDMA phone then it either won't work in the Philipines or it will only have some of the bands used there (which will restrict coverage).  That is more of an issue with entry level phones than with high end iPhones or Samsungs or Google phones because those ones are feature rich and tend to have all of the bands (or at the very least most of them). 

Then there is the issue of network locked phones, some carriers lock thier phones to only their network.  If this is the case then you'll need to contact your carrier before you leave to arrange to have your phone unlocked.  NB there might be a fee for unlock.

 

You can use this link to check if your phone is compatible with Globe Philippines frequency bands.

https://www.frequencycheck.com/carriers/globe-philippines?c_id=2554361

You can use this link to check if your phone is compatible with SMART Philippines frequency bands.

https://www.frequencycheck.com/carriers/smart-philippines?c_id=2554362


NB it is common to come across 'partial compatibility', that means the phone will work on some bands but not others.  They might still be ok (it depends upon if the band is a commonly used band in the philippines that's missing or not.

[Snowy79]

Just to make it more interesting each network runs different promotions. Say for instance Globe.  You can load it with 100 peso standard which you can use to call and text or you can load 100 for data.  Internet use only. Or additionally you can buy a promo that gives so many minutes call, so many text and so much data. Just Google the main providers, Smart and Globe to see their package. 

Edited September 5, 2020 by Snowy79

[OnMyWay]

I think it would be a good idea to try and find out which company works well in the area where they live.  It is possible one might be a lot better than the other.

I concur with some of the others and would not send them an iPhone.  Even if it is old and worth very little, thieves will not know the value and just see the brand, and they see the brand in stores, and they see the price of new ones in the stores.  Very tempting to steal a phone if you think it is worth p50,000.  Half of that can feed a poor family for a long, long time.

And, unless you use a BB box, it will be very expensive to ship.

[Tommy T.]

18 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

if you think it is worth p50,000.  Half of that can feed a poor family for a long, long time.

or cock fight betting, beer and cigarettes for a rather short time?

[Mike J]

24 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

or cock fight betting, beer and cigarettes for a rather short time?

And don't forget firecrackers! 

[Tommy T.]

9 minutes ago, Mike J said:

And don't forget firecrackers! 

But not here in Davao... You will get arrested here for having/using them...

I guess, technically, that goes for booze here too... but not practically... and cigarettes are outlawed outside but I see them and no masks often. This place reminds me of Nevada from 75 years ago (from what I have read and seen... I am NOT that old...yet!)

Edited September 6, 2020 by Tommy T.

[graham59]

Many of the phones here are dual SIM card slot, so it's common to have Globe in one and Smart in the other.

I wouldn't worry too much about all this. To be honest, the average 7 year-old Filipino child will probably know the way around a cellphone as well as you or I. 

Just buy a phone...sourced in the Phils  that's popular with the locals, and let them get on with it.  As usual, you just supply the initial outlay, plus running costs.    (The phone will also then have a meaningful warranty). 

[anotherPassword]

I  bought a Globe pre-paid SIM from ebay. I got AT&T to unlock the IPhone using the original AT&T SIM and the online process. I wiped the phone, installed Globe SIM, set APN as required. Rebooted. After 15 minutes or so, it came up T-Mobile with a Philippines phone number. Using that number, I was able to download and setup GCash and register it. So I have a Phil activated phone here in Texas.  Will try loading it here in a while. As Globe basic account I can not add payment methods so I will use a recharge site as someone was helpful enough to mention earlier.

So there are 2 ways I wanted to try this, I wish I had understood more about how Globe works. I registered the SIM and setup Globe in wife's father name, not realizing there had to be an ID check to get the account fully verified on Globe App to  add credit card etc. I was going to add our Paypal or a pre-paid credit card so they in turn could get the Globe debit card and use it. However, once activated in his name, I can not change profile information unless fully verified, and trying to verify as my wife with his profile was rejected by Globe. As a note, nothing on the Globe app says you have to be a citizen of Philippines. 

The other option would be to get another Phil Globe pre-paid SIM, register it as my wife, verify using her ID, get the debit card, ship it all. Seems risky on a lot of levels. I am going to keep it simple and ship it as is with basic Globe acct, they can verify it later and we can add payment methods. 

 I will ship it DHL with insurance, that way if it gets stolen en-route I can get my money back (probably more that  if I sold it on ebay). They live in downtown Malasiqui, both parents and her brother and sister-in-law, not a lot of coming and going, someone is always their, they both have iPhones anyway.