SMS & Calls to Philippines

[ivybridge]

We were just wondering what kind of deals people have for texting and phoning the Philippines.

We noticed Orange charge us twice as much as normal to text.

[GaryFifer]

Hmm I use a company called PHONE CHEAP from my landline phone.

http://www.phonecheap.co.uk/rates.php
They always have a good line. You just have to dial a carrier number first then dial 0063 9 (etc ur mahals number)

This will cost you are 9p a minute. Others can be cheaper, I have varied success with the quality with lower cost numbers. Other forum members will have different experiences. But that is my 10p worth

Txt can be done from Yahoo. If you can get your mahal to sign in with her mobile phone on Yahoo, you can txt her. Also you would be best to use CHIKKA on your PC to txt her. Download it here:

http://messenger.chikka.com/ Create a Chikka number for yourself and txt her phone from your PC. It is possible to send her load to her phone if you wish. ISEND credits you can buy using a PAYPAL method of payment. Its bought in dollars so you win. You may buy 10 dollars.That will cost you about 6.75 on your bill. Gives you credit to spend on load for her so she can txt you back. You may buy her 230 load for 7 dollar. 30 load costs 1 dollar. The company is called V mobile solutions and they are reliable.

Vmobile solutions also allow the sending of SMART money at reasonable rates if you need to do small amounts of 500,1000,2000,5000. Your mahal requires a SMART money card and ID for pickup at a SMART shop.

Ideally it is best to just use XOOM, or Philippines National Bank in London. PNB in London only charge 5 pound for each of your send. Ensure your mahal gets a PNB Global Filipino money card. Anyways, just so you know-It is just another method instead of Western Union.

[lizaphil]

i use LEBARA sim card
10penny a minute its so cheap
try it,10 p for text also

[Northerner]

My mobile contract gives me free texts but to the phils it costs me 10p per text. Also, my mahal sent me a smart pinoy sim which she texts me on, it costs her very little to do so, and 10p a text for me is reasonable

I have used some of the £5 calling cards so that the calls come out of my free minutes. Sometimes the quality can be good, othertimes it is terrible but Skype is also a great tool so long as it a free skype call

I'm thinking of investing into one of those skype phones from 3, as when I am working, it is near impossable to talk together just texts and email Might try and get a cheap one off of ebay

[joebloggs]

someone has already mentioned chikka, i used it for many years, saved me £100's if not £1,000's

if my misses was out at uni or didn't have access to a pc/inet i would use chikka to send free txt mgs to her moblie from home or while i was at work, i must have sent at least 20 a day for years..

[MarBell379]

Chikka is good for sending TO the Philippines.
If your girl can send you a Roaming enabled Smart SIM its even better for sending FROM phils To UK.

For phone calls I use rebtel ( www.rebtel.com )- set up a UK number there so your initial call is often included in free minutes, and you pay the extra at about 8.5p minute. Its saved me LOTS, and is pretty reliable, othe than the odd time I have to dial twice to get a connection.

[johncar54]

If you use the internet then it's worth checking:-
http://voipcheap.com/en/sms-rates.html#letp

including VAT, SMS are 2.5 pence
calls to fixed lines, 7.3 pence per min,
to mobiles 7.7 per min.

In addition you get free calls to most western countries and can even access toll free calls to USA.

[Dedworth]

www.18185.co.uk

£0.09 per min to landlines, £0.12 per min to mobiles. Texts via PC £0.03

[johncar54]

www.18185.co.uk

£0.09 per min to landlines, £0.12 per min to mobiles. Texts via PC £0.03

This site would appear quite a lot more expensive than voipcheap, and they also charge a connection fee unlike voipcheap.

But I know we all choose a service which we like for our own personal reasons.

[Dedworth]

This site would appear quite a lot more expensive than voipcheap, and they also charge a connection fee unlike voipcheap.

But I know we all choose a service which we like for our own personal reasons.

Agreed but it's not via your PC using voip software, 18185 works from your registered UK landlines and mobiles (other than SMS which is PC)

[johncar54]

Hi Deworth, I suspected that was the case, that's why I added But I know we all choose a service which we like for our own personal reasons.

The problem with all the offers is like the supermarkets, they are good for one thing but then you pay for it with something else.

[Dedworth]

Hi Deworth, I suspected that was the case, that's why I added But I know we all choose a service which we like for our own personal reasons.

The problem with all the offers is like the supermarkets, they are good for one thing but then you pay for it with something else.

You're right - I find it quite convenient for calls as I have my home, business and mobile phones registered with them and you don't pre pay they bill and take from your debit or cc every month or so. Downside for me is the SMS in that you can't send from your mobile only the PC.

I guess the weather's nice in Spain - typical August 16c, dull & drizzle in Berks

[johncar54]

I guess the weather's nice in Spain - typical August 16c, dull & drizzle in Berks

Bit too warm today 35C, but as I can't remember when in rained last, I won't complain !

[MarBell379]

You're right - I find it quite convenient for calls as I have my home, business and mobile phones registered with them and you don't pre pay they bill and take from your debit or cc every month or so. Downside for me is the SMS in that you can't send from your mobile only the PC.

I guess the weather's nice in Spain - typical August 16c, dull & drizzle in Berks

Chaps.
Rebtel rates I quoted - 8.5 p minute is mobile to mobile. You DO pay the UK call charge, but its a standard number, not 0800 or anything odd, so if you have inclusive minutes, that bits free. No PC required.

[Dedworth]

Chaps.
Rebtel rates I quoted - 8.5 p minute is mobile to mobile. You DO pay the UK call charge, but its a standard number, not 0800 or anything odd, so if you have inclusive minutes, that bits free. No PC required.

Thanks I'll have a look into that one

[ivybridge]

Wow, that was some response!

Appernetly we use 18185 for calls to mobile and landline.
But we didnt realise that you could use them for texting and at 3p per text, thats great.

We have used others in the past such as 18866, but (for the time being) have settled on 18185.

Thanks for everybodys input on this, its amazing how many telecom companies there are............

[kimmi]

For phone calls I use rebtel ( www.rebtel.com )- set up a UK number there so your initial call is often included in free minutes, and you pay the extra at about 8.5p minute. Its saved me LOTS, and is pretty reliable, othe than the odd time I have to dial twice to get a connection.

Chaps.
Rebtel rates I quoted - 8.5 p minute is mobile to mobile. You DO pay the UK call charge, but its a standard number, not 0800 or anything odd, so if you have inclusive minutes, that bits free. No PC required.

I agree with u Marbell, we also used REBTEL for nearly three years now(aside from skype and chikka)and I can say that they are cheaper and reliable compared to others....

[spinynorman]

Hi All,

I've been 'lurking' on this site for quite some time now! I've just found this thread, and thought that I would pass on my experience with keeping in touch with my fiancee, who is in Bago City (Negros Occidental).

For SMS I use 'Fishtext' most of the time now. The service is reliable, and costs just 1p per text to PH, although my mahal has just got a limited 'contract' number, and that seems to cost 1.3p! I will have to ask FishText why it's more expensive. The FishText application is a Java application, so you need a compatible phone (look for 'MIDP 2.0 support!) - I had to buy a cheap one on eBay - but it's paying for itself very quickly! (I was paying 15p per text on Orange payg) The FishText application leaves a little to be desired, but I will continue to use it because of the savings. For the other direction I had been using a PH sim set to 'roaming' ... but that conked out a few months ago, and I'm patiently waiting for a new one to be sent over!

For calls I have been using '1stDial'. I buy a £20 card from a shop, and 1stDial add on another £10 credit! The call cost is 6p per minute. It's not 100% - sometimes the call quality is poor, but re-dialling usually gets better quality. Sometimes I don't get to hear a ring tone ... which is confusing! Once or twice I've got through to a wrong number! You register online and get a London number to dial for each PH number. I wouldn't be without this now as it is so cheap! Because of the 50% addon, the effective rate is 4p per minute - a little less than the 80p per minute that my Pipex landline charges! (Although all UK numbers are included in the monthly charge.)

By far and away the biggest 'hassle' of keeping in touch is the unreliability of the PH electricity supply! When we are both at home and my mahal has power, we talk for hours on Yahoo or Skype!

Hope this might help someone. See you on another thread sometime!

Cheers!