Telephone service here in the Philippines is a little different than what you are used to if you live in the USA, Canada or other Western countries. Let’s look at a few of the differences:
- When you sign up, it can take weeks, even months before the service is connected! If you know somebody at the phone company, or maybe a local person of importance and they are willing to “put in a word” for you the delay can be shortened to only a few days. But, for the average application, I would say that if you can get it installed within a week you are doing very well. On average, I guess that the wait maybe 2 to 3 weeks for installation of your phone service.
- When your phone is connected, it is only for local calls. You will not be able to make any long distance calls (domestic or international) unless you applied for that separately. When you make your application, you must select NDD (National Direct Dialing for domestic long distance calls) and IDD (Inernational Direct Dialing) if you want to make long distance calls. If you apply for these services, they will have to look into your credit or may require you to make a deposit against expected charges. Personally, I do not have NDD or IDD. I have a Vonage IP phone, so I can call anywhere in the world with that for a very minimal charge, and I have a US phone number with the Vonage service!
These are a couple of the differences you should expect when it comes to phone service. Nothing huge, but something to keep in mind. I highly recommend that you get DSL internet service, and with that, sign up for Vonage or one of the other VOIP solutions for your international calls.
Hi, I live here in Los Angeles with my husband and i've been trying to find a way to call my families back in the philippines on a regular basis without the costing too much for us. I've been trying to find out about vonage and they have great features here in the US and Canada. You said you have Vonage there in the Philippines. We have cable internet with Smart Comm. in the philippines but we don't have a telephone land line. (it's one of those things you mentioned above). If they offer in the Philippines Vonage, can we use our hi-speed internet with Smart Comm. without a telephone line?
thanks a lot
Hi Sonia – Yes, I know people who are using Vonage with Smart Bro internet service and have no other telephone line. It should work just fine. Just to be clear, Vonage is not offered in the Philippines. What you need to do is order it in the USA, have the equipment delivered to a US address, then forward it to your loved ones in the Philippines. I have been using Vonage for more than 4 years now, and it's been excellent!
Another little "thing" one wamts to be wary of when ordering telephone service, Bob.
If a huse or apartment already _has_ a phone line installed, do some checking before you ask for service. If a previous subscriber ran up charges on the line and didn't pay? You, as the new sunscriber will be expected to pay those charges before service is provided. Sounds very, very strange to those iof us from the US … it's just the way thigs are. Of course you don't have to pay the former subscriber's bill … but you won't get service until you do.
One of many reasons I don't have a "real" phone line and find no reason to plan on ever having one … between never having a phone bill and using dirt cheap prepay cell phone plans I not only never have a phone bill on my desk waiting to get paid, I save well over $100 a month over what w epaid in Colorado for basic land line service and two cell phones on the cheapest plan, I'm a pretty happy camper.
Hi Dave – Everything you say is quite true! I do have a landline, and I feel it is a necessity for the DSL. I couldn't live without my DSL! 😆
Good Day All:
In fact there are still many places that do not have land lines and do not have cell service also. It wasn't until just more than two years ago the my wife town got cell service and sometimes the towers have been knocked out by NPA rebels. They still do not have a land line in the town to this day.
Hi Bob
Don't forget that you must also pay for the telephone poles if there are no existing lines in your area. At least we had to pay for ours when we had the phone installed.
Also if we have IDD connected, the bills that come in are unbelievable, so obviously there are more than ourselves using it. We had to have it disconnected, we tried it on several other occasions but with the same result (so beware). The telephone company were of no help there, I wonder why?
Hi Jack – One thing you can do is get like a PIN code from the phone company so that only those who know the PIN number can dial long distance calls. For me, I don't need IDD or NDD, because I have Vonage to use for that (even for Philippine Calling, Vonage is cheaper than using Long Distance on PLDT).
Regarding the telephone poles, if you live in a rural area with no poles, you are exactly right, the customer must pay for those! That probably doesn't affect most people, but it's a good thing to keep in mind.
Hi Bob you can tell me if nearly of your house no there is telephone line but there is 4 kilometers you can to put telephone line of PLTD of or no possible ( in philippines).
Hi Zois – it is possible, but will be very expensive. The telephone companies are usually willing to do this, but you would be required to pay for the telephone wires and the poles going to your area. So, it is not practical to do. Just get a cellular phone and use that! 🙂
Hi Bob many thanks but I need DSL how make communicate
in internet there is another way.
Hi Zois – You can get SmartBro, which is a wireless service with DSL like speeds.
Bob,
Here is something I have noticed, or not noticed. In the States everywhere you look, there are cell towers. With all the cell phone use here, and where ever I look, I never see any. How do they hide them.
Hi Bruce – they are not hidden, they just don't look the same as the cell towers in the USA.
Hi Bob and Zois
I have tried to have the Smartbro Installed but you are governed by a 1km radius from the nearest transmission mast. Also it has to be a clear line of vision from your home dish to the mast. In other words no high trees blocking the view, which was the reason my application came to a sudden end.
If you are the one to pay for the installation of poles and cables for your telephone and correct me if I'm wrong here (must be getting old coz I cannot remember) you are then entitled to charge for their use when other telephones are installed in your area using the installation you have paid for.
Hi Jack – that is true, and it means that Zois will need to file an application for SmartBro, and have them do a site survey so that they can determine if he would be able to use the service.
Regarding your question about charging others for using the poles that you paid for – I don't really know if that is the case or not.
SmartBro is completely wireless .. it runs at DSL speeds but does not use phone lines … line of site radio from a small mast on your roof to a cell tower.
Smartbro works adequately at 2.2 km to be sure … that's how far mine is from the nearest cell tower. There are also trees etc between me and the tower. A year or so ago the restrictions about the 1km and "tree leaves" were coming out of Smart's own main office. They have now wised up. If you can get someone to cooperate a site survey need only consist of nothing more thna the installer going on the rood with the transceiver and trying to connect .. in about one minute flat you'll know. The transceiver self-measures the signal strength and the distance to the cell site. If it connects, you're good. Now how to get your local office to work with you? Good question.
The local office in my area tells all new subscribers that service is conditional upon the site survey. When the installer arroves he takes the unit on the roof and his assistant feeds the wire in a window or door and asks to plig the other end of the wire into your computer … if the Smartbro login page comes up, the survey is successful .. they get out the brackets and start mounting the mast.
For Bruce … there are many, many cell sites here in metro areas. probably at a much higher density thna in the US, actually, because the system is completely different … much more advanced in many ways than the US system which still accommodates analog phones … and because the sites are close together they don't need the larger expensive towers in many cases. The site that I connect to with my Smartbro, though, is like a master node for our little community and is festooned with cellular frequency antennas and large microwave dishes to carry the signal back to the central office … pretty hard to miss, even from the expressway. Ugly as any other cell tower you've ever seen. The technician told me at least 14 other nodes feed off that tower in our small community here and several more are added each month because business is booming.
Hi Dave Starr – You are certainly a wealth of information! Thanks for sharing it with everybody! 😮
Hi Bob you can look this site and tell this is truth you can pay
1500 pesos per year . http://www.pinoytechblog.com/archives/unlimited-w…
regards
Hi Zois – I don't know if that deal is still available, because that article is from 2005. Also, Airborn Access is a Wi Fi network in Coffee Shops and such places, mostly in Manila. For example, here in Davao we have no Airborn WiFi access.
Here in Davao, all of the coffee shops offer FREE WiFi access, so it is less than P1500 per year!