The use of Cellular Phones, in my opinion, is far more advanced in the Philippines than in the United States. In fact, the Philippines is really a huge user of cellular phones. As a matter of fact, I would have to go so far as saying that the Philippines is a World-Class user of cellular phone technology. It has been for years, in fact.
Texting has long been a major thing in the Philippines. You don’t know what “texting” is? Well, it is using a cellular phone to send a text message, rather than calling and talking to the person. Texting is also known as “SMS” which stands for “Short Messaging Service.” Did you know that the Philippines is credited as the only country in the world that has brought down a government through text messaging? It’s true, when President Joseph Estrada was pushed from office in January 2000, much of what happened was organized and encouraged from person to person via text messaging.
Over the past year or so, though, I am seeing a change in the way that cellular phones are used. A lot more people are using their cellphone to place voice calls, and texting less. This is really noticeable to me, because in past years, it was rare to get a voice call on my cellphone, not it is actually becoming fairly common.
When I first moved here, in 2000, I bought a cellular phone, because everybody had them, and it seemed to be the way to keep in touch. Getting a landline telephone is not easy, it can take months, in fact. But, if you want a cellphone, just go buy one, purchase a prepaid SIM pack, and you are in business within minutes. You can get an account where you can pay once per month, but that is rare for most people. Prepaid is what the vast majority of people use here. With prepaid, you simply purchase what is called “load” and that gives you credit on your telephone.
Anyway, I’ve written about cellphones and such before in this column. The main point that I want to make today is that as more Filipinos gain in economic status and each more of a “middle class” lifestyle, there is a definite upswing in the use of cellular phones to make voice calls. I think this is a good thing, it show that the economic power of the Filipino is increasing.
Funny thing is, I have come to the point where I prefer texting! I find it less obtrusive. I can reply when it is a good time for me. If I get a call, I have to stop what I am doing and talk right then. Text is more like e-mail, time shifting is easy. I like it. I am thinking that now, I need to shift my preference back toward voice calls, though!
Talk to you soon!
Hi Bob – I wouldn't say cell phone use was more advanced there, just different than here. Text messaging is picking up popularity here, especially with the younger crowd, and as plans are more price friendly towards that. I think it's interesting that the opposite is happening there. Philippines have been number one in texting for a long time. The obvious other big difference, and I think you've mentioned this before, would be the contract monthly plans here vs. the load system there. Though there are prepaid plans available here.
Phones and their usage are really changing here. The iPhones, Blackberries and whatever the other are calling them, are taking off. The convenience of having your email, web, camera, pda, etc. all in one device is a pretty strong enticement. I was disappointed that I couldn't use my iPhone while there (without illegally unlocking it) as a phone. It did work well on WiFi though, and all the other functions were still useful.
It is interesting what the markers for middle class life can be. In the mid-90s I lived in Seoul for a year and the marker there was the ability to buy a car. Prior to that, few could afford one. So these yearning-to-be-in-the-middle-class Koreans would go out and buy one.
Have you been to Seoul? Dumb decision to buy a car there in most cases (at least at that time). One-fourth of the population of the country lives in that city, there are rarely good places to park, and, importantly, they have quite good public transportation.
About once every couple of months, it would have been nice to have a car for something, but that was rare. I do get why Koreans would buy them, though. We did much the same in the U.S. as does everyone.
Hi Bob,
Wonder if the move toward more voice calls could be the result of dissatified land-line users chucking the home phone and doing all via the cell? 😕
Family members are starting to do just that – they don't enjoy spending their limited pesos for a "service" that is still unrealiable, noisy, prone to a phone company equivalent of a brown out, etc. They would rather budget their pesos for service over which they have more control, is more reliable, and is "pay-as-you-go."
(If one thinks it takes a long time to get a land-line installed, it takes even longer to get some form of credit for lack of service – sometimes years.) 🙄
At one time (don't know if this is still true) there was a very long wait to get landlines, so cell phones were a faster and preferable way to get a phone. (Paul, I see you've written on this – any idea how long it takes nowadays?)
On a visit to the Philippines several years ago we were struck by how, in this much less affluent country, everybody and his brother had a digital cell phone and used it for what were then in the USA considered "advanced" functions like text messaging. At the time, cell phones were still largely considered luxuries or curiosities in the USA.
I think it's not that rare for a cell phone to be a Filipino's most valuable possession, particularly for students and non-professionals.
Having said that, though: I'm really interested in the increase in voice calls. Prepaid text messaging seemed to be the standard when we were there; it was much cheaper than voice calling and required far less investment.
Yep, I think you've found it! The Philippines is World Class in text technology! We had cell phones and were texting all the time and when we went home to the States, no one even knew what texting was! That has changed, especially with the younger generation, but the Philippines was way ahead!
I am kind of concerned, now that reports are coming out with increasing certainty that cell phone use (next to the head) is linked to brain cancer. Kids here start using a cell phone in elementary! Maybe we are all better off to just text our friends and make calls only when text won't do it.
texting is the rage of the younger crowd in the USA, funny thing is it was more expensive to do than in the RP up till about a year ago then they started to package it so the price has come way down.
Bob
Yes the RP has always amazed me with the texting. My wife had the number wore off her phone in the RP and still would text at lightening speed. I have also watched taxi drivers weave through traffic while texting. Here in the states we have trouble talking on the phone and watching for a green light at the traffic signal. 😆
Hi Bob,
Even if voice calling here is free as I'm on family plan ( & most often, the number I'm calling belongs to my service provider) I still use txtng a lot. For the simple reason that to me there are msgs that do not merit a call. I woud rather receive a txt than call. That said, yes I agree w/ you that txtng was more advanced than the US at least when I got here. Now, txtng is becoming popular to the younger crowd. In the Phil, people fr all walks of life have cell phones or aspire to have one. For good reason, children have cell phones; our househelp's first splurge is cellphone.
When I got here, cellphone usage was not as rampant as now & that's only 4 years ago. I notice though that phone etiquette is not very much observed here.
Hi Bob, In Europe texting seems to be only for the younger crowd. Also, for older folks like myself with bifocals it can sometimes be near impossible! 😀 My solution is to use Skype where you can also send an SMS and use the BIG keys on your computer keyboard.
Also, Austria has for sale on the market a phone for the older generation – simple functions and large keys!
Hi Bob ,
years ago , my family in law had no phone at al , and sometime my wife
wants to speak her mother they make agreements and it cost a lot those collect-calls , up to $ 15 for 15 minutes so she did it 3 of 4 times a year.
Later my wife,s auntie had a phone and we can dial through the Dutch Phone Cy.still expensive , maybe $ 6 and she phof 1 time a month.
On our holiday's every time we bring our " old " cell phones and give them away.
So now my wife talks 2 or 3 times a week with her familie , paying
$ 0.15 per minute .
Allso her brother ring and she calls back. , but that,s most of the time when they need money for something.
So the improvement is not only for the Philippines.
Before , letters will take up to 2 weeks to get to iligan and not allways
get through there , or my family had no money for stamps to answer.
It,s a lot easy-er for everybody
Hey that is something the Philippines is world class in doing! They are excellent linguists also I think.
i had lived all my life abroad, communication back then was so expensive and letters takes the whole month to arrive.
with the "texting" i received 5 messages a day from the philippines and it cost little, now, i feel that my family back home is so close to me, the constant and cheap communication everyday makes it happen.
There is a draw back though, i have to learn the "Text Lingo" which most of the time i have trouble reading and understanding it,
another thing is, filipinos are inventing new words everyday because of the limited "Text" message you can send, the words need to be shortened, heck even a martian cannot understand it.
i always chat to my children using yahoo messenger, even she uses a keyboard with a complete alphabet and no limit when sending messages, she still uses the "text" lingo which most of the time irritates me because i cannot decrypt it easily.
i guess , the evolution of the new global language is about to be born.
Hi Bob,
One alternative to save money that U.S. residents use (expat or not), are these bypass providers. One example is http://www.text2pinas.com. Their service allows the SMS users to save on BOTH sides of the countries. For Example in the Philippines, instead of paying 15 PHP, they only pay 1 peso. In the U.S., except for Metro PCS, they save from 15 to 30 cents depending on the provider. Check out their website http://www.text2pinas.com
Matt
sure, the US is slowly catching up on the texting (very, very slowly). but i still have to type long full sentences to have them understood. such a hassle 🙂
off topic..
it reminds me, my sister used to write down dictations from her boss using stenography, It won't surprise me if one of these days "Text" lingo will be the replacement of stenography, can you imagine a court drama with stenographer using text lingo??
Bob,
I would have to agree with you on texting. I prefer to do the text thing as well. I have also noticed that more people are taking the time to place a call and some even prefer a call. Not the old miss call gig to convince you to call them back. I simply ignore those. I would also agree with you on the technologies. The US is still the only country in the world that has a charge both incoming and out going (as far as I know, and I have used mobile phones from providers across Asia, Europe and Australia). The US last time I checked was at least 10 years behind in mobile communications.
With all the text lingo I apply no one in the US would understand what I am saying. (w al d txt lngo i us n0 1 n us wd no wat i txt) 😆
Hi Bob- Your letter today certainly provokes thought. I ask the question whatever did we do before mobile phones came along? I just wonder how much money is wasted by the non working sector of our society (children in fulltime education) and the bill being picked up by their parents. This money being spent to finance mobile phone use or abuse was formarly spent on obtaining tangiable items for the household etc.
I'm just wondering if the loss of this disposable income from the world ecomomy is in someway to blame for the state of the manufacturing industry world wide today.
I just wonder what the total spend is on mobile phone bills as well as internet broadband connection, excluding business and emergancy usage.
That must be one almighty reduction in disposible income and within a short period of time.
Just a thought.
thanks to whoever invented the cell phone and text messaging…. it makes life easier for me ..
Communicating is getting less expensive in all areas. We recently added international calling to our home phone. The extra cost is 19.95 per month for 3000 minutes which for us is in essence unlimited. I only wish they had this service when I was calling Marlou for two years-wow I sure spent a lot of money on my phone bills, cards, etc…. I agree with other writers that text messaging is popular here in the states-all my students do it. I also decided to use a pay as you go phone here for my cell usage. I use it so little that a plan was for me a large waste of money. My cell bill used to be around 60-70 USD per month and now I spend about 15 USD per month. Pay as you go is gaining popularity here in the states. I still do not text-hope I never have to learn.
Bob, U hit d nail on d ulo! I had a cell phone for years and never sent a text message until i started dating a filipina (who is now my wife).
Cell phone users in the RP get a better deal than in the US. The phones aren't locked to a service provider in the RP like they are in the US. Pay-as-you-go is a lot cheaper in the RP, and the convenience of "e-loads" is phenomenal.
(If you've been to the Philippines you know what e-loads are. If you don't know, in the RP you can walk up to almost any mom and pop store and pay the owner as little as 15 or 20 pesos and he or she sends you a special text message that adds the amount you paid to your pre-paid balance, instantly.)
After coming back from my first visit to the RP, i started to view the cell phone service providers in the US as pack of anti-consumer rip-off specialists.
Mmmmmm…strange..Where is Sir Bob? He's been quite lately.. ❓
Hi, permission to use this article for a magazine we are doing in Gensan, Bagong Bayani, a magazine that caters to high school students for the subject Makabayan. Please do reply to my email. Thank you.
"Funny thing is, I have come to the point where I prefer texting! I find it less obtrusive. I can reply when it is a good time for me. If I get a call, I have to stop what I am doing and talk right then. Text is more like e-mail, time shifting is easy. I like it."
Hi, Bob. I told my husband just last night that we have to let go of our landline. So many people call and then make "telebabad." Not that it's bad per se (we do need human contact with others). But sometimes, it affects your productivity. And I'm not really a phone person; I'm more an e-mail kind of gal. So we've come to a decision: we will just keep our cell phones. People can still call us if they want to. But the chat will not be that long.
*****
Thanks for the nice insights you share on your blog, Bob. Keep on blogging!
Hi Andrew – Very true. Cell use is not only more advanced here, it is more economical too.
Hi Eric – I am back. I was out of town for a few days. You’ll read about it starting tomorrow here on LiP.
Hi sheila marie – You may use the article, as long as you credit the site, including publishing the URL.
Cell phones and the Internet were the two equalizers for places like the Philippines that did not have the infrastructure in place. These two technologies allowed people at all levels to communicate like never before. People also developed bad habits from an outsider's perspective. Not that these bad habits don't happen in other places, but it is more pronounced in the Philippines than in the States, I think. People will text during church services, at the dinner table, at social gathering, etc. I have been to formal dinners where people across the table from me wouldl answer/respond to text messages without even saying excuse me. Oh well….
Hi Randy C – I am sorry, but I have to disagree this time. The Philippines has been advancing on cellular phones way before the USA did. Here, even kids in 1st grade carry callphones, that just isn't the case in the USA. Monthly plans are available here too, although not too common.
Hi Tom – I have been to Seoul, but only at the airport! 😆 Interesting information there!
Hi Paul – In a lot of cases, people never had land-lines and went straight to cells here. Because many neighborhoods are not yet wired by phone companies, land lines were never that ubiquitous here.
Hi Matt – You are exactly right. A LOT of people here never had a landline, they just went strait to cellular.
Hi AmericanLola – Yep, if cellphones really do cause brain tumors and such, I think that text messaging would be much healthier, since the phone is not right up against your brain!
Hi brian – Yeah, texting has always been cheap in the Philippines! Nice thing here is too, that we only pay for what we use, we don't have to pay anything when others call or text us.
Hi Larry – I'm ashamed to admit, but I do regularly text while driving! I haven't had an accident yet… 😆
Hi Roy – We have always given our kids cell phones when they enter the first grade. I feel it is just a safety thing, I like being able to get my kids on the phone anytime.
Hi John in Austria – You just gave me a business idea! How about cellphones with the plastic cover over the screen having your optical prescription! Wow! 😆
Hi Anton – Yes, indeed, technology has really changed international communications! I remember when Feyma and I first married, calling her in GenSan was not an easy thing!
Hi john – I agree completely!
Hi dans – You are so correct! Filipinos come up with all kinds of new abbreviations to keep their text messages shorter! And, funny thing is, they all understand the abbreviations too! 😯
Hi Matt – I let your comment through, although it really seems to just be an advertisement for your company. If you wish to advertise further, please contact me and we will put together an ad program for you.
Hi macky – I use the T9 dictionary for quick texting. With that, I type out full words, and can usually do it as quickly as a Filipino who is abbreviating everything! 😆
Hi dans – I think you might be right on that!
Hi Mike K – I am like you, I ignore the "miss calls" too. If they want to talk, they can spend the Pesos! 😆
Hi Jim Cunningham – Yep, a lot of money is spent on communications!
Hi athena – I am with you there! I don't know how we could live without the technology anymore!
Hi Ron LaFleur – You are so right, communications costs have gone way down. This ties in with what Jim Cunningham was saying. Jim, I think that even with all these new communications methods, we spend much less than we did years ago! Good thoughts, Ron.
Hi Jayred – Getting rid of your landline is so easy to do these days. The only reason that I have a landline is that it is required to have one in order to have DSL.
Hi Aldel – I completely agree. Digital communications allowed countries like the Philippines to completely bypass the infrastructure!
Hi Bob – (and others) please define what you mean by "advanced." I don't see the technology being superior there, in fact as I pointed out I feel it is behind in the areas that matter to me (iPhone). Are you saying texting is more advanced? It gained popularity because it was cheap., though you have pointed out that it has it's advantages.
If you mean more widespread and cheaper/better price structured, than I can probably agree with that. Cell usage was much less in the province (some had them and many didn't) though, and I don't think the same is true with rural areas here. I don't see too many people with older phones here either, but I saw that quite a bit there.
Seriously, I don't know how cell phone usage could be any more widespread here. It's like an epidemic. The bluetooth headphone is so common that virtually the entire population is walking around appearing to be talking to themselves or you.
BTW, welcome back!
Hi Randy C – We have phones which are far more advanced than an i-Phone, IMHO. My Nokia N95 does a lot of things that an i-Phone doesn't do.
For example, my N95 is 3G, which the iPhone is not. My N95 has GPS. N95 has an expansion memory slot, iPhone has none. iPhone is not MMS capable. N95 has an IM client, none on iPhone. N95 has video call capability. Anyway, I could go on and on.
Also, the Philippines was using GSM way before the USA was – as a matter of fact, the USA is still using CDMA networks a lot. Philippines has been 100% GSM for years. We can basically go purchase any phone we choose anytime, and use it on any network that we want. You can't do that in the USA, your phones are tied to a service provider. Data networks in the Philippines are far more robust and advanced than in the USA. We are already using 3.5G technology while many US networks are still using older technology.
Hi Bob – ok you win. No seriously, thanks for the info. The Nokia sounds like a nice phone.
But to defend the poor iPhone just a little – there will be a 3G version within weeks and it does IM very nicely via BeeJive, though not with video. The biggest plus though, is its sync with my Macs. No other phone can offer that level of integration and that is a BIG plus to me. I understand that may not be the case to you and others.
The fact that it is tied to AT&T is a big negative. It would be nice to pick my own carrier and plan.
Hi Randy C – Not trying to "win" just answering your question. I just feel that there are advantages in the cellular technology here. Five or six years ago, the Philippines was much further ahead, the USA is catching up with Europe and Asia in terms of Cellular technology.
I understand what you mean in terms of Mac syncing and such. I don't use a Mac, so that is not important to me. My problem is that I use Linux, and most phone software is for Windows. There are Linux solutions, though, just not quite in the same class as the Windows stuff yet.
Hi Bob,
Me thinks US is not behind with cellphone technology but in terms of utilization of the cellphone, most probably the filipinos is more adept than the americans. Right now I think there is a service provided by Smart there where you can use your mobile phone to pay just like a credit card does.
Most mid-highend mobile phones can be synched with a PC provided you have the hardware and software which usually comes with the cellphone. In fact, even before when there was no bluetooth or USB cable yet and win95 was still the norm, I'm already synching/backing up datas of my mobile with my PC through com cable or via infrared.
Just my 2 fils…:)
Hi Rey – Technologically, I have no doubt that the US is behind both Europe and Asia. CDMA technology is only used in USA, and can't come close to GSM, which is used everywhere else in the world!
just an opinion…
I don't think that the US cellphone technology is not that advanced, what i think is happening in the US is, its the result of the cellphone business monopolization, companies like AT&Tand all other provider who monopolize the industry, they choose not to upgrade their facilities, just like with any other monopolized business, consumers ends up with what the company provides them.
the question of, why the telecom company need to spend millions of dollar to upgarde their system just to be "advanced" when the current technology or service is just good enough for the consumers? as the saying goes "why re-invent the wheel"
one other factor i can think of, cellphone maker like apple's iPhone or motorola seemed to have an agreement with the service carrier, thus, cellphone in the states are "locked" to a certain provider. i guess that is the business model in the states.
I remember back in the 90's, the cellphone in the philippines was also locked to a provider (at the time it's the globe telecomm) soon enough when other players like smart joined the industry they offered the "open line" service, then the globe telecomm starting to lose its customers.
i think, the cellphone technology advancement in the states has been delayed due to the monopolization of the industry and not because the people don't know how to use it.
Hi Bob, They're actually two different technologies with its pro and cons. You're right CDMA is only used in the USA and a part of asia (japan i think?) while GSM is being used internationally.
One nice thing with GSM is you can use any GSM phone with your sim card unlike CDMA where you have to call the network and have them program your phone number on your new phone.
CDMA has a much better data transfer rate than GSM so it's nice if you like downloading videos on your phone or even just browsing the net but network carrier is very limited (only North America) unlike GSM.
GSM seems to be winning the war in terms of users and I hope it gets developed more to at least have the same or more data transfer rate than CDMA.
hi rey
GSM 3G HSDPA supports 14.4 mbps, and the next 3GPP release 7 can achieve 42mbps.