I think I agree with most of the points you want to clarify. I just have to point out some nice stuffs you got with your US phone plans vs. Philippines phone plan (and oh, btw, this article is directed towards the service of Globe and Smart – and not Sun – who’s actually offering cheaper rates – 4 texts for 1 peso. You can’t have that with Globe and Smart, probably soon…)

- Unused credits are rolled-over the following month: Wow this one rocks! Here in the Philippines, it isnt, in fact they expire, and in many cases, they just disappear – the very reason these providers are now the subject of a senate investigation.

- Sun is offering better value than Globe and Smart – that is why I will settle for every 2 minutes being cut-off from a conversation, since it’s unlimited for just about 300pesos a month.

- For Globe and Smart, its 1Peso per text vs. 0.83 per text with AT&T – still yours is cheaper.

- We need new competition to go against Globe and Smart. Sun is a newer player, struggling, but admirable because they offer cheaper rates. Hopefully they can upgrade their equipments/services and more people will switch to them.

.83 texts for 1 PHP for AT&T (in the US) compared to 4 texts for 1 PHP for SUN (in the Philippines).

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Click the first/only play button (or the song’s title) in the search list.

Firstly, I will start off by apologizing for my use of proper, bona fide, straight up, native US/Intl. English.

Your article sounds, IMHO, very biased and presents quite a bit of unnecessary flaming as well as, even worse, completely bull-shit figures. Yes, texting worldwide, if measured and compared bit-for-bit with “data” services will always end up being much more expensive. During the time I spent in the Philippines, I was using Globe on some post-paid plan (you’d have to be absolutely out of your mind to prepay, they charge you much, much more), as well as prepaid SUN occasionally, when I needed it. However, probably because of my IP geolocation, I find myself unable to get a clear rate from them on what they charge for prepaid text messages (I get silently redirected back to the page I came from).

However, that would be only to show some of the higher-end/ “more expensive” cell phone company’s rates. Instead, I have some “figures” from Sun Cellular. To avoid serious ambiguity like the author, I will state exactly where I’m coming from.

What I’m looking at here is the “Sun Cellular p30 Call&Text Combo” (because I don’t want to wait for moderation, I will refrain from excessive linking, however I’m sure you native Filipinos are well-aware of these prepaid deals. So the ad clearly states, that you get 120 text messages (within the Sun Cellular network) for your 30PHP. Now, it doesn’t take a genius to do simple division. 10/10 = 1, 12/3 = 4, 4*1=4 meaning that each peso pays for 4 text messages. Now, they don’t specify the actual type of message, but I’ll assume these are low level SMS text messages (if I am wrong, and these are like MMS, then 1-to-4 is definitely worth it). For my own reference, according to a quote from Citibank N.A (provided courtesy of Google Inc.’s Google.com), 30 Philippine pesos are currently “worth” about $0.63USD, and, similarly, 1 PHP is $0.02USD (rounded to the hundredth decimal place). Two cents per text… Not bad.

To compare, I currently have an unlimited plan with AT&T (in the US, of course). This means I can text whoever the hell I want, anytime, anyday, any network, for free (within all of North America (US., CA., and Mex.) and the UK. would be the fine-print there, but still pretty good). However, it gets better. I can simply buy a base-account, and from there I can create sub-accounts. So the numbers work out like this: They provide several “family” plans, depending on your needs. Now there are 5 people in my “family” who have their own cell phone/phone line. The first two phones/lines are $69.99USD (3,348.96 PHP). Each additonal line is $9.99USD (478.01PHP). There are five phones/phone lines, so that equates to 69.99+(9.99*3), which is a grand total $99.96USD per month (4,783.00 PHP). This also, in addition to unlimited texting, includes 700 shared minutes with “Rollover” (meaning any “minutes” I don’t use are added on to the next month, indefintely, thus if I don’t make 1 phone call for a year for some odd reason, I have 8,400 minutes (which would be then rolled over to the next year infinitely). In addition, if I call during nights (between 9pm and 6am CST) and weekends, no minutes are used. Furthermore, if all of the minutes are used, and its an emergency or something, and I really need/want to make a call, I can, however, I’ll get heavilly penalized for it. In addition, if I call another cell phone, no matter the network, that call is also free, and doesn’t count against my minutes (so minutes are only for calling landlines between 6:00:01am and 8:59:59pm CST (during the day).) The only caveat is, if you only use one text, you’ll still have to pay 4,783.00 PHP for that month. (however, apparently Filipinos “love texting” so I don’t think this would be a problem for anyone).

However, that’s really unfair to compare to your absolutely stupid “by the text” cell phone plans. However, just to compare, I’ll look at another sample prepaid plan from AT&T. And you can also get cheaper/less reliable networks too, like Cricket Wireless (actually they’re pretty decent, as long as, in my area, you are within the city limits of Omaha, otherwise you’ll find holes pretty easy, however it does more or less work across the entire US.).

So, they give you a few options/”feature packages”. You can buy 200 messages for $4.99USD (238.77PHP), 1000 messages for $9.99USD (478.01PHP), or an unlimited number of messages for $19.99USD (956.51PHP) (all valid for 1 month/30 days, however, you can buy prepaid that is valid for 365 days also).

So, lets say you are stupid, and buy the 200 messages with a “Simple Rate Plan”. This means that you get the text messages plus $0.25USD per minute phone calls, with an additional “Airtime Card”. 200/4.99 would be about 40 text messages per USD. This would equate to (200/238.77) less than 1 text message per Philippine peso (0.83 PHP).

All I can say is: “PWNED!” So shut your mouth: even with absolutely ridiculously priced prepaid plans, your Philippine rates are MUCH, MUCH cheaper than an example US prepaid plan. US: 1 text for 0.83 PHP, or PH: 4 texts for 1 PHP. The math is simple. And no, AT&T isn’t that great, it’s certainly not the best. I live in a rural area outside of Yutan, NE – 68073, and I can tell you AT&T doesn’t work AT ALL within the entire city of Yutan. I never had much of a problem at all with both Globe and Sun all throughout the entire city of Cebu. Your article is 100% completely baseless.

Thank you, and regards,
Dr. Zack J.H. Buhman, Ph.D.