SMS messages from Philippines to UK

[Steve.r]

Before I left Phil last week, I bought a cheapo mobile and a roaming sim, it came in a pack of 3 sims. One for here to receive sms, one for in Phil to make and receive sms, and one for my Mahal to send and receive sms. For her to sms me it is 1 pesco/sms, I think it is 20-25 for me so send, but I emd up using my Orange contract phone to sms her, at 17pence a shot (or that is what my last bill told me)
I am looking into a new contract for my mobile, and have been recommended a phone that has Skype installed, free to call anywhere in the world (i think) from the Uk. I was told by the salesman that you can buy a purely Skype phone for £30-40, which I could send to my Mahal, she could then sms me if she needs to talk, and I call back for free over Skype. Just an idea, I am looking at other options, I'll post up if I get more info on good deals.

Steve

[EdwardB]

Before I left Phil last week, I bought a cheapo mobile and a roaming sim, it came in a pack of 3 sims. One for here to receive sms, one for in Phil to make and receive sms, and one for my Mahal to send and receive sms. For her to sms me it is 1 pesco/sms, I think it is 20-25 for me so send, but I emd up using my Orange contract phone to sms her, at 17pence a shot (or that is what my last bill told me)
I am looking into a new contract for my mobile, and have been recommended a phone that has Skype installed, free to call anywhere in the world (i think) from the Uk. I was told by the salesman that you can buy a purely Skype phone for £30-40, which I could send to my Mahal, she could then sms me if she needs to talk, and I call back for free over Skype. Just an idea, I am looking at other options, I'll post up if I get more info on good deals.

Steve

If you bought the Smart Pinoy sim or equivalent it is only 1 peso or less for her to call you from RP - but replying directly from the UK using the same sim will be 20 pesos. You will need either to carry a dual sim phone (= rip off) or a separate phone dedicated solely to recieving txts from RP!! I can't remember where I leave one phone so two is a none runner!

There is a very attractive PAYG deal from Three that gives you unlimited Skype including voice calls - look at the terms. It also gives quite a lot of data so you can also access the internet. A txt is 3.7p to RP plus Vat - voice calls are whatever I posted previously. The sim works in several phones so if you have the right model all you need to pay for is the sim and basic top up package.

BUT you cannot send it to RP & expect it to work. Unless you are on contract in RP accessing a data package that will access Skype is a non runner. If you know what you are doing you could use one of the 3g data cards like SmartBro in a 3g phone but they are 10 pesos per half hour (used to be 15 until a few weeks ago, correct me if I'm wrong on the price drop)

Your best deal is she txts u on a Smart Pinoy or equivalent package & you rendezvous on Skype or other voip service. Alternative is to be permanently on one of the IM services, on your only mobile - the Three package also includes unlimited messaging use.

[joebloggs]

Before I left Phil last week, I bought a cheapo mobile and a roaming sim, it came in a pack of 3 sims. One for here to receive sms, one for in Phil to make and receive sms, and one for my Mahal to send and receive sms. For her to sms me it is 1 pesco/sms, I think it is 20-25 for me so send, but I emd up using my Orange contract phone to sms her, at 17pence a shot (or that is what my last bill told me)
I am looking into a new contract for my mobile, and have been recommended a phone that has Skype installed, free to call anywhere in the world (i think) from the Uk. I was told by the salesman that you can buy a purely Skype phone for £30-40, which I could send to my Mahal, she could then sms me if she needs to talk, and I call back for free over Skype. Just an idea, I am looking at other options, I'll post up if I get more info on good deals.

Steve

for many years i used http://www.chikka.com/to send sms to my misses mob from my pc at home and work for free it must have saved me £100s if not £1000s over the years

but get her to reply to your mob, not thru chikka as i think it would be more expensive

[Steve.r]

Edward, yes, the 3 deal was the network i was looking today. Because I also want broadband in the package, the Skype is available via the new mobile they would give me. The actual skype phone is an extra £30ish which I could send over to Phil for my gf. The 3 deal also gives unlimited calls to Singapore where my gf is going to be working for the next few months. If my facts are wrong, just correct me, the salesman was talking so quick, and I wasn't 100% concentrating as I was busy at work when he called.

[EdwardB]

Edward, yes, the 3 deal was the network i was looking today. Because I also want broadband in the package, the Skype is available via the new mobile they would give me. The actual skype phone is an extra £30ish which I could send over to Phil for my gf. The 3 deal also gives unlimited calls to Singapore where my gf is going to be working for the next few months. If my facts are wrong, just correct me, the salesman was talking so quick, and I wasn't 100% concentrating as I was busy at work when he called.

Let's split this in to a number of different sections.

1. Skype on mobiles. Skype software is now available for many mobile phones. Check your phone's compatibility on skype.com or your mobile network provider’s website. To use it you will either need a data package (3G) or Wi-Fi. As a general rule you will only be able to use the messaging plus send txts whilst you are on the 3G network. If you connect by WiFi you should get full Skype functionality. This information applies anywhere in the world.

2. Skype with 3 UK. 3 has a unique offering. They have special settings for a large variety of recent model handsets. If you subscribe to their service – including some pretty basic PAYG packages – you get full Skype functionality wherever you can get a 3G signal, which is most populated areas of the UK. BUT this is a UK only service you cannot get the same functionality overseas – effectively you just revert to the functionality above, and if you use roaming on your 3G sim you will probably be declared bankrupt by the time you get home.

Re your specific points

1. Free calls to Singapore. Make sure that it includes calls to mobiles. Or even more dodgy, check it doesn’t exclude calls to numbers with a certain number range – these are usually PAYG mobiles.

2. Calling/Txting from Singapore. Unless you take out a contract in Singapore getting a 3G data service is extortionate – far more expensive than in The UK. Data sim cards can be bought from Starhub. They can be activated on a daily or even hourly basis. They are expensive to use and maddeningly they only give data & txt functionality. If you want to make or receive telephone calls you either have to swap sims or carry two phones.

3. Wi-Fi in Singapore. This may be your answer. Most busy areas of Singapore have free public Wi-Fi – register for wireless@sg on SingTel’s website. That said it is pretty low bandwidth at most locations and struggles to hold a Skype call. You can always go in to a Starbucks where they usually have a very good free Wi-Fi service.

[SteveTalaga]

Since it is free to receive an SMS when you are roaming and only costs when you send one, why not use a roaming Smart or Globe SIM in a handset in the UK and give your lady a roaming UK SIM to use in the RP. She can text you on your Smart / Globe SIM for P1 and you can text her on her UK SIM for a similar amount of for free (depending on your package).

Exchange SIMs next time you see her or get someone from this forum who travels between UK / RP to transport the SIMs for you. I head back to Manila in January and would be happy to post a SIM on when I get there.