bravo to our lawmakers, for once they made me feel proud of them.

this are really things that needs to be looked at by our lawmakers instead of those useless sex scandals.

good news indeed. ang dami ng inabusong cell phone users ng mga giant companies na ito. Pano na lang yong ibang matagal na nila ninanakawan ng load?

ive written to senator enrile about prepaid broadband charging, same letter was sent to globe and smart. you were right about block metering. but there is more to it. the speed of the network plays significant role in the prepaid internet industry. those without 3g coverage are charge the same rate but getting the slowest speed imaginable. have you tried using dial.up modem? without 3g, it takes 5 minutes to open yahoo mail and you wont be able to open another page in another window for the speed is quite slow. if you do so, chances are, you’l get disconnected. i think its cheating on telcos end. users paying same amount but not getting same bandwith. smart boast they have 596,000 smart bro users, but did they count who among these numbers are using 3g network? when i contacted smart and globe, all they say is sorry. ntc should look into this mess as well.

At last, me solid output din yang mga “Senate circus in Aid of legislation”..

Good Job Sen. Enrile!

haay salamat!

Sana nga, wala nang mga nawawalang load

Pakonsuelo na nga lang nangyari. Kahit konti meron! Tagal na nangyayari ngayon lang ginawan ng action ng NTC. Sayang pa-sweldo natin (Tax Payers) sa kanila. Sanay tumagal at hindi pagkatapos ng election balik sa dati.

this is not yet a news to celebrate… about vanishing loads… why?

here in the Kingdom of Bahrain, loads never expired only sim cards are! (me expiration and sim cards dito pero if you load again one will see… dagdag ng padagdag ang load di nawawala….)

see sa atin kasi PERA puro pera lang ang mahalaga!!!

Sana dumating ang araw na walange expirations ang loads… kasi pinahirapan ng tao yan pawis, oras, dugo at buong katawang ng tao ang puhunan tapos kakainin lang pagka di mo nagamit? switik talaga ang mga buwayang telcos na yan… (sori for the word pero can’t help)

anyways, it’s still a partial win for the consumers..

God bless Philippines

This is great! At least our lawmakers did something right instead of wasting time with that katrina-hayden scandal.
I hope they will also check on prepaid broadband charging.

The senate has done a great job for the cellphone using public.
While they’re at it, I would also like to ask them to please look into the system of telcos na kahit kapitbahay mo lang o isang kanto ang layo ng tatawagan mo pag magkaiba kayo ng Provider, kailangan mong Dumaan ng NDD which of course will translate into an additional charge on your landlines monthly bill.

case in point:
I am from Bulacan and is currently a subscriber of Globe Telecoms; when my phone was 1st installed, i can call anyone using Globe and Digitel landlines
landlines now after a few weeks i cannot call digitel subscribers without using NDD. Naturally i complained, and guess what they told me; “sorry sir wala pong interconnectivity ang globe at digitel”
Talaga? samantalang nakakatawag ako sa digitel nung bagong kabit ang phone ko paano nagyari yun?.

Looks like anotehr way of earning excessive profits to me.

Maybe they can make it into law na kung same area or local ang phone kahit magkaiba ng Provider dapat may interconnectivity at hindi kailangan ng NDD.

Well this is a victory for consumers albeit small. Mga big telcos na yan eh puro lang profit ang nasa isip. Ok lang sana kung profit but PAGNANAKAW na yan! Bakit mag-eexpire ang load eh binili mo na yan? Nagagawa ng mga telcos yang pagnanakaw na yan sa taong-bayan kasi pag-aari ng mga mayayaman or yung mga politically connected na mga kurakot. Hayop na mga buwaya ang mga yan. Peste talaga! Sana tamaan kayo ng kidlat para mawala na yung kahayopan ninyong nanlalamang sa mga pinoy na naghihirap. -Buwisit talaga.

Vanishing load, Vanishing Votes! only in the Philippines. So, What else is new.

sa pagka-alam ko sa pagkain/drinks/gamot lang ang expiry, hindi dapat sa text, hindi naman yan nababaho…

That is a victory for all cellphone users. At least naaksyunan ni Enrile kesa naman kay Chiz puro salita walang magawa gawa…

Naalala ko tuloy before na since may natira pa na around 200 pesos sa load ko at alam kong mageexpire na next day.. kailangan kong ubusin lahat yun agad…

by the way, applicable din ba ito sa mga pasaload?

Si Bong Revilla lang naman ang talagang sobrang into katrina and hayden scandal e, kasi walang magawa sa senado. Kaya kahit ka cheap-pan pinatulan na. Buti na lang andyan si Sen. Enrile para kumontra dito sa mga telcos na ito. Mga sobrang buwaya, mahihirap na nga ang mga tao, pinagnanakawan pa!

Dito sa South Africa pag bumili ka ng load say 900 kwanza (para ma explain sa mga pinoy) nakakatawag ka sa loob ng one month hanggat me load ka. On the 31th day hindi ka na makatawag kelangan mag load ka ulet. Pag nagload ka ulet ng 900kwanza pag me balance kang di nagamit dati for example 200kwanza ay maidadagdag sa bagong load na 900kwanza. so magiging 1100kwanza na ang load mo. Hindi nawawala ang dating load na hindi nagamit kundi naidagdag. Hindi ninanakaw!!!!!
Sana magpakitang gilas pa ang mga nakaupo dyang mga Senador at mga tonggressman para sa taong bayan at hindi nagpapabayad sa mga swetik na malalaking companya na yan. Pahirap sa mga kababayan ang ginagawa nila di naman madadala kanilang kayamanan pag namatay sila.

just to add,
if my load is about to expire and I reload before expiry, is my previous balance carried over upto the next expiry?

i thought the life is tripled?? 300 load is valid for 60 days for Smart, this should be 180 days..?..why 75 days?

well, just asking…anyway..better that than nothing.

jeralmo Says:

“here in the Kingdom of Bahrain, loads never expired only sim cards are! ”

Aba..ayos pala dyan sa Bahrain ahh..dito sa Singapore meron expiry ang load, pero kapag nag-reload ka before expiry eh carry over yung dati mong load..kaya palaki ng palaki kung lagi kang nag-loload before expiry..

Thanks, pero kung hindi Senator ang nabiktima hindi nila bibigyan ng action. I was a victim too ng maraming beses (sa SMART)… ka lo-load ko lang ng 100 pesos 3 days after piso na lang ang balance How come… de bale abuloy ko na lang sa kanila yon ..i am totally angry….

kung di pa magrereklamo yung pulitiko/bigating tao… tsk, tsk

Good day. I have a smart retailer sim and is selling it but also I have another sim that I personally use. Now the smart retailer sim that I sell to my customers requires that a personal load let us say P300.00 for 30 days. The P300.00 always expires because as you know I have another sim that I really use for calling. Can they do something about it? Why does globe telecom not requiring personal load but smart does?

yep. pati sa broadband prepaid dapat icheck na rin. naka globe tattoo ako. sobra. lakas kumain, kahit palpak naman mga promises., granted wala ako sa city proper, pero still, hindi pa rin tama na pag malapit na ang 15 minutes cut off, bigla na lang nawawala ang signal na supr bagal n from the start, tapos, biglang magkakaroon kapag pumatak na sa next 15 minutes. grabe. galing magnakaw. expert talaga.

hay salamat nga. ang may kasalanan talaga dyan ay yan bwisit na NTC na yan!

magkano kaya nilagay sa mga yan kaya nagkaganyan yan!

kng hindi pa sisitahin ng senate hindi pa kikilos grabe! inutil to the maxx! sasabihin wala daw sila power

eh kng wala kayong power magsara nlng kayo ng departamento nyo!

kahit na galit ako kay enrile salamat sa ginawa nya grabe sigurado ang isinusuhol at pang babraso na ginawa ng mga telcos na yan sa kanya pero tinangihan nya ksi bilyons ang mawawala sa mga telcos na yan dahil dyan s batas na yan eh.

sana sa lhat ng batas para sa mamamayan ganyan lahat ng senador!

Actually, ang load kapag nag-expire, indi dapat yan nawawala. Binili na kasi ng consumer yan e. Mautak/Gahaman talga mga telco sa pinas. Dito sa Malaysia, kapag nag-expire ang load balance, kailangan mo lang magreload ulet para magamit mo yung remaining. Makes sense di ba? Sana ganyan din sa pinas.

Cguro maganda nito lahat ng problema natin, iparating natingsa mga senador na may simpatiya sa struggles ng ordinary Pinoy gaya ni Senator Enrile. Mabuhay!

The Telcos are not willing to remove expiration even though it is not right. Takot ang mga executives nila na mawalan ng perks at 18-20months pay.

For 3G service also ng postpaid accounts naman. Globe will bill the subsriber in bulk minutes. No breakdown so unless you faithfully record your usage very difficult to validate if they padded/inserted fictitious use of broadband. Also their 3G internet is slow sometimes GPRS or dial-up is faster.

binabayaran ng mga kumpanya na iyan ang NTC. Eh ngayong maging mga senador nabiktima ng mga lokong iyan, hindi na sila makahirit, ine? Matagal na iyang issue na iyan, kami naging biktima na ng mga nawawalang load. pwe….

dapat ding tingnan ang wireless broadband internet service, ang daming nasasayang n load din jan, palabigasan ng mga telecoms company din yan.

while that is indeed good news, they should have sued the telecom company as well. kung inde bigating tao ang nabiktima wala ring mangyari eh

so useless… so telecoms will learn a lesson they should be penalized a very huge sum of money. after all, they steal money from their customers with ease. and their management lazily does nothing at all.

Why do prepaid loads have expiry dates? Loads are paid for already, so users could use them as they please anytime.

NTC, DTI & the Senate should also check the TELCOs on their various promos/gimmicks that could easily hoodwink the subscribers through very clever marketing schemes, sales words, and even outright cheating or scams.

I used to be a Globe OFW subscriber here in Saudi Arabia with no. 0915-350-8171. I would like to relate my frustrating experience with Globe Telecoms during my vacation in Manila within March-April 2009.

On March 27th, I received an SMS (text message)from Globe’s #2846: “…May 20 FREE TEXTS ka! Mag-load lang ng at least P50 frm Mar 27 to Apr 02…” So I loaded P50 on same day, but no free texts came.

On March 30th, I reloaded another P50; again no free texts came. On April 2nd 9:55AM, I reloaded P100; again no free texts came.

After my repeated follow-ups with Globe’s Customer Service, I finally got my free texts on April 2nd 10:31PM with this SMS from GlobeReward: “Dahil nag-load ka ng P30 mula Mar 27, eto na ang 10 FREE TEXTS mo!” Ayun, ang cheating or scam ng Globe!

The promo was 20 free texts for at least P50 load from March 27th to April 2nd. I have loaded a total of P200 during such period (not just P30), and I deserve to get at least 20 free texts (not just 10).

On April 3rd, Globe’s #2846 has the nerve to send me another SMS: “…May 20 FREE TEXTS ka! Mag-load lang ng at least P50 frm Apr 03 to Apr 09…” On April 4th, I loaded P100, but no free texts came.

During such time, I was nearing the end of my vacation, and free texts would have been very useful. Within almost whole day of April 4th until my flight back to KSA on April 5th, Globe’s Customer Service’s phone was dead. Also, Globe’s #2884 repeatedly responded to my “GROAM ON” request: “Sorry, your request cannot be processed at this time…”

I felt that Globe may have black-listed my number due to my repeated follow-ups. Now I’m back here abroad, and my Globe number is not connected. I may have lost around P150 worth of load.

Small amount for one subscriber like me. But if this is happening to millions of the TELCO’s subscribers, then it is huge scam.
Elmer
POBox 10043, Jubail I.C.
31961 K. S. A.
#+966-50-394-2328

@ Karen

If you recall, charging before was being done per kilobyte (which is essentially similar to your proposal of wireless broadband charges being done per minute). The 30 minute block (and the counterpart 15 minute block carried out by Globe) was an innovation grounded on the bet that consumers would be more enticed to go online through their mobile phones if the charging system was instead based on a set time block. Aside from this standard 10Php for a 30 minute block, there are also larger time volume deals that can be selected which would bring down per minute charging even lower (Smart offers, for example, a 12-hr mobile Internet time block for 100 Php).

It is natural to expect people to exercise their consumer rights (and this should be encouraged as it promotes a healthy feedback loop between the service providers and their clients), but it would be unfortunate if this were to result in a government empowered to meddle in the operations of private firms when it pleases. Say what you will about the supposed greed of the Telcos but they have certainly been able to provide products and services that far exceed what a government provider would be able to offer. (Government - even one that, say, has no reputation for being corrupt - just does not have the right system of incentives in place to ensure an efficient delivery of goods/services.)

The massive number of innovations to have come out in the telecommunications sector is testament to the power of a profit-AND-loss system to drive product and market development. Just consider a counterfactual case where the Government is the one in charge to the telecom sector - we’d be back to the era of backlogs, ala PLDT not so long ago.

i do hope for the telecoms to remove load expiration because consumers paid that already. let them enjoy what they had paid for and not the other way around.

Our gov’t must pursue the no expiry date for the load, hindi naman pagkain ‘yan na napapanis at dapat magkaroon ng expiry date. Dapat ipaglaban ng mga prepaid users na walang expiry date ang load.

i wish NTC will start regulating. i use less than P300 per 2-months which is why i use prepaid. yet, the loads vanish even if there’s still over P200 left.

how about having foreign competition come in, if the locals don’t behave? but i think all telecoms have deals with each other (from country to country) already. so its really a national issue…

don’t the telecoms think every peso counts more in the rural places? can they imagine taking away the money from poorer people? there is no difference if they pointed a gun and took away P20 from a farmer, businessman, student or their mother.

I fully agree with all the complaints posted here…and in so many other similar blogs.

Points To Ponder lang po…heto actual experience..

I was complaining to a Telco’s customer service, and the gist of the conversation went like this:

Me: Bakit nabawasan ng 5 pesos ang load ko

Telco CS: Sir, can I get all your (subscriber’s) details…blah…blah..blah.. so I can check our records sa computer…

Me: Here are my subscriber details blah…blah..

(after few minutes waiting…)

Telco CS: Ay sir based on record nag subscribe po kayo sa VAS… kaya nabawasan kayo ng 2 x 2.50 kaya total 5 pesos…blah…blah..blah

Me: Ganun? Wala ako matandaan na nag subscribe ako or anything to that effect. Anyway, can I get the transaction details para maverify ko…blah…blah…blah

Telco CS: Ay sir sorry limited access po kami sa Call Center po ito.. punta po kayo sa Wireless Center namin or office…to get that transaction records and details..doon din po kayo mag file ng formal complaints…blah blah.. blah

Me: Arrggghhh…you meant to say for just 5 pesos complain and to be able to obtain my transaction records…I will have to go all the way to your wireless center or office…and I am here in the mountains of Cordillera????

(after few minutes of arguing..)

Telco CS: Sir sensya na po…yan po ang ruling ng Legal Department namin … na hindi po valid yung karamihan sa mga complaints… blah blah blah

Me: Aha…nandyan pala ang sikreto kung bakit konti lang naka record na complaints sa inyo based dun sa namention sa Senate Hearing…kasi your Legal Department ruled na hindi valid ang complaints…kasi few pesos lang ang involved per subscriber at walang maipresent na transaction records ang complainant kasi ang hirap kumuha ng records..pero super bilis ng Telco mag work out ng complainable transactions like these SPAMS, vanishing load, etc…kasi nga DIGITAL or SMS- based ang transactions, pero pag hihingi ka na ng records…kailangan MANUAL na lahat…blah…blah.blah..

Telco CS: Sir baka pag ginawang digital ang request for transaction records like kung text-based na rin ang transaction records retrieval, baka po hindi kayanin ng FRONT-END namin…blah…blah..blah.

Me: You know what, in the spirit of equality and for CONSUMERS PROTECTION, dapat kung gaano kabilis nangyari ang transaction..dapat ganun din kabilis mag retrieve ng PROOF OF TRANSACTIONS na yun… kung text-based ang transaction..dapat text-based din ang records retrieval.. don’t tell me na hindi kakayanin ng Telcos yan, e billions of pesos ang kinikita nila for decades already…blah..blah..blah..

Telco CS: Sige sir i-propose niyo nalang po sa NTC, kasi susunod lang naman po ang Telcos kung ano ang regulations…blah…blah..blah..

(end of conversation…)

So there you are folks, nasa atin lang pala ang solution..to pressure NTC…and where necessary Congress..to pass regulations or laws, requiring Telcos, to, among others:

1) create front-end SMS-Based or even email-based applications whereby subscribers can easily retrieve Transactions Records, as valid and acceptable basis for complaints (or reconciliations)…and with this possible to shorten complaints resolution..

2) Dapat hindi maging one-sided ang system ng mga Telcos…madali mag padala ng SPAM, or effect vanishing loads…by mere SMS transactions…pagkatapos pahirapan na pag mag file ng complaints..or kahit manlang mag trace ng transactions…(imagine halos sila lang ang may access sa records…talagang one-sided…if ever naman grabeng pahirapan kaya subscribers at either at a loss or losses more in terms of time and efforts…just to retrieve those records…)

Nasa Digital Age tayo pag Telcos ang mag extract ng resources natin…pero pag mag complain ka na ..balik na sa Jurassic Age…

NTC where are you??

Ika nga ni Shakespeare - “The fault, my friend, lies not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings..”

i posted a reaction yesterday, why is it not posted yet??? i hope this blog is not being selective as what comment to post.

tama! sana silipin din ng NTC yung prepaid broadband load charges. they charges 10.00/30min for smart. hindi naman stable connection nila. minsan bigla na lang mag iinternet connection time out. pag nagconnect another charges na pag wala na sa block time.

Thanks for all your comments. I hope the telcos are reading this. There are still many things to be addressed.

@Jof, sorry I was sick and was offline for a while. Not being selective here.

@Dodot, thanks for sharing your point of view. What you said is true: “Say what you will about the supposed greed of the Telcos but they have certainly been able to provide products and services that far exceed what a government provider would be able to offer.”

Even here in the u.s.a. calling card are stealing the minutes. For instance I buy $5.00 dollar, When I start using it the recording would say, You have 50 minutes. But then again you only have 30 minutes. Talagang mga kawatan. Just like Gloria Arroyo!

Baka naman puedeng baguhin ang charges ng mga telco sa Pinas, na-experince ko na ang mag-login sa internet na celphone ang gamit sa Pinas, login user page pa lang ang nai-download ko (through s—t), 50pesos na ang charge, di pa ako naka log-in, Nokia6030 pa lang yun gamit ko, dito kasi sa Saudi kahit ano ang application ang gamitin mo sa chat ay mura lang ang charge, kahit gumamit kami ng Nimbuzz, Mig33 or E-Buddy for more or less within one hour ay wala pang 1riyal ang charge eventhough we are using the latest model of Celphones. WALA NA BANG ALAM ANG MGA TELCOS SA PINAS KUNDI GATASAN ANG BAYAN NI JUAN…

it’s good that enrile was victimized by these crocodiles. just imagine if they would steal 5 pesos per subscriber per day!!!!! Those telcos are super rich..

“Starting July 19, the shelf life of cellular phone credits will be “tripled,” with the prepaid load of P10 or less extended to three days and the load of more than P300 stretched to four months,”

Karen, what kind of math is the NTC using? 4 months means 120 days so why did the P300 load end up getting only 75 days?

before this, my P250 already gave me 60 days and the new scheme offers just the same–so where was the trebling?

hope you can check with the NTC.

Hello Ms. Karen,

im quite new here …

sana magkaroon ng ruling abt not just anybody could buy a prepaid sim card, sana may i.d. man lamang hingin para at least it will serve as deterrent s mga scammers, crank callers and the like.

rampant n din naman kc ang mga ganun uri ng tao.

thanks!

So were you able to reconcile the math discrepancy? Check first before blogging or publishing.

ano ba yan.. july 30 na.. wala pa ring update???

@Cathy and Ponce, thanks for pointing that out. I based the info on an Inquirer story on http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090715-215508/Load-life-tripled-starting-on-Sunday. The “trebling” could have applied only to the P10 load. My sincere apologies. The NTC memorandum can be read here: http://portal.ntc.gov.ph/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_MA

@D, there’s some reorganization being done. Please bear with us. Thank you.

Finally, our big thanks to the good senator! Had he not been victimized, then our complaints would still remain as, sad to say, complaints and grumblings.

Now, these manipulations of telecoms usually happen whenever they have the so-called “control” over these loads. Since they have the mechanisms to provide, then what would keep them from not reducing, eating up or worse, close the load?

This is similar to power companies where every meter reading periods, “only” their meter readers are the ones who know what our consumptions are. Hence, what would stop these readers from not “adding up” the readings, and resultantly, for us to pay more without knowing the real score, right? In turn, more revenues for the power company. Hope this again, will somehow be looked into by Sen. Enrile.

Hello everyone, I hope Sen. Enrile can read this, nagnanakaw parin ng load ang smart until now, kahit 1 peso lang ninanakaw pa nila. Also when someone sends mms to you and you have a load above 10php, parang magic mababawasan ka ng 10php, paano na if 10php lang load mo, eh di sorry ka nalang subscriber kukunin nila(SMART) load mo kahit hindi ikaw ung nagsend. At 1php lang naman bawas sa load if magsesend ng mms. Sana may makarinig na nakakataas dito.