Quick guide to getting unlimited mobile internet plan in Philippines
In all my recent trips around Asia, I have managed to figure out ways to get unlimited 3G / GPRS working with prepaid sim right from the first day.
Philippines was a bit tricky, mostly because the operator’s don’t publicize their data plans that much. However, once I got it working, its been seamless and fast.
Here’s how.
- Get a SMART buddy prepaid SIM card (apparently Global works as well, but SMART has wider coverage). You can get one at the malls or the airport.
- It auto-activates, so you should be able to use it right away.
- Get a recharge card (see below).
- Dial *888 to get your account information
- Text ‘GPRS ON’ to 333 (and 211)
- To download the settings, you would have to know the exact phone model abbreviation - weird. Instead, just set your APN to ‘internet’
- Reboot your phone once if it doesn’t work right-away.
Now, here’s the catch - the surfing rates are extremely high with a normal plan. You may end up paying PHP 10,000 before you know it. I spent PHP 560 in a day with couple of hours of surfing.
The way around this is activating an unlimited data plan. Here’s how you do it -
Text ‘SURF’ to 211.
You would get a message back with details on unlimited surfing plans. Currently they are:
- Unli Surf Daily P50/day
- Unli Surf Weekly P300/week
- Unli Surf Monthly P1200/month
You would need the amount in your account before you can use one - so make sure you load up a bit of credit (you can buy at any seven-11 you see around).
Notes
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desoumal posted this
