Monday, June 24, 2013

Friday, June 21, 2013

Monday, June 17, 2013

Call to Philippines Using International Roaming Services: Globe vs. Smart vs. Sun Cellular

Using your cellular phone abroad can be pricey. When calling someone outside the country using activated roaming service, the entire process is almost the same as phoning another person in the Philippines. In the Philippines, the three giant mobile telecommunications providers -- Smart, Globe and Sun Cellular offer both outbound and inbound roaming services, so you can travel abroad and call Philippines without even changing your phone's SIM card.

How do international roaming services work? Mobile phone carriers usually have roaming agreements, basically allowing subscribers to use the same wireless network when traveling outside the country. In general, you don't need to do anything as the foreign carrier will handle it, and you will notice another telecom provider's name on your phone's screen.

By using international roaming, you can travel overseas and still enjoy the convenience of your own mobile phone. Telecommunication service providers have their own outbound roaming service offerings. Here is a brief overview on Smart, Globe and Sun Cellular's international roaming service offerings, so anyone traveling abroad can call Philippines in the most convenient way.

For Globe Telecom, the company offers postpaid and prepaid international roaming. Roaming activation must be done at least 24 hours before departing the country. To activate your roaming, you will need at least P100 credit balance; otherwise, your roaming activation request will not be granted.

Make sure you maintain a balance of P80.00 so you can call to Philippines while roaming abroad -- take note, if your balance is less than this, you cannot make a call. Furthermore, you will need a minimum of P100 balance everyday to maintain the roaming service. For postpaid subscribers, the roaming services are pre-activated, although it is still encouraged to contact Globe's roaming hotline (+63-7301212) before you leave the country.

Sun Cellular also offers international roaming services for Sun subscribers. Their outbound roaming allows users to use their Sun cell phones while traveling to any destinations around the world. But of course, the availability of roaming services worldwide still depends on the partner operators.

There is no activation fee when subscribing to Sun Cellular International Roaming Service. You only have to pay for the calls that you made. When computing your call charges, the call rates of the country for which you are roaming will apply and this include applicable surcharges/taxes.

Smart offers postpaid and prepaid international roaming service too. For Smart Postpaid and Infinity, the international roaming is pre-activated for the following plans: Smart Postpaid Plans 1800, 2500 and 3500; Infinity Plan 3500, 5000 and 8000; and Smart Postpaid Plans Below 1500. There are no applications or roaming deposit fees needed.

For Smart Prepaid subscribers, international roaming is available in selected countries. The call rates differ every month depending on the call charges of the roaming operator and the current foreign exchange rate. To receive and make calls, you should maintain at least a balance requirement of 1 minute roaming call rate + 25 pesos.

It is very important to understand how to use your phone while traveling in another country. Today, many OFWs prefer using international roaming services to call to Philippines as this option saves them lots of money and load. Getting in touch with their loved ones has never been this convenient and easy via text and call.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Ways to Make a Call to United States

Filipinos are one of the hardest working people in the world. They are highly sought in American hospitals, schools, construction sites, IT companies, shipping lines, and other areas of work for their diligence, selflessness and willingness to go beyond the call of duty. The American military also does not lack Filipino-American soldiers and officers.

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are based in the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Korea, and other leading economies in the world. There are Filipino-Americans making names for themselves today, and the world is taking notice. There is a Filipino fashion designer at Bloomingdaleís, an executive chef in the White House, economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, actors in Hollywood, fighters in the UFC, and a finalist in American Idol, to name a few.

Back home, Filipinos in Manila and all over the country are proud of their friends and families who are doing well in the U.S. But some things never change; these include the need to get in touch with loved ones through a phone call. Emails are great but there are more emotions involved when one hears the voice of someone he or she loves over the phone.

There are several ways to call a loved one in the U.S. and one of them is through conventional long-distance calls. The two leading landline phone companies in the Philippines are PLDT and BayanTel, and both provide international call services. The international direct dialing (IDD) service conveniently allows Filipino families to call people abroad direct from their home phone; bills are paid at the end of the month along with the regular telephone bills.

Meanwhile, the three leading cell phone companies are Globe, Smart and Sun. They also provide direct-dial capabilities so that people in Manila can make a call to United States anytime. International texting is also available.

However, cell phone users need to load up since international calls are much more expensive than when calling someone within the Philippines.First-time callers might be surprised that their available call minutes wonít last very long. As a result, the conversation might be cut short and callers end up dissatisfied.

There are several websites that allow Filipinos in the United States to top up mobile phones in the Philippines. One such website is morbie.com. From anywhere in the U.S., Filipinos may simply enter the website and purchase call minutes online and have it sent to a cell phone all the way to the Philippines so that a friend or relative back home can make a call.

Topping up a cell phone online makes international calls very convenient. Morbie.com offers call minutes using the three leading cell phone companies, Globe, Smart and Sun. This service encourages friends and relatives in the Philippines to stay in touch with loved ones in America or elsewhere in the world.

Finally, another way of making a call to the U.S. is on Skype. Seeing someone as you speak used to just be a thing in sci-fi movies. Now it's for real.

The one big problem of Skype, however, is that it is slow and messages get garbled most of the time. What most people do today is to use Skype and the telephone at the same time. Filipinos make a call to United States and turn on their computers at the same time so that they get to see the person they are talking to without sacrificing audio quality.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Communicate with the World: Place and Receive International Calls from Anywhere

The ability to communicate is what sets human beings apart. The ability to maintain good communication, on the other hand, is what makes good human relationships. It is difficult to maintain a relationship without regular, intimate, and intentional communication.

One of the biggest and most important industries in the world today has to do with communications. The Internet, computers, the telephone, Smartphones, and tablets are all tools for communication. While these are high-tech modern equipments that represent human culture and technology at its best, they are simply meant to provide a way for people to communicate with other people better.

The beginning of the Internet may be traced in 1982 with the standardization of the Internet Protocol Suite or TCP/IP. However, the idea of establishing a computer- and telephone-based communications network that covers the world began as early as the 1960s. The Internet was solely for military use back then until it was commercialized in 1995.

The modern computer, on the other hand was first invented in the 1950s. Its main purpose was to store data so that they may be used for communication and information. Today, itís impossible to think of modern humans living without computers.

The telephone, of course, preceded the computer, the Internet, social media, emails, chats, and so on. The telephone was invented way back in 1876 and was doing OK until it finally merged with computer technology in recent years. Today, people from anywhere can make and receive international calls from anywhere in the planet at real time and for free.

The telephone used to be a simple and highly recognizable device. It had a base with a circular dial where telephone numbers are dialed in and a receiver/transmitter with two ends where the user can listen to at one end and speak or transmit his or her own voice at the other end. Today, however, one can hardly recognize a telephone.

Smartphones have taken over. Smartphones are more hand-held computers than they are telephones. Making a phone call is just one basic use of a Smartphone; the other functions include storing data, taking pictures, watching movies, uploading pictures and movies, listening to music, playing video games, catching up with friends on Facebook, and surfing the Internet.

Meanwhile, computers and telephones have another thing in common. Their true beginnings and invention cannot be credited to just one man. Just like the TV, radio and the light bulb, computers and telephones are too influential and civilization-changing that it is difficult to credit just one man for their creation and development.

A study on the history of computers will give rise to popular names such as Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Charles Babbage, and Alan Turing; and on the telephone, names like Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and Innocenzo Manzetti. While all of these great people deserve the credit, Steve Jobs seems to be a cut above the rest. Before his untimely death, he changed the world by inventing phones and gadgets that are now synonymous to modern communication.

Finally, even without Smartphones and tablets, one can communicate with other people anywhere using the Internet and a telephone. There are several websites, such as ours, Morbie.com and SendLoadToPhilippines.com, that offer such services at low costs. As people make and receive international calls from anywhere in the world using gadgets or website services, human beings are given several ways to satisfy their basic need to communicate.