“Spotty coverage, weak or dropped signals, poor service – these make Sun’s offer of unlimited calls and text not even funny.”
by Ducky Paredes
The Philippines is admittedly behind in a lot of things. Cell phone use is not one of them.
A Wikipedia entry notes: The Philippines sends on the average 400 million text messages a day or approximately 142 billion text messages sent a year, more than the annual average SMS volume of the countries in Europe, and even China and India. It is said that the Philippines is the texting capital of the world. Did you know that text messaging was originally developed for the hearing-impaired?
A visiting niece was surprised in talking to people her age to discover that Pinays actually feel disrespected if a new male acquaintance calls her on her cellphone. She would rather receive a text that a voice call. Said my stateside niece: “I would rather get a call than a text.” Texting has grown its own subculture in this country.
Other, more developed countries have higher percentages of actual cell phone users. Taiwan has 111 percent cellular phones to population since many Taiwanese have more than one cell phone. Hong Kong has a penetration rate of 91 percent and Singapore stands at 75 percent.
Yet, we rule the world in the number of text messages.
The rest of the world is only waking up to the use of cell phones for SMS messaging which has been the main use of the Philippine cell phone. Where else can you buy just enough load for jut one SMS message if not in the Philippines? Money is even sent through SMS. A pioneer in this is the GM Bank in Nueva Ecija that uses the cell phone almost like an Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
The Philippines is a virtual ongoing, real-time laboratory experiment in how people actually use cell phone technology, what can be done with it, and how to make money from it. From business models, marketing efforts, service packages, technology deployment to social repercussions, the world is watching what is happening in our country.
Regionally, the Philippines is at the cutting edge of telecommunication, with Korea and China and most neighboring countries following suit. We are in a unique situation as far as the cell phone usage is concerned.
At the GM Bank in any town in Nueva Ecija, a student enters the branch, fills out a form and sends a text message from his cell phone to a phone in the bank dedicated to the service. In a matter of seconds, the transaction is approved and the teller gives him the dollars sent by his mother who is working abroad after deducting a one per cent fee. He need not even have a bank account to retrieve the money.
More than 5.5 million Filipinos now use their cell phones as virtual wallets, making the Philippines a leader among developing nations in providing financial transactions over mobile networks.
With a very rabid, active and passionate user community, our society is the perfect laboratory for the technology and the business. As one of the most cell phone-active parts of the world, we have been able to take a simple concept and take it to the extreme, experimenting with variations on complicated, intricate usage plans while the rest of the world is only now discovering that they can use their phones for SMS messages.
Thus, when a telecom provider offers a cellular service that retards rather than helps move cellular use forward, it ought to be given notice.
Our telecom providers here offer liberal and generous business packages, due mainly to a viciously competitive environment that often results in dynamic and innovative efforts that drive prices down but still increases their profits.
Among the most appealing and enticing are usage plans that promise “unlimited” calls and texts. The promise is that for a small fixed amount, we can enjoy calling and texting without limits for a day or a month. Sounds too good to be true and it sometimes is. A particular “unlimited” plan offering usually results in one’s actually paying much more for the service that one actually receives.
The promise of “unlimited” calls seems like a wonderful idea for people with large social groups, families, or even companies that need to be in constant communication with its employees. These unlimited plans make users feel safe and secure that whatever happens during their day, running out of load for calls and texts seems to be the least of their problems.
One provider offers as its main package a full day’s worth of unlimited texts and calls for just P25. Looks really good; but, when one looks at actual usage, most of their customers are paying P25 actually get to use less than P25 worth of calls and texts.
Sun Cellular’s service is far from perfect. Spotty coverage, weak or dropped signals, poor service – these make Sun’s offer of unlimited calls and text not even funny. The meter’s not running but can you even complete a call in the first place? And if you could make that call, can you actually complete it going before the signal drops?
I have yet to meet anyone who has not complained about this very popular “Unlimited Call & Text” plan of Sun Cellular. It actually turns out to be expensive and misleading, and is unfair and disadvantageous to the consumer. The concept is nice, and in a perfect world, it would be the best offer ever. Given the actual calling needs of the average consumer, and the current state of service and support by Sun, their unlimited call and text plans turn out to be, in more cases than not, poor value for your money. Consumers actually pay more for less.
Sadly, while the rest of the cellular phone industry seems to be improving its services, this one telecom is dragging the rest down. Can someone stop Sun Cellular from selling “unlimited” for their present service and reach that is actually limited by poor technology and inadequate networks.
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Last Saturday, playing for the broadcast sector in the first media golfers Ryder Cup-type “pasiklaban” between Print and Broadcast media men, MMDA Deputy Chairman Cesar Lacuna had his first-ever Hole-in-One on the 13th Hole of South Forbes Golf and Country Club.
Cesar, who was not playing his best that day, hit a borrowed Callaway ball with a Honma Twin Marks # 11 iron (equivalent to a sand wedge) 100 yards to the hole. His ball went past and up the raised edge, then rolled back down smack into the hole. From then on, his game improved. It was only the eighth hole-in-one in the beautiful but mountainous tough par 67 course.
By the way, the broadcast players, tired from the industry’s Golden Dove Awards the night before lost to us print golfers. Competition was between three teams playing Best Ball, three teams playing High-Low and the top five best net scores for the rest of the players. Each side had more than 17 players. It was a lot of fun and had grand raffle prizes.
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hvp 11.16.08)
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