This was first explained to me by a friend who got a new Sun Cellular SIM. Then, last week I got to talk to a marketing manager from Sun who lent me a phone with their new Sun Cellular International SIM in it and adds that their international SMS is only Php1.
I asked her if there was some special gateway or SMS-over-IP sort of thing that allowed them to offer international SMS rates this low (it’s usually Php15/SMS). She said there’s none and just attributes it to hardwork of their bizdev team to partner with telcos from other countries.
Commercial Name: Call & Text International Sim
Pre-loaded with Free 5 minutes of IDD 10* (valid for 30 days)
- Free 5 iSMS to 20 destinations** per month for 6 months (1st month is free; for the 2nd-6th month, subs must load at least Php50 worth of load to avail the free 5 iSMS)
Special Rates: Php1 per iSMS to 20 destinations**
- $0.20/min IDD rate to 20 countries***
Price of SIM pack: Php49
It’s not really applicable to all countries though. For the calls and SMS, they mostly target regions where there are a significant number of OFWs living.
This is almost similar to Globe’s OFW SIM although that one comes with paired SIM cards (one is for local and the other is roaming-ready). The OFW market, with over 8 million Filipinos working abroad, remains to be an open battleground for such telco services and we’ve yet to see any dominant player in that segment.
* IDD 10 countries: US Main, Canada, China, HK, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Guam, Macau & Brunei.
** iSMS 20 destinations: USA, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Macau, Japan, Qatar, Brunei, Guam, Hawaii, Oman, Cayman Island, Cyprus, Turkey, Northern Marianas Island, Jamaica, Bahamas & Puerto Rico.
*** IDD 20 countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy,Indonesia, Hawaii, Kuwait, Bahrain, Germany, Spain, Israel, France, Greece, Jordan, Northern Marianas Islands & Cyprus.
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nice
that is cheeeap.
@ Luigi Francisco
What do you mean cheap?! They are not cheap!
Affordable! hehehehehehe
wow astig naman yan.
Is that Php 1.00 applicable to any telcos of that country? That would be good. I would tell my stepmom in singapore right away.
i just bought Sun Call & Text International Sim moments ago upon reading this blog and it’s working well with Rogers Communications in Canada. Darn it. I wish I knew this service months ago. I am now texting my relative @ P1 in Canada!
Abe, there’s a report of several stolen laptops. Maybe you can do a post on how you keep your electronics safe. You are on the go every time and carry a lot of expensive equipment.
abe, matagal na yang Sun International SIM.
http://jepoy.bengero.com/2008/06/sun-cellular-launches-new-call-text.html
http://technogra.ph/20080621/sections/deals-and-promos/sun-cellular-offers-p100-per-international-sms/
This is great news for all the OFW. I hope that the other network will do same way.
can any one tell me wht is the rate for sms n calling at england