I’ve been on prepaid since I got a mobile phone ten years ago. The only time I was convince to get into a postpaid plan was when I got an iPhone 3G subscription plan from Globe. And for the last 12 months, I thought it was well worth it.
Not until this month when I got my last bill. I’m subscribed on the basic iPhone Plan 1599 and ever since I had it, I never once exceeded my monthly allocation. I don’t text a lot or make calls (and I have 2 other active prepaid numbers) and despite being a heavy mobile internet user, I still am not able to consume all the 40 hours a month allocation (mainly because I got wifi at home and have both SmartBro and Globe Tattoo accounts).
So it was a huge surprise to learn that last month, my bill went beyond Php6,000 (there’s another Php3,700 spill-over internet charges for this month). During that time, I actually monitor my account getting charged about Php400 every day. So I reported it, made screenshots, documented and asked some clarifications. I got a lot of possible answers:
- Push Email was set to ON and the iPhone could be connecting to 3G all the time. In the last 12 months of having GMail and Yahoo on my iPhone, I never set it to ON and it’s OFF until now. Fetch is also set to OFF/Manual.
- iPhone Apps that connect to the net in the background. Been regularly downloading new apps (including Yahoo Messenger, TruPhone and Skype). I thought no iPhone Apps can run in the background? Apple specifically disabled this feature as it hogs resources, battery life and slows down performance. I don’t think there’s an app that runs on the background. To be sure, I restarted/rebooted the iPhone several times during the day.
- iPhone OS 3.0 reset some settings/configurations. However, I did the upgrade in June so I should have experienced this problem much earlier.
The timing is also suspicious as at least 2 other friends on an iPhone plan have racked up Php17,000 and Php20,000 on their bills this same month. I’ve already filed a dispute/report and so have my other friends.
This isn’t the first time this type of incident has happened. I’ve actually helped a couple of people (both on iPhone and Nokia phones) resolve their sky-high 3G internet charges before.
The quick-fix — disable the APN. That way, the iPhone won’t be able to connect even if it tried to.
It’s irritating though that I need to edit my APN every time I want to connect online. It ruins the experience. Now, I’m always afraid to use my iPhone to connect online. If that’s the case, the iPhone looks crippled — might as well ditch it. Apple needs to look into this.
My only gripe si that I only have a Php2,500 credit limit. I assume that when I reach that amount/charge before end of the month, my account gets suspended, which it should be. So, I wonder why my fees go way beyond Php2,500.
My solution?
- Switch to Globe Prepaid. But that doesn’t solve the problem that my credits/load could get drained overnight.
- Jailbreak the iPhone and use my other existing Smart Prepaid SIM.
- Sell the iPhone 3G and get an openline HTC Magic or Nokia E72 for my Globe subscription.
But before that, I need to settle my unpaid and long-overdue bills first. :D
Mawiwindang kayo here:
My plan is GFlex 500 (under a Corporate Account with Globe) pero umabot sa 10k ang bill ko before nila temporarily dinisconnect yung line ko. My credit limit is supposedly 1k only.
I think I’d have to give credits to SMART when I used to have a postpaid account with them. Kasi sila, consistent sila na nireredirect yung line ko kapag nag-exceed ako sa credit limit nila. With Globe, many times na nangyari na lumobo ang bill ko bago nila i-redirect yung line ko. sigh…
Anyway, I still wanted to keep my Globe postpaid account kasi sa SMART, hindi mo magamit ang line mo for other promos like yung per second charging sa calls or whatever promos they have. Ang kinaiinis ko pa sa SMART, ang dami-daming keywords na kailangang i-send bago ka maka-avail ng mga promos.
Grabe talaga ang mga telcos sa atin. Tama si Jhay. It is corporate greed! Kapag naging malawak na ang signal coverage ng SUN, good luck sa ibang telcos. Im sure sobrang magpapanic ang mga yan ng bonggang-bongga.
“She told me that the call was made” .. not the called was made.. thanks
We have the same problem when we upgraded our Iphone to 3.0 last june..in 2 days, my bill rose to 7k..I immediately called Globe CSR to complain visited their business center as well to report a battery problem after upgrading.. 3 months later still no resolution..so i called globe yesterday..and they told me that somebody from globe tried calling us but nobody answered.. so i asked my wife if she received a call from globe.. she told me that the called was made but she told the Globe CSR to call back later because I was not around and that my wife is in a meeting at that time..so she adviced the Globe CSR to call the next day instead but since it is holiday the next day..my wife told them to call instead the next business day..days pass and no calls…then the CSR yesterday told me that the complaint was closed because we are unreachable and we have to pay up..i said no way will i pay for something that I did not purposely use..and said that if that would be their stand.. then they would lose a 10 years continuous subscriber and all of the handyphone subscription in our company..btw..their reasoning that we are unreachable is bull.. I always call Globe CSR everytime our bill is due and follow up on our request for charge reversal..
“ammm…
di ko alam kung karma yan sa mga iphone users na mayayabang… oooppss… no punt ment. mabuti pa yung much reliable 3310
sometimes simple living will not lead you to too much confusion”
tama, bumalik na din tayo sa panggatong as way ng pagluluto. Tapos mag abacus instead mag calculator. What the hell, lets ditch text messenging and email and go back to the traditional snail mail.
@marchie
Go to Setting -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network
and edit your APN to:
if you are Prepaid: http.globe.com.ph
if you are Postpaid: internet.globe.com.ph
Make sure to text TIME to 1111
God, that’s depressing. And I was so ready to get the iPhone via Globe’s plan. :/ Open-line Omnia it is, then.
i have an iPhone 3GS here with the $30 unlimited data plan on AT&T, and we still dont have our darn MMS, how much is an unlimited data plan on Globe?
btw, anyone know how much is the Unlimited Blackberry data plans on Smart and Globe? Thanks!
/offtopic
hi guys, im having problem with my iphone . everytime i try to open my safari it says could not activate cellular data network: you are not subscribe to a cellular data service. HELP me guys ….. tnx
Although jailbreaking & watching your settings, turning off this when at standby, & turning it on when browsing are acceptable solutions, I’d prefer that Globe come out with an acceptable dataplan that we need not do these things. The reason being, with a jailbroken phone, everytime Apple comes out with a new iPhone OS update, you have wait until they crack it, then you have to go out of our way to rejailbreak your phone with the accompanying anxiety that you can actually lose all your data, or even brick your iPhone. Thus, I’d rather be a good boy and be a Steve Jobs disciple… that’s ideal for someone as lazy as I am!! ;-)
I mean, having all of the iPhone’s features turned on, with a MobileMe account, and using almost purely Mac computers (iMac at home, Macbook for work) is absolutely the best thing! Imagine, virtually all of your important data is synced on all 3 devices (email, address book/contacts, bookmarks, calendar, & notes). Add to the fact that iPhone OS 3.x allows seamless Internet sharing of your 3G through USB or Bluetooth tethering. The lack of an unlimited, or near unlimited data plan, is just unbearable!
H3ll, the most expensive dataplan (Php 4,999) is still 100 hours & not unlimited. I was strolling in Eastwood Mall & I found the Globe outlet there empty, so I went in & messed around with their support people. I currently have a GTalkplus with Duo activated in a feature phone & an unlimited Visibility on the iPhone. This costs a minimum of around 4.5k a month. I noticed on my last GTalkplus bill, that my non-Duo voice calls went down to 15 min, and note that the plan’s free voice calls are up to 350min. If I downgrade my GTalkplus to the cheapest, GText 500 with 20 min free & Php500/month, this plus my duo & visibility will come out at Php2,900 per month, with this I get unlimited landline calls, 500 free text, unlimited Internet. The only drawback is the 20 min free (which you can easily manage by texting, “Do you have a landline where I can call you?”), and the need to have 2 devices.
Note that this is cheaper than the most expensive iPhone plan, but with unlimited data transmission.
Aray! Php 7-10K ang charges for a single unit? It would be a good idea to go for unlimited data plans when using an Iphone. I have 2 (3g/3gs) Iphones on AT&T and I pay only USD110/month (roughly Php5k) for both phones with unlimited data/text. I thought mas cheaper ang billing sa Pinas.
Actually, problem din yan ng GF ko ngayon (a top ranking lawyer). E61i lang ang phone nya. She never exceeded her plan (1200 only), pero twice na syang na-overcharge ng Globe by the thousands. Once last year which she paid to avoid hassle, and again this year. She’s disputing a total of 6K+ of calls she did not make. Interestingly, the overbilling happened during those times she rarely used her phone. Kahit nung lagi sya nasa abroad, di sya lumalagpas sa plan nya.
To be honest, I have high regard for Ayala as a company so I believe, this is just an oversight.
I called the Globe hotline and talked to a CSR who said they’ll follow up and make a report. It’s been over a month and we’re still waiting. During the call, I never really wanted to waste my time with a CSR since alam ko naman na wala silang authority to negotiate pero I never got the chance to talk to someone in position.
Walang outgoing ang line nya ngayon. She wants to switch to smart but I’m still waiting for the action of Globe. They told us to pay and wait for the resolution later. My lady, being a lawyer, doesn’t wanna budge with the disadvantageous proposition. She prefers to talk to the corp lawyer of Globe after they send some sort of demand letter to her office.
I hope somebody from Globe can help. Good luck to them. GF is leaving for the US soon so sana maayos na before she leaves.
@Anonym
You have browsed and downloaded from the internet using your SIM card from your iPhone plan. The CSR was indeed right in telling you that you can use your sim on your Globe Tattoo kit. But that is not the reason why your bill reached 150,000. It is because you used your plan excessively without knowing what you’re getting into.
If you knew your plan then you would’ve known that your mobile surfing rates would be fixed per kb charging on accessing the internet as a default (unless the CSR told you exactly that your plan is on time-based browsing). And let’s say you thought you could shift to time-based browsing. Did you first try to check your status on what type of charging your browsing is based on before you go on a downloading spree? And did you even try to text TIME to 1111 and wait for a reply from the system that you have successfully changed your account to time-based charging? Furthermore, it seems that the system doesn’t automatically updates charges on each account instantaneously especially on data, especially on per kb charging, as I have often seen a delay on the reflection of my data usage everytime I check my unbilled charges (even on time-based browsing which should have been faster to update because it works in timed intervals and you get charged at the start of each use/increment. So, together with probable hiccups on the system (they do have downtimes), the balance might have came too late (by 24 to 48 hours) under your account that would prompt CSR’s to warn you off of your excessive use.
What I am actually getting at is do you normally do this? I mean you just bought a phone with a new plan and then access the network relentlessly for 2 days without asking first what goes with your plan and how much you would be charged for a certain service under your plan? I know that time-based browsing is more popular but wouldn’t you normally ask how much “free internet access” you have under your plan and what type of charging would exactly happen afterwards (in excess) before using it for that purpose?
I thought you were going to bash Globe. Why so mellow, Yuga?
I’m not the bashing kind of blogger. I’ve actually discussed this internally with them for several weeks now.
I asked Globe CSR at Globe Business Center noong kinuha ko iPhone Plan ko na pwede ba gamitin sa Globe Tattoo ang SIM Card ng iPhone Plan ko.
Then im so confident to insert my iPhone Plan SIM Card in my Globe Tattoo. Learning after two days that my bill reach 150,000++. A CSR who called me to inform my bill told me that the iPhone Plan is fix in per kilobyte charging. You can’t use 10pesos per 30mins.
For everyone, i know to use my iPhone and i know how it works. It just the CSR from Globe Business Center told me that i can use my iPhone Plan SIM Card in Globe Tattoo. Thats why my bill reach like that.
Hindi porket umabot ang bill ko ng 150,000++ hindi na ako marunong gumamit ng iPhone. At wala akong sinisisi sa nangyari.
Also, i asked them what if lumagpas na ako sa credit limit ko?
The CSR answer me that all outgoing call and SMS will be barred.
Pero sobrang lagpas na ako sa credit limit ko saka pa nila ako inform.
@driftracer85
iPhone Plan is fix in per Kilobyte Charging not P10 per 30mins.
@yuga
Sayang naman yung iPhone mo, sa bagay, Oo nga naman sayang sa Credits. Tita ko nga bumiyahe sa Japan, pa dating niya dito sa Pinas 30k agad habol sa kanya, kasi daw nag on Roaming mag isa yung phone. :D Nireport namin sa Globe yung 30k, kung may record sila na ginamit yung roaming.. I know I’m going off-topic. But has anybody here experienced this yet?
Jailbreak your phone, install SBsettings and then add FakeAPN addon. Quick and easy toggling of APN off/on.
I use a Nokia N96, Globe send me a message saying my post paid account was due. over 13k pesos.
I called them they said that I had switched my internet surfing months ago to per kb vs. time based.
I said I never made that change and never got a notification.
They would only give me a 2,500 peso refund though my internet charges were a lot more, they said this was the biggest amount they could refund my account.
I refuse to pay and now I now have a phone that only receives calls and texts. Kinda peaceful if you ask me ;)
Thank god for WiFI on my phone and Chikka on my desktop.
Now does anyone know of a wifi mobile app for chikka that works?
@rsa1 yes your right and the user is a dumb!
peace.
still “Smartphone like Apple iPhone 3G is for smart people.”
@drift
it’s possible. imagine watching a 10min length movie in youtube in a kb rate (not the per minute rate).
say 1kb = 0.05 cents
10min movie = 50mb
that’s equal to P2,500/movie!!