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I’m ready to quit my iPhone 3G

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).

Yugatech 728x90 Reno7 Series

iphone 3g

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

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

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  9. Avatar for Veronika Veronika says:

    The globe spending limit is not working at all especially to valued customers.. Ive had my lines with them for almost 4years the plan is 1k amonth for the 1st 2 years i keep paying good amounts since i have a fiance abroad i end up paying aroung 5-7k a month and i usually pay ontime.. I keep calling them during this period kc lagi delayed ang bills bayad na bao ko pa nareiew charges.. I have alot of complains kc i end up paing alot in amonth ok lang nmn kaso most of the chargs that supposed to inc s plan e nacharge on top in my 1k plan around 200-400 lng un nkoconsume ko the rest were paid on top.. So wla n ko magawa s dami ko ng nabayad ng 2 years na un..i inquire about loyalty offer cos i dont have plans of switching svc butthey said alot of stupid stuff on availing the promo.. So i ended up chaning my plan to a much lower plan.. when i swicth to this after almost a year when some hacked my info and he got it all from globe kc nhack nya ang website nla lhat bank acct, passport, sss etc..i complained with globe that their website and cust info is not secured.. Nothing happened to my complain but everytime i will call them i would ask what did the prev rep notated on my acct and i will startbtelling my stories again. After sometime i found out that my 3k limit is not working at all in the nxt mo i asked why i have a past due + current bal amounting to 21k and i konitor my usage even if i exceeded line should be restricted butit did not do anyhing.. I called again to ask why my limit is not working..reps said tha bcos i have a good payment history system automatically set my phone to maximize my usage without even sending me notice of interruptions..until i temp cut my line which is good for 30 days only.. I tried to cope up with my payment bcos thenlast 6mos of my almost 4yrs stay with them hey keep billing me for intl calls charged per seconds which took up more than 1k to almost 3k for that last 6 mos.. So i keep calling them for the dispute and they will provide the adjustments based on my calculations on the detailed page of the bill.. I ended up complaining for the smae issue for 6 mos where i still have to request for them to resend a copy of my bill bcos they are not sending it nor emailing git to me.. I ended up cutting my line where my billreah alittle almost 50k..i got a letter from them dated nov2011 but i got it dec2011..i called the hotline spoke with ome of he reps handling accts like mine and we agreed for a payment term of 1year and ill be sending an email to him so they can lay out the payment plan i also said that im aware of my obligations and im no running away fro mitnit just so happened that i resigned frowork and still looking for a new one.. The rep said its ok and we can nstill work on it as long asi send him the email.. More than 2mos past i never got an response hough i complied with our agreement so as not to have m y acct trans to 3rd party collectors as i want to deal only wih globe.. Just last week 3 person called me from 3rd party collecions agency 1 st one admitted fault on the process of m acct being transeferred to them though i complied with globes proposal siad will check on the globe remedial rep i spoke with..the next day anoher call came from hem from a diff rep jis one its a very rude rep and i explained my position and the transactioi made with he prev rep..said will send me an email tha i need o respond to and make a promisory letter or somehing like that and curse me before she hangup on the phone.. The next day after hat a new rep called me same thing and i siad again my concern i discovered that globe said o them im still in a contract with thethough i never signed any renewal i told her againn my status and what really happened..i siad to her that hough i wat as much as i canto out a payment i cant as whatever i have now will be use to find work and whei start working..but again i said im not running away from obligations..i just cant make a promise of the exact date as to when i. Can send a specific amt since i dont have a definite work yet.. Said something about legal thing.. And i said, firts my acct should not be transfered to you if globe already agreed to what we discussed taking note that i complied with their own company policy. I did ge in touch and was willing to work on paying it but you cant force me FOR NOW cosmi dont have extra money alotted for it.. The rep said thats shes demanding for payment and that it will be sent for some legal actions and calls keep bugging us at home..i dont think that i should be penalized in the first place for globes faulty service, credit limit that is not working and they at first took advantage of good payors now were put in a position like were buried under debts..they should be giving consideration since the npaid bal will not be change anyways it will still be the same amt that will be paid as soon as i get back to work..i just dont understand why this company is not doing their work properl and not adhering to their own company policy!!

  10. Avatar for Jb1979 Jb1979 says:

    Same problem here, even on prepaid, load gets sucked out. Ive turned everything off and I had to manually change the APN each time i want to disconnect. too much of a hassle but I think the main problem here is the credit limit.

    From what I know, I think the credit limit of a subscriber is based on kung ano lang ang kayang bayaran ng customer. So parang tanga naman na sila ang nag sabi na ang kaya mo lang bayaran is P2500 and gave you that credit limit, tapos hahayaan nila umabot ng 30k yung bill mo diba? nakakinis ang Globe

  11. Avatar for cam cam says:

    I was charged 30k+ din at hindi ako natutuwa, hindi ko naman kasi ginagamit yung mobile net palagi, tapos sobrang bagal pa ng internet, imposible talaga umabot ng 30k ang bill ko, hindi naman nagloload yung page pag inexit ko yung browser ko, tapos hindi ko naman magamit yung applications sa phone ko (kasi sobrang BAGAL nga ng net sakin), tsaka pumapasok ako, natutulog naman ako no, there’s something fishy talaga! hahaha,

  12. Avatar for july july says:

    i’m using samsung galaxy mini on plan 999. nung una, may problema sa supersurf registration nila- nung dinedeactivate ko thru txt kasi malapit na matapos ung 30 days, ang reply sakin e invalid keyword. i called up customer service, they said they’ll deactivate it manually sa kanilang pc. but still, i got a txt message saying registered ulit ako since.i did not deactivate it. i called cust srv again and they said i.disregard lang coz deactivated na talaga.
    The most surprising part is i got a txt mssge ryt now bout my unbilled charges- it is whooping 34,436.00!! imagine that? after my supersurf, i deacvtivated packet data para di na talaga makagamit ng net. well, i turned it on for a while to check my mail and some google article viewing, but 34k??? it is too much. anyway, unbilled pa naman pero nakakatakot talaga ung amount.hope maayos to

  13. Avatar for Judd Judd says:

    I’ve been an iPhone user for two years without a problem. I always change my apn and switching off 3G and internet data after each use. Though very inconvenient it’s still ok cuz globe is not overcharging me then with internet usages. How come they’re overcharging me now? To think that I even upgraded my plan from 1599 to 1799?! Grrr..

  14. Avatar for melvin melvin says:

    This is not happening only on Iphone users. Me and my friends are using Samsung phones and we are encountering the same problem, EXCESSIVE CHARGING!It is very clear that this is a form of scam. This must be brought up to the public and to NTC.

  15. Avatar for Ree Ree says:

    Zack they didn’t fix the issue,

    what globe did is introduce a new service called superfurf which for 1200 pesos monthly allows you to surf unlimited.

    http://site.globe.com.ph/iphone/fullyloaded/?sid=TKLGjcuxpRcAAHxn3DoAAAAXe

    this is a free item on plan 3799.

    If you’re on a different plan, you will have to avail it manually.

  16. Avatar for Zach Yonzon Zach Yonzon says:

    Something funny is going on. I’m a tech-savvy person who writes tech for a living. I know how to turn my Internet usage off. I have compiled photos of this on my Facebook account and I can even make a video to prove that I CANNOT use Globe’s data services even if I wanted to.

    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=202913&id=649539840

    Globe is doing something unfair and quite possibly illegal to its consumers. If you have a Globe story about unfair charges, kindly PM me on Facebook or send me e-mail at zach AT yonzon.com. I’m compiling data for an article and possibly a formal complaint to be lodged against the company.

  17. Avatar for Manuel Manuel says:

    Well, the question is did Globe fix this problem? Other countries telco’s like singtel (SG) have bill caps on data usage that even if u exceeded the 12GB free, you wont be charged beyond $30.

    I believe this is more of serv provider and infrastracture rather than the phone model itself.

  18. Avatar for Jerome Jerome says:

    @abe, What are the settings that need to be turned off if lets say youre going to put in a prepaid simcard?

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