News

Smart Prepaid LTE SIM street price reaches Php1,200

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief July 26, 2013 · 1 min read

Listen to article

GCash parent company Mynt plans IPO on Philippine Stock Exchange Garmin launches Forerunner 70 and 170 in PH, introduces Garmin Pay and announces 2026 Garmin Run AORUS GeForce RTX 5090 Infinity now available in the Philippines Sharp unveiled Aquos R11 Kodak launches Y2K-themed Charmera Millennium Edition

Apparently, it’s not only tickets to the Lebron James Manila visit that are being sold for preposterous prices online. The same is true with Smart’s Prepaid LTE SIM.

We’ve gotten several sources telling us that the rare LTE SIM cards are being sold in classified stores like Sulit for as high as Php1,200 each. That’s more than 300% of the original retail price of Php350.

Obviously, the apparent lack of supply of the Prepaid LTE SIMs in Smart stores (and even Smart’s own Online Store). Our own experience placed us in at least 3 Smart Stores in Metro Manila the whole morning and still not a single one was found.

That’s the law of Supply and Demand there at work. And since supply is limited, enterprising individuals would buy all of the SIM cards in Smart Stores early on and sell them online for as much as triple the price.

Smart has somewhat addressed this concern by making their Freedom Plan SIM cards as LTE-provisioned SIM cards.

smart lte prepaid sim smart prepaid lte sim

Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

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 is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

8,009 Articles

View all posts by Abe Olandres →

102 Comments

mcmryzda · 13 years ago

Just a pure luck on me, I bought a huawei E589 LTE/3G/HSPA capable and had purchased a prepaid LTE sim for 350, really works – 15Mbps download -still using it.

sadly – LTE prepaid sim are so rare on market ,you have to order online.

manilabeans · 13 years ago

Hi mcmryzda,

Which SMART LTE SIM did you purchase? Is that the one labeled SMART BRO LTE? Or is it the Prepaid LTE? The first SIM that I tried was a SMART BRO LTE sim and with it I could reach up to 15MBps DL. Still not up to par to what an LTE connection should be, but much better than the Prepaid LTE sim I have now, which is ridiculously slow.

Was wondering which SIM you have?

manilabeans · 13 years ago

Hi,
I have a few questions re: Smart LTE. I have recently purchased a prepaid LTE sim to use for my Lumia 925. I get the 4G indicator when I am in LTE covered areas but I get really bad ping rates as well as speedtest results of no more than 2mbps. I am doing something wrong? Do I need to manually set the LTE settings on this thing?

Do you have any idea regarding the manual LTE settings for Smart’s LTE network? Their support team is really bad.

Nho · 13 years ago

Nakabili ako kahapon sa Powerplant. Buti na lang meron sila :)

nikko · 13 years ago

Kaka-order ko lang ng LTE Micro-SIM (for Php 350) sa online store ng Smart (store.smart.com.ph). After a few minutes tumawag saken yung taga-Smart to confirm my address, and sabi nila by Friday/Monday daw ang expected delivery sa bahay.

miko · 13 years ago

Lagot. UUbusin yan ng mga resellers/

nikko · 13 years ago

nakuha ko na yung LTE Micro-SIM ko, delivered sa bahay after 3days (for Php 350, sa http://store.smart.com.ph)

meh · 13 years ago

I have a Smart LTE sim for sell, new if anyone wants to buy one

macy · 13 years ago

How much po?

meh · 13 years ago

@macey

I have a Smart LTE sim card (which comes with 320php load) and a 500php smart load card that i will sell together for 1,300php

Check suit, you will see my combo deal

aragorn · 13 years ago

tuwang-tuwa pala ang mga online sellers sa article mong ito mr yuga. a week before may nacontact ako sa sulit (before this posted article) and they are selling lte sim as high as 650. now nag increase pa lalo at ginawa pang 1000. tapos dinirect pa niya ako sa article mo. dahil limited na daw.

this is really indeed a fishy article. online sellers will give praises and thanks to you. tsk

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 13 years ago

Smart Freedom Plan now also provides prepaid LTE for only Php250 per SIM, thereby addressing the lack of supply and makes those Prepaid LTE SIMs obsolete.

huawei · 13 years ago

nyek…eh binalita lang naman dito yung going rate ng LTE SIM sa mga online buying sites.

Do not delete this article because it’s true and factual. Talaga namang mataas na bentahan. So sinabi lang dito na ganon na…

the increase in the price is outside of the control of this site. price is dictated by the buyer and seller. If 1,200 is too high then don’t buy it so that you’ll force those sellers to lower their prices…

aragorn · 13 years ago

“We’ve gotten several sources telling us that the rare LTE SIM cards are being sold in classified stores like Sulit for as high as Php1,200 each.”

With all due respect, what sources are you telling here? Yung nakikita mong mga SIM sellers na ganyan ay talagang mandurugas. Same thing happen to those who are selling VANITY SIM. They are just idiots in their own kind and online selling like those are not regulated. Oh, thank you very much??? Because of your article, they even used this as “pampahambog” as if dapat na silang bumili dahil magkakaubusan na. You must delete this kind article.

Mr. O · 13 years ago

Bulok kasi nang Globe kaya walang kalaban Smart! Mismo sa mga Ayala Malls walang signal.. Tsk Tsk..

tarush · 13 years ago

Boughtl one during the release week but lost that SIM so I bought another one at Shang Rila
Di ko pansin dami naghahanap

LTESMART · 13 years ago

ang dami sa smart festival mall alabang

Allan · 13 years ago

Yup dami nga dun. Nababayaran na ata si Yugatech nang Globe para siraan ang Smart. Pansin ko lang pag Globe nice ang article pag Smart negative.

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 13 years ago

Not sure why you think this is a negative article on Smart. It is actually evidence that Smart LTE is very popular and people are willing to pay a higher price just to get it.

Also please read these stories about Smart and tell us if these are also negative stories as you claim:

July 22: Acer Iconia on Smart for Php14,500: http://www.yugatech.com/news/acer-iconia-w3-now-available-through-smart/
July 18: Smart offers Galaxy Mega 6.3: http://www.yugatech.com/telecoms/smart-offers-samsung-galaxy-mega-6-3-gt-i9200/
July 10: BlackBerry Q10 now with Smart: http://www.yugatech.com/news/blackberry-q10-pre-order-on-smart-free-on-unlidata-3000/
June 21: Smart completes roll-out of 250 LTE sites: http://www.yugatech.com/news/smart-completes-roll-out-of-250-lte-sites-in-luzon/

Please read them again and tell us if you think these are negative stories about Smart? Please show evidence before making any conclusion. We respect your opinion but we don’t appreciate the accusations without concrete evidence.

techmanila · 13 years ago

@Allan

Negative? The article just described the condition that price of Smart LTE SIM reached 1,200 in the market (outside the Smart Wireless Centers)

Just to prove that SMART LTE is indeed a huge success…luring more subscribers…

aragorn · 13 years ago

“We’ve gotten several sources telling us that the rare LTE SIM cards are being sold in classified stores like Sulit for as high as Php1,200 each.”

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 13 years ago

Sources = people who actually bought the LTE SIM in Sulit.

As for your second point, please read thru the article saying that Smart Freedom Plan now also provides LTE for only Php250, thereby addressing the lack of supply and makes those Prepaid LTE SIMs obsolete.

meh · 13 years ago

If you go to Robinsons Ermita, in the middle of the mall they have booths selling chinese cell phone and other junk. But they do have Smart LTE sim, for about 500php or less

Whats crazy is the same mall has a Smart store that does not carry LTE sims.

I bought the LTE pocket wifi at the Smart in Ayala, might be a good place to try.

Smart in Gateway Cubao also had LTE sims but limited stocks

Jherwynne · 13 years ago

it reminds me of my very first prepaid Globe SIM which costed this much back in 1999….

Networker · 13 years ago

You mean freedom plan is LTE capable na? I have one already.

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 13 years ago

Not sure about the old SIM cards but the recent ones are said to be LTE-enabled already.

LTE · 13 years ago

Yep, postpaid plans are LTE provisioned, including the freedom plan

techmanila · 13 years ago

SIM should be issued 2011 and above. :-)
http://www1.smart.com.ph/bro/lte/get-ready/4

Name: · 13 years ago

noob question lang po pag hspa+ ba pwede ako gumamit ng lte sim? btw gagamitin ko sana sa transfomer tf101g hspa+ with sim slot.TIA

Potpot · 13 years ago

I was able to buy the sim from the first day of release. Now I realize it’s all worth it. lol. Should have bought ten sims and sold them.

Sonofa · 13 years ago

Kaya pala hineram ng pinsan ko ung sim ko at di pa binabalik hanggang ngayon!!!

Name: · 13 years ago

Saan p makakabili nito lte prepaid

Justin · 13 years ago

Like the saying goes… “Walang mag-sasamantala… kung walang bibiling tanga!”

JustinBaboy · 13 years ago

i thinks that’s called “Law of Supply and Demand”.

masyado kang bitter ocampo eh… affected bah!

Justin · 13 years ago

I rest my case. Si “JustinBaboy” na nga yung tangang bumili! Hahaha!

justinbaboy · 13 years ago

usually, people who call others “tanga”, are the intellectually insecure ones who seem to have a need to ridicule others just to reassure themselves that there are other people more inferior than they are…

and oh, they laugh the same way you do to…

techmanila · 13 years ago

eh kung kailangan mo na…at willing and able ka naman to pay Php1,200 for the SIM because you can’t bear searching and wasting your time. So what’s the problem? A valid SALE transaction.

Pero kung di ka willing for Php1,200, pwede ka namang maghanap ng mas mura! Option na ng buyer yun.

jam · 13 years ago

Marunong talaga magnegosyo ang mga Pinoy.

Jolly Tilo · 13 years ago

Hindi mag negosyo. Kundi marunong mang-gantyo. Kung negosyo kasi dapat maunlad na Pilipinas. Eh puro manloloko mga Pinoy. Buti na lang hindi na ako Filipino Citizen.

neo88 · 13 years ago

Luckily I was able to bought the LTE SIM from a Smart store in Mla. for P350 but sadly it only works on the band 1 2100 and my Galaxy note 8 N5120 LTE version its LTE works only on 800/900/1800/2600MHz so I was only able to utilize its 3g.

boyoyong · 13 years ago

Ano sabi mo? Was able to bought?! Lolz

Wawawa · 13 years ago

Lucky you :) by the way, it should be “to buy” not “to bought” :)

neo88 · 13 years ago

my bad it should have been “buy” not “bought” didn’t realize there were a lot of grammar expert here.

gurt · 13 years ago

“Experts”. Grammar is sexy bro.

techmanila · 13 years ago

okay lang yan. ang importante, naintindihan namin yung message mo and that’s what “communication” is all about.

nevermind these “perfect grammar” advocates. remember english is just our secondary language.

though grammar can be improved. right?

chinitoguy30 · 13 years ago

Demand for LTE sim is overwhelming. Smart is the only network offering prepaid LTE as well. I wonder why Sun is not rolling out their LTE network. It already has an advantage because all of them are under PLDT’s umbrella. Globe is said will be offering prepaid LTE sims as well but Globe’s LTE network is very small compared to Smart’s and speeds are quite slow. What a dilemma…

Unanimous · 13 years ago

SUN has no LTE for they do not have frequency license, their license is already with SMART. SUN only have 3G frequency license

SUN · 13 years ago

Hindi po LTE capable ang mga equipment ni SUN. Mga luma pa. Hindi kaya pag software upgrade, kailangan hardware upgrade. Malaki ang gagastusin nila pag nagkataon.

jayron · 13 years ago

Walang ngang 3G ang Sun dito samen LTE pa kaya?

techmanila · 13 years ago

@unanimous
@sun

Sun has 10 mhz at 2100 band and can offer LTE.
Sun being the newest network is LTE-ready. It runs on all-IP network. LTE project rollout for Sun Cellular is ongoing.

Not in a hurry dahil all resources are given to push Smart LTE. Maybe there will be resource sharing in the near future pag i-ooffer na ng Sun yung service. Wala pa ngang commercial prepaid LTE ang Globe…

Hintay-hintay lang.