Telecoms

Smart SIMSafe saves you from Loss of Contacts

Ronnie Bulaong August 1, 2012 · 2 min read

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Smart is now offering their prepaid subscribers with a way to retrieve their SIM contacts in case youâ€™ve misplaced your SIM or worse your device through their new SIMSafe service.

Losing a phone and all of the crap that it entails isnâ€™t the most jovial thing that could happen to anyone. Technology can do little for your lost phone, but services like Gmail which automatically syncs your contacts to your account can take away some of the burdens off. Now Smart brings that same technology to their prepaid subscribers through SIMSafe.

SIMSafe is basically a paid insurance for your SIM and the contacts in it. By subscribing to this service youâ€™re entitled for a replacement SIM with the same number online and gives you the ability to disable the lost SIM to prevent further charges and back-up your contacts online and migrate those on your new phone.

As mentioned above, this is a paid service and it’s going to set you back a one-time PhP120 charge on your load balance in order to avail it. The fee is good for a year of coverage so youâ€™re just basically paying PhP10 every month for the service.

If you find that the benefits are worth the fee, here’s how you subscribe to this SIMSafe:

1. To register, text REG and send to 7467. (PhP1/msg)

2. You will receive a text message outlining the next steps needed in the registration process. To confirm your registration, simply text the following to 7467 (PhP120/msg):

Agree password first name last name email

Example: Agree JuanDC Juan Dela Cruz [email protected] and send to 7467.

Smart’s SIMSafe is a great investment especially because nobody can foretell when youâ€™re going to lose your phone. Of course you can always opt for the cost-free way of backing up your contacts but features like blocking the SIM and getting a replacement SIM with the same number that were only previously available for postpaid subscribers can now be taken advantage by prepaid users through this service.

The only possible roadblock for the SIMSafe is its fee. So we want to know if the PhP120 fee for a year of coverage is justifiable and if not what are you willing to shell out for this service.

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Ronnie Bulaong

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This article was written by Ronnie Bulaong, a special features contributor and correspondent for YugaTech. Follow him on Twitter @turonbulaong.

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46 Comments

Melburnian · 14 years ago

I used this service and it doesn’t work.
Smart charged me and registered my prepaid smart addict number but when I tried to replace my sim they said that addict is being fazed out and they can’t replace the sim. The advertising website still says it applies to ALL prepaid services including addict.
I not only lost all my business contacts but have to junk my calling cards and stationery. Smart offered no apology..not even a refund of the fee.

lover boy · 14 years ago

mga gurl, 120 lang yan kung ano-anong pinagsasabi nio. kung ayaw nio, di wag nio. Para sa amin oks yan. Kc ako on the go akong tao, big help yan kung mawala ung fone ko. Di ako tech na tao kaya di ako tumatagal sa pc, usually word and presentation lang ang ginawa ko and some emails. kaya chilax.. regalo nio na samin ito! haha

Mon · 14 years ago

Where the heck is Yuga?

steelicon · 14 years ago

How to get back your prepaid number with your SIM contacts:

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

To save your SIM contacts:

Option A:

1. Insert SIM on phone;
2. Copy SIM contacts to phone memory;
3. Install the Phone Suite Software to the PC;
4. Connect the phone to the PC using Bluetooth connection or USB cable or any similar connection;
5. Pull contacts from phone using the Phone Suite Software;
6. Backup entire phone contents;
7. Compress into a ZIP or RAR file and attach and e-mail to yourself.

Option B

Buy a 5-in-1 CD-R King card reader with USIM slot.

Repeat steps above, but now using the software provided by the card reader.

Option C

Nokia Ovi/Google Account/Windows Live account.

Just copy SIM contacts to phone memory, create or log on the online service and sync. Also you can sync to your PC.

Option D

Subscribe to the new SMART service.

BTW, in lieu of affidavit of loss, if you have a SMART Money Card to your name, only present that and 2 valid government issued identification with your picture and signature appearing on it. A small fee is to be paid for replacing your SIM.

It’s good to have options.

Shenna · 14 years ago

Para sa akin ang panalo dito eh ung Contacts backup. Na-avail ko na ng ilang beses yung Prepaid sim replacement sa SMART, since I was unfortunate enough to get robbed twice. Buti na lang I was able to backup my contacts, yun nga lang outdated. Kaya ka nga nagprepaid kasi wala ka pang cash para magpostpaid, kaya malamang wala din computer. Hindi ko lang gets yung sabi ni @Rich na pupunta ka ng computer shop para ibackup ung sim contacts mo. Huh? Ito ba ginagawa ng iba kaya nagkalat ang mga bidyo iscandal? Just wondering lang po. :D

jonaflormicfren · 14 years ago

They are Smart to find out ways to extract more money from the subscribers..

Totem · 14 years ago

I used to work for a US-based telco.. And what I can say is that Smart SIMSafe is cheaper.. That’s like quarter of the fee we ask from our customers..

Churva · 14 years ago

Your comparison is not valid.
you’re comparing an amount that is in US dollars to something that is in Philippine Pesos.

If the value of Php is the same as the USD, then that’s the time you can say that Smart’s Sim-safe cash-cow is friggin’ cheap!

Totem · 14 years ago

Not sure if my comparison is the one that is not valid or your comprehension..

We ask customers to pay $1 per month for the service.. Now ma’am/sir, if you’re going to compare it with Smart’s fee, it’s like 3-4x more expensive provided the exchange rate is $1=41.77 ..

Mike Tan · 14 years ago

Prepaid sim replacement with same number is possible by just presenting an affidavit of loss. I was able to get one.

JP · 14 years ago

And this blog entry talks about how the author got his prepaid SIM replacement with same number (although the fee was P99, and not the P40 stated on the link I supplied previously).

http://criticalmindset.blogspot.com/2011/11/smart-prepaid-sim-replacement-for-99.html

So yes, the SIM replacement service was already existent even for prepaid subscribers! No matter if it’s P40 or P99, it’s still cheaper than P120!

Ron · 14 years ago

@Rich

It is not entirely redundant. The SIM-replacement service, which I think is the main point (not contacts backup) as per Smart announcement, was NOT available for PREPAID users actually.

Although, yes, the contacts backup is useless if you have a smartphone. But like @steelicon said, it’s nice to have options.

Rich · 14 years ago

@Ron,

The SIM-replacement service is Available for Prepaid subscribers. In fact, I even had my sim card replaced just last year at Smart’s wireless center in MOA, I just presented that plastic case where the sim was attached to when it was new, and just paid around P100-120 for the replacement SIM… and yes my old number was retained.

X · 14 years ago

I think okay lang naman ang fee for the whole year. I dont think pwde magback up yung mga ordinary at super luma na phones. I mean not everyone owns a smartphone/feature phone na pwdeng maback up ang data. Still cheaper than texting 500 + contacts just to inform them about your new number. At kung totoo po na pwde na palitan yung lost prepaid sim na same din ang number for a fee…. Then no harm done i think… You still have to pay. Okay lang po yung may isa pang option para i think. Question lang? What if wala na po yung card na pinaglagyan ng sim? Mapapalitan pa po b nila?

Ron · 14 years ago

Re: comments.

Before SIMSafe was announced, a SIM replacement program that retains one’s mobile number was NOT available for PREPAID subscribers regardless of having an affidavit.

Pre-SIMSafe, only POSTPAID subscribers can have their SIMs replaced and keep their number.

I agree that the contacts backup feature is absolutely useless in the context of iCloud/Google Drive etc, but I don’t think that’s the service’s main feature.

@JP
P120/year (or P10/month or P0.32/day) for an assurance that you get to keep your number, in case you lose your phone, even if you don’t use the contacts backup feature (which yes, you can do for free) seems reasonable and very very cheap. Especially knowing the frustration and tediousness that involves getting a new number just because your phone got stolen/lost. I mean, come on, the cost is like a bottle of Coke per month.

Finally, the post would have been better received (and be considered as big news actually, given that SIM replacement was not available for PREPAID subscribers at any network before), had Yugatech framed its post to say that Smart has a new service offering SIM replacement for prepaid subscribers, with contacts backup as extra (instead of the other way around).

In fact, I just googled for Smart’s announcement and this this is exactly how they framed the service. Contacts backup is secondary. The main feature is that they have now made SIM replacement with same number available to PREPAID subscribers.

JP · 14 years ago

That is not correct. Prepaid subscribers can avail of the SIM replacement provided they present an affidavit of loss. Well, I should say that I’ve tried it myself already, so this I’m sure of. I still even have the SIM casing without a number printed on it.

JP · 14 years ago

You may check this link as well to confirm that what I am saying is correct:

http://www1.smart.com.ph/help/prepaid/article/2011/11/12/replace-prepaid-sim-card-(retaining-same-number)

Jericho Dy · 14 years ago

SIM Replacement for Prepaid Subscriber with the same number is available long time ago for both SMART and Globe. You just need to present a notarise affidavit of lost.

steelicon · 14 years ago

It’s always nice to have options.

nonie · 14 years ago

gumamit nalang tayo nang ubuntu one or dropbox instead…libre pa.

Rich · 14 years ago

Aside from Smarts’s existing sim-replacement service, wherein you would have to just pay for the replacement sim, those people who owns mobile phones, especially the expensive smartphones can already do a back-up of everything in their phones to their computer.

This service of smart is just something that is going to be a redundant thing.

Given that other folks, who don’t own a computer, wouldn’t be able to do a back up of all the data of their phones into their computer, they can always rent a PC,in the internet cafes, and that may turn out to be alot cheaper, and can even back-up not just the phonebook, but also the messages, pictures and other multimedia stuff.

bottomline is, this is just another cash-cow for Smart. clever idea indeed!

JP · 14 years ago

I believe Smart already has an existing number retention program when you lose your SIM/phone. You will need to present an affidavit of loss at a Smart center and pay a nominal fee. It did not offer phone book retrieval though. Provided that this service is still available, I think ito pa rin ang mas sulit.

With the new one, you’ll pay P120 annually and the only additional benefit you get is to retrieve your contacts. But with today’s phones (and their provided PC applications), I guess backing up of your data is easy and cost-free na man.

I’d rather pay only for the SIM replacement but retaining my number (as the need arises) and retrieve my data through a back-up (for free), compared to paying P120 per year na hindi mo naman magagamit if things go well.