Thursday, March 20, 2008

Wireless Landlines - tempting

The problem with someone living in the outskirts of the city is that, everything that promises cheap communication to the city is always a tempting deal (aside of course for the technophobe in me).

I got myself a Bayan Wireless Landline prepaid a couple of months ago. Yup, it serves it's purpose. I can call Manila with ease, with some choppy bearable calls. I can call it free, no long distance charges because it's got a Manila area code, heck, I'm even thinking of getting a handheld type. The problems that I have with it at the moment, well, it's hard to find call cards for it. So far, I can get it from the agent that I got it from, but I can't expect him to sell me cards forever. And the next place I could get it is at SM Manila Bayan Center. Regarding the load, well, as long as reload before the expiration day, I get to keep the unused loads. The other problem is the signal. I was so happy with it the first time I tried it because I got a strong signal all the way home from Manila, but the signal dropped as soon as I entered the house. Right now, I have it near a window where I get a fluctuating 2-3 bars.Still, it's usable.

Now remember I was thinking of getting a handheld wireless landline? Looks like I'm getting one, but not from Bayantel, PLDT has just officially launched their own wireless landline prepaid service, the postpaid plans has been out for some time now. What's nice about the PLDT thing is that, it uses SMART's own cellular signal, which means, wherever there is a SMART signal, the PLDT wireless. But the caveat is, even though there's a signal, if it's out of the local area (e.g. a Manila SIM will only work in Manila), you cannot use it anymore, as in, no incoming and outgoing calls. But what's exciting is, I can use the SIM on any openlined GSM mobile phone, as it's just a cellular service in the guise of a wireless landline. I'm more inclined into getting one anyways. I'm just waiting for the regular work to resume and a visit to a business center is at hand.

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