Smart has introduced a new and lower LTE plan for subscribers on top of the existing LTE Plan 3500 and LTE Plan 1799.
Smart’s LTE Plan 1299 drops the monthly subscription fee to just Php1,299 with a 24-month lock-in period.
The plan comes with a free LTE dongle or you can upgrade to an LTE WiFi modem for a one-time fee of Php2,000. Of course, the data cap is also lowered to just 5GB per month.
The post Smart introduces LTE Plan 1299 appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.
PLDT-owned Sun Cellular has recently announced in their Facebook page the latest addition to their premium handset offering – the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
The 5.5-inch handset will be offered under the Plan 1500 with and additional cash-out which, if broken down to a monthly fee, will equate to PhP199. If we are to multiply that by 30, which is the duration of the lock-in period of the said postpaid plan, that’s a total of Php5970 cash-out on top of the Php45K total that you have to pay for the plan itself.
Sun Cellular’s offer is actually the cheaper than what Smart (UnliData Plan 1500 + Php11,500 cash-out) and Globe (UnliSurf Plan 1799 + Php4,800 cash-out) is currently offering. Sun’s modified Plan 1699 includes unlimited internet and unlimited inter-network voice calls and SMS. Moreover, you’ll also get 250 worth of SMS to other networks, 60 minutes worth of IDD calls and Unlimited calls to Sun Cellular landline in selected areas.
The post Sun Cellular offers Galaxy Note 2 on Plan 1699 appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.
In a press briefing this morning, Globe formally announced the availability of the iPhone 5 in their network and also answered the lingering question of LTE support for the device.
According to Globe’s Peter Bithos, they will not differentiate between 3G and LTE when it comes to offering mobile internet service to their subscribers.
This means that if you can get UnliSurf for Php999 a month on your 3G/HSPA+ iPhone 4S, you will also pay the same price when you switch over to the iPhone 5 LTE.
At the moment, the LTE service with Globe is not yet provisioned for the iPhone 5 units that they’ve handed out to subscribers starting today. However, once it is ready, a software update on the iPhone 5 (via OTA) will enable this. Of course, your nano-SIM and account will have to be provisioned as well (not sure if that requires you to switch to an LTE SIM or not).
In any case, this is definitely good news to all iPhone 5 subscribers.
On the other hand, Smart has not made any announcements regarding their LTE service for the iPhone 5. However, if we based it on the current LTE handset plans that Smart has recently announced (see our story on Smart’s Sony Xperia V LTE), then we might expect a 1.5GB data cap on UnliData Plan 1500 or a higher 2.5GB for UnliData Plan 2000.
The post Globe promises unlimited LTE on iPhone 5 appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.
We’ve inquired with Globe how their Reset Program works for the new iPhone 5 that will be released on December 14. What they did was create a Reset Calculator so it’s easier for subscribers to compute.
The Reset Program allows an existing subscriber to renew or extend their existing subscription just to get the iPhone 5.
This means that if you’re 24-month contract is not up for renewal, you can pay the corresponding Reset Fee and get the iPhone 5 on your current line.
So instead of getting the full amount of the prepaid kit to pair with your existing line, you get a discounted price.
Here’s the Reset Calculator you can use:
Go here for the Reset Calculator.
****** A word from the fine folks of Sun Cellular ******
Sun Cellular launches BlackBerry Prepaid!
Get the Sun BlackBerry All Day 50 for all-day unlimited mobile internet, unlimited social networking, unlimited instant messaging, unlimited BlackBerry browsing and unlimited BBM for only Php50.
Follow @suncelltweets for more info.
The post Globe iPhone 5 Reset Program Explained appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.
Now that both telcos have published their prepaid and postpaid plans for the upcoming iPhone 5, we’ve come up with a more detailed breakdown to see which of the two offers the better deal.
We start off with the prepaid kit prices of the iPhone 5 with Globe and Smart. These handsets will be locked to their respective networks.
The most affordable price for the 16GB model is from Smart, which is Php33,600 compared to the Php35,400 from Globe. That’s a price difference of Php1,800 in favor of Smart.
We then look at the postpaid plans of the two carriers and compared the ones that offers a free iPhone 5 right off the bat (this is under the assumption that you want to get the unit free and is looking for the best/optimal monthly plan).
There are some qualifications we need to explain first between the plan offerings:
Based on the chart above, the Plan 2499 from Globe gives much more flexibility in plan usage and consumption. This is evident with the Php1,500 consumable credits tucked into it.
The free 32GB iPhone 5 from Smart gives you the lowest TCOA (total cost of acquisition) among the 3 plans, followed by the 16GB iPhone 5 from Globe. If you want a better deal for the unit and don’t really care much about the plan, then Smart’s got you with Plan 2499.
If you’re a heavy data user and want more storage, then the Unli Data Plan 3000 from Smart gives you the 32GB iPhone 5 for free. This puts the Data Plan 3000 into a very odd position of being more expensive but has less free SMS than the Plan 2499.
So this is basically a toss up between Globe’s Plan 2499 with 16GB iPhone 5 that comes with Php1,500 consumable credits or the 32GB iPhone 5 from Smart but with no consumable credits except for free minutes and SMS.
Depending on your usage behavior and priority, all three postpaid plans from Smart and Globe are very compelling offers. It’s really up to you which one fits your needs and lifestyle.
Complete plan and pricing for Smart iPhone 5 here.
Complete plan and pricing for Globe iPhone 5 here.
You can read our review of the iPhone 5 here.
Updated: Confirmed with a Smart rep that the Plan 2499 is now unlimited from last year’s 1GB cap. This means Plan 3000 is way more expensive but has less free SMS compared to Plan 2499. I think the adjustment was done to directly compete with Globe’s Unlisurf 2499 which created the plan discrepancy with Unli Data 3000.
****** A word from the fine folks of Sun Cellular ******
Sun Cellular launches BlackBerry Prepaid!
Get the Sun BlackBerry All Day 50 for all-day unlimited mobile internet, unlimited social networking, unlimited instant messaging, unlimited BlackBerry browsing and unlimited BBM for only Php50.
Follow @suncelltweets for more info.
The post iPhone 5 Plans: Smart vs. Globe Compared appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.
Diag| Memory: Current usage: 59 MB
Diag| Memory: Peak usage: 85 MB