General Info

[Aml3740]

Different topic. Exchange rates. Sent myself a remittance, from my home country bank to GC. From the pics you can see that there was no fee, and that the remittance service gave me p56.02 for each dollar they took from my bank account. The exchange rate at the time was p58.7 per 1 USD. Thus representing an approximate loss to me of 58.7 - 56.02 = 2. 68 pesos per dollar on the exchange.

Other remittance organizations offer a higher exchange rate (better for you), but they usually charge a fee of a few USD (worse for you).

I use Sendwave to send to my gcash. It is usually about one peso less than the exchange rate. The cash in rate for most places to gcash (if you have cash) is at least 15 pesos per 1 k, or 1. 5 pesos per hundred, so not much difference.

[WestCoast1]

Different topic. Exchange rates. Sent myself a remittance, from my home country bank to GC. From the pics you can see that there was no fee, and that the remittance service gave me p56.02 for each dollar they took from my bank account. The exchange rate at the time was p58.7 per 1 USD. Thus representing an approximate loss to me of 58.7 - 56.02 = 2. 68 pesos per dollar on the exchange.

Other remittance organizations offer a higher exchange rate (better for you), but they usually charge a fee of a few USD (worse for you).

[NoobMonger0]

Hey guys,

I've been wondering, do you use your real photos when hunting for freelancers in Tinder, Pinalove etc?

Or do you use some fake photos and try to stay discreet?

I'm asking because my trip is in a few days and I'm not sure what to do about this.

Thanks.

[Aml3740]

Agreed. However my aim was to arrive with working load. Ie top up from home. Since I don't have a working SIM now that has now expanded to get a SIM and load from home. Like others getting the telco's apps to work, with a foreign card, from home has been no joy at all.

Not ideal but I'll just get one from the Globe desk at arrival. I need data at the airport so buying in town, while cheaper and easier, is of no help to me.

Cheers.

I bought a phone in the Philippines a couple of years ago. It was mid-range, at about 6. 5 k. Bought a globe sim, and it worked great. I just did the pre-paid load, as it is good enough and I have wifi most places I stay.

My problem was that it would not load or work when I came back to the US. My gcash, Lazada, Globe One app would all stop working because I needed a OTP, and I could t receive it.

That phone was dual sim, and I thought I would get a pre-paid sim and use it here, but, even though the IMEI number check said it would be compatible with the network, it wouldn't work. Come to find out, the phone was not compatible with the US cellular bands.

I wanted a working phone as well when I came went back to the Philippines. So, what I did is buy a cheap used iPhone SE 3rd generation for about $150. It has space for a physical sim and is also eSIM compatible. I loaded it and it worked fine. I get OTP texts just fine now in the US for my Philippines needs, and even weather alerts, etc.

If you get a compatible phone with eSIM, just download the Globe One app. You can load it from gcash, register it, and good to go. Gcash makes things convenient. For whatever reason, if I have load balance for Globe, it won't let me convert load balance to buy a promo. It's stupid hehehe.

[YoungSnape]

Hello Friends! Asking this question while the topic maybe fresh in people's minds -.

Asia experts: How does Philippines scene look around Christmas and NYE? Is it fair to assume that being on the religious side. Most girls would take vacation around this time to be with Family and Friends and it would be slim pickings this time of the year? How does it compare to the rest of Asia (say Thailand / Japan / Vietnam) over the same time period?

[Goferring]

You can buy a Globe 5 G SIM almost anywhere, and register it yourself at:

Agreed. However my aim was to arrive with working load. Ie top up from home. Since I don't have a working SIM now that has now expanded to get a SIM and load from home. Like others getting the telco's apps to work, with a foreign card, from home has been no joy at all.

Not ideal but I'll just get one from the Globe desk at arrival. I need data at the airport so buying in town, while cheaper and easier, is of no help to me.

Cheers.

[Old And Ugly]

You can buy a Globe 5 G SIM almost anywhere, and register it yourself at:

https://new.globe.com.ph/simreg

If I can do it, anyone can? Steps:

Access the SIM registration website.

Enter your 10-digit mobile number (ex. 9171234567) and click the Register button.

If eligible to register, youll receive a One Time Pin (OTP) text message on your mobile phone.

Enter the 6-digit OTP on the registration website. Note that the OTP expires in five minutes.

After your OTP is validated, you may now proceed with the registration.

Enter all required fields: Name, Birthday, Gender, Address, and Nationality

Take a selfie and select the type of government ID to be uploaded. Click the attach button to upload a copy of your valid government ID.

Tick the checkbox to agree with Globe's Privacy Notice and Attestation of Completeness and Accuracy.

Click "Submit" button to finish the registration process.

A reference number will appear on your screen to signify completion of registration. Please keep the reference number as proof of registration.

The following are the official IDs that will be accepted in registering SIMs:

Passport.

SSS ID.

Driver's License.

NBI Clearance.

PRC ID.

IBP ID.

OWWA ID.

BIR ID.

Senior Citizen ID.

UMID Card.

Philhealth ID.

Philippine Identification (National ID).

Voter's ID.

I can't never do it from outside the PH in the GlobeOne app, because they send you the OTP, and I cannot receive it if I'm not in the PH. I have Globe postpaid, and also Gcash, and I always pay the bill from the Gcash app, it is the only way it works for me when not in the country.

And yes I have the same problem, the CC payment doesn't work for me also.

Basically I came to the conclusion that all the 3rd world official apps were written by somebody's nephew, because it only works and looks good if everything is perfectly in line with what they had in mind when they wrote the app, any detour from a normal transaction, will result in catastrophic failure, just like ordering a big mac without the onion at McD.

[Old And Ugly]

Fair report guy.

PSA: Another PAL flash sale. See pics for details. Booking timeframe is short, Feb 2-3, about one day. Which means their system will be inundated at the time (be prepared for app and browser failures / slowdowns in your reservation attempts).

Travel dates are Feb 10 - March 31.

10-20% savings.

I don't even include PAL in my searches anymore, because they are very expensive compared to AirAsia CebuPacific and the new one: VietJet.

[WestCoast1]

I have no idea why but I threw out the Globe SIM from my last trip ie the one that is less than 12 months old. I did find another one from Smart but it seems to expire as a can't top it up from the Smart App or anything else. So it looks like I don't have a working SIM to work from. I'll probably have to man up and just buy one in arrival and make sure I keep this one.

Thanks. G.

You can buy a Globe 5 G SIM almost anywhere, and register it yourself at:

https://new.globe.com.ph/simreg

If I can do it, anyone can? Steps:

Access the SIM registration website.

Enter your 10-digit mobile number (ex. 9171234567) and click the Register button.

If eligible to register, youll receive a One Time Pin (OTP) text message on your mobile phone.

Enter the 6-digit OTP on the registration website. Note that the OTP expires in five minutes.

After your OTP is validated, you may now proceed with the registration.

Enter all required fields: Name, Birthday, Gender, Address, and Nationality

Take a selfie and select the type of government ID to be uploaded. Click the attach button to upload a copy of your valid government ID.

Tick the checkbox to agree with Globe's Privacy Notice and Attestation of Completeness and Accuracy.

Click "Submit" button to finish the registration process.

A reference number will appear on your screen to signify completion of registration. Please keep the reference number as proof of registration.

The following are the official IDs that will be accepted in registering SIMs:

Passport.

SSS ID.

Driver's License.

NBI Clearance.

PRC ID.

IBP ID.

OWWA ID.

BIR ID.

Senior Citizen ID.

UMID Card.

Philhealth ID.

Philippine Identification (National ID).

Voter's ID.

[Goferring]

https://www.ding.com/

Try Ding dot com. Using your CC, you can load in many countries, including your Globe SIM. Its easy. The downside is the fee. They charge about a 50% fee. You want to load the SIM with p500, and they charge your card p700 or so. Get in there and root around (good advice for all mongers). Report back any success. I used it for years prior to G-Cash.

I have no idea why but I threw out the Globe SIM from my last trip ie the one that is less than 12 months old. I did find another one from Smart but it seems to expire as a can't top it up from the Smart App or anything else. So it looks like I don't have a working SIM to work from. I'll probably have to man up and just buy one in arrival and make sure I keep this one.

Thanks. G.

[WestCoast1]

Do you have a Phils SIM already? Even if it's been unused for a few months I think. You can download the globe app and top up.

Your Phils SIM cards are usually good to be dormant out of the country for a year or less.

I find the Globe One app to be disorganized and dysfunctional. There is an area in the app where you can make payments to your account from GC or a CC. But I could never get the CC part to work (even though my CC was in their system already when I signed up for post-paid service), especially when I was out of the country (or so I thought). When I returned and waltzed into a Globe store to show them that it would not work, I got: "Oh. No sir. Of course not". Good sir, was it because I was out of the country for a month? It also hasn't worked since I returned. "No sir. You want to change to your new credit card?" Yes, the old one was fraud-frozen by the bank. I have a new CC account now. "You can't do that". Why not? There is a place in the app for adding the new card. "Yes sir. But you can not do that in the app". Why not? "It does not work sir". Then why have it in the app? "I don't know sir". So how to get my new CC info in? "I can do it here now". How to do that the next time I am overseas for several months? Don't you guys want to get paid? "You must come into the store sir and show your ID". How quaint! He entered the new CC info. Fixed.

Or not. A week later I flew to NCR for a spell. The next day I started getting emails and txt msgs from a debt-collection agent in Phils, for my recent unpaid Globe bill. "We will not hesitate to take you in the Court". Waltzed into Glorietta to the Globe store. Explained the sitch. The guy took 30 minutes to fix-my-sitch. "Its fixed now sir. It will bill automatically to your new CC. Its the app sir. Its not good at this time. Problemas". Thanks guy. Two days later, "We will not hesitate to take you in the Court". This lasted less than a week and I went back to the same guy. This time 40 minutes. "Fixed now sir". Wasn't it fixed before? "No sir". I was shocked to hear that. Finally the delinquency notices stopped.

Or not. A few months later they started again. Walked into the province Globe store to inquire. "Ignore those. It will stop". And it did.

[WestCoast1]

I found an old Smart SIM but I think it's well over 12 months old. I remember I only used Globe last trip. Any way, for what ever reason I couldn't top up online thru the app.

Thanks. G.

https://www.ding.com/

Try Ding dot com. Using your CC, you can load in many countries, including your Globe SIM. Its easy. The downside is the fee. They charge about a 50% fee. You want to load the SIM with p500, and they charge your card p700 or so. Get in there and root around (good advice for all mongers). Report back any success. I used it for years prior to G-Cash.

[Goferring]

Do you have a Phils SIM already? Even if it's been unused for a few months I think. You can download the globe app and top up.

I found an old Smart SIM but I think it's well over 12 months old. I remember I only used Globe last trip. Any way, for what ever reason I couldn't top up online thru the app.

Thanks. G.

[Jingo10]

For the tech savvy.

My play phone won't accept an eSIM. I want to have working data on arrival but it takes forever to buy a package at NAIA Arrivals. Can I get Globe or Smart data to work from home before I leave? Just data. I don't need call or txt.

If there is a solution, explain it like I'm a 4 year old. I'm no good at this stuff.

Thanks. G.

Do you have a Phils SIM already? Even if it's been unused for a few months I think. You can download the globe app and top up.

[KumuMan]

Hello all,

I am one of those who comes and reads but usually doesn't post much.

In fact, I was in Makati last September, got drunk and didn't play until the last morning I spent there.

The point is that I want to know about the best place to exchange USD to pesos. I exchanged at the airport but if any of you knows a better place, I'the be happy to know.

Thank you gents.

If you are close to: the Casinos have the best rates.