So as many people may have seen on TFC commercials, Startec has begun advertising their unlimited Philippines calling plan for only $24.99 a month, and if you're like me, and calls to the family in pinas is an expensive monthly occurrence, it seems like something worth trying out.
So looking closer, the $25/mo plan is for signing up for a 3 month contract. They offer a single month plan, which may be good to try out, for about $30.
You are able to call up to 5 cell phones in the Philippines (only Globe numbers) from either your landline or cellphone here in the US.
They give you a local access number you dial, and then from there, you enter in one of your 5 selected Philippines numbers to call.
So far, during my first month, my experience has been not been good, but if you readers have had any better experiences, please share below. The more info people have, the better choices they can make.
Pros -
- When a call does go through, the call quality is excellent
- Cost, you can't beat the cost for with other plans when calling mobile phones in the philippines. And its 'unlimited' ( apparently that means 300 mins/day )
Cons -
- Dialing, You dial a local US access number, and then you must dial in one of your 5 selected numbers in the Philippines. I can save the access number in my phone as a contact, but then must dial the long '011-63-...' number every time, much like a phone card.
- You cannot change your registered number you use for calling until you cancel your account. If you signed up for the 3 or 6 month plan, and decide you would like to change the phone you are using to make the calls to the philippines, you're out of luck! I'm told by customer service, can't be done, and I must cancel my account ( no refund ), and open a new account with the new number.
- Same above applies to the '5' chosen numbers in the Philippines you are calling.
- More often than not, the calls I make do not connect. I dial the number and just get an error recording from Startec. Customer service says that they're sorry for the problems, but they are experiencing a lot of 'traffic' on their lines and doing their best to fix it.
- Extremely long wait times when calling customer service!
Well, it's still early in my one month trial, and I'm willing to give them a chance at fixing their 'heavy traffic' problem. I can live with the other cons at this low price, but I'm just wasting money if the service is not even working and keeping me from contacting my family. That's the biggest and most frustrating problem.
