The panel agreed to conduct more hearings and approved the motion of Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez to reconsider the approval of Ilocos Sur Rep. Eric Singson’s House bill 6625.

TxtPower told the panel that since the last meeting on Sept. 8, it “did not provide the public, including oppositors, an opportunity to attend and be heard.”

The Cellphone Owners and Users of the Philippines (COUP) had also filed a lawsuit,

“The class suit is filed in order to prevent temporarily, and later on permanently, the illegal, prohibitive and unconstitutional imposition of an excise tax on SMS and overseas calls.” the lawsuit claimed.

There was also an online protest created by OFWs called the No to Text Tax! This online campaign in Facebook was led by Susan Ople, president of the Ople Policy Center; Jun Aguilar, a representative from the Filipino Migrant Workers’ Group; and Lito Soriano of LBS e-Recruitment Solutions. The campaign has garnered more than a thousand supporters just 3 days after its creation.

Antique Rep. Exequiel Javier said the committee agreed to a proposed tax on text without the “no pass-on provision” being insisted by Ilocos Sur Rep. Eric Singson. The no pass-on provision (House bill 6625) would prevent telecommunication firms from passing the tax on to consumers.

“It’s very hard to put a no pass-on provision because it is an indirect tax. [A tax is part of the] cost of doing business. You have to pass it on otherwise the business will be losing,” Javier said.

Speaker Prospero Nograles said in a text message to reporters,

“It is very clear that based on our previous hearings, there is no need to increase the cost of the short messaging system service of our telcos because the P1 per text that is already being charged from consumers is more than enough to cover the five-centavo tax for each text,”

Nograles also said that the real cost of sending each text message was only 25 centavos.

“By expanding the scope of our services to 2G handsets, more consumers among the estimated 14 to 16 million Filipino mobile phone users will enjoy the competitive rates offered by our network,” says Red Mobile Product Manager Darvin Sy Su.

Red Mobile is using the same telecommunication infrastructures and technology of SMART. This means that Red Mobile will be powered by 8, 477 cellsites.

Tests were conducted last year (Sept. 17 to Oct. 6, 2008) by NTC engineers on three cellular service operators, namely Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, and Sun Cellular to measure the quality of services rendered. They made 2,475 network-to-network calls per operator in 13 Metro Manila cities, as part of the tests.

Three areas were reviewed namely network accessibility (circuit switch), service accessibility (telephony), and call completion rate circuit switch (telephony), to measure the quality of service indicators.

Network accessibility (Circuit Switch). All three got perfect scores.
Globe 100%
Smart 100%
Sun 100%

Service Accessibility (Telephony). Globe got the highest mark.
Globe 97.98%
Smart 96.24%
Sun 83.02%

Call Completion Rate Circuit Switch (Telephony). Globe and Smart tied at 98.55%.
Globe 98.55%
Smart 98.55%
Sun 97.65%

Signal Strength
Smart 91.81%
Globe 86.58%
Sun 84.48%

Signal Quality
Globe 93.79%
Smart 93%
Sun 84.47%

Hand Over Success Rate
Smart 99.03%
Globe 98.27%
Sun 96.72%

Call Set-up Time (based on the 2,475 sample calls)
Globe 97.29%
Smart 95.76%
Sun 80.12%

In terms of blocked and dropped calls, a lower percentage is desirable to ensure higher quality of service and therefore, the operator with a lower percentage was given a higher ranking.

Blocked Calls (based on the 2,475 sample calls). Blocked calls are failed connection to the network due to unavailability of signal.
Globe 49 (1.99%)
Smart 93 (3.79%)
Sun 779 (17.05%)

Dropped Calls (based on the 2,475 sample calls). A call is considered dropped when the signal has been cut just a few seconds upon connection.
Globe 35 (1.42%)
Smart 35 (1.42%)
Sun 48 (1.95%)

Under the NTC’s circular on service performance standards for CMTS, the allowable drop call rate is 5 percent. NTC also noted that blocked and dropped calls are caused by network congestion and system failure.

Mr. Makkonen is a Finnish engineer who is credited with inventing SMS, which allows short messages to be sent between mobile phones. He proposed the idea in the 1980s while working at Finland’s telecoms authority. Billions of text messages are now sent every day.

SMS is not only for text messaging. Many have built applications around SMS that allowed it to be used, not only in communication, but also in other fields such as SMS banking, SMS voting, Globe G-Cash, Smart Money, Infotext, and other SMS services.

Other winners of The Economist’s Innovation Award were:

• Bioscience: Martin Evans, director of the school of biosciences and professor of mammalian genetics at Cardiff University, for his work in stem-cell research and the development of “knockout” mice.
• Business Process: Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia for the promotion of online public collaboration as a means of content development.
• Computing and Telecommunications: Matti Makkonen for the development of Short Message Service (SMS), or text messaging.
• Consumer Products and Services: Steve Chen and Chad Hurley of YouTube, for creating an easy way to share video.
• Energy and the Environment: Arthur Rosenfeld for his promotion of energy efficiency.
• No Boundaries: Sumio Iijima for the discovery of carbon nanotubes.
• Social and Economic Innovation: Bill Gates and Melinda Gates for developing of a philanthropic support platform.
• Corporate Innovation: Nokia for its ability to respond to social and technological trends while maintaining its position as the world’s largest handset-maker.

Photo credit: Book IT

• Red Mobile SIM is now available on selected retail outlets for P 39.
• Prefix number is 0938. You cannot have your mobile numbers customized anymore.
• Cost of voice calls per minute, text, and MMS is P 0.50 (Red Mobile to Red Mobile)
  
• A 3G mobile phone is required. You will need to set the network settings on your 3G handset to 3G / Dual mode or UMTS mode. If you’re looking for a cheap 3G phone to use with Red Mobile, try LG KU250.

To activate your Red Mobile’s 3G / MMS settings, text

RED <handset model> to 9969

Service Rates

Voice Call

• Red Mobile to Red Mobile P0.50/min
• Red Mobile to other networks P6.50/min

SMS

• Red Mobile to Red Mobile P0.50/text
• Red Mobile to other networks P0.75/text

MMS

• Red Mobile to Red Mobile P0.50/MMS

Video Calls

• Red Mobile to Red Mobile P0.50/min
• Red Mobile to other networks P6.50/min

Mobile Internet

• WAP Browsing P7.50/15 mins

This is my Red Mobile SIM. I bought it from a small store somewhere in Alabang-Las Pinas area.

This means I won’t be needing my Umobile SIM anymore. So I will just keep it as a remembrance. Goodbye Umobile.

Hello Red Mobile!

We are glad to inform you that you have won P650,000 thru PGMA. Claim ur prize, call now. I’m Atty. Garey B. Aquino from BSP Info Department. DTI Permit #3920.

I think many have fallen for such scams. Which is why, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) gave us some tips on how to detect such frauds (from Yahoo News):

First clue: the source of the text message is just an ordinary 11-digit mobile number instead of the special four-digit numbers.

Second clue: the message would claim that the recipient won in a raffle they never knew they took part.

Third clue: the message urges the recipient to claim his or her “prize” quickly. The DTI said promos usually give the winner 60 days to claim the prize.

To report a text scam, call DTI Direct Hotline at 751-3330. You can also file a complaint on their webste.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is the executive department of the Philippine Government tasked to expand Philippine trade and industry as the means to generate jobs and raise incomes for Filipinos.

Let’s take the “100 peso load” as an example
I need to receive 200 ads to get a 100 peso load.
With a 100 peso load, I can:

• send 666 text messages (Php 0.15/text u to u) or
• call up to 20 mins (Php 5/min u to u)

Receiving 200 ads per month is equivalent to 50 ads/week. So that means, receiving 50 ads/week can give me:

• 166 text messages per week or
• 5 mins talk time per week

I can assume that:
Receiving 7 ads/day, gives me:

1. 300 text messages, AND
2. 11 mins of talk time per month

300 text messages * o.15 = 45 pesos
11mins * 5 = 55 pesos
45 pesos + 55 = 100 pesos

300 text messages per month is a lot already. If I’m an active texter, Umobile can work for me. But if I call more often than text, I can choose to answer only 7 ads/day, and buy an additional 300 peso load. That will give me 80 mins more talk time. But that will depend on how I want to spend my load.

Not sure if Umobile’s low charging rates are enough for people to drop their existing postpaids/prepaids and completely switch to Umobile. But Umobile has this ‘change number’ feature which makes people proud of their personalized 0999 number and this could possibly attract them to keep Umobile as their secondary SIM. If everyone else is on Umobile, then their low rates for voice calls and text messages will be more appreciated.

Then next morning, ümobile Customer Service sent me an invite code.

We’re so happy that you want to be part of our ümobile family! And as requested, here’s your invite code: xxxxxxxxxxx

Now all you have to do is plug in your invite code at www.umobile.com.ph and complete the forms. If accepted, we’ll send an email to notify you.

(Email date: July 3, Thursday, 6:41am)
(Email read: July 3, Thursday, 11:45am)

So I signed up right away. I filled out a LONG application form including the first 3 lifestyle questionnaires. Then I immediately got a reply from ümobile:

Thanks for applying and answering the first round of lifestyle questionnaires on the site.

However, there’s another group of lifestyle questionnaires that you left unanswered. Maybe you’d like to go back and complete them so that we can get to know you even better.

(Email date: July 3, Thursday, 12:03 pm)

So I logged in to my ümobile account and answered the remaining set of lifestyle questionnaires. Then I got another email:

Thanks for applying and finishing the questionnaires!

Your application is being processed. Just sit tight for our email saying that you’ve been approved as a ümobile subscriber.

Then log on to www.umobile.com.ph and enter an exciting world of ümobile.

(Email Date: July 3, Thursday, 12:10pm)

After 4 days, my application was approved.

It’s official! You are now part of the wonderful world of ümobile. As part of the ümobile community, you can call, text, MMS, surf the net, and chat online for free! Well, almost.

Wait for the call from our courier to confirm your SIM delivery details. Upon delivery of your new ümobile SIM, please present 1 valid ID and submit a photocopy of this to the delivery personnel.

(Email Date: July 7, Monday, 9:02pm)

After 3 days, I got a text message from Zip Bus Srvs, the courier hired by Umobile to deliver the SIM. They asked me to call thru landline so we can discuss about the sim delivery. (SMS Date: July 10, Thursday, 4:21pm)

So I called and requested my SIM to be delivered the next day, July 11 at 10am. When she asked for my complete address, I told her that I will send it via text so she won’t have to write it down.

The next day, July 11, Friday, the sim didn’t arrive at the time I expected, which is 10am. The delivery guy arrived at 2pm. So late! I can’t complain, because it’s just a free sim.

Anyway, here it is, my Umobile SIM!