gprs on the road (a horror story)

[penmanila]

no, this isn’t elbert’s fault for setting up my T610 for use with globe gprs--my bad for forgetting what he told me afterwards, which was to limit myself to email. instead, happy to find the setup working like a charm, i’ve been surfing and downloading/uploading merrily away this past month from davao, baguio, iloilo, and cebu--until i got a message from globe yesterday saying that i had exceeded my credit limit on my postpaid line--which in my case is a liberal P10,000! (i don’t normally use a third of that--i just got a big limit for when i roam abroad.)

when i called globe (from where i am in cebu), i found that i had racked up P12,000+ worth of gprs bills over the past month--aaaargh! a little more and i would’ve had another ipod! since i’m on the road and depend on my phone/laptop connection, i begged globe not to cut me off while i asked my daughter to pay off the bill on her credit card.... so it’s off to tacloban by supercat today and back to P100 internet prepaid cards and 9.6 kbps speeds. don’t do it, folks!

[Maverick]

hmm... I thought Globe's GPRS was free.... hmm... guess not huh.. :wound:

[Zauber]

Just to make you feel better, Pen... (It's really so cool being *MOBILE* that) I racked up P50,000+ (That's the PESO equivalent) myself in just 2 months!

Believe it or Not!

... Experience is the best teacher... :blush:

[pipoyg]

Sir Butch! I feel your pain.

I also got hit with a big globe bill last month since I was texting away like anything the last time I went overseas. I couldn't help it.... it was just like my wife and I were having a regular conversation at home via text. :roll:

The power of communication talaga....

Oh well, I'd rather have the ability and control myself rather than not have the capability (email, txt or whatever) at all.

[pipoyg]

hmm... I thought Globe's GPRS was free.... hmm... guess not huh..

I think you can surf for free. It's when you download that they begin to charge you. The amount would depend on how big your downloads are since they charge you by the bit or kb.

[mykmarinas]

Hey guys, how fast is the connection when using globe gprs? thanks.

[elbert]

@pipoyg: WAP over GPRS is free, Internet over GPRS is not, whether browsing or downloading.

@penmanila: I'm so sorry t hear that. Horror of horrors! I can't help but feel responsible.

Personally, I've never gone beyond P2.000 in a month. And that's when I'm on an out-of-towner like you are now. When I use GPRS, I hardly browse (it's too slow anyway), I mostly e-mail and iChat. My GPRS bill has gone down lately because of Wi-Fi hotspots. I average about P500/month.

@mykmarinas: The actual speed of GPRS is typically 27kbps.

[penmanila]

no need to feel sorry, elbert--i asked for it, and was forewarned at any rate, it's a great option to have, esp. if you can treat it as a business expense (hmmm, i think i'm going to find a way of billing this to my client...).

it's pretty fast and very easy to use, whereas a regular phone connection via prepaid card or regular ISP crawls along at 9.6 kbps.

in case you're wondering. i'm now at an internet cafe a few steps away from my hotel in lahug... now, had i known that....

[Maverick]

Originally posted by pipoyg
I think you can surf for free. It's when you download that they begin to charge you.

FYI: just like elbert stated, when you view a website, you are downloading data. May it be via images, html code and the like.

[togi]

I have a friend that was in a similar situation, he was charged around 40k. he called globe and asked why he was not advised that GPRS wasnt free anymore and they offered him a discount off the total bill. Dont know if he ever payed it off, as far as i know he doesnt use that number anymore.