sun soft launched their HSDPA 1 time charge P2,000 (comes w/ huawei e220 modem) yes it works w/ mac! Plan 500 = 35Hrs/month and if you exceed the monthly allowance P0.30/minute Plan 1000 = 75Hrs/month and if you exceed the monthly allowance P0.30/minute they'll issue you a 3g simcard and a huawei e220. huawei e220 is sun-locked accdg to their CS. (globe issued e220 /globetrotter/e620 (oct 2006) were not network locked) the simcard they'll issue has no mobile number, hence- cannot make or receive sms/calls. currently, accdg to their CS, Greenhills is hsdpa already. i will be testing my postpaid sun w/ my e220 (from globe) as soon i as i get their apn note: re the regular sun sim- I THINK is still at P0.25/kb charge.
is this unit portable? sorry, i'm not in the country right now and im curious because i need one for my girlfriend in manila.
The SIM card itself is very small. I guess it depends what device you stick it into. A 3G HSDPA phone will work, so will the Huawei dongle. It's a USB dongle. about as large as a calling card and less than a centimeter thick. My concern is that if this is an HSDPA only service, it will only work in areas with HSDPA coverage. There is no fallback, because there is no phone number to access the regular network to use EDGE or GPRS service. From what I know, EDGE and GPRS are integrated into the cellular access system, whereas HSDPA may be (doesn't mean have to be, that's why there's also combined Cellular+HSDPA like Globe Visibility) detached from the cellular access system and managed separately by the phone company.
ohman, sorry but i'm slow with wireless tech already. so it's portable and yet might not be as useful?
it'll be interesting to see if this will be the competition for the smartbro prepaid thingie. or is there no competition at all?
the huawei e220 speed is up to hsdpa 3.6mbps... so gprs, edge, 3g speed are covered. the cellular number to fall back will be csd or hscsd which i dont know if any networks are still using it... first csd phone was nokia 7110 where you dial a number to access wap page.
I'm just curious. Are there any expresscard|34s that would work with either Globe, Smart or Sun? I just don't like to carry any extra USB devices around. Let me know. Thanks.
Way cool! if this is being soft launched, where can one get a unit? At .30/min excess is pretty competetive considering that it will only cost around Php 18/hour compared to the 20/hour of the other two major wireless telco. This may be a viable alternative. I love competition!
sun offering hsdpa? wow, cool! this may be off-topic but my huawei e220 conked out on me. it's issued by globe. been using it for more than a year (funny how things get busted just when the warranty expires..) brought the unit to a globe business center and i was asked to have it serviced at semicon. i meticulously inquired as to what happens if the unit is beyond repair but i don't get straight answers from both globe and semicon. according to them, unit can only be replaced if covered by warranty. damn. wala na nga warranty e ang kulit. so, i will be left with a globe visibility plan with no huawei e220 to put the sim on... both globe and semicon do not sell the unit so where do i get one? and if ever it is locally being sold, for how much? haaaay, customer service in the country really sucks! i can make use of my nokia N95 as modem but hey i ran out of batt after a few mins of surfing and not to mention, switching sims every now and then is such a hassle. i have never dropped the huawei e220, i take good care of my gadgets, things.. so, i am arguing with globe and semicon that once they see the nature of the defect (not of the customer's own doing) they should consider replacing it. i am such a disgruntled customer
sorry, my reply was inadvertently posted thrice.. has to do with the slow connection i have right now
if only sun's E220 and smart's usb hsdpa modem are "not locked" to their respective networks, that would be a cheaper alternative. btw, i saw villman's website re usb hsdpa but it only works on windows
i was able to make the Villman USB HSDPA to work with my mac. my problem is that i couldn't manually force it switch to 3G or 3.5G when it is currently getting 2G signal (altough meron 3G signal sa area).
I'm not sure, but I read the testing areas are san juan and QC? (citation needed). I Don't know, better call 333 so that you can make sure.
does anyone know if they also charge the same for pre paid sim cards? like the ones with smart? I have a smart sim specifically for the wireless internet servie. it would be nice if they also offered these
