Contacting family back home in the Philippines

[guitarjam 5]

Thanks for all the feedback. Paying more per month with Skype for only 120 minutes isn't very much. I would rather get her one of the unlimited monthly plans for only $9.99. I'll look into these things in more detail as we approach her arrival date since getting it now would be somewhat pointless.

The GlobeDUO US is cheap now due to a promo, otherwise your looking at $25 a month.

Keep us posted on what worked for you, a few of us are looking in the same direction...

[jg121783 3,915]

if her family has Globe celphone, your fiance can subscribe to this,

http://duo.globe.com.ph/

My fiance and I also use Globe DUO. It is not perfect and the call quality can be touch and go sometimes (better than a bad Skype connection though) but works okay most of the time. One thing I noticed ( I don't know if anyone else has experienced this) is when your call reaches 45 minutes it automatically disconnects and you have to call back every time.When I first met my fiance we used this alot because there was no internet service where she lives and Skype was very bad most of the time over her cell data connection. Now she has Globe LTE and sometimes Skype works okay but sometimes the internet connection is very poor. If you are looking at getting Globe LTE service just be aware that they have monthly data limits and most of the time you will not get anywhere near the advertised speed and they will throttle your connection even before you use your monthly data allowance. It is also more expensive than my DSL here in the US. I could start a whole thread about how Globe has dropped the ball on their internet service but that is a topic for another time. I spent hours on the phone with them when I visited her last month trying to get it fixed only to have a supervisor admit to me they over sell their bandwidth. Another note about Globe DUO is you do not have to be the person with the Globe phone to subscribe to or pay for it. I subscribe my fiance's number for her via this website: https://www.globe.com.ph/registerduointl/us/new. They also have an auto renew feature so you don't have to keep registering every month (the service might not work for a few hours while the auto renew processes at the end of your 30 days).

Another option my fiance and I have played around with and had okay results with is Unli IDD (http://www.globe.com.ph/international/call-and-text-abroad/unlimited-offers). This service will allow someone with a Globe phone to make unlimited calls to US numbers (or many other countries) from the Philippines using an access number before the phone number they dial. You can use the load on your Globe phone to subscribe by text message. They used to have a promo where it was 999p for 30 days but it appears the price increased now to 999p for 10 days. You can also get the service for 1 day or 7 days at a time. My fiance and I do not need this service because when she wants to talk to me and the net is bad she can still send me a message on Skype and tell me to call her. There is also another service Globe has (I can't find the website for it) where it charges per minute and we used to use it when they had a promo of $0.01 a minute. It is now $0.07 a minute which still isn't too bad I guess. One more thing to mention is if you have a US Skype phone number you can send text messages to Globe phones for about $0.07 a message. I hope this information helps someone.

[sbdeleon22 1]

My fiance and I also use Globe DUO. It is not perfect and the call quality can be touch and go sometimes (better than a bad Skype connection though) but works okay most of the time. One thing I noticed ( I don't know if anyone else has experienced this) is when your call reaches 45 minutes it automatically disconnects and you have to call back every time

We've been using globe duo since 2013 and our calls don't get dropped every 45 mins.

[JoRu16 7]

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Same. Weve veen using GLOBE US Duo since 2012. Calls are dropped every 3hours for us.

[jg121783 3,915]

My fiance and I also use Globe DUO. It is not perfect and the call quality can be touch and go sometimes (better than a bad Skype connection though) but works okay most of the time. One thing I noticed ( I don't know if anyone else has experienced this) is when your call reaches 45 minutes it automatically disconnects and you have to call back every time.When I first met my fiance we used this alot because there was no internet service where she lives and Skype was very bad most of the time over her cell data connection. Now she has Globe LTE and sometimes Skype works okay but sometimes the internet connection is very poor. If you are looking at getting Globe LTE service just be aware that they have monthly data limits and most of the time you will not get anywhere near the advertised speed and they will throttle your connection even before you use your monthly data allowance. It is also more expensive than my DSL here in the US. I could start a whole thread about how Globe has dropped the ball on their internet service but that is a topic for another time. I spent hours on the phone with them when I visited her last month trying to get it fixed only to have a supervisor admit to me they over sell their bandwidth. Another note about Globe DUO is you do not have to be the person with the Globe phone to subscribe to or pay for it. I subscribe my fiance's number for her via this website: https://www.globe.com.ph/registerduointl/us/new. They also have an auto renew feature so you don't have to keep registering every month (the service might not work for a few hours while the auto renew processes at the end of your 30 days).

Another option my fiance and I have played around with and had okay results with is Unli IDD (http://www.globe.com.ph/international/call-and-text-abroad/unlimited-offers). This service will allow someone with a Globe phone to make unlimited calls to US numbers (or many other countries) from the Philippines using an access number before the phone number they dial. You can use the load on your Globe phone to subscribe by text message. They used to have a promo where it was 999p for 30 days but it appears the price increased now to 999p for 10 days. You can also get the service for 1 day or 7 days at a time. My fiance and I do not need this service because when she wants to talk to me and the net is bad she can still send me a message on Skype and tell me to call her. There is also another service Globe has (I can't find the website for it) where it charges per minute and we used to use it when they had a promo of $0.01 a minute. It is now $0.07 a minute which still isn't too bad I guess. One more thing to mention is if you have a US Skype phone number you can send text messages to Globe phones for about $0.07 a message. I hope this information helps someone.

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Same. Weve veen using GLOBE US Duo since 2012. Calls are dropped every 3hours for us.

I have used multiple phones to call her and at exactly 45 minutes the call drops every time. This has been going on for several months. Maybe something is wrong with her phone if it doesn't happen to you guys. Anyways it's not a big issue. All I have to do is call her back right away. Overall it is a good price for having unlimited calls. Even when it goes back to $25 a month that isn't too bad I guess.

[Michael and Milahjean 0]

My fiance is wondering what alternative methods are best for contacting family back in the Philippines when the internet connection isn't good. Her family lives in a very rural part of Leyte and sometimes the connection isn't very good so she's wondering about phone services to be able to contact her family to talk to them when she is missing them if the internet connection isn't the best. Anyone have suggestions?

Wife's family also from very rural Leyte, a bit north of Ormoc. Voice contact has been a huge issue for years, more so after Yolanda when land line was down. They have no internet, and no Globe wireless access. We're very pleased with Verizon Wireless Call the World Plan, 1000 minutes for $20, to land line and mobile, add-on to our voice/data plan. Calls are crystal clear, no issues. Have trouble actually using all of the minutes. They don't roll over. Works great for us.

M&M

[guitarjam 5]

We will probably just use Skype for International calls, and magic Jack for local...

[Thx 1]

For the Globe DUO International plan, when do you have to pay for minutes? In another thread, someone mentioned that only weekends and nights are free (I couldn't tell if this was because of their US mobile plan). Also, the Globe DUO International FAQ on the Globe site also mentions some per minute fees, but it isn't really clear about when they occur.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Thx

[j&ana 363]

My wife family lives in a rural place in Bohol. she uses face book to chat with most of her family.Her mom doesn't really use face book. I added international calling on our landline phone. She also still has her smart sim card, and I got her a Galaxy S4 duo sim card phone, so she can still use her smart sim card, we just add a little load so often, but she only use that if the other two ways are not working, but since she been here for over a year she has never had any trouble getting a hold of someone there no matter what time it is

[Greenbaum 12,259]

We use Skype and Magic Jack with local nimber. MJ is dependent on quality of the Internet but it's sweet when working. Unlimited for one payment and one of the cheapest out there.

[CheDan 4]

My fiance is wondering what alternative methods are best for contacting family back in the Philippines when the internet connection isn't good. Her family lives in a very rural part of Leyte and sometimes the connection isn't very good so she's wondering about phone services to be able to contact her family to talk to them when she is missing them if the internet connection isn't the best. Anyone have suggestions?

I have an international plan in verizon and we got 1000minutes for just $20 i think just try to inquire to verizon..

[bendinlar 16]

Fb messanger, texting(free to send international texts on most us plans now, get a promo on the Phil side to reply), Skype, I used the globe duo and vonage while she was still over there.

We were actually contacted by a company that has something similar to the globe duo, but it's through smart/pldt. Called directo. Unlimited calls, like, 30 a month. They send a sim to the Philippines party, and give you a us number to call. They put load on the smart sim each month, so no worries about keeping it active. The calls go through a computer so you can only call the party in the Philippines from one phone, but it works for us. You can get plans that allow for more than one us number to call, but it does cost a little more. The calls are limited to 60 mins, but like anything else you can call right back. I like that directo has an automated voice that informs you you have reached 60 mins, if you wish to continue hang up and call again. Rather than just keep talking for 5 mins, then figure out your talking to yourself.

Edited July 26, 2016 by bendinlar