Maria Blogs

Pronounced: Uhn-lee.

I came home a few months ago without a cellphone. I haven’t used one in a year at least. Deadly.

Oh how complicated life has become in the six years I’ve been away! While I was away I was baffled by groups like TxtPower and the things they stood for, I’m like, why, when telecommunications services in the Philippines is one of the best in terms of choice and service, there’s no charge for incoming calls or text messages unlike in a lot of countries overseas. Then”Unli” hit me.

Unli – short for “unlimited” – has become the norm for prepaid cellphone service. Whereas before, you can purchase an x amount of minutes without fear of expiration (unless you don’t use your cellphone for a year or something) these days, Php20 can last you a couple of days depending on whether you’ve subscribed to unlimited text and the prepaid service provider you have.

The sheer amount of choice overwhelms me and I don’t pretend to understand any of it – Globe Tattoo, Republika ng TM, Sun, Smart, Unlitext, Unlicall, duo (landline + mobile), valid for one day, two days, pasa load, broadband internet on a usb etc etc.

One thing I know, for somebody like me who’s main communication line is the internet and only ever uses a cellphone during the infrequent times I get out of the house, putting a twenty on my phone may well mean trashing that money if I but send one text or worse, not use the phone as I had it only for emergency. I have learned too that not only do I lose my minutes I am also always at the brink of losing my current number if I don’t use it or load money on it for a month (or less?).

This is so much worse! And something needs to be done more than the extension on minutes that had to take Senator Enrile losing money on prepaid load expiration before something was done.  TxtPower mga kababayan! (yes to txtPower consumer group!)

Insane. In a way it’s awesome for Filipinos whose lives revolve around the cellphone, but more work needs to be done cos these expired loads and unused expired loads supposedly used for emergency purposes mean a huge amount of money when added up.