Hi, does anybody know how long I can stay on roaming before my sim gets deactivated? I do send texts from time to time and I intend to keep my sim topped up. I am with Globe telecom and their website says “for the whole duration of your trip abroad”. But I’d like to know if anyone was actually able to use roaming for a longer period of time, ie at least a year? Thank you!
whatever you do, don't use GLOBE roaming. Despite years of trying,and tinkering about with their roaming system in all sorts of different ways, GLOBE have just failed abjectly. It doesn't work satisfactorily at all. It has to be SMART. And you have to set it up before you leave the Philippines. activating SMART roaming is the easiest thing in the world. You just have to follow these steps : 1) Buy a SMART SIM card. 2) Load it with at least 100 pesos. But make it 150, just to give you a little leeway. 3) Text ROAM ON to 333 at the airport at least ONE HOUR before your plane leaves the ground. and that's it. You have a roaming number now and people in the Philippines will be able to text you while you are in the UK in exactly the same way as they can when you are in-country, i.e. at 1 peso per text, or while they are on a promo.
"does anybody know how long I can stay on roaming before my sim gets deactivated?" It apparently says on SMART's website that you have 4 months or 120 days before the SIM stops working or receiving texts when you are in the UK. But in the past, I have had SMART SIM's that have lasted longer than that. but if the SMART SIM is kept loaded, it will last for an indefinite amount of the time. you can get anybody in the Philippines to keep your SMART SIM loaded anytime. All they have to do, is walk into some sari store and load up the number with pas-a-load. You will receive a text in the UK on your SMART SIM that says you have received it. When a SMART SIM is set to roaming, the minimum amount of load that you can receive, is 30 pesos. but - the best way to keep your SMART SIM loaded, while you are in the UK, is to do it yourself while you are in the UK. to do this, you need to buy a UK SIM called WHITE MOBILE. This company has a service whereby you can pass load, to any overseas mobile. this is how to do it : with your WHITE MOBILE SIM : text LOAD and then your SMART roaming number to 1240 so the text message looks like this : LOAD00639294331717 to 1240 you will then receive a text message from 1240 that asks you how much load you want to pass, 10 pesos, 100 pesos, 115 pesos, or 1000 pesos. if you just select number 1, 10 pesos, that will enable you to keep your SMART roaming SIM active indefinitely. I used to pass myself 10 pesos, twice a month to keep the SIM alive.
Hello @Stellar many thanks for your detailed response. I am now in the UK and currently using Globe roaming, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a Smart sim before I left. I plan to keep my Globe number active, same as your suggestions above. I could not give up my Globe number as I still need it for some important transactions. I am hoping I can stay on roaming for at least 6mos to 1yr, before I can use my UK number as my permanent contact number.
well good luck with the GLOBE roaming. I'm surprised that it is even working at all. I've tried it loads of times in the past and it has never worked. you can still use WHITE CALLING to load your GLOBE SIM with credit as I have described very easily, except with GLOBE numbers the minimum amount you can pass phone-to-phone using 1240 to keep the SIM alive, is 25 pesos in UK pence, not 10 pesos as with SMART. here is WHITE CALLING's website, they will send you a free SIM card by snail mail https://www.whitecalling.com/sim/ remember nobody can call you on your GLOBE number, only text, and you should not be wanting to use your GLOBE SIM to reply to texts from the Philippines either as it is very expensive. WHITE MOBILE has the cheapest texts to the Philippines of any company I know, but it is still I think an expensive 12p per text. Calls to the Philippines from the UK are 6.5p per minute with WHITE CALLING, much more expensive than neighboring countries like Thailand and Malaysia (1p and 2p), but then the Philippines is like North Korea with phones. The service is in the hands, of thieves.
Are you a prepaid globe sim user? Mine is postpaid (on contract) so I'm not able to confirm if this info on their website is accurate. http://www.globe.com.ph/help/roaming/groam "If you activated your roaming signal by texting GROAM ON to 2884 or via *143#, your roaming signal will stay for the whole duration of your trip abroad. However, if you did not manually activate your roaming signal, you will still receive a temporary signal good for 5 days upon arrival abroad. You'll receive a message to confirm if you would like to activate your roaming. You will be given 24 hours to confirm. During that 24-hour period, your roaming will be active and your transactions will be charged at regular roaming rates. Reply GROAM YES: If you would like to activate your roaming beyond 5 days/for the entire duration of your trip. Roaming text charges will apply. Reply GROAM NO: If you would like to deactive your roaming immediately. Roaming SMS charges will apply. No Reply: If you do not reply within 24 hours, your roaming will be deactivated after 5 days." http://www.globe.com.ph/help/roaming/groam
this guy has not said whether the GLOBE roaming he said he had activated, actually works. I tried GLOBE's roaming every year, for years in tandem with SMART's (as there are always people reluctant to text SMART numbers if they are a GLOBE user so it is a good idea to have both, if you can) and it has never worked once. Not once, in five or six attempts despite following the - very complicated, compared to SMART's - instructions faithfully. The company have completely messed up the whole thing. As far as I can make out, GLOBE just haven't got a roaming service. whereas SMART's roaming service not only works perfectly, but it is incredibly uncomplicated and easy to use. All you have to do to activate and deactivate roaming is to text ROAM ON or ROAM OFF to 333 and it works absolutely perfectly. I have had the same SMART phone number for 9 years and used it in both the Philippines and the UK with no hitches at all throughout that time. Just steer clear, of GLOBE roaming. It's garbage.
My sim is prepaid and have activated roaming through *143# before I left the Philippines. My roaming has been active for a couple of months now. May I know how long you were able to keep your roaming service active? Thank you!
