Thursday, February 4, 2010

sun cellular now has prepaid roaming budget text!

i haven't traveled abroad since may of last year, so i haven't had the need to check any roaming services offered by the telcos. but now that the hong kong birthday trip has been confirmed, i'm looking for other roaming options that i can take advantage of.

don't get me wrong, i'm pretty happy with globe's roaming service. and since it's a postpaid plan, i know that i can use it should i encounter emergencies abroad. but it also encourages spending, and i lose track of my texting when i'm abroad. the resulting bill does not make me happy, and i'd like to have a way of controlling my roaming expenses when i'm abroad.

sun prepaid roaming
i have been using a sun cellular prepaid SIM for about two years now, and i'm very happy to find out that they now have roaming for prepaid subscribers. in order to activate, just text ROAM ON and send to 222 at least one hour before leaving the country. currently, sun's prepaid roaming service is only available in china, hong kong, singapore, macau, and malaysia.

this is definitely good news for me! i can now just load a certain amount of credits on my phone and make do with that amount for the rest of my trip. this way, i have more control over my budget. i also read that there's no maintaining balance needed to keep using the roaming service, so even if i run out of load, my sun friends and family can still text me.

sun budget roaming text
yet another great development for sun prepaid is budget roaming text, which is a "menu-based roaming text alternative." by using budget roaming text, you can text to the philippines (both sun and non-sun cellular subscribers) for just P5/text. balance inquiry is also free, and the menu allows you to check your sent items as well.

to use sun budget roaming text, dial *111# and press call or send. a menu will appear on your phone. press "answer" and choose the number that corresponds to the transaction that you want to perform. e.g. press "answer" and "3" for balance inquiry.

it's important to note that in sending text messages using budget roaming text, you should key in the number in this format: 09221234567, and NOT +639221234567.

the downside to this is, you can't use your phone's address book to retrieve their numbers--you have to manually enter their number every time you send a message. if you plan to use this, make sure you list down the numbers of the people you text frequently on a piece of paper. you also have to have a P5 maintaining balance to keep this service active. you can read more about sun budget roaming text in their FAQ.

a bit complicated, sure, but hey, it saves you a few bucks! :)

service information
to activate: send ROAM ON to 222 at least one hour before leaving the country
balance inquiry: dial *221# then press send
destinations: china, hong kong, macau, malaysia, singapore

to use: dial *111# and press send
rate: P5 per text message sent to the philippines (you can send to both sun and non-sun cellular numbers)

22 comments:

i gotta go! said...

ei joei!

i think sun cellular's postpaid SIMs have roaming in the US. :)

Anonymous said...

hi! i have something to ask. last day, thier people col me and he said his in japan but his num. is 09225555555 is that a roaming number.?

kim said...

super informative and helpful!! super thanks!!

Anonymous said...

is korea included?

i gotta go! said...

hey anonymous,

sun postpaid subscribers can roam in south korea. however, prepaid roaming is only available in china, macao, hong kong, singapore, and malaysia.

you can try contacting sun cellular in case they've added new destinations. have a great trip!

Anonymous said...

hello i goota go!
is this budget roaming reliable?
could you rate this? thanks

i gotta go! said...

hey anonymous!

not 100% reliable--i've had a friend try it, but the system was down during her trip, so she wasn't able to use it at all.

on my trips, though, the system's up, and my messages would get through about... 90% of the time. :)

Anonymous said...

Hello i gotta go!

Thanks for you quick reply. I was about to load for my sun for this. and now i changed my mind. ;)

Anonymous said...

what if unli pa yung sun prepaid sim ko.
magagamit ko pa rin ba yung unli ko if i travel abroad?.

i gotta go! said...

hey anonymous,

sorry for the late reply. i don't think your unli credits can be used abroad.

to be sure, check with your provider. :)

International Roaming Prepaid said...

Nice posting, thanks for sharing with us. Your blog is great and helped me feel better knowing about the international roaming . Thanks again!

Unknown said...

How to deactivate prepaid roaing service?thanks.

Unknown said...

I meant 'roaming'.sorry.

Anonymous said...

Cant register here in pAris.

Jean Candice Yu said...

Hi!

How much will it cost for someone in the Philippines to text me while I'm in Hong Kong? Can someone in the Phippines still use their unli-text to text me while I'm in Hong Kong?

http://jeancyu.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

can i still activate my sun sim here in Oman?..i didnt register 1hr b4 my flight...

Anonymous said...

can i still activate my sun sim here in oman...i havent register 1hr before i left the phil..is there still a way to activate my roaming here?

Anonymous said...

How much will it cost to receive a text message from the philippines to hongkong using sun prepaid sim?

Anonymous said...

Hi I gotta go!
Is it available in Taiwan already?

-CY-

Unknown said...

how do you deactivate roaming service?

Unknown said...

how do you deactivate roaming service?

Unknown said...

i cant find a way to de activate my roaming! my sim card automatically activated the roaming after i loaded 450 CTU. maybe ill go tomorrow to costumer service