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Communications
The
Philippines has embraced the mobile telephone age with vigour,
partly because when you buy a mobile in the Philippines you
get as many as 900 free text messages a month. Texting has
become the de facto communication tool of millions, with its
own "generation text" culture and abbreviated language. If you
take your own mobile to the Philippines and make local calls,
they will be charged at the international rate. But basic
mobiles in the Philippines are cheap, starting at less than
P3000, so it's almost worth buying one if you plan to stay for
any length of time and need to keep in touch. The two main
mobile networks in the Philippines are Smart and Globe and the
daily press is full of advertisements for their various
payment plans. Visitors cannot buy an "open line" mobile (one
that is billed to your home in the same way as a landline)
without having evidence of a permanent address in the
Philippines, so the only option is to buy a phone that uses
pre-paid cards in units of P200 and upwards. There are
pre-paid card outlets everywhere and dispensing machines in
malls and at airports. Standard rate local calls cost from P6
a minute. It's worth remembering that if someone calls you
from overseas you will not be charged.
The
country's telephone system has improved dramatically in recent
years, although outside urban centers it can still be
temperamental. Public payphones are not common, but can be
found in many malls (where there are often long queues to use
them) and hotel lobbies. They take P1 and P5 coins. Many
payphones take only Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT)
cards only, known as Touchcards. These are available in P100,
P200, P300 and P500 denominations and can be bought from
convenience stores such as 7–11 and hotels. Long-distance
domestic calls are known as NDD (National Direct Dialing).
Regional codes are given throughout the section; you'll need
to dial the "0" before all long-distance national calls within
the Philippines. To check a phone code, dial 112. Manila to
Baguio costs P5 a minute, or P4 during the off-peak hours of
7pm–7am and all day Sunday. For local directory assistance
call 114.
Rates for
international IDD calls are fixed and charged in US dollars by
the "pulse". A pulse is equivalent to six seconds. To
Australia the first ten pulses (60 seconds) cost 19 cents and
every additional pulse cost 15 cents. For the UK it's 19 cents
then 16 cents. Calls are cheaper 9pm–8am and all day Sunday.
To call abroad from the Philippines, dial 00 + IDD country
code + area code (minus the first 0) + number. The
international operator is 108. PLDT also has a service for
making overseas collect calls. If you dial 105 plus the
country access code you will be connected to the operator of
the country you are calling. These calls can be billed to your
credit card.
Letters
from the Philippines take at least five days to reach other
countries by air, sometimes significantly longer. If you have
to post anything valuable use registered mail or pay the extra
for a reliable courier. Letters sent in the general post are
sometimes rifled and the contents stolen. For incoming mail,
major post offices in Manila have a counter for poste restante.
Internet
cafes are springing up in Ilocos Sur particularly in major
cities and municipalities and an increasing number of the more
popular hotels and resorts have email facilities you can use
for a small charge.
Reference:
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-829515-philippines_communications-i
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