The Beanster Blog

Office 365 now gives 1TB of OneDrive storage  TYVM MSFT :-D

I visited Globe Telecom Powerplant Mall. I was able to change my plan from 299 to 999 with out the additional charge of an early termination fee (ETF). As I stated in my previous post Globe is dumb and the call center staff did not know what she was saying.  Along with this new plan I got a bigger LTE data bucket. Globe's 999 plan has a peso value of 1700, I got the GoSurf 999 (5Gb + Spotify premium). 1700 less 999 that leaves me with 701 consumable credits for calls and texts. I asked the staff at Globe Telecom Powerplant Mall and when I exceed the data bucket, I will be charged an additional 1500 pesos (no matter how much I exceed) my other option was to get a different 5Gb bucket that has  Globe's Fair-Use Policy . I figured, if I do exceed the cap I would rather pay the 1500 and use the faster LTE than get slowed down to EDGE. Since my cut-off is on the 24th of the month this new plan takes effect on 24-Aug-2015. So I have to be frugal with Globe data for the mean...

I left Globe late 2011 and moved to SMART. Nearly two (2) years later my situation with SMART has deteriorated to deplorable levels at home and so-so at work. Still no LTE for both. I got a Globe line recently and have been testing their service. I must admit the last time I was with Globe I had a terrible experience during their upgrade phase. SMART - I pay 999PhP/monthly for 40 mins, 100 sms, and unlimited data. GLOBE – for testing I got a 299PhP/monthly plan with 500 peso value, this peso value I applied to a GoSURF 499 package (1.5Gb data + Spotify Premium for 6 months) so I have 1 peso left. that’s 1 SMS everything else is on top. My strategy: Reduce my SMART plan from 999 to 349 (the lowest plan with SMART) as I transition from SMART to Globe. Increase Globe from 299 to 999 (peso value 1,700) and get GoSURF 999 (5Gb). The staff at Globe center V-Mall told me I can upgrade anytime so I call GLOBE and ask how to upgrade my plan. Now here is the dumb part: I was informed to...

The Globe SIM card has activated at 6:38PM. I was able to link my existing free Spotify account and convert it to a Premium account. So I have Spotify Premium until January 21, 2015 2:43AM to be exact.  Spotify Premium works across all devices even if it was registered via Globe. So it is working on the Mi3W which is currently using my SMART SIM card.  Now on to the all important data. Do I have LTE at home?  The answer is yes and the speed is good. This is a definitely a point for Globe and against SMART.  Let me recap,  At Home in Mandaluyong city:  Globe = LTE  SMART = No Service or GPRS or 3G with no data / slow data. At Work Marikina city: Globe = TBD, I need to test it.  SMART = 3G acceptable speed Note: with my plan I have 1.5Gb of data or 1500Mb that means 50Mb for 30 days. Not much for a heavy user but I think this will be sufficient for testing and emergency purposes. 

Got myself a Globe line after 2 yrs.  I hope I don't regret this.  I chose the lowest plan possible which is P299/mo which has a P500 PV (peso value). For my combo I chose GoSurf 499 which includes. 1.5Gb data Spotify Premium  So basically I have 1 peso left on my plan and everything else is on top. I do not expect to exceed 1.5Gb as this is a secondary line and not my main one.  According to Gerry (or Jerry) the sales person at Globe Center V-Mall My LTE SIM card should be activated in 3 to 5 hours.  Spotify Premium is free for six months only, after that I can choose to continue the service for 129PhP/mo via Spotify or Globe (I haven't checked) Data allowance is not affected by using Spotify. I am skeptical that this is the case. I mean will they monitor the traffic on my device and mark Spotify's usage as free while the rest of my consumption is counted against my allowance? [edit: reading between the FAQ lines it seems Spotify Premium w...

In my use-case SMART's signal has been deteriorating.  When I turn into my street the signal goes from 3G to No Service or GPRS. When I am in my room it also goes from No Service to fake 3G. Fake 3G meaning the iPhone displays three bars but sometimes there is no data connection. I am quite certain it is not my iPhone because even my Samsung loses it's signal sporadically. I have four accounts with SMART.  1 999 iPhone plan for my personal mobile 1 freedom plan for my 3G USB modem when cable internet is out 1 freedom plan for work 1 freedom plan for work I have two prepaid sim cards with Globe 1 Samsung Galaxy Data SIM - I got this free when I bought my work phone 1 Prepaid SIM card  Contacting SMART's support via twitter or their hotline they always repeat the same script: Apologize for the inconvenience Ask me to reboot my phone Tell me their network doesn't have any issues in my area. This is no good. I moved from Globe to SMART in 2011 in the hopes of getting LTE it...

LEFT: Google Now recommending an album.  RIGHT: Google Play not allowing me to purchase.  FYI: The item is available on iTunes.