I have been using Smart Money to pay (via mobile-to mobile transfer) for goods I buy on ebay and to sell cellphone load to my friends and officemates.

A friendly customer care representative at Shangri-La mall assisted me in placing my replacement request, and I received my new Smart Money card after around a week. The first thing I noticed was that it didn’t look like the one being advertised, and it had a MasterCard Electronic logo instead of MasterCard. The last two digits of my Smart Money account number also changed.

When I activated the new card, the customer care officer on the phone assured me that the new Smart Money number printed on my card and the one from the lost card belong to a single account. She told me to just disregard the old account number and start using the new one.

I was glad that I didn’t have to wait long for it and that I could use it to withdraw money from any ATM.

Despite the disclaimer “Valid only where MasterCard Electronic is accepted” printed on my card, I still tried to use it on a website that requires MasterCard. As expected, it was declined.

I decided that I need to get another Smart Money card — this time the Mastercard version, which begins with 5299-67. The FAQ page on the Smart Money site says: “You can apply for a Smart Money MasterCard even if you already have a Smart Money MasterCard Electronic. To get your Smart Money MasterCard, please visit the nearest Smart Wireless Center.”

The same page also states that “a maximum of two (2) Smart Money MasterCards/Accounts may be linked to your Smart mobile phone.” Smart’s official account on Twitter, @SMARTCares, also told me in a direct message that “linking of 2 Smart money accnts to ur SIM is possible.”

So the next day, I went to the Smart Wireless Center at Gateway mall in Cubao. I was surprised when the customer care officer told me that I could no longer apply for another card since I already have an account linked to my SIM. He said I need to have another SIM card to apply for a new Smart Money account. But I didn’t want to buy a new SIM card and maintain a new Smart Buddy prepaid account. I asked if they could just unlink my existing Smart Money account from my SIM, and the reply I got was negative.

I consulted @SmartCares on Twitter again, and I was asked how many Smart Money accounts (active and inactive) do I own. I replied I have only one. However, discussing detailed problems such as this on Twiter was a bit difficult, so I called the Smart Money hotline and explained my problem.

If I could not apply for a new one, I told the custumer care officer, may I request that my MasterCard Electronic card be upgraded to the MasterCard version? The person on the phone cannot seem to differentiate MasterCard from MasterCard Electronic. I think she even thought that I just wanted to have the new design on my card. (I actually want both the new design and the online shopping functionality.) Upgrading my card is not possible, she said.

She also clarified that there can indeed only be one Smart Money account for each SIM card. I think Smart should rewrite the vague statements on the FAQ.

When I asked if we could just destroy the current account so I could apply for a new one, she said I should fax a letter and some required documents to 8457770. I will do as advised and see what will happen.

By the way, this problem reminds me of my Smart TextMail predicament. Through the years, I’ve been mostly satisfied with Smart’s mobile services (not including SmartBro). However, I wish Smart can solve little problems such as this.

Random Posts

• TXTPower: Lower rates, ban text spam
• Bloomberg: Palm is looking for a buyer
• Right of Reply Bill to affect bloggers
• Globe is iPhone’s official RP carrier
• Admob on Carrington Mobile
• Now on Ubuntu Hardy Heron
• Nokia and Yahoo! announce partnership

• /posts/posts-default.php for ad on the homepage
• /single/single-default.php for ad on individual blog posts
• /pages/pages-default.php for ad on pages

Related Posts

• Admob now measuring Philippine mobile web traffic
• Palm up in latest Admob Mobile Metrics

To solve “vanishing load” scam, NTC must lower rates, ban spam — TXTPower

The National Telecommunications Commission must “do more” than extend the expiry of prepaid load to decisively end the issue of “vanishing prepaid load” that is bedeviling the country’s more than 70 million mobile phone subscribers.

In a press conference, consumer advocacy group TXTPower.org Inc. (TXTPower) said that “the absurdly short expiry load, arguably the shortest in the whole world, is the least of consumers’ problems. To solve “vanishing load”, the NTC must exercise its powers to immediately lower rates for cellphone calls, text messaging and other mobile phone services. The NTC must also crack down on telcos and content providers that abuse their licenses by sending millions of spam messages,” said TXTPower president Anthony Ian Cruz.

“Prepaid load quickly gets lost or stolen because of the high cost of placing cellphone calls. The NTC, unfortunately, has not exercised its powers to reduce rates in favor of the public. All it does is to bless the promotional offerings of telcos that may be pulled out whimsically and capriciously,” said Cruz.

Cruz said that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s case illustrates the problems faced by consumers daily.

“The Senate President is lucky. He immediately got a refund even without asking for it,” said Cruz, adding that “but for the rest of us whose prepaid load are stolen by the millions through high prices, spam and short expiry, we don’t have any recourse.”

Cruz said TXTPower is now studying ways for consumers to get refunds from the “vanishing loads”.

Make “unlimited calls, texting” permanent services

According to TXTPower, the NTC should compel telcos to finally offer “unlimited calls” and “unlimited texting” as permanent, not promotional, offers.

“The telcos have recovered the old investments on which the current pricing for calls, text and other services had been based. It is about time the NTC and the government compel these telcos to make the public benefit through ‘unlimited calls’ and ‘unlimited texting’ which are standard offers of many telcos across the world,” said Cruz.

“This should not prejudice moves towards per-six second charging, which has long been demanded by consumers,” said Cruz.

The NTC, Cruz explained, is “so addicted to its false belief that the industry’s deregulation means that it has no powers to champion consumer welfare and that it should only support the telcos.”

“It is thus no surprise that consumers are left to fend for themselves, so much unlike the Senate President, who has mobilized the power of the Senate and his office to lay bare the issues,” said Cruz.

Consult consumers

TXTPower also called on Senate President Enrile and Senator Mar Roxas, whose committee leads the Senate hearings on telco issues, to consult with consumers and to include consumers in the technical working groups that are being formed.

“The NTC, for instance, has routinely failed to adequately inform consumers and end-users of public hearings on its draft circulars, including the latest one on the expiry of prepaid load,” said Cruz.

“Only the telcos were consulted,” said Cruz.

TXTPower Action Center, Kabataan YouTube video

TXTPower vowed to keep the pressure on government to act on consumer demands through various means.

Kabataan partylist congressman Mong Palatino today unveiled a YouTube video encouraging students and youth to report their complaints to the NTC and to TXTPower.

The Computer Professionals Union (CPU) meanwhile also launched today the TXTPower Action Center which aims to receive consumer complaints through the following contact points: Website http://www.cp-union.com/txtpowercenter, Text 0907-1134503 and Landline (02) 4134196.

Related Posts

• TXTPower rejects anew tax on text
• Scrap foreign junkets in lieu of text tax — TXTPower

I just learned from Migs Mobile and ABS-CBN News that Smart  is bringing HTC Magic, a Google Android-powered smart phone, to the Philippines.

HTC Philippines country manager Mark Sergio reportedly said that Smart will start shipping units of the HTC Magic to the local market by the end of June.

Update from YugaTech: Globe was able to sell HTC Magic starting last week, and will be able to do so until Smart’s exclusive contract with HTC takes effect.

HTC Magic runs on Android, a Google-initiated, Linux-based software platform for mobile devices.

The smart phone gives its users instant access to Gmail, Google Search, YouTube and Maps. It also has Microsoft Outlook synchronization, Smart Dialer, and an onscreen keyboard with predictive text.Its biggest competitor, Apple’s iPhone, is exclusively available in the Philippines to Globe subscribers. Apple recently announced feature upgrades on its new version, the iPhone 3G S.

On the other hand, the Palm Pre, Palm’s newest smart phone and touted as a challenger to the iPhone, was launched in the US last week.

Asked in April if their company will be Palm Pre’s carrier here, a Smart insider replied: “I think Palm is talking to all the carriers. So is Blackberry. No exclusivity required with those brands.”

(Image from www.htc.com)

Related Posts

• Smart offers 12 hours of mobile Internet for P100
• Texting with Bayantel Wireless
• Smart TextMail sucks

After syncing my Palm Centro earlier this week, I was surprised and saddened to see this message: “Starting June 30, AvantGo will no longer offer mobile Web content.”

The linked announcement page further said: “Subscribers will not be able to sync their AvantGo accounts or update their channels.”

AvantGo is a service that allows PDA and mobile phone users to download mobile Web content for offline reading later on. Whenever I sync my Palm Centro to my Internet-connected desktop or laptop PC, AvantGo gets and stores pages from the New York Times, Inquirer, and Sproule Handheld Cartoons to my mobile device. I am then able to read these content whenever and wherever I want: while in the MRT, on my bed, or even in the bathroom.

But as Internet access became cheaper and more mobile — especially in the US where telcos offer unlimited GPRS or 3G — AvantGo yielded to obsolescence. Why would users want to read this morning’s breaking news which was saved on the device earlier, when they can check the newest updates at this very moment?

AvantGo also offers real-time mobile Web surfing when one’s mobile device is connected to the Internet. However, the same can be done easier and faster with mobile browsers like Opera Mini and Safari for iPhone. In addition, new mobile Web portals such as Yahoo Mobile offer great RSS aggregation smilar to what AvantGo allows. It is therefore not surprising that Sybase, AvantGo’s parent company, arrived at this decision.

AvantGo may still matter to some users in countries like the Philippines, where there is no unlimited Internet access via cellphone and WiFi services are just starting to grow, but it may no longer be as important to the bulk of its subscribers in the US.

AvantGo recommended a similar service called Snac, but the mobile widget application is not available to Palm users.

AvantGo will reportedly transition to a SMS advertising and content delivery system. Read more nostalgic and informative articles on CodeBudo and Mobility Site.

Random Posts

• Palm finally introduces Treo Pro
• Intro
• Holy Bible on your Palm
• Palm webOS and Palm Pre
• Smart to offer Android fone HTC Magic
• Pinoys spend less for mobile phone use, but send more text messages anyway
• Centro vs Treo 500v

Access website says release version 1.03b of Garnet VM Beta 4, released on May 29, 2009, has improved stability.

Garnet VM enables users of Nokia tablets — N810, Nokia N800, and Nokia N770 — “to run thousands of Garnet OS (formerly Palm OS®) applications.” These apps include Google Maps™, Snappermail®, DateBk5, as well as games like Bejeweled®, PacMan and Sudoku.

Palm Pre will also have its own Palm OS emulator, the “Classic” emulator, from a different company called MotionApps.

(Via AppScout.com)

Related Posts

• It’s Palm’s time to shine again
• Will Palm apps run on Windows Mobile, Symbian and iPhone?
• Palm is not a “dying platform”

Under the promo, prepaid users who enroll in the Daily Surf plan pay only P100 to stay online on their cellphone for 12 hours.

Users may also opt for the 50-peso Budget Surf plan, which gives five hours of Internet time.

To register, subscriber must log on to the portal, m.smart.com.ph/dataplan.

Check out the details on this promo page.

I intend to try the P100-plan this weekend. The P8.33/hr rate sounds reasonable when compared to current mobile data charges.

But since I’m an Internet geek who wants to be online 24/7, I hope Smart — and its rivals Globe and Sun — will eventually offer unlimited Internet for a much lower price.

Related Posts

• Smart to offer Android fone HTC Magic
• For sale: one-week-old 16 GB Samsung Omnia
• Palm Pre available in the US on June 6
• Mapalad.org update
• Palm Foleo II coming soon?
• Palm EOS — post-Pre phone?
• My Palm Centro

The device, dubbed Palm Eos, will supposedly be Palm’s next webOS phone. Engadget reports that it is codenamed “Castle”, while MobileCrunch also calls it “Pixie”. Other bloggers give it the nicknames Mini Pre, Palm Pre Mini, and Pre Lite. Can we also call it Palm Pre Nano? :p

While the yet-to-be-released Palm Pre will initially be sold exclusively by US telco Sprint, the Eos will supposedly go to rival AT&T.

Engadget posted these specs:

* 4GB storage
* Price: $349 (pre-rebate)
* Camera: 2 megapixel fixed focus digital camera and flash / video capture
* Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 w/ A2DP and EDR, USB 2.0 via micro USB
* Removable 1150 mAh battery (4 hours 3G talk time)
* Messaging: SMS, MMS (picture and video only), integrated IM client
* Contact sync with AT&T Address Book
* MediaNet
* Cellular Video
* Email: POP3, IMAP4, and EAS support
* A-GPS
* Audio: WAV, MP3, AAC, AAC+ ringtones
* Video Playback: MPEG4, H.264, H.263

Engadget readers’ reactions to the reported device vary. User oghowie says “Pre looks better and is better spec wise. This looks like a lower end Pre.” On the other hand, reader Reality Check noted that this rumored device has no Wi-Fi, has only 4 GB of storage, and is more expensive than the iPhone. He concludes: “Pre wins.”

Of course, actual pricing may still change, but for now , I tend to agree that the Pre is better. The wait for the Pre continues, and Palm fans on our side of the world are on the lookout for any mention of a GSM Pre.

Related Posts

• Palm Pre available in the US on June 6
• What they said about Palm Pre
• Palm webOS and Palm Pre
• It’s Palm’s time to shine again
• Palm webOS SDK now public
• Palm Pre carriers in Europe announced
• Pre’s UK launch to be announced July 7

Here’s the config:

(Convert) To: MP4
320 Pixel Wide : Checked
Quality: Standard
RTSP Streaming: Do not check
H.264 Streaming: Do not check

In the Advanced settings, check Force and select QuickTime Decoding. Ignore all the other settings.

Thanks to this article for giving me some ideas on the correct settings.

Random Posts

• Texting with Bayantel Wireless
• Smart TextMail sucks
• Palm Centro now in the Philippines
• Palm catches attention, inspires conversations
• Paano maglagay ng MP3 ringtones sa Palm Treo
• Entrecard and billboard advertising
• 56% off on new Treo 650s at ElectroWorld

Years later, a new site called Twitter emerged and began offering a similar service.  It even went a step further as, for some time,  it allowed members to receive their friends’ updates as text messages.  Posting SMS updates to Twitter was expensive then, though, as users had to send messages to an international number.  But phTwitters.com later solved this, allowing users to send updates to a local SMS gateway. When Plurk became popular, phPlurk also became available.

With new social networking sites that followed Twitter, such as Plurk and Jaiku, a social networker like me couldn’t help but wish that I could update all my services at the same time. Hellotxt.com and Ping.fm (see Jerry Ong’s post) made it possible.

But what if I want to use my cellphone — particularly the text messaging service — since connecting to GPRS or 3G remains costly? Today, I learned that it is also possible with the help of Ping.fm and Yahoo! Messenger for SMS.

To update your status on different social networking service thru SMS, just follow these steps:

1. If you don’t have YM, download it at http://ph.messenger.yahoo.com.
2. Login to YM, then follow the instructions on how to setup Yahoo! Messenger for SMS. Note that when prompted to enter your number, you must replace the initial zero with +63 (i.e. +639193451234).

   

3. After enabling Yahoo! Messenger for SMS, sign up for or login to your Ping.fm account.
4. Click on “Add more networks” on your Ping.fm dashboard.  On the next page, just follow the instructions to set up your networks (Twitter, Plurk, Jaiku, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo360, Flickr, FriendFeed, MySpace, Xanga, WordPress.com and others)

   

5. Go back to the dashboard and click on Yahoo Messenger under Services/Tools.

   

6. You will be asked to allow access to your YM account by sending a verification code to YM user pingdotfm.
7. Once your YM account is given access, you may start posting by sending YM messages to pingdotfm.
8. To post updates using SMS, you must be logged in to YM for SMS.  Remember to sign-in to your mobile when logging out of YM on your computer.

   

   9. Send messages to 62580 (Smart) or 2258 (Globe)  in this format:  to pingdotfm your message.

   10. Enjoy posting!

Related Posts

• Yahoo! oneConnect preview now available for US-based iPhone users
• Nokia and Yahoo! announce partnership
• Wanted: Producer/Reporter for Yahoo!
• Yahoo!-Microsoft deal gets US, EU nod
• Job opening at Yahoo! Southeast Asia
• Microsoft, Yahoo! announce search deal
• Twitter for Palm Pre