Technobiography: TM - Power to the People (Touch Mobile)

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

TM - Power to the People (Touch Mobile)

After sweaty padilla, now comes sweaty montano. ;-)

Maybe the Sun's making them sweat profusely!

I haven't seen the full Touch Mobile (now "TM") TV Ad of Cesar Montano. Nor did I get to read any ads on the papers. I saw a billboard briefly and the "piso calls" caught my attention.

It turns out TM is lowering call rates! I'm quite sure it's a direct response to Sun Cellular's 24/7 Call and Text Unlimited service (CTU)...

TM to TM calls will be charged the regular rate for the first two minutes. The succeeding minutes will be charged only P1 per minute! cool? kewl! This service of TM just shows that Sun has made a dent in competing telcos.

Will this service fly? Let's see. But bottom line, it turns out that the telcos CAN afford, afterall, to offer lower rates. Ah, the beauty of open market competition. Bottom line ulit: subscribers win!

Upside of TM piso calls - the call can go on for more than 15 mins (unlike Sun which cuts the call by the 15th minute). Another upside, i hope, is that it should be easier to make a TM to TM call (unlike a Sun to Sun call which can become difficult to connect at times).

This is all good news for subscribers. I'm quite sure Smart will follow suit soon.

Read: Globe's press release and FAQs on TM
Sun Cellular Turns up the Heat - 24/7 Call & Text Unlimited
Search Technobiography: Sun Cellular
- Edwin

14 Comments:

At 2:21 pm, estelito.iii said…

hmmm.... nice try, but not good enough (i think) to win over some of the sun cellular convertees. :D it's getting harder and harder to connect in sun but i'm sure it'll improve. they better. :D
At 5:41 pm, Airwind said…

i wanna try to switch to sun cellular but i heard there are lots of prob it regards to signal. is this true? coz if not ill buy a sim right away!
At 7:44 pm, Janice said…

In my case, my average per voice call is only 1 to 2 minutes and thus will be charged by the regular rate..

One has to know his usage before they think which promo to choose.
At 10:27 am, aymskee said…

i use sun's 24/7 call and text unlimited. sometimes talk time lasts 30 minutes. I've been using it for almost two months now. the only problem with sun is that it sometimes hard to connect a call. mapupudpod muna daliri mo minsan bago ka makacontact. pero in fairness nakakatipid ako dahil sa sun. i never have to worry to load up and i can use it whenever i can, just have to deal lang with the connection problem. yun lang ang improve ng sun, ok na sila. sana nga it would be a start of TELCOS lowering their rates. i wonder what will SMART Telecoms will do about it.
At 2:19 pm, Edwin "ka edong" said…

salamat sa pag-sulat, estee, airwind, tanda (ka-upscan) ;-), aymskee.

usap kami ni carlo (of accenture) at kelmer kagabi. naisip ...

* medyo na-huli ata ang smart/globe na makipag-bakbakan w sun. Yan tuloy, may 2million+ (daw) na Sun subs na susubukan nilang i-"recover" na subscribers.
* Airwind, Di ko pa nasubukan ang TM. pero malamang mas-madaling mag-connect ng TM-to-TM kumpara sa Sun-to-Sun.
* Kailangan nang makipag-sabayan ang Smart sa pa-babaan ng rates (huli man daw at magaling ...) . Kundi, mas-malaki pa ang kailangang i-"recover" ulit na subscribers.
* Honga naman, Tanda, kung 1-2 mins lang naman ang regular calls, walang pinag-ka-iba ang TM-to-TM rates. Pero, if i know pinoys, nag-iiba ang behaviour nila tuwing may mura (cheap) lalo na kung libre. tignan mo 'ko.
* Bumaba na ang post-paid bills namin simula nang mag-Sun Cellular kami ng wife ko. multiply mo yun by 2million pax, malaki ang "nawawala" mula sa dalawang malaking telcos! malaki ang *natitipid* naman natin.
* share ko lang: kwento ng ate ko sa australia, yung isang cellphone service sa kanila, libre ang first 5 minutes. pag-lampas ng 5 mins, simula na ang charges. unlimited naman ang number of calls mo, pero kung matipid (i.e. kuripot) ka tulad ko, pag-ta-tiyagaan mong mag-redial tuwing mag-fa-5 minutes na.

daldal ko!

Tingin niyo, ano'ng mga himala pa ang mangyayari sa cellphone call rates? maliban pa iyan sa mga promo ng PLDT! (sino gusto ng PLDT landline? nag-lalako ako!)

daldal ko!

ano pa kaya ang mga cell-himala'ng mangyayari pa? ....

ka edong
At 3:19 pm, Anonymous said…

so far so good.

PLDT and Innove are also now coming up plans to call long distance to their own networks at very minimal or all-you-can-eat rate.

When communication costs goes down,hopefully that will benefit consumers, and will also make the economy better.
At 4:23 pm, estelito.iii said…

OT: marami na nga ang subs ng sun cell. out of the 2 million, ang malas ko talaga. nung isang week last december di ako makatanggap ng sun texts, ngayon naman DI NA AKO MAKATEXT KAHIT SAAN.

badtrip anak ng sinalipak. may bago na naman akong ipopost. ang mas badtrip pa ngayon, di na makontak ang customer "care" ng sun cell.

haay. napapa isip tuloy akong mag touch mobile, pero sino naman kaya ang kausap ko dun?
At 1:36 pm, aymskee said…

i think madami na talga naka-sun. some of my friends maintain two sims para dhil sa sun. actually including me..pero a couple of days ago, nagkaproblem kami with sun cellular! di ako makatwag. miski text di pwede. at tama si esteee... di pa makontak ang 24 hour customer support center nila. tnawag pa nilang 24 hour service yun! hay kainis talga! tyagaan lang talga ang mag-sun. lalo na sa pagcontact. sana mag-come up na ang smart na pantapat sa 24/7 ng sun.. kasi kung sa network connection, wa kwenta ang sun, ok na sana ang offered nilang services e. yun lang.
At 8:43 pm, estelito.iii said…

problems with sun:

1. peak hours - asa ka pang makakontact ka kung tatawag ka.
2. voicemail - cannot be accessed (211 & 210) as of the moment, baka nag uupgrade sila or something. pero sana maintain nila na walang bayad ang pag access sa 211.
3. text mabilis naman nakakarating. walang masyadong prob dito except sa mga exception nung isang araw na wala talagang maka-txt or call. atsaka yung exception din sa nangyari sa kin. bwahahaha
4. customer care na wala - ewan ko ba pero feeling ko lumipat or nag retrain ng mga CSR ang sun, kasi kapag tumawag ka sa 200 at mag navigate sa mga voice prompt, walang sumasagot.
At 3:02 pm, Anonymous said…

ako:>)
bumili ako nang TM ngayon dahil ayos ito, pero gusto ko ng SUN!
Sana may SUN cellsites na dito sa PALOMPON, LEYTE...
Iba pa rin ang SUN, mas nakakatipid ka, hindi kagaya na iba dyan, nagpapayaman...
KAYA MAG SUN NA TAYO..............
At 10:18 am, Edwin "ka edong" said…

"sun ka man.....
naroroon sinta ...."

;-)
edong
At 10:42 pm, Anonymous said…

Sa SMART and GLOBE dahil hindi natin ma access yung transactions natin sa text or call kapag prepaid ka, magtataka ka na lang wala ka nang load. Kung anu-ano pa info msgs marereceive mo, some of them ay chinacharge sa yo. Ganyan magpayaman ang Smart and Globe sa ating mga subscribers. Sana magkaroon na ng action ang government para macontrol ang pang loloko sa atin ng BIG telcom companies na to. Makaloko lang sila ng 2 piso sa bawat subscriber, milyon milyon na ang kita nila, imagine nyo yun.. Sobra na to. Tulungan natin ang SUN na makapag expand ng network nila, in the end tayong mga subscriber sa SUN ang mananalo. Lipat na tayo!
At 5:28 pm, Anonymous said…

February 25,2005 issue of Phil. Daily inquirer breaks the latest news: TOUCH MOBILE will offer call and text unlimited. Tentative launching is on March 1, 2005.
At 5:30 pm, Anonymous said…

Phil. Daily Inquirer issue on Feb. 26, 2005: SMART and PILTEL will NOT join the price war of telcos to preserve premium quality standards of its network.