How do you guys text your family in the Philippines that's low cost?

[lizadelira 0]

Hello everyone!!! I'm feeling bored here in California.. "All work and no text makes me a dull person" in the Philippines I have so many textmates and I miss them so much. But I can't text all of them everyday cause a single text to the Philippines is very expensive. Plus the fact that their reply will also be deducted from my load. Please help me...What’s the cheapest/best way to send a text message to the Philippines?

[Nagishkaw 510]

Topic moved from OFF TOPIC to PHILIPPINES.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/129-philippines/

[marriedtomrg 140]

Yahoo Messenger.

They reply to you it's only Php 2.50 But they have to reply to you every so often so you don't get cut off from them.

If you arranged for roaming on your phone (I have my Globe number on international roaming), they only spend Php 1.00 to text me, but if I text back it's Php 25...for Globe anyhow...no idea how Smart or Sun works.

Hello everyone!!! I'm feeling bored here in California.. "All work and no text makes me a dull person" in the Philippines I have so many textmates and I miss them so much. But I can't text all of them everyday cause a single text to the Philippines is very expensive. Plus the fact that their reply will also be deducted from my load. Please help me...What’s the cheapest/best way to send a text message to the Philippines?

[Maxx121 14]

Some cell phone companies have unlimited international text. MetroPCS is one, course im in ny

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

My wife uses a smart international roaming SIM to receive and sends using her AT&T iPhone4... SMS isn't used as often as YM or Facebook though, always less than 20 sent per month so less than $5 (@ 25 cents each)...

[SomedaySomehow 1]

me i use chikka mesenger its only 2.50 evry time u txt them ...

[Atencio 43]

I have a Smart phone set for International roaming for her to text me. To text her I use Voxofon which is $0.06/text. It needs to run on flash so if your phone don't support flash you have to use computer based texting. I don't text a whole lot anymore. I have pretty cheap phone service in addition to Magic Jack now so either we talk on the phone or Yahoo messenger if we decide to text chat.

[Matt and Evieve 1]

Matt has globe roaming phone where I send text messages to him but he does not use it to reply to me as it will cost him 25pesos/text. So, he uses his US phone to text me that has unlimited YM service. I don't need to reply to YM as I can receive as much messages that I can. No limit. If I'm online and he's not, we use magicjack to talk to each other.

[David & Kezia 25]

Put your Smart or Globe sims into international roaming, so they can text you and spend only 1 pesos per text. To respond, you use your US cellphone that has free international texting or you use Chikka Messenger (as long as they respond directly to that number for 2.50 pesos, every now and then).

Another option is for both of you to subscribe to daily internet on the phone, where you can both chat on Yahoo Messenger chat or Facebook chat, unlimited. In the Phils it's around 20 pesos per day (although mostly it's 20 pesos per website), and in the US, it's usually included in most subscriptions.

Use Skype calls for the rest.

[jandk 6]

Hello everyone!!! I'm feeling bored here in California.. "All work and no text makes me a dull person" in the Philippines I have so many textmates and I miss them so much. But I can't text all of them everyday cause a single text to the Philippines is very expensive. Plus the fact that their reply will also be deducted from my load. Please help me...What’s the cheapest/best way to send a text message to the Philippines?

Use Chikka. www.chikka.com

[SuperDuper! 230]

The NAG took very decisive action in moving this topic. Very impressive!

Chikka.com with a roaming SIM card on both phones IS the cheapest texting option.

Remember to get a dual-band, even quad band cell phone for the US to receive the texts (900/1800 Mgz).

Mahal just activates her SIM prior to flying to USA.

GoGoGadget, Darn It!

[Atencio 43]

The NAG took very decisive action in moving this topic. Very impressive!

Chikka.com with a roaming SIM card on both phones IS the cheapest texting option.

Why do you need a roaming SIM card for both phones?

Chikka's rates seem confusing. They have so many options. It lists buckets with messages/day. Do you buy 1 day at a time? Which plan are you guys using?

Some of their plans don't seem to be really any cheaper than Voxofon (4.7 vs 6 cents).

I do like the send message via email option. Have you guys used that option?

[David & Kezia 25]

Why do you need a roaming SIM card for both phones?

Chikka's rates seem confusing. They have so many options. It lists buckets with messages/day. Do you buy 1 day at a time? Which plan are you guys using?

Some of their plans don't seem to be really any cheaper than Voxofon (4.7 vs 6 cents).

I do like the send message via email option. Have you guys used that option?

Don't subscribe to Chikka's international texts. It's expensive. Just have her subscriber to chikka using her Philippine numbers, so her family and friends would also have the option of texting her back directly on that number for only 2.50 pesos. Just use the FREE services of Chikka. In other words, don't add your credit card or bank account to it.

As for Roaming SIM cards, to put your sim card into roaming before she departs the Philippines is to make sure that she still receives her text messages on those sim cards. I use one phone for that, a dual-active (or dual-standby) dual-sim cellphone, with a smart sim and a globe sim, both in roaming.

So here's the process:

US person:

1. text to the Philippines using Chikka (registered to a Phil number)

2. text to the Philippines using a US phone with unlimited international texting subscription

Phil person:

1. text to the US person using Chikka (to the US person's Phil number)

2. Chikka to Chikka messaging if both are online (which is just like YM or Skype messaging)

3. respond to the US person's text via Chikka for 2.50 pesos (which is recommended every now and then or every 10-20 texts from the Chikka user, to avoid being blocked)

4. text directly to the US person's roaming sim (Phil numbers) for 1 pesos per text

OR

US Person - subscribe to a US phone service with unlimited internet or Private Messaging option, so you can be online on Yahoo Messenger and Facebook all the time and chat from there

and

Phil person - subscribe (plan or prepaid on a Philippine simcard) to unlimited chatting on YM or Facebook, and chat from there

[Atencio 43]

Thanks David & Kezia. You explained that very well.

[David & Kezia 25]

Thanks David & Kezia. You explained that very well.

You're welcome!

and it's Kezia here. David registered here, and made the first posts, but he rarely gets time to use this forum anymore so I took over and is now making most of the posts, although he does check here from time to time. This is also a good support group, to keep me from going mad from all the waiting and all the other troubles at USCIS.