What Network to use in Philippines

Anyone going to PI with T-MOBILE will connect to the SMART network. Last couple of times I went, that's what my phone automatically connected to. I also received texts from T-MOBILE and SMART letting me know that I'm connected to that network. Great for texting and stuff. It's good to have an unlocked phone or a prepaid phone that you can add "load" to. Depending on the province, you may want to get Globe or SMART because of coverage. If there's any local numbers that you need to call while you're out, you can do that on your prepaid phone. Don't call local numbers with your US phone.
 

Otherwise, your regular phone is going to work well for texts, messenger, calls over WiFi, etc. Hope this helps. 

Cali Cat wrote:

I don't believe you can select specific carriers. In some countries I've seen multiple carriers depending on which city I am in and what time of the day it is. If you want to lock into a specific carrier, you would need a SIM card from that carrier and your TMO phone needs to be unlocked.

In some countries T-Mobile has agreements with multiple carriers. In other countries they may only roam a single carrier. Also, it's possible that T-Mobile may restrict roaming on various carriers by region. Essentially, you need to look at their coverage map for the country in question. If you can roam where they show service, that's good. If you can't roam where they show service, then you should report the issue to T-Mobile. It doesn't hurt to try to connect to a different roaming partner if the one the phone picks does not work well for you.

TXTom wrote:

The OP asked what network they will connect to.  I was expanding on that and asked them if they knew which one they connected to.  Right, many (all?) providers who have intl agreements will try to make the connection as transparent as possible. That doesn't automatically translate to 'no fees' and other promises; there's a lot of words in those agreements you click 'Accept' on.  If I remember when I'm back I'll post my experience.  BTW, Congstar is a T-Mobile MVNO in GE and it's subcarrier is ja! mobil which works just fine in US.  GSM for all!

I don't believe you can select specific carriers. In some countries I've seen multiple carriers depending on which city I am in and what time of the day it is. If you want to lock into a specific carrier, you would need a SIM card from that carrier and your TMO phone needs to be unlocked.

The OP asked what network they will connect to.  I was expanding on that and asked them if they knew which one they connected to.  Right, many (all?) providers who have intl agreements will try to make the connection as transparent as possible. That doesn't automatically translate to 'no fees' and other promises; there's a lot of words in those agreements you click 'Accept' on.  If I remember when I'm back I'll post my experience.  BTW, Congstar is a T-Mobile MVNO in GE and it's subcarrier is ja! mobil which works just fine in US.  GSM for all!

MagentaPlan4Vacation wrote:

Or can I just turn on my phone and it will automatically select a network that’s connected to TMobile?

Essentially, yes.

Your TMO sim will automatically connect international carriers that are included in TMO's partnerships. That doesn't mean you won't be charged because your plan is independent of which carriers will accept TMO SIM cards. You should get a text from TMO every time you connect to a new international carrier that confirms whether the data in free or not along with voice call rates. I have a Magenta Max equivalent plan and so far I haven't come across any data fees to many countries in EU, Asia, Central, and South America.

Hi. Did you complete your trip yet? This will be the first time I'm actually using a US carrier's plan internationally (as mostly the cost is usually prohibitive .vs local prepaid sim).  I've travelled a lot in the world and many times to Phils, where I always get a Globe sim, but last trip I used SMART because they were expanding to the provinces more than Globe. I searched and couldn't find much information on 'Simple Global' and what providers might support that program, or just outright T-mobile support in Phils.  I am guessing it's going to lock onto either SMART or Globe depending on best signal/location.

What did you experience?

Thx