My Very First SIM Card - A Smart Buddy SIM

I was rummaging through old things when I found my very first SIM Card.

Yes, it was way back the GSM era circa 2000.

That Smart Buddy Pre-paid Super Sim 3 was inside a gray Nokia 3210 which was a bit pricey then, almost 8K.

Sorry for reminiscing more. 300 was the smallest denomination for Prepaid cellphone cards of Smart then.

I got to use that sim card up to February 2004.

That Nokia 3210 survived countless of falls but was forever lost when it accidentally came out of my slacks' pocket on my way to a new job.

I miss the old days.

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Maintaining Multiple SIM Cards

Prepaid cellphone users stands to benefit from maintaining multiple SIM cards. SIM cards being cheap these days combined with multi-sim capable cellphone models make it a lot easier.

I, myself, maintain 3 sim cards. My dual-sim Nokia C2-03 contain my default Globe SIM and my old Smart number. I also have a Sun Cellular SIM on the side. Yesterday, I loaded all three of them to keep them all active.

How do you maintain multiple SIM cards? Do you have a cellphone unit for each of them? Do you have a schedule, say every month reloading for them?

Various SIM Cards from Philippine Telcos
Image taken from here.

My Globe SIM is loaded regularly. For my Smart SIM, I periodically PASALOAD 2 pesos worth of prepaid credits from my Smart Bro plug-it. It is my Sun SIM that seldom get loaded.

Yesterday, I checked the LoadXtreme online loading facility for the lowest amount of credit for Sun Cellular. I decided on Sun Xpressload Budgetxt 5. However, it is only for 10 text/SMS message to other networks. Just to be sure, I again loaded my Sun with 10 Php regular load.

That's extra expense on prepaid credits for me but necessary so I keep all my SIM active and that I can avail of unlimited offers in any of those networks. Also, to be easily contacted by friends from other networks that uses unlimited services.

I remember in the early days of cellphones, a SIM card gets deactivated when left with out prepaid load for 120 days. I am not sure if that is the case till now. But as much as possible, I see to it to reload my secondary SIM cards once every month.

Do you also maintain multiple SIMs? Do you have a cellphone unit for each? Perhaps you use dual-sim cellphones or even a quad-sim one? Kindly share tips in maintaining your multiple sims.

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TOUCH MOBILE SIM Cards only 10 pesos

I was on my way to the MRT station when I passed by a guy offering Touch Mobile SIM cards - 20 pesos for 2 sims. I thought what the heck, and bought one TM Sim card for only 10 pesos.

The SIM card is preloaded with free text. It is just funny that the promo guy is not sure if its 25 free text for all networks. I'm also curious why they retain the sim card plastic holder. 

Anyway, I used the Touch Mobile sim card to register GCASH. 

I'm interested on GCASH because it will give me another option to sell load. GCASH subscriber has the privilege to load their own number or others (both Touch Mobile and Globe users only). Some sort of a backup, in case my loadxtreme loading is down or unavailable. Plus, GCASH is also used in online transactions and payment of bills like electricity bills.

According to the TM customer service rep I talked, all I need to do is go to the nearest Globe Business Center to put funds to my GCASH account.

In case you bought one too, and still do not know how to inquire about your Touch Mobile prepaid balance (just like I am at first), just dial *102# and press call.

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