Most times when you need to top up a mobile phone in the Philippines, you just go to a local store and pay 100 pesos and get an instant top up. You see these stores everywhere, so it is very easy.
However, sometimes you need more than 100 pesos or so, and these little stores often have daily limits themselves. One told me that they only have 300 pesos each day. Many customers only get 10 or 20 pesos load at a time. I was wanting 1,000 pesos to use for a months internet usage.
So I looked at different options, using internet payment facilities that can be used from anywhere in the world.
www.worldremit.com is an option to use a credit/debit card to buy phone credits, called a “load” in the Philippines.
1,000 pesos would cost me A$29.63 with worldremit; that works out at 33.75 pesos to the dollar. Ouch !! I prefer the 40.89 that I get using an ATM to withdraw cash, and that is after charges.
www.topupph.com is another option
1,000 pesos would cost me US$33.00 with topupph; that works out at 30.30 pesos to the dollar. This is getting WORSE !!
www.ezetop.com is my next try:
1,000 pesos would cost me US$28.00 with ezetop; that works out at 35.71 pesos to the dollar. That is the best so far, but still not good enough for me.
1,000 pesos would cost me A$24.27 with tawagpinas; that works out at 40.35 pesos to the dollar. This one seems good, but still needs me to create an account and sign in. I wonder if there are other charges that apply once I do.
OK, they charge a service fee of $2.33, making the total charge A$26.60 which works out at 37.59 pesos to the dollar.
If I choose this method, I think this would be my preferred option.
This one needed me to create an account and sign in, before giving details of charges, other than saying their charges include ones from their bank, the card companies and the secure online payment processing company.
All these prices were based on the Exchange rates at one specific 15 minute period on March 15th, 2013, and are liable to daily changes.
It may be cheaper to do a top-up at a 7 Eleven store, or even one of the local banks or large supermarkets.
It was:
At the local supermarket I bought 2 x 500 pesos Prepaid Load cards.
Cost 1,000 pesos, and they also provided an extra 170 FREE texts to any network (costing 1 peso each)
This is definitely the best option for a local purchase. 1,170 pesos of value for 1,000 pesos.
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