CELL PHONES and Philippine Cellular Service Providers

most US phone are not working here in ph because they are locked to AT&T.  but if you can able to use you phone with different simcard. you can use it here. most american that i had encountered in the airport their phone are locked and some can unlocked it when they are using philippines sim.  when it comes to service providers it depends on the location,

I will suggest you use Globe as your provider. They have data plans well, the cheaper is bad one.

KrzyBikr
We can help to your problem we have cellphone shop repair at SM sta rosa laguna  and SM calamba laguna we can open line your phone  just go to the cyber zone of this mall look @ emman in calamba and novo in sta.rosa laguna

Does any of the providers in the Philippines offer a plan with unlimited data at decent speed? I've been trying to navigate their websites but the information they give is close to useless.

As far as types of cell phones, any brand is a good brand. Go online and look over the comparison chart to find the features you want and need.

Wherever you are you can find out if the phone is INTERNATIONAL.  ALL PHONES ARE SOLD AS INTERNATIONAL.

The  Apple Store will have to special order a international phone if the Apple Store is in the USA. The  same goes for Samsung. There are Apple Stores in Manila, Cebu, Dave... So if you  want you can wait till you get here and buy it here. Many people complain about the cost to unlock a cell phone. My suggestion is  you know you travel outside the Country why not share that with the person you buy the phone from?  It's so simple to do that. My last visit home I went to the Apple Store and got two IPad and three cell phones. None were for me ,they were for my friends here. The first thing I told the young man was that I needed them to take to the Philippines.  He then said that he had nothing on hand but he could get the phones within three days if I  could pay up front. Three days later I had the phones. It was  that simple. Be sure to request single SIM or dual sim.

As far as service provider... They all are equally flawed.  My suggestion is once you are in an area just use the  most common for that area.  It makes no sense to be here in Ilocos Norte subscribing to Globe 🌐,  when Smart and Talk N Text are the  ones everyone uses because now you  will have to pay a premium for calling and texting to people in your geographic. Here as long as you text to others in the same plan it's usually unlimited calls and text for one price. I'm sure it's that way everywhere. Just give it the KISS... KEEP IT SIMPLE.... Try not to ask a good question that requires a dumb answer and a dumb answer is when you  know that are  going to get different answers from a million people.

Here in the Philippines people use cell phone providers regionally because the advertising is regionally targeting. In Manila most use Globe.  In Laoag it's Smart.  In Ilocos Sur it's Sun... Listening to the Radio and TV will tell you which one is being used there by the commercials.

I have Smart... I pay P250/month. I get unlimited texting and 180 minutes calls. That's a pay as you go plan  for 30 days.  I just  go with  that and it works for me.  Except when I go to Manila. I  get there and I can't send text to many people because they all use Globe.  So I  have to use my  Sun  SIM  and that can be expensive per text. So just know that every provider offers Unlimited service it's just being in an area that you can best benefit from it. So make sure you are using a provider that most of the people you communicate with are using.  Location is everything.

Calls and texts are fine but.. what about data?

It's cheaper to get a pocket Wi-Fi...

Hi
Phones and phone service in the Philippines is all about where you live!!! Any phone from anywhere if brought to a reputable tech in the Philippines will be up and ready for service there in about 20 minutes while you watch and wait! Globe and Smart are the 2 big companies and using one of them will be best! Globe has more towers and better spread across the land! Smart owns the transportation areas like freeways! I always keep a globe landline in my place! Use Smart cellphone to carry around! Your Samsung Galaxy S5 is easily converted! It is CDMA! The S stands for Sport! I always buy a dual sim phone and can have both types if needed! Not sure where you will be living in the PI! Filipino's are the most phone savy culture on the planet!