For iPhone users/Globe subscribers

MY old friend Gerry Kaimo has been tearing his hair out over his Apple iPhone/Globe Telecom service because his phone bill had skyrocketed to P27,000 in just two months, all because of the default Internet settings.

I've checked the Philmug site and apparently this problem of overbilling by Globe has been happening since the phone was introduced last year. So if you're still thinking of buying such a unit, please be warned. Globe's customer relations system isn't exactly the most efficient in the industry, so you may want to ask a lot of questions about your unit first and Globe's charges before making that final purchase. It also helps to make friends w/ the techie guys. (The Philmug site does have suggested procedures to adjust your Internet setttings and thus protect yourself from getting overbilled. So check that out, too.)

Let's hear it from Gerry:

To all of you out there who may have bought the Mac iPhone. Please consult your nearest Globe Tech Support. There is no manual, so it's a guessing game mostly. I was at Globe Towers today and found out that I was not the only one who had a problem with this Mac iPhone.

My month's first bill came up to a whopping P15,000+. Second month seventeen I think. Basta the total was P27,000 FOR TWO MONTHS!! It was because of the settings. You all know that this iPhone lacks a manual. Mac does not give out manuals. You have to source a third party manual to learn about your Apple product. Thing is, Globe COULD HAVE given their buyers lessons, even if they had to charge them for it. Consider this: If you had a choice between paying a thousand peso seminar fee to save tens of thousands, that's still a good deal.

Thing is, they knowingly sold a phone with no manual and NOT ENOUGH techies to help the customers who paid almost forty thousand pesos for the iPhone. What happened to me also happened, according to a Globe employee who shall remain unknown because they could fire him for being honest to me. At any rate, I was told that my fifteen thousand and then seventeen thousand bills were NOTHING compared to the other customers who ran up bills of 37,000-forty thousand peso monthly bills. They should have warned us. They COULD at least have warned us. But no, it is apparently more important that Globe sell tons of iPhones before more people learn that if you are not INFORMED (caveat emptor, remember?) before people find out that they will be paying thousands more than their usual bills.

FOUL by GLOBE. A deed MOST FOUL. A warning that if you don't set the phone right, you can end up paying thousands monthly. I wonder what Globe will do to let me have it. I wonder if they will... After all, messengers are apt to get punished in this country, just ask Jun Lozada. But no matter. Do what you must. But hey, do the right thing and call your iPhone buyers. And please stop telling your tech support people to encourage your customers to switch their plans from per kilobyte to 5 PESOS FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES. because the fifteen minutes keeps going and going and going. FOUL PLAY by GLOBE, in my opinion, they should clarify. CLARIFY and inform your customers of what may may ahead of them.

That's all from me. Globe's turn. If you had the same problem, please pass this on. Help the others who may just now be getting the shaft. Thanks.

Last I heard from Gerry, he has written Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman of Globe Telecom, about this issue. I hope Gerry gets an answer soon.

The Obama-McCain presidential debate

I CANNOT comment on the first U.S. presidential debate of this electoral season. SkyCable decided to interrupt my viewing by doing maintenance work in our area. Thanks!

While I'm at it, I dunno why even its affiliate Bayan is becoming crappy in its DSL service. I used to be a super advocate of the company because while everyone connected to PLDT and SmartBro was freaking out over their lousy intermittent service, and overeager customer billings (as in bayad ka na, sinisingil ka pa rin!), my Bayan DSL was working beautifully. And even on the off-chance that my service would become spotty, Bayan's customer service personnel were very professional and always patient to explain how to guide you through the difficulties of reconnecting.

So after nagging them for this problem (which started to happen co-accidentally? after a strong typhoon about two months ago), someone came and changed my modem box. (Btw, it took an unusually long period of time to reach anyone in their customer service as the line seemed to be perpetually busy or ringing forever, so I finally decided to go to Bayan's PR to complain. In my business, one day w/o an Internet connect means a day closer to a story deadline w/ nothing to show for.) Anyhoo, the repair guy said after two years, my old gray ZTE modem box has outlived its usefulness and so he changed it to a new one. Also ZTE, this time in black, and my Internet connect was up and running again.

Everything was working splendidly until yesterday when I was YM'ing w/ Poknat, and my connection kept dropping. So I made a call and this really sungit customer service girl picked up and after bitching with each other, she said she would make a report. I told her to re-set my connection as well from her end. That seemed to do the trick since my connect was alright again until I logged off last night.

This morning, a Bayan repair guy arrived and said he would change my modem box. And I said, but you guys just changed it. The new guy explained that they have been receiving complaints about the new ZTE modems which go funky whenever they receive calls. (I have a landline going thru the same DSL cable.) He asked if I didn't notice the same. I said no. When I complained about my spotty connection yesterday, I said, I wasn't even using the phone at all.

So he changes the modem box anyway to a Huawei (the same brand as Globe's been using for its HDSPA flash drive/wifi connect). For good measure, he changes all the phone jacks as well. Everything's cool for now but I can't help but think my DSL issue is linked to the ongoing maintenance work of SkyCable, as our cable TV connect starting going funky yesterday as well. Well, let's see how it goes. But I'm starting to look at the Globelines DSL/phone promotions already.