Globe and Sim registration law - problems again!

 The new sim card registration law is implemented from today december 27 2022, but Globe made mistake as usual. 

The website for registration is not working https://new.globe.com.ph/simreg 

Customers are sent back to the https://www.globe.com.ph/help/sim-registration-act.html page instead of going to the registration portal.

Also, Globe use outdated information in the FAQ and procedure for registration, they want foreigners who are here as tourists to provide copy of Passports main page with biodata and the page where the current VISA is stamped - only problem is that Immigration has not used the stamped procedure for more than 5 years now, instead they give a document with the information on the current VISA status.

But the portal is not asking for a document and will most likely not accept that as documentation.

These days its not humans that check these registrations, its a computer(sometimes called bot) and if something is a little bit off from the programming then its rejected - A human would be able to understand the reasoning for the document instead of Passport page, a bot will not.

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This is the information from Globe Telecom : For foreigners visiting as tourists, their registered SIMs shall only be valid for 30 days, and shall automatically be deactivated upon expiration of the SIM. The requirements are as follows: 

Passport (i.e., copy of the bio-page and pages where the current visa is stamped or shown); and

Proof of address in the Philippines (booking in a hotel or other type of accommodation, or in the absence thereof, an affidavit/letter from the owner of the house or residence where such foreign national will stay); and

Return ticket to country of origin or to another country indicating date and time of departure from the Philippines

Foreign nationals with other types of visas shall present:

Passport (i.e., copy of the bio-page and pages where the current visa is stamped or shown) indicating passport number, full name and nationality; and

Proof of address in the Philippines (booking in a hotel or other type of accommodation, or in the absence thereof, an affidavit/letter from the owner of the house or residence where such foreign national will stay); and 

Other pertinent document, whichever is applicable:

Alien Certificate of Registration Identification Card (ACRI-Card) from the Bureau of Immigration or other types of official ID issued by any other visa-issuing agency;

Alien Employment Permit from the Department of Labor and Employment School registration and ID for students; or

For Persons of Concern or POCs, the type of travel or admission document validly issued by the Department of Justice

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As an IT Consultant and IT Blogger through many years, I find it despicable that Globe have not checked the facts before implementing these rules and I suggest that every person with problem contact Globe through their Messenger, I already did yesterday, but arrogant as they are Globe Support(not real Globe, but a company that handles their support), did not forward my concerns to 2nd level support (the real Globe). 

Then we just have to wait and see if things will get in order, though my experience with Globe say that Globe shot themselves in the foot. Because if people have so much problems with the registration and Globe don't fix the problems(usually it takes them years to fix anything), before the sim cards expire, then people will cancel Globe and go to another teleprovider, like SMART or Dito. 

And Globe will have huge losses in income. 

But you can't cure matigas ulo!

UPDATE: Globe finally got their matigas ulo in check and fixed the problem - use https://new.globe.com.ph

and choose Register SIM in the menu at the top right corner. 

MitID and the consequences it will have for Globe Telecom

Since 2020, the goverment in Denmark, have been pushing out a new National Digital ID solution, named MitID to take over for NemID - for all danish citizens. This is old news.

What is not old news, is the consequences this have and will have in the future for Globe Telecom and the app. 20.000 danish Globe Telecom users, living permanently in the Philippines.

Many danish citizens know by now, that there is a serious problem with recieving SMS from MitID when having a mobile number with Globe Telecom, and many have made a temporary solution and registered and activated their MitID with a SMART SIM card.

SMART do not have as good coverage in the Philippines, as Globe Telecom have. 

Here comes the problem for Globe Telecom and their danish users, the use of MitID demands that SMS can be sent out to the user, when ever there is activity on their MitID account, so in order for that to be future proof, the 20.000 danish citizens will have to make a permanent switch to SMART - unless Globe Telecom finally fix the 17 years old communication problem they have with TDC in Denmark!

The reason for this problem, is as mentioned above, 17 years old and has to do with TDC not having a roaming agreement with Globe Telecom and vice versa.

TDC is used by majorly all goverment agentcies and offices, and also Banks, Hospitals, and now everything that has to do with MitID.

This is because TDC is the company with the most resources and the largest Nation wide network and the one, that the developer of the MitID solution, Nets, has chosen to use. 

So either Globe Telecom and TDC. finally figure out to solve their communication problem or Globe Telecom will most likely loose 20.000 costumers. 

Globe Support has been far from helpful in registering that there is a serious problem or even offer any solutions. 

The same can be said for Nets, who is the one in Denmark, responsible for chosing a tele provider that can't deliver worldwide. And even after they were made aware of the situation and the major problem, they did nothing to solve it and blamed Globe Telecom. 

For Nets, the solution is easy, switch to Telia or Telenor and the problem is solved. Because both of these companies have for years been able to deliver SMS to Globe Telecom, without any problems at all. 

For the users, there is only 1 solution and it is a bad one, if they are so unlucky to live in an area with no coverage by SMART. 

In the end it seems that neither Nets nor Globe Telecom actually care about this. 

When Globe Telecom, eventually are scratching their heads and asking "what happened?" - the answer is simple:

You set up a system where nobody can contact you, so nobody could inform you! The company you hired to take care of your support, failed to inform you about the problem - because of the way you set it up! 

You could have been ahead of this, but in the end, its your own fault! 

My Review of Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 power saving feature

Over the years I have owned a few smartphones, not many, like most in my profession. The common thing is that I did my research before buying.

My present phone, Xiaomi Redmi Note 7, recently had battery failure, but that is not uncommon, since it has a few years on its back(bought in 2019), so I went above and beyond to find a new battery and found one on Lazada - DON'T, they are all fake, Xiaomi don't sell batteries separately(Do NOT argue with me on this, I have letter from them stating this as a fact), and this is to avoid scams. If you want a new ORIGINAL battery, then you have to go to their service center(NOT mi store). If your phone is out of warranty, then they charge you around 500p for the repair and around 390-560p for the battery, and you have warranty on this repair. I had to do this when the battery from Lazada started to fail. 

Enough about this, the story today is about something else.

Most Smartphones these days has some sort of power saving feature build-in from factory, but Xiaomi go above and beyond on this part, in my Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 there are 2 power saving options, unlike most other phones that have only 1.

Xiaomi claims that my battery can last 21h and 3min on normal setting, with no power option enabled, in factory testing maybe but not in real life use, because on normal use with a few games and some web browsing using Wi-Fi only, streaming video to Chromecast, it last about 12 hours.

If I game hard, only stop to eat breakfast and lunch, then it last about 4 hours.

Now, if I turn ON Battery saver, I get 19 hours normal use and 8 hours hard gaming. That is very nice.

What is more ever more nice is what happens if I turn ON Ultra battery saver, now I have a little more than 3 days of normal use(72 hours+). It is not very good for gaming. But it is good for travel.

GSMArena measured the battery to last 108 hours, in their endurance rating, I am not sure how they got that, but 72 hours+ is better than what the Ultra battery saver claims and what most other phones can do, and this on a 4000mAh battery.

I really like this phone and I will get a New battery again, when this one is worn out, basically I will wear this phone out. And that would be the time I will get a new one.

I don't care that Xiaomi stopped the updates for this model, I know how to keep my phone safe.

Attached below, screenshots of Battery with normal and the 2 power saving options.

Thats it folks, until next time 🙂

GLOBE Toy store

It has taken almost 2 1/2 month for my Girlfriend to add 2 additional lines with Devices, to her existing account at GLOBE - and it is still not done.

Right now she is on the phone with GLOBE Sales team, again. And this is after she has talked with them numerous times before and every time they promised that everything now where in order and the devices would be shiped within 7 days.

Still, nothing happened. 

It should never have taken this long! 

It is like dealing with a Toy store, where the employees don't really know what they are doing.

I don't know why it is like this, maybe GLOBE don't care about new business or they just have incompetent employees.

Either way, it has been like this since this money machine COVID-19 started.

First they closed their hotline, so customers could not get any help, in case of problems. 

Then they lowered the Pre-paid Mobile internet speed in areas they didn't considered important - This is their largest income, so that does not make sense at all.

They lost lots of customers, to SMART, PLDT AND CONVERGE.

So again, I can only imagine that it is because of incompetent employees and "blind" managers. And leaders that only care about getting their salary and not doing their job.