Second Thoughts about PLDT (Wireless) Landline Plus

Last month I got so excited about the PLDT Wireless landine SIM that Jepoy sent me. I wanted to see for myself how “wireless landlines” fared. And what made PLDT Landline Plus attractive was that you can plug the SIM card into any GSM phone. No need to purchase a phone based on other technologies (i.e., CDMA).

However, my expectations were not met.

Signal was good. Registering for a monthly prepaid plan was simple enough. And voice quality is generally OK. My biggest gripe is the interconnection with other networks, namely BayanTel.

I know I’m considered to be a BayanTel loyalist, as I’ve often reviewed their services here, and I’ve been a BayanTel subscriber for more than ten years now. Our home landline (and that of my folks’) is BayanTel-provided, and guess what: with the PLDT wireless landline, calling BayanTel phones is really a bother. You would not only have to redial once, but in many cases, your call would never push through even after many tries. In my case I don’t even get a “network busy” signal or message. My phone just disconnects after trying to dial a Bayantel number.

Receiving calls from Bayantel and other landline networks is not a problem, though. I can receive calls fine from any landline. But it seems impossible for mobile phones try to call PLDT wireless landline numbers.

And the promised text messaging system is still not in place. Even PLDT-to-PLDT.

In mobility and telecoms, interconnectivity is the name of the game. I remember the mid 1990’s, when PLDT was still the dominant telecoms provider, interconnectivity was such a big issue. And the new entrants’ (e.g., Bayantel, Globe, Digitel) survival largely depended on whether their users could call PLDT users and vice-versa. This was the same when SMS started to become popular.

I’m not sure if the problem is on PLDT’s or Bayantel’s side, but if “wireless” landline providers want to succeed in the market, then they better work on this fast!