My second GPass experience was not like the 1st time

I had no ride going home last Friday so I had to ride the MRT from Ayala to Shaw station last Friday, November 24 at around 7pm (yes, rush hour!). I do not normally ride the MRT, so I don't own a stored value card, but I still have my GPass that I bought from last August. I was not sure if it still worked, so I went to the GPass booth and asked if there was still balance in my chip. There was still around PHP 50 in my GPass, and I asked to load PHP 20 more just to make sure the chip still works.

So as I was placing the GPass chip on the reader, it would not read the chip. Even though I placed it near the reader, it still would not read. There were so many impatient people behind me, especially this girl behind me. I have not gone through yet, and she placed her card through the turnstile. Of course, I was blocking her way, so she could not get through. I couldn't go back because there were so many people behind her, so the only direction I could go was forward, and I went through the turnstile knowing I was using her card to get through. I was thinking I could just use my GPass for her to get through.

At this point, I was still trying my GPass to work on the reader for the girl behind me to get through. The guards there saw my situation and we told them what has happened. They said they can help the girl with her card, but they can't help me with my GPass problem because it's new technology and they know nothing about it, and asked me to walk back to the GPass booth to get help. At the GPass booth, the guy said that I had to take out the chip out of its plastic casing. Stupid casing!

Even though the chip was out of its plastic casing, the reader won't "read" the chip until the chip touched the reader. Talk about contactless technology...

I'm glad that I was not alone going through that ordeal because I was with Jorrell, my officemate! Thanks Jorrell for being with me there, I would have panicked alone there.

The MRT should improve the GPass technology. When I first used the GPass, the reader immediately read my chip. How come it won't work as well as when it was new? My GPass chip was just lying on my office table for months, so it could not have gotten damaged by anything.

I suggest placing a separate turnstile lane for GPass users so they don't have to line up with the stored value card users. During rush hour, lining up takes around 15 - 20 minutes. The train ride is faster I think..

It was fun walking with my officemates last Friday. I'm glad that I have friends with me in case I ride the MRT again. I don't know if I'll use the GPass next time though...

Yehey! launches Kaban

Kaban Internet Payment Solutions, launched by Yehey!, is an e-commerce solution to online merchants. Kaban is the newly revamped service of Yehey!'s former payment facility called PayPlus+. Kaban merchants are able to receive three types of payments:

1) ATM Card via Bancnet
2) Credit Card (VISA, Mastercard, JCB)
3) Electronic Cash via Globe G-Cash

Kaban works similarly to PayEasy because it offers merchants services to the Philippine market and it revolves around the concept of a load wallet. I guess the Kaban website is still not ready because some of their links don't work yet, such as the merchant tools and the buyers section.

I wonder why they had to change the name from PayPlus+ to Kaban. Maybe PayPlus+ has some pending issues. Personally, I like the PayPlus+ name better.

Kaban's transaction fee is quite high at 6%. Or is this normal?

The Nokia 5300 XpressMusic beats the iPod Nano

Nokia has released a new phone that I find interesting, the Nokia 5300 XpressMusic. It can hold 1,500 songs on a 2G microSD card. It comes with a 1.3-megapixel camera, that's clear! (Well, it's a lot clearer than my current camera phone, haha!) There are dedicated music keys on the side of the phone, which is part of the phone's unique design and charm. The phone comes in two colors - black and red.

Why am I so fascinated with this phone? Because my cousin bought one and I instantly fell in love with this phone when she started to play mp3 songs in loud speaker. The sound really has superior sound quality, as the nokia website says. My cousin is also able to hook up her Nokia 5300 to her car. This beats the Nano!

This phone is also price friendly. You can get one for PHP 12,500. This is the same price range as the iPod Nano...

I am considering buying this phone. My old Samsung E-600 is frustrating at times. For some weird reason, it can't even do basic phone services such as caller ID unless I save a person's number twice. I love Samsung, it's cute and easier for me to use than Nokia phones, but this phone unit I have is not working well. Time to replace? hmm...

I have Sun Cellular!

I finally got a Sun Cellular line! I applied for one around 2 weeks ago. I availed of the Plan 350 Unlimited Call and Text to Sun networks. Plus, there is 250 free text a month to other networks. And this plan came with a free Nokia 2310. It's my first phone with an FM radio, haha. Not bad!

Owning a Sun line is convenient for me because a lot of people in my family have a Sun line. I'm hoping more of my friends have Sun line too, haha.

Another promo of Sun that's attractive is paying PHP 999/mo. It comes with 3 Plan 350 lines. This is a good package that families or barkadas can avail of.

There should be family or group packages for postpaid cellular subscribers. Why can't Smart and Globe do that? Like, unlimited calls and/or text between family members or among subscribed numbers for a flat fee. The plans are too focused on individual subscriptions.

The Sun service has improved compared to before, I'd just like to add.

Well, that's all for now. :-) More power to Sun!

Reply from Mia of VMobileSolutions

Hi Jacqui,

Yes, we have an existing micro-remittance service available on the Chikka Messenger version 4 called i$end. It is a web service that can be accessed from and is linked to the said instant messenger. PayPal and Moneybookers users can purchase ‘i$end credits’ which can be used for sending prepaid load credits, game and internet credits, Smart Money or electronic gift vouchers to their friends and family in the Philippines.

Our money remittance service offers micro denominations, namely P500, P1000, P2000 and P5000. The US dollar amount paid by the sender is computed based on the exchange rate plus a small handling fee that covers the printing and courier fees of the card, fees charged by the payment gateways (PayPal or Moneybookers), 24x7 customer support, fees to remit the funds to the Smart Money account of the beneficiary, and other operational costs. We charge $3.48 to remit P500-P2000 while we charge $5.99 to remit P5000.

All the sender needs to do is to fill up a form on the web by providing personal details such as name, address and a contact number plus details of the beneficiary. (A beneficiary should be a Smart subscriber in order to receive funds). On the first transaction, we call the sender and beneficiary in order to verify the information. The beneficiary details will be uploaded to the Smart Money system. The beneficiary will receive an SMS notification regarding the money sent to his Smart Money account. Average turnaround time takes 1 day for the first transaction. The Smart Money personalized card and PIN mailer will be printed and mailed to the beneficiary within 5-10 days. Succeeding transactions will be completed within a few minutes. If the beneficiary already has a Smart Money card which is tied to the mobile phone number provided by the sender on the first transaction, then a card will no longer be printed out. They can encash immediately at any Banco De Oro ATM.

Regards,

Mia

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I logged in to my Chikka Messenger account (version 4) and an icon of a Peso sign and cellphone directed me to the i$end page. It didn't work at first, but it worked on the second time. You can buy i$end credits from PayPal and Moneybookers and use the i$end credits for sending money to a Smart Money beneficiary. When I clicked on the icon for buying i$end credits from PayPal, I got an error. I logged off Chikka and logged in again. This time, I couldn't even get to the i$end page. "The page cannot be displayed".

As of this time, 11:39 am, October 26, 2006, the i$end system does not work. If I were an OFW wanting to send money, I don't think I would want to rely on this service. Unreliable.

I'll try again later to see if it works.