Review: PLDT Landline Plus Prepaid
Prepaid SIM turns your mobile phone into a “landline” — good for households or small businesses that need local number access
The landline is perhaps one of the relics of the 20th century that not many enjoy today. With the ubiquity of mobile phones, the concept of calling someone on a wired phone is somewhat relegated to the office or call center setting.
I grew up experiencing having to wait years for a PLDT landline application to be processed. I grew up in the era of pulse-based and rotary phones. I also had “party lines” in the past.
I also ran a dial-up BBS system in the mid-1990s from my laptop years before the internet became commercially viable in the Philippines. I burned up the lines talking for hours with my girlfriend (who eventually became my beloved late wife).
In contrast, today’s millennial generation has an “aversion to phone calls” writes business consultant Larry Alton.
Phones aren’t used to make phone calls anymore. But why is this the case? It could be one or more of several reasons. This generation grew up with the gradual introduction of instant messaging, texting, email, and other forms of written communication. Because they’re just as instantaneous, but provide you the ability to think over your words, they’re more comfortable and precise communication forms.
However, the landline still has its uses. For example, while online food ordering services have taken most locales by storm, there is still some advantage to actually talking to someone on the phone when you place your order.
There’s the comfort that there’s an actual person at the other end of the line listening to your needs. If you watched the recently-released Babysitter’s Club on Netflix, you’ll see how they rationalized the need for landline service in an age of smartphones and instant messaging. “It’s a social contract: You call, and someone answers!”
For businesses or households, this also means you can easily be reached by landline as well, for callbacks. It can also be a reliable way to keep in touch. After all, the immediacy of a phone call and the nuances of speech-based communication is something that might easily be missed with text messages.
The PLDT Wireless Landline
The concept of a “wireless landline” might be silly at first — it’s an oxymoron after all!
But think of it this way. “Wireless” pertains to the fact that it runs on a mobile network. “Landline” pertains to having a local number access — something that can be directly dialed from another landline without having to pay cellular call rates.
I initially got introduced to this when I had a prepaid landline unit from BayanTel more than a decade ago. It was based on CDMA, but that technology quickly died off, especially when the company’s broadband and landline business was acquired by Globe.
Globe also has its own “DUO” and “SUPERDUO” products, which essentially gave mobile users a landline number for incoming calls, as well as unlimited outgoing calls to landline numbers. There used to be a prepaid service costing PhP 600 per month, but that promotion seems to have slowly disappeared into oblivion, perhaps with not too many users.
Globe also has a postpaid wireless landline service, which also costs 600 pesos monthly.
PLDT does have its own postpaid wireless landline service, which costs PhP 600 per month (around US$12).
But at half the cost, the prepaid PLDT option seems to be more attractive compared to these postpaid offerings. I use the PLDT Wireless Landline with my Nokia 106, which gives me around 3 weeks of standby time. While the prepaid package does have some data allocation, I think it works best with a basic mobile phone or even the Nokia 3310 or the resurgent 8810 banana phone.
What’s in the package?
The SIM pack itself costs PhP 200 at PLDT offices, although in my experience some business centers are mostly out of stock. You can find a retailer on Facebook Marketplace, and the prices range from PhP 200 to PhP 400 or more, although there are sellers who price it at PhP 180 for “bulk” orders of 20 or more.
The package includes a dual-cut SIM (regular size and micro-SIM). Unfortunately, it does not come in nano size, but you can trim the SIM to fit newer phones that only support nano cut. I’ve done this many times before, but do it at your own risk!
It comes with a slightly dated user guide, as well as a PhP 50 wallet load (more on that later). I say dated because local networks already upgraded to 8-digit local numbers, and the guide for reloading and registering still refers to 7-digit numbers.
Reloading, registering and some challenges
PLDT Landline Prepaid Plus works on a package basis. You will need to make sure your mobile wallet has credits, then initially register a package:
- PhP 300 for 30-day service with 600 outgoing minutes (around US$6.07)
- PhP 150 for 15-day service with 250 outgoing minutes (around US$3.03)
- PhP 100 for 7-day service with 100 outgoing minutes (around US$2.02)
All packages come with unlimited incoming calls, plus some mobile data and SMS allocation. After the minutes are consumed, calls will be charged at PhP 2.00 per call.
The concept of metering on a landline call seems limiting, but 600 minutes equals 10 hours of calls. That’s around 20 minutes of outgoing calls per day, which will probably be more than enough for household or small business use. Incoming calls are free anyway, and a 2-peso charge per call once the allocation is consumed seems fair.
I recall that there seems to be a certain cut-off either for incoming or for the 2-peso calls, but I will have to confirm that.
Once you register a package, you will no longer have to register again unless you want to change to a lower or higher package. Just make sure your mobile “wallet” has enough balance for when the network will consume the credits for the next period.
If your registration expires without enough load credits, the system will re-register once you have topped up. Be mindful that your account will expire if you are unable to top up after a certain period (around 60–90 days, if I recall right).
You will get reminders before your next top-up is due.
Here’s where the challenge lies. While you can reload using PLDT wireless landline top-up cards, these are quite rare. In my experience, very few cellphone stores or convenience stores carry them.
As a better alternative, you can reload using SMART prepaid credits using an e-load retailer.
This can be problematic if your local retailer uses one of those multi-network loading platforms. I have also tried using mobile banking including Gcash, PayMaya, UnionBank, and Coins.PH, but with no success.
The PLDT wireless service can only be reloaded using a native SMART retailer SIM, either with a SMART regular load or PLDT wireless landline load. Instruct the retailer to put in “6328XXXXXXX” as the mobile number and cross your fingers in the hope it will not result in an error.
I have received a lot of puzzled looks from retailers when I tell them to top-up this number. It’s strange to them since it does not start with the typical 09xx.
Additional notes
The service runs on SMART’s cellular network, mostly using its 2G and 3G GSM platform. The service is locale- or area-code based. This means the 02 area code SIM will work in the Greater Manila Area, including NCR, Rizal, and some cities in the Cavite and Laguna provinces.
There are other locale-based SIM provisions in other major cities in the country.
When you leave these areas, the service will no longer work — the phone will not be able to register into cell sites outside of your coverage area.
The service supports SMS with other PLDT landlines and with other mobile networks. It will not be included in “package” or “free” SMS allocations, however.
Conclusion
Do I recommend PLDT Landline Plus Prepaid? The short answer is yes. It’s cheap enough to maintain at 300 pesos per month. It’s convenient enough to carry a “landline” everywhere you go. You can even use it on dual-SIM mobile phones.
The drawback: It’s a bit challenging to reload since it does not support top-up from online banking platforms or from third-party reloading services. I recommend finding a retailer you can regularly top-up from. You can even top up more than 300 pesos. For example, with 900 pesos, you’re good for three months.
The service is not heavily-marketed. In fact, the product details and description on PLDT’s own website is at least 5 years old or so. But if you are looking for a cheap landline service for small business or home use, PLDT Landline Plus Prepaid is a good option.
Note: Some resources in this article contain affiliate links.
