I applied for it, thanks to Jayvee, and now I’m part of the ümobile-connected Filipino population.

As soon as I plugged the SIM card in, I was able to surf the Internet with no hassle at all. There was no trouble configuring my Nokia 6500, since ümobile automagically sent me the setup data via OTA.

Too bad, however, that the change-number function isn’t available on their website yet. I would really like to change the number to something more meaningful to me.

So far, though, so good. Thing is, I’d have to get another phone for this new mobile number. Good thing WOM World is sending me yet another trial phone — an N82 is en route now.

I haven’t received any ads yet, although I’ve already completed the online lifestyle survey. It’s intriguing how viable this business model will turn out to be for CURE, the company behind ümobile.

This mobile provider is the first in Asia to offer ad-supported mobile telephony services. The literature says that users get credits worth Php100 per month. As there’s no information on how to reload, I assume users get rewards (cell phone credits) for eyeballing relevant ads.

Let’s see how this pans out. Personally, I hope they succeed. It’s going to be interesting, though, how Filipinos will take to unsolicited SMS and MMS ads…

Update

I apologize. There is a reloading service, but only via their website. You’ll be able to access it once you have your SIM.

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