… and how many Taiwanese just split and turn to another company without paying?
A web page I found listing all of Taiwan’s service providers lists Taiwan Da Ge Da as being Taiwan Mobile Co.Ltd, and not Taiwan Cellular Corp. Are they the same?
gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_tw.shtml
What is the name of Chung-Hwa Telecom’s cellphone service?
[quote=“belgian pie”][quote=“Mer”]…
I can’t say I’ve had any trouble with them. Perhaps some rules have changed, but my friend who arrived 4 years ago and is still here got a package plan without trouble as well. ARC or passport seemed to do the trick. They won’t offer you a deal on a new phone that the locals will get, but how anyone thinks that is racism is beyond me. Sure, it sucks, but racism? Come on…
I’ve heard that Chung-Hwa Telecom’s offering, Taiwan Da-Ge-Da, has better signal strength and reception in general, but I’ve got nothing to back that up.
As others have said though, if you don’t feel FET wants your business or don’t like the way they operate, choose another company. It can’t be that hard.[/quote]
That’s not racism? come on … They (Taiwanese) can get it (new phone promotions) but we can’t, on the other hand they are happy to get our money from an IF card.
Signal strength is another point they are withholding their clients … but are happy to accept their money … come on …[/quote]
I don’t know if you have a different definition of racism than most people, but as it has nothing to do with race, I don’t see how it could be termed racism. I say this because I’ve used FET ever since I began using mobile phones here, and I’ve been able to take advantage of every promotion and will continue to be able to do so. If your presumption were true I wouldn’t be able to do so.
[quote=“belgian pie”]
… and how many Taiwanese just split and turn to another company without paying?[/quote]Probably very few, since they would have residence records to set their collection people loose on. The foreigners otoh, knowing they are leaving for good… pretty hard to collect from them. I’m not saying I like the way FET does business, and I wouldn’t use them myself, but I can understand why they think we’re a risk. Being tarred with the same brush and the refusal to extend the promotional offers to non-locals does suck however.
Way too many people bugger off without paying!
They screwed it for everyone.
But think about it…does you home country extend credit to foreigners?
I doubt most businesses would.
But there are ways around the problem…go straignt to the top…
That’s what I did when HSBC wanted to cancel my visa card.
Turns out they had more flexibility than they thought.
Ski
I’ve, used FET since they started with the IF cards because back than it was impossible to get a normal contract as a foreigner, they took all these years my money without complaining … now that I want to change I’m suddenly a foreigner that can’t take advantage of their ‘promotions’ … imagine going into a shoe store and being told you can’t get the discount because your a foreigner …
Another vote for Zhonghua Telecom. Got my phone installed about 6 years ago here in Tao Yuan and moved once. The same installation fees as locals pay, no extra foreigner fees. No help from a local to make this happen and my Chinese language skills are basic level.
[quote]Way too many people bugger off without paying!
They screwed it for everyone.
But think about it…does you home country extend credit to foreigners?[/quote]
Of course it does. But maybe not for long due to the Threat of Global Communism, er, I mean, Nuclear Holocaust, nope, em, WTF is it this week? Oh yeah, The Warren Terror. Some sort of rabbit invasion I think. [EDIT:Sorry, “War on Terror”.]
As if the handful of foreigners baling on their credit card bills or phone bills are even measurable in the statistics compared to the huge proportion of Taiwanese for whom “credit” is synonymous with “free money from heaven”… 
I wouldn’t putting it doen to racism, per se, it’s more of a fundamental attitude that if you don’t have a Taiwanese ID card you simply do not exist. You are a non-person. If the blank space requiring the ID card number cannot be filled in, you simply don’t exist. I bought a bed from a catalogue, paying in full with a credit card. I nearly couldn’t buy it from them because they needed to plug in an ID card number to buy a bed over the phone. The compromise I finally forced upon them was A123456789. The vestiges of a police state metality (“But vere are your papersss?”). Luckily in the West we’re setting up our own police states, so we can get our own back on the bastards. Want a bank account? Mobile phone? Credit card? Ha! F**k off foreigner! Get a real person to do it for you or go home to your own smelly country! Yah boo! (And cut your goddamn hair.)
Can’t wait.
My understanding(from a friend who runs a mobile phone shop in Taipei) is that
- all existing foreign customers on contracts can partake of their company’s offers and promotions
- new restrictions came into effect over 12 months ago restricting foreigners (resident or non-resident) from entering long-term contracts without deposit and/or local guarantor, and here is the kicker
- Japanese nationals are exempt from these restrictions = racism
[quote=“llama_lout”]My understanding(from a friend who runs a mobile phone shop in Taipei) is that
- all existing foreign customers on contracts can partake of their company’s offers and promotions
- new restrictions came into effect over 12 months ago restricting foreigners (resident or non-resident) from entering long-term contracts without deposit and/or local guarantor, and here is the kicker
- Japanese nationals are exempt from these restrictions = racism[/quote]
Note that this is something the government feels it is necessary to give the full force of law.
Meanwhile, in other news, every person on the island has fifteen billion dollars worth of credit card debt and the banking system is on the verge of collapse.
No need to legislate on that though because no bastard scumbag foreigners are involved. (But if there had been, we would legislate and red-tape their sorry asses until their noses bled. Oh yes. Serves them bloody well right. Who do they think they are coming over here stealing our money, taking our wives, er, taking our taxis, em, having their big fucking stupid looking noses all over the place. Drinking our bee… er, um, anyway… BASTARDS! Apart from the Japanese of course, who are very nice, and keep Linsen Bay Loo up and running, as well as having built everything of note on the island. “Banzai!” chaps, as we used to say before you put us all in jail. Carry on.)
[quote=“llama_lout”]My understanding(from a friend who runs a mobile phone shop in Taipei) is that
- all existing foreign customers on contracts can partake of their company’s offers and promotions
- new restrictions came into effect over 12 months ago restricting foreigners (resident or non-resident) from entering long-term contracts without deposit and/or local guarantor, and here is the kicker
- Japanese nationals are exempt from these restrictions = racism[/quote]Um, for clarity, is this at FET or…?
[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“llama_lout”]My understanding(from a friend who runs a mobile phone shop in Taipei) is that
- all existing foreign customers on contracts can partake of their company’s offers and promotions
- new restrictions came into effect over 12 months ago restricting foreigners (resident or non-resident) from entering long-term contracts without deposit and/or local guarantor, and here is the kicker
- Japanese nationals are exempt from these restrictions = racism[/quote]Um, for clarity, is this at FET or…?[/quote]
All.
Has the Japanese goverment agreed to underwrite the outstanding phone bills of their nationals? Has the Japanese government waived a similar provision of their own telecom law for Taiwanese?
A web page I found listing all of Taiwan’s service providers lists Taiwan Da Ge Da as being Taiwan Mobile Co.Ltd, and not Taiwan Cellular Corp. Are they the same?
gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_tw.shtml
What is the name of Chung-Hwa Telecom’s cellphone service?[/quote]
Opps. Taiwan Da Ge Da is now called Taiwan Mobile (TWM). 
english.taiwanmobile.com/servlet … gHomePageT
“Zhong-hua Dian Xin” is Chung-hwa Telecom (CHT).
[quote=“belgian pie”]Today I had one of these unnecessary arguments with someone at the FET (far eastern telephone) main office.
For years I pay every few months for a new IF… card and they are happy to take my money for a very expensive non-service, because all you can do with it is call … not even abroad roaming.
Now I asked if I could eventually change to a monthly contract if they had a promotion on a good new 3G phone … well becasue I’m a foreigner they can’t give me a promotion, not even after having an 3 year ARC and am living in Taiwan for 10 years … thank you racist company … good enough to take my IF… card money but nothing else.
I would suggest that foreigners living in Taiwan would try to avoid buying anything from FET … just because they are a hypocritic racist company …
As soon as my IF card runs out I’ll look for a better substitute, which will sadly cancel my recent phone number …[/quote]
I have five characters for you - TAIWAN DA GE DA!! I had a similar experience with FET and decided not to get pissed off about it but instead tried Chungwah Telecom, who also got a bit arsey with me. Taiwan Mobile/DaGeDa/whatever were fantastic and treated me like a human being. They gave me a great deal on both the phone and contract, although I did have to pay a deposit which is fair enough I guess. I wanted a good number but the one I picked carried an NT$1,200 fee… I said, ‘well, since I have to pay a deposit, why don’t you give me the number for free?’ No problem. I’ve also been doing a lot of international roaming and I have to say it’s the first time I’ve been pleasantly surprised about a cellphone bill. And to top it all off, my phone stopped working so they gave me a loaner until mine was repaired. Two very big thumbs up for that company.
I mailed a copy of my very large (and very paid) Taiwan DaGeDA bill to FET with a brief note saying ‘well done for turning away those unreliable, unprofitable foreign businessmen.’ Well it made me feel good anyway.
[quote=“Lord Lucan”][quote]Way too many people bugger off without paying!
They screwed it for everyone.
But think about it…does you home country extend credit to foreigners?[/quote]
Of course it does. But maybe not for long due to the Threat of Global Communism, er, I mean, Nuclear Holocaust, nope, em, WTF is it this week? Oh yeah, The Warren Terror. Some sort of rabbit invasion I think. [EDIT:Sorry, “War on Terror”.]
As if the handful of foreigners baling on their credit card bills or phone bills are even measurable in the statistics compared to the huge proportion of Taiwanese for whom “credit” is synonymous with “free money from heaven”…
I wouldn’t putting it doen to racism, per se, it’s more of a fundamental attitude that if you don’t have a Taiwanese ID card you simply do not exist. You are a non-person. If the blank space requiring the ID card number cannot be filled in, you simply don’t exist. I bought a bed from a catalogue, paying in full with a credit card. I nearly couldn’t buy it from them because they needed to plug in an ID card number to buy a bed over the phone. The compromise I finally forced upon them was A123456789. The vestiges of a police state metality (“But vere are your papersss?”). Luckily in the West we’re setting up our own police states, so we can get our own back on the bastards. Want a bank account? Mobile phone? Credit card? Ha! F**k off foreigner! Get a real person to do it for you or go home to your own smelly country! Yah boo! (And cut your goddamn hair.)
Can’t wait.[/quote]
Re: extending credit to foreigners, as far as England goes, it IS difficult for foreigners to get credit - but the big big difference is that foreigners are treated in exactly the same way as everyone else. It’s only as difficult for a foreigner to get credit as a young person with no credit history, not some insurmountable task involving selective bureaucracy. I have no credit history in the UK so I couldn’t even get a phone in my name now, but my mainland Chinese friend has credit cards, cellphones, bank loans up the wazoo. In comparison, the credit reporting system in Taiwan is very sketchy and the lack of a valid, non-Fxxxxxxxxx ID number is a very effective barrier to living a normal life. Even things like online banking, buying bus tickets online etc. etc. don’t work without that all important ‘real’ Taiwanese ID number. Isn’t the meaning of ‘統一編號’ supposed to be ‘unified ID number’?! I was firmly opposed to the UK ID card scheme until I realised that it would finally show my Taiwanese friends living in the UK what the fudge I’m complaining about.
That’s stupid but not racist. I’m a British citizen and was refused a new bank account when I went back recently. Reason? No credit history. Yeh, it sucks balls but at least the rules apply to everyone the same way.