Hi, does anyone know of a National Do Not Call Registry for mobile phones in Taiwan? Or, do you have to ask the mobile company to not list your number? How do you stop companies from calling you unsolicited? Thank you!
Yeah good luck with that.
A lot of the diallers are working on random number generation. Just cut them off when they start their spiel like everyone else does, or even better try to talk to them for a long time. I think its the Chief who tries to repeat back everything they say and keep them on the line. It brings up their call costs and if everyone did it would make the business model unprofitabe.
You know, I have tried doing that. And, you’re right, I get a lot fewer calls now. But, seriously, I feel that it’s wrong to call people on their cellphone when the plans are already expensive in Taiwan. I am thinking about petitioning for a Do Not Call bill. I wonder if people would support it…
As far as I know, you don’t pay for incoming calls in Taiwan. That’s an American innovation, unfamiliar to most of the rest of us.
And plans are cheap!
I use those people to practice a few basic snippets of Chinese conversation. You can also just keep saying “好!”
You can call your provider and threaten to cancel your subscription if the calls don’t stop. They DO know about them and they ARE complicit in divulging numbers. Mine’s Chunghwa, and I used to get several of those stupid calls and text messages every day. I called, said my subscription would be cancelled if they didn’t stop. The dweeb on the phone told me it was “impossible” but the calls stopped, all the same.
It turned out to be lot less effort than my old way, which was to simply blow a high-pitched shepherd’s dog whistle into the phone. They REALLY don’t like that!
[quote=“Loretta”]As far as I know, you don’t pay for incoming calls in Taiwan. That’s an American innovation, unfamiliar to most of the rest of us.
And plans are cheap![/quote]
I didn’t realize that! It’s good to know. Now, I won’t get so annoyed, knowing these calls are free. Thanks!
By the way, Loretta, who is your carrier? With VerizonWireless, for $69.99, which is about $2100 a month, I get UNLIMITED minutes. If that’s similar to what you have, please let me know. The cheapest I could find in this country is $1683 a month, or about 510 minutes (i.e., 8.5 hours) a month (emome.net/channel?chid=250). If you talk for an hour a day, by day 8, you’re already over.
I used to hear all this hype and pride about mobile technology being better in Asia. From what I have seen so far, the selection of smartphones is sad and the plan offerings are prohibitively expensive. Their self-service on the Web is… how should I say… primitive.
@puppet: that’s hilarious!! I’m going to try that and keep saying “好” until they hang up on me! Thanks!
@sandman: i hear you. I’ll tell them.
Why the hell would anyone pay for incoming calls? That is just stupid. If you agree to a plan like that you deserve to get ripped off.
Taiwan is very cheap for contract plans. $850/mth for true unlimited data is a great deal.
One thing you can do is refuse to pick up calls from unidentified numbers. Some of those are computer-generated calls, someone here once mentioned, which hang up when you answer. They serve to identify your number as a live number, so you end up on one or more call lists.
Don’t most of them come from China anyway? No amount of lawmaking can stop that.
In the UK there are do-not-call lists, and penalties for calling them. They just call from India instead. :fume:
In the US, all mobile carriers charge for incoming calls. You have no choice but to agree to such a plan if you want a cell phone.
America, the land of the free? More like the land of the pay.
In the US, all mobile carriers charge for incoming calls. You have no choice but to agree to such a plan if you want a cell phone.
America, the land of the free? More like the land of the pay.[/quote]
Don’t even get me started on this issue. Cell phone service plans in North America are an abominable feudal throwback, and how the vast flocks of customers put up with it without screaming blue bloody murder vividly illustrates the absolute depths of depravity within which the continent has sunk.
I look fondly back on the days of my cheap and convenient Taiwan cell phone service.
[quote=“cfimages”]Why the hell would anyone pay for incoming calls? That is just stupid. If you agree to a plan like that you deserve to get ripped off.
Taiwan is very cheap for contract plans. $850/mth for true unlimited data is a great deal.[/quote]
You get charged for incoming calls in the US. Things work differently there. That’s why such a thing as Do Not Call Registry exists there, and companies respect it. Did you really need to use the word “stupid” to make a point? Do you think people would knowingly sign up to be charged for more if they had an option?
As for the unlimited plan you’re talking about, I was not talking about data. Rather, I am looking for an unlimited plan for voice. I had assumed that there would be unlimited plans for both DATA and VOICE, together, or separately, to cater to people who want such an option. But, it doesn’t seem like Taiwan has that.
I had been under the false impression before going to Taiwan that all things related to mobile technology were much more advanced than those in the US. I have not been impressed: the variety of smartphones and their self-service on the Web are both very limited.
In a given a month, I can get charged up to $300 USD in Taiwan just from Voice. In the US, I can talk UNLIMITED and be charged $69.99. Data, obviously, is unlimited.
In the US, all mobile carriers charge for incoming calls. You have no choice but to agree to such a plan if you want a cell phone.
America, the land of the free? More like the land of the pay.[/quote]
Don’t even get me started on this issue. Cell phone service plans in North America are an abominable feudal throwback, and how the vast flocks of customers put up with it without screaming blue bloody murder vividly illustrates the absolute depths of depravity within which the continent has sunk.
I look fondly back on the days of my cheap and convenient Taiwan cell phone service.[/quote]
Wow, that’s ridiculous. If a phone company tried that in Oz there’d be a blockade / picket line outside the headquarters and no one would buy a cell phone until they were forced to change.
[quote=“davaronio”][quote=“cfimages”]Why the hell would anyone pay for incoming calls? That is just stupid. If you agree to a plan like that you deserve to get ripped off.
Taiwan is very cheap for contract plans. $850/mth for true unlimited data is a great deal.[/quote]
You get charged for incoming calls in the US. Things work differently there. That’s why such a thing as Do Not Call Registry exists there, and companies respect it. Did you really need to use the word “stupid” to make a point? Do you think people would knowingly sign up to be charged for more if they had an option?
As for the unlimited plan you’re talking about, I was not talking about data. Rather, I am looking for an unlimited plan for voice. I had assumed that there would be unlimited plans for both DATA and VOICE, together, or separately, to cater to people who want such an option. But, it doesn’t seem like Taiwan has that.
I had been under the false impression before going to Taiwan that all things related to mobile technology were much more advanced than those in the US. I have not been impressed: the variety of smartphones and their self-service on the Web are both very limited.
In a given a month, I can get charged up to $300 USD in Taiwan just from Voice. In the US, I can talk UNLIMITED and be charged $69.99. Data, obviously, is unlimited.[/quote]
Yes because the concept of paying to receive is stupid. Just because it’s mandatory doesn’t make it not stupid.
If you have unlimited data and a smart phone, you can use stuff like Skype etc and not have to worry about voice prices. I barely spend more than NT$300 a month on voice using it as my only business number. I’d spend a lot less if I weren’t running a business.
[quote=“cfimages”][quote=“davaronio”][quote=“cfimages”]
Yes because the concept of paying to receive is stupid. Just because it’s mandatory doesn’t make it not stupid.
If you have unlimited data and a smart phone, you can use stuff like Skype etc and not have to worry about voice prices. I barely spend more than NT$300 a month on voice using it as my only business number. I’d spend a lot less if I weren’t running a business.[/quote][/quote][/quote]
The way you phrased your post implied that PEOPLE who signed up for such a plan are stupid, not the PLANS or the concept. The inference was that Americans are stupid, or I am stupid. That is what I meant in my last post. There are a lot of things that go on in Taiwan I think are sub-optimal, but I would never label them as stupid.
Ok. Onto the more important stuff - with regards to using Skype, it sounds like an option and I am definitely going to look into. I hope that it doesn’t compromise call quality and are free for making calls to landlines and other mobile phones that don’t have Skype. Most of my calls are to landlines in Taiwan, or international (business, not international) numbers.
Thanks. This was helpful!
In the US, all mobile carriers charge for incoming calls. You have no choice but to agree to such a plan if you want a cell phone.
America, the land of the free? More like the land of the pay.[/quote]
Don’t even get me started on this issue. Cell phone service plans in North America are an abominable feudal throwback, and how the vast flocks of customers put up with it without screaming blue bloody murder vividly illustrates the absolute depths of depravity within which the continent has sunk.
I look fondly back on the days of my cheap and convenient Taiwan cell phone service.[/quote]
Wow, that’s ridiculous. If a phone company tried that in Oz there’d be a blockade / picket line outside the headquarters and no one would buy a cell phone until they were forced to change.[/quote]
People are up in arms about it in many places, but what are your options when everyone offers the same basic package? I use prepaid as I rarely talk on the thing.
It certainly reflects one more reason why people are in debt/going broke here–CDN$20/month minimum for a land line (plus $$$ for call waiting etc), and then anywhere from $30-$100 a month each for your cell, your SO’s cell, and kid’s/kids’ cells. Talked a buddy into looking over what they were spending on “being connected” a few months back–he couldn’t believe that he had been spending $130 a month on three cell phones that were rarely (10-15 calls per phone) being used … over CDN$1500/year for the phone!
[quote=“davaronio”]By the way, Loretta, who is your carrier? With VerizonWireless, for $69.99, which is about $2100 a month, I get UNLIMITED minutes. If that’s similar to what you have, please let me know. The cheapest I could find in this country is $1683 a month, or about 510 minutes (i.e., 8.5 hours) a month (emome.net/channel?chid=250). If you talk for an hour a day, by day 8, you’re already over.
I used to hear all this hype and pride about mobile technology being better in Asia. From what I have seen so far, the selection of smartphones is sad and the plan offerings are prohibitively expensive. Their self-service on the Web is… how should I say… primitive.[/quote]
Emome is part of CHT, which is the incumbent telco. There are much better deals from other telcos but most of them do not have much or any English information.
For example I use Taiwan Mobile, which is not the cheapest provider but I am loyal to them due to good service over the years. I have a legacy plan which is $929/month (US$32) and offers unlimited free calling during a set 8-hour window (that I can change at any time). The great thing about this plan is that the full $929 monthly fee counts as credit against all your other calls - including international. So even with quite a few international and peak calls I rarely pay more than the $929/month on that account.
Looking quickly on their site they have a plan for $699/month which includes unlimited free calling to other Taiwan Mobile users or landlines for the first 10 minutes of each call. They also have a similar plan to my $929/month deal for $901/month currently.
I travel to SE Asia a lot and here’s something you can’t do with a US plan… land in Indonesia, send a text message to a certain number and get unlimited data for less than $6 for 3 days.
Whenever I visit the US I find the data service an embarrassment. ‘Unlimited’ data has all kinds of unfair restrictions and I rarely get anything like the speeds I can get in Taiwan. Back in Taiwan I stream Sirius XM radio through my cellphone’s 3G connection almost 24/7 and it doesn’t cost me a dime more than the $690/month data package.
Oh, and when I complained to Taiwan Mobile a few years ago that I couldn’t get service at home they came and installed an antenna on my roof connected to a mini repeater indoors, no charge.
With regards to self service I think your problem might be language again, because self service is great as long as you read Chinese.
Wow, THAT is impressive. I’ve been with AT&T and VerizonWireless, and there’s NO WAY either would have done that, not to mention doing it for free!
Thanks for the information on Taiwan Mobile. I’ll have to check them out. The biggest reason I decided to go with CHT was just that their offices seem to be everywhere, but I rarely saw any Taiwan Mobile offices or retail stores.
Thanks!