I’ve been ‘suffering’ FETNET for years… which company provides the best technical service for your mobile phone, 3G+, billing, pricing?
I know the choices
CHT
FET
Taiwan Mobile
But are there are other reasonable choices?
Kenneth
[quote=“KenTaiwan98”]I’ve been ‘suffering’ FETNET for years… which company provides the best technical service for your mobile phone, 3G+, billing, pricing?
I know the choices
CHT
FET
Taiwan Mobile
But are there are other reasonable choices?
Kenneth[/quote]
There is also one called VIBO which is a “pure 3G network” but I don’t know much else about it. Their web site is here:
I use CHT myself. It’s OK but not much English spoken.
cheers,
DB
CHT asks either for a deposit -3000 nts even if you only need the line and already have a cellphone- or a Taiwanese guarantor. 
Taiwan Mobile was the most expensive of al a few years back. Scuttlebut is they don’t ask for deposit.
I heard Vibo does not like us furriners, like PHS. Pity, those are the cheapest. 
To have the PHS phone under your name, you have to be BIG big manager… and then maybe.
duplicate post deleted
I highly recommend Chongwa. I’ve had a contract with them since 2000 and I have no complaints.
Is there any company that doesn’t require a guarantor for a foreigner to have a mobile phone with a monthly bill (not using pre-paid calling cards)?
If you put down a refundable deposit of NT$2990, you don’t need a guarantor. Otherwise, you do. I put down a deposit with Chunghwa_Telecom and later got it back when my wife became my guarantor.
cheers,
DB
Is this the case for every company or only for Zhonghua Telecom? Where I live, I can’t pick up a signal using Zhonghua Telecom or Taiwan Dageda, but I can get a good signal with most other companies.
Is this the case for every company or only for Zhonghua Telecom? Where I live, I can’t pick up a signal using Zhonghua Telecom or Taiwan Dageda, but I can get a good signal with most other companies.[/quote]
I thought it was pretty much the same policy at all four cell phone companies. But you’ll have to ask them to be sure.
I’m surprised you don’t get a signal for Chunghwa_Telecom. I had FarEasTone in the past, but got rid of them because they had poor or nonexistent coverage in rural areas (worked fine in the cities though). Things may have changed - I switched to Chunghwa_Telecom about 8 years ago. The only place I don’t get a signal with CHT is in basements.
Which company is giving you a signal where you are living now?
best regards,
DB
I live in a rural area in northern Jiayi County and I also rent a room a few days each week in a rural area of northern Miaoli County (because I teach English at a university there). At both places, I can’t get any signal for Zhonghua Telecom (CHT) when I’m inside, but I can get a faint signal if I’m outside. In addition, at my home in northern Jiayi County, I can’t get a signal for Taiwan Dageda, even outside. However, for Far Eastern Telecom (FET), I can get a strong signal at both locations, so now I have FET. But I have to get pre-paid calling cards because I can’t get a contract with a monthly fee unless I have a guarantor.
I also noticed that the audio quality for FET is much better than for Taiwan Dageda. When I call someone who has Taiwan Dageda, the high frequencies are clipped off, so the audio always sounds muffled. But when I call someone who has FET, the audio is very clear.
By the way, it’s not correct that there are only four cell phone providers in Taiwan. There are currently five companies:
- Zhonghua Telecom (CHT) (中華電信)
- Taiwan Dageda (台灣大哥大)
- Far Eastern Telecom (FET) (Yuan3 Chuan2) (遠傳)
- Ya3 Tai4 (亞太)
- Vibo (Wei1 Bao3) (威寶)
There used to be two other cell phone providers:
- Fan4 Ya3 (泛亞)
- He2 Xin4 (和信)
But now Fan4 Ya3 (泛亞) and He2 Xin4 (和信) have both become part of Taiwan Dageda (台灣大哥大).
Mark
I finally went with Taiwan Mobile. If that’s bad, I’ll switch to the only other reasonable choice.
Unfortunately, things are slow on the setup side, because I transferred my phone number. I should have got a new one instead.
Kenneth
Compensation is the phone I got is so much better than the one I had. I can’t believe the comparison.
Finally went NOKIA N79 mobile handset, but the feature set is much broader than I expected.
Kenneth
Thank you for keeping us posted. So, what did they ask for? Deposit -how much?- or guarantor? Did you get your choice of plan?
I got the plans I wanted but had to pay the NT$2990 which I thought was acceptable. I was a new customer and I know the rules. BUT I resented FET trying to charge me another NT$3000 just because I wanted an extra line. I was a customer there for 9 years… account paid uptodate, and all. No guarantor required, but de rigeur double forms of ID (oddly, not passport!).
They wanted that extra deposit: I told them no way. They said they’d ask but that their customer dept. was closed. I said forget about it.
Pity: FET are losing customers - and they lost my business for good. 2 lines, one mobile wireless connection, two brand-new phones (paid up front), a mobile dongle, an ETC card account, and ADSL access… … and a 2 year contract for everything. Plus they never called me back. BAD Service.
I mean what kind of idiot company thinks insisting on a deposit of NT$3000 from a loyal customer is worth losing NT$40000 or more over… Geez. And I was expecting them to have better service. That ain’t happening. Instead, I went to their rival, and am expecting my deposit back from them anytime soon.
Kenneth