Hand phone Communications in Cambodia
Goals for This Page:
- To help consumers find the best service for their needs at the best price (Best Value)
- To support communication providers who offer value
- To improve the value of communications available in Cambodia
If you want to see the rates for hand phones in
Cambodia:
Hand phone
Communications Rates
To use a fixed line telephone to reduce your Hand phone
costs:
Using
a Hand phone and Fixed Line Phone To Reduce Costs
To reduce you month bill with MobiTel:
How
to Reduce Your Monthly Mobitel Bill
If you want the basics on hand phones in Cambodia here they are:
1. Hand phones are usually more expensive than
fixed line telephones. If you are on a budget have a fixed line phone installed.
(Two exceptions are if you use a prepaid card and you never call out, or a if
you use a MobiTel hub plan / Samart Package 3 and call across provinces for more than 330
/ 190 minutes a month)
2. If you call more than 6 minutes per day on a MobiTel
"CellCard" or a Samart Hello prepaid card, it will probably be more expensive
than a monthly credit account. Look at setting up a credit account. Cell
cards can be advantageous though, check the
charts in Prepaid
GSM Card Costs.
3. Samart charges up to $0.75 per minute for calls to other hand phone systems, even when the other telephone is in
the same province. Make these calls on a
fixed line service that charges you something closer to the actual
~$0.15/min cost of the call. (see the page on How
to Reduce Your Monthly MobiTel Bill)
4. GSM hand phones usually offer more services, smaller size,
and longer standby and talk times than other hand phones. If you are buying a phone you
should consider a GSM hand phone.
5. GSM telephones (900) are more common in other countries
and therefore easier to connect for service, or resell, than are the GSM 1800 telephones.
There are also Dual Band phones that work on GSM or GSM 1800 systems.
6. If you want to have e-mail while traveling or working in
the provinces look for a GSM hand phone with data capability. Both
MobiTel offers e-mail service on its 012 network. BigPond offers 012 access for its E-mail and Internet services.
You
must pay a $0.08 per minute connection fee to MobiTel (plus the Internet connection fee at
BigPond).
A less reliable option is to connect to local Camintel (local access # 1494) lines and the $0.01 a minute access to
Phnom Penh servers.
7. If you want the cheapest hand phone
provider, look at a 018 CamTel telephone. With all PNH calls
priced at $0.18 and a low monthly service charge, this service offers the lowest
and simplest cost for calls in Phnom Penh.
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Service
When you prepare to make your decision on a hand phone service provider you should
look at the telephone network's service. Is it easy to access the network to make calls?
Do customers get messages that there is "No Network"? Do customers have to dial
many times before connecting? Can other people easily call to the telephone network or is
there an error message when a number is dialed? Does a call connect quickly? Are calls
that customers make and receive cut off in mid call? ASK PEOPLE THAT USE THE SYSTEM!
Customer service
Does the company have a customer service department? Where is
customer service located? What hours are they available? Does the company
offer assistance when service is bad? Does the company respond to problems? Does the
company refund your fees when service is unsatisfactory? ASK PEOPLE THAT USE THE
SYSTEM! Click here for a list of customer service contact
numbers.
Use the information on rates, and the information you find on service and customer service, to choose the best telephone service provider for your use.
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Hand phones: what is a hand phone?
|
A
hand phone contains its own battery power source and relies on radio waves for
"wireless" communication to the Telephone Service Provider. From the service
provider your call is routed to its destination with the same or another service
provider. Hand phone Service Providers There are five Hand phone Service providers in Cambodia: MobiTel 012 with 65,000 subscribers, Samart 015 with 23,000, CamTel 018 with 5,000, Samart 016 with 4,200 (December '99), and Shinawatra 011. Hand phones use either analog or digital technology. Analog telephone providers include Samart 015 and CamTel 018. Digital providers include Shinawatra 011, MobiTel 012, and Samart 016. Digital technology is a newer technology that offers addition services (call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail), lower power consumption (less heat), better sound quality, more privacy, and the ability to transmit data. |
MobiTel 012 and Samart 016 offer GSM (the Global System for Mobile Communications) service. GSM service is available in ~130 countries. Shinawatra 011 offers what is known as GSM 1800 service. GSM 1800 service is less widely available outside of Cambodia.
Return to Top Hand phone Rates Return to Communication Costs in Cambodia
Hand phones
Before buying a hand phone you should
decide which service provider you are going to use. Your telephone needs to be compatible
with the provider that you use. In buying a hand phone you should look at its
features, the size, the amount of battery stand-by and talk time, and the warranty
provided by the seller.
The following features are provided by
most GSM telephone companies, some of the features are provided by other types of
telephones as well:
Memory for frequently called phone numbers stored in the telephone
Voice mail - for callers to leave messages when you are not available
Call waiting and call diverting to manage incoming calls
Caller identification shows the number of an incoming call and allows screening of calls
Alarm, calculator, exchange conversion and games
Voice recognition dialing
One-touch dialing
Data transmission via PC of fax, e-mail, or the Internet for GSM telephones
Changeable phone ring tones
A major factor in the hand phone you choose is the life of the battery. Currently the best batteries are Li-Ion (Lithium Ion). Note also how long it will take to recharge the battery when it runs down. Better battery chargers have the option to discharge the battery completely before recharging. This extends battery life. Chargers should require only 1 to 2 hours to recharge a battery. A second battery will extend the lives of both batteries. It is best to completely discharge a battery before recharging it, so install the fully charged battery in the telephone, and completely discharge the used battery before recharging it.
Choose a hand phone with a battery that provides 5 to 8 hours of talk time, the longer the better. The length of standby time is also very important, 60 to 450 hours is common on medium cost phones. Weight of the phone is another important factor. Some phones weigh less than 100 grams.
If you will use your GSM telephone for e-mail or occasional internet use you will need to have connection kit between the hand phone and your computer. Some hand phone connect to a laptop computer through a DataCard and the laptops PCMCIA port. The Datacard can cost several hundred dollars in Cambodia, but it is possible to find better prices in the region. Newer hand phones come with a internal modem, allowing the hand phone to be connected directly to the communications port on a laptop or desktop computer. A hand phone with internal modem can offer significant savings when compared to a hand phone and DataCard combination. A third alternative is a hand phone with internal modem and Infrared port. If your laptop or desktop computer has an infrared port this hand phone uses wireless communication with the computer allow access to e-mail and internet services.
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Recommendations:
MobiTel:
1. Lower
rates across the board. MobiTel has the most expensive
monthly service fees and with the exception of the Hub rate, the highest per minute
charges for in system calling. Inter system connect rates are also higher than other
providers. In system calls cost as much as $0.23 per minute compared with $0.02
or $0.01 for fixed line telephones. Calls from 012 phones to fixed lines in the province cost
$0.33 as compared to
the $0.15 that they cost on a fixed phone.
2. Continue to lower the costs of CellCards. Generally, a customer who prepays for services should receive the best rates because there is no risk to the company of non-payment and no interest cost for outstanding accounts. CellCard users are loaning money to MobiTel but they pay as much as ten times the rates offered to other MobiTel customers ($0.33 per minute versus $0.03 for the Hub Plan). A per minute rate of $0.18 per minute would be competitive and a rate of $0.05 would be justifiable. Add the 4.5% commission that MobiTel pays to CellCard vendors and the per minute rate should be $0.06 to $0.15. Recent moves to lower prepaid costs are commendable, but should continue.
3. Simplify rate structures. MobiTel offers five monthly service plans, and 4 cell card rates. Rates are not logical; In some categories standard service plans offer lower per minute rates than do premium plans. Promotions run without notice of effective dates.
4. Advertise the use of CellCards to pay credit accounts. This system allows customers to purchase CellCards and apply the value of the card towards their normal credit account balance due. A customer establishes a credit account with Phnom Penh. When payment on the account is required the customer purchases a normal cell card and registers the payments to their account using the same system as that used for the CellCard accounting system. This can offer a significant savings for users in the provinces who want to use cheaper credit plans.
5. Decrease per minute charges in line with the decrease in Interconnection rates. Costs for all calls should drop by $0.06 a minute to reflect the recent drop in interconnection rates from $0.07 to $0.01 per minute.
6. Stop supporting the sale of hand phones that cannot be used on other GSM networks. Mobitel is supporting the sale of Siemens telephones in PNH that cannot be used on networks other than 012. The GSM standard allows users to change between services providers inside the country or between countries. This system allows users mobility in hand phone use and also allows the choice of provider on the basis of best services and costs. The selling of 012 specific telephones removes the right of choice from the customer, restricts the free competition necessary for improved services, and circumvents the GSM standards under which Mobitel was established.
Shinawatra:
Allow staff to pass on information to the public.
Reduce service costs to
more competitive levels
Provide Internet and e-mail data capability
Samart:
Samart is becoming very competitive in the GSM market, they
have cut the costs of monthly service, inter-provincial out of system calls, and of calls
between systems. Samart and Shinawatra have also eliminated Out of System rates
from calls between the two systems.
Further steps to be taken:
1. Allow staff to pass information to the public.
2. Continue to offer Out of System rates that are competitive
with MobiTel In System rates.
CamTel
Lower rates for inter-provincial calls and surcharge for international calls.
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Consumers:
If you want to see the rates
for Hand phones
Hand phone
Communications Rates
If you are a MobiTel user
look at the new page:
How
to Reduce Your Monthly Mobitel Bill
If you have a hand phone and
want to know how to reduce costs:
Using
a Hand phone and Fixed Line Phone To Reduce Costs
Service Numbers and E-mail
Addresses:
Click Here for Contacts
Return to Top Hand phone Rates Return to Communication Costs in Cambodia