Red Mobile: sulit ba ang .50 na tawag?

Last November 2008, Red Mobile, formerly known as Umobile, was launched in the Philippines. It was purchased by Smart Communications for a hefty sum of money.

Rumors has it that Smart decided to buy Umobile for the use of its 3G license. It is a common knowledge that Smart Bro needs a 3G license to improve their services.

Out of curiosity my GF egged me (as if my own set of eggs are not enough for her) to inquire about it and here are my findings.
Red Mobile offers the following to post paid subscribers:
.50 Calls / text / MMS for red to red
It requires a 3G phone (which is expensive)

Things that should have warned me prior to using RED.
1. Rarity of prepaid load cards
2. No post paid plans
Despite these tall tale signs out of love or stupidity (frankly I don't know which is which) I decided to buy a pair of sim. It was fine for the first two days but lately little changes has been taking place (5pm to 11am):

• Red to Red calls do not last for 2-5minutes
• Message sending failed (even if with load) but the said text was actually received by intended recipient
  
• My mom, who is on Smart, called me and the call did not last for 3minutes
• Prepaid load cards are so rare, most retailer loads do not know how to load red mobile

I recall the Red Mobile Manual congratulating me for turning Red. My eyes turn red after using red. As a consequence of this. I have never been so happy to part with a Red Mobile SIM for free. Yes, I will even deliver it to your door step with a smile assuming you are within the vicinity of Cebu City.

The first to comment on this post will win a red mobile (guaranteed sealed and unused).