FOR the last few weeks, I’ve been testing the Bayan Wireless landline service from Bayan Telecommunications. The service, which costs P700 a month, enables you to use a fixed wireless landline from most places in Metro Manila and some key cities in Bicol, Leyte, Samar, Iloilo, Davao, General Santos, Agusan and Cagayan de Oro.
Subscribers can choose between a modern desktop unit, the Acbel AX320, or a mobile phone, the Nokia 2125. The unit must be purchased outright—the Acbel for P1,500 or the Nokia for P3,500. In either case, the telephone number is keyed to the unit, which cannot be used with other services. Unlike regular cell phones, the Nokia 2125 does not take a SIM card.
Regardless of the unit you choose, the service works the same way, giving you a versatile landline phone that you can easily take with you from one location to another. Because it is a wireless service, there are no cables to set up, and you can have a line almost immediately. Yet, because it is a landline, there are no metered charges for voice calls to other landlines, including those from PLDT or Globe. This can be particularly useful if you have a number of offices from which you want to make voice calls to other landlines, or if you simply want to bring the phone home with you at the end of the day. Toll charges apply, of course, if you call long-distance or if you want to reach a regular cell phone.
Voice quality depends on your location and signal strength. The signal can be fair in a high office building but disappear altogether if you try to use the phone from the basement or a similarly enclosed area. If the signal is weak, voice quality drops and may sound choppy, like a bad cell phone connection. Sometimes, you may also experience a few seconds of delay before you connect.
The desktop Acbel phone is a full-featured unit with caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding and speed dial. Unfortunately, the service does not as yet support connection to a fax machine.
Although the Nokia handset looks like a regular cell phone, the network is not designed for use while traveling, say, in a moving car. You might still get through to your number, but there’s also a good chance you’ll get a dropped call at some point as you motor around. It’s still a better idea to pull over if you need to make a call.
Bayan Wireless uses CDMA2000, a 2.5G wireless technology that is different from the GSM standard used by the cell phone companies in a number of ways. Widely used in the United States, Japan, China, India and Korea, CDMA2000 supports more traffic per base station or cell site while using less power. This and the fact that it can use a single frequency for the entire network mean a CDMA2000 system like Bayan Wireless can be set up rapidly.
Signal strengh is primarily affected by the distance beween you and the base station. Bayan says it has good coverage for 80 percent of Metro Manila, but the only way you’ll really know if this service is for you is if you try it out in the locations where you are likely to use the phone.
Bayan says its sales agents normally carry units with them, so people can try the service before actually subscribing to it. Given the nature of the network, you will certainly want to do this before paying for the unit and committing to a subscription. If the signal is good and making landline calls is important to you, then it’s likely you’ll be drawn to the flexibility and versatility that Bayan Wireless offers.
Pros: Portability, no cables required, unlimited voice calls to other landlines
Cons: Signal can be poor in enclosed areas, voice quality varies with signal strength
