I returned from the Philippines yesterday, after travelling there for a friends wake.
Prior to going there, I purchased an Optus 'Travel Pack', 11 days worth for $10 per day. This allows the use of the phone to make unlimited calls as per the Optus contract, plus 50Mb of data per day. So basically, it allows you to use your phone just as you would at home, to receive and make calls.
Unfortunately, Optus uses the truly abysmal 'Globe' network as its Philippines roaming partner.
If you enjoy one or two bars of signal, and being constantly told 'no service' or 'searching', even in the middle of Manila, then the Globe network is the one for you. The data is no better, spending the majority of its time on 'E', instead of 3G (no 4G in Philippines).
Constantly searching for a signal uses valuable battery charge, and I spent a lot of time on 'airplane mode', which defeats the purpose of having the phone turned on in the first place.
I won't be buying and Optus Travel Pack again, but I will instead be buying a local Philippine SIM from the 'Smart' network next time I go there, as I have before, with no problems whatsoever.
