Cell phone provider question

[Kyamato]

I tried searching the forum but couldnt find a specific answer so any help would be appreaciated. Me and my gf will be moving to HK in the next few months. We will both be studying and will need to get cell phone service. Here is the tricky part.

1. we will be in the shatim area so who has good service in that area?

2. We will need a prepaid plan for my gf and a monthly charge( or prepaid if its a good deal) for me ( unless there is some type of plan that we can be on together.)

3. I need a plan which has very cheap (1HK$) direct calls to Philippines. I have found People's offer a prepaid sim with cheap rates to PH. so something like that.

Thanks for all the help

[beachball]

Please RTFF. However, some quick answers for you:

1. Impossible to say. Generally network quality is good across Hong Kong; that said, every operator has some "holes" and coverage quality even varies between buildings. As mentioned before, buy a handful of prepaid SIMs from the different providers to try.

2. If it is just for calls and SMSs, the basic packages from all operators are quite competitive. Differences only really get significant once you get to other services (data, Blackberry, etc.). You and your GF almost certainly should be with the same operator, as this means cheaper SMS, etc.

3. Most cost-effective arrangement for international calls is to subscribe to an IDD service (discussed at length in other parts of this forum). Almost certainly cheapper than what any of the operators will offer.

[runa]

I know friends who have had very bad experiences with the networks, "People" and "New World." "Smartone" isn't particularly great either, but it was a computer record problem, not reception.

Beachball is right. Try out different networks. I would suggest starting with "One 2 Free."