As a guide for people buying unlocked cellphones as present for your love ones in the Philippines, here are the 2G/3G Frequencies used by the two top Philippines cellphone providers.
Globe Telecom
GSM 900/1800
UMTS/3G 1900(uplink)/2100(downlink)
Smart Communications
GSM 900/1800
UMTS/3G 1900(uplink)/2100(downlink)
Source: Manila Bulletin Article
If in case you bought either an AT&T or T-Mobile locked phones in the US and wanted to share this to your folks in the Philippines, check first if it supports the 2G GSM frequency of 900 and/or 1800. Most phones either support dual-band or tri-band anyway. You can easily find quad-band as well.
The 2G GSM frequency is where voice and SMS operate. Therefore its important to check this first and match the supported frequency by the providers listed above. Afterwards, have it unlock either from the carrier if you can haggle with them or some procedures you can find from ebay.
If interested also on checking 3G compatibility, check the phone if it matches the listed above frequency. Typically it will have 2100 if its tri-band.
The UMTS/3G is for high speed data connection only. Voice calls never go through 3G nor 4G frequency at this time. Therefore, drop calls problem are not resolved despite having a high download/upload data speed.
Update: There were old mb.com.ph article about Philippines National Telecommunications Communication (NTC) awarding frequency to Philippine cellphone providers. The 1900 and 2100 are mentioned here. Checkout this link
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