Found this one from a banner ad over at Friendster. At first I thought it was one of those Friendster services being silently rolled out without much funfare but it turns out to be a 3rd-party service.
Aryty (sounds like All Righty!) specifically targets OFWs in the US and Canada to send call and text loads to their relatives in the Philippines. Payment is done via credit card though there’s no details about the minimum charges and additional fees — something that could easily turn off people from using the service.
Anyone in the Philippines can sign up and request for load from their relatives in the US/Canada via email alogn with details of the mobile number. Likewise, they can do a request via SMS which supports Globe, Smart and Sun Cellular subscribers.
When you ask 4 load from Aryty.com via email, libre! Pero, yung requests to a cell phone in the U.S. or Canada may incur local text message charges from local carriers, as standard messaging rates apply.
Making a request from your mobile phones incurs standard charges from local Philippine carries as follows:
Smart, P2.5txn
Globe Telecom, P2.5txn
Sun Cellular, P2txn
Will this work? Depends on the pricing and additional charges.
Will the service allow the same loading scheme with denominations of Php30 to Php150? If they do, a Php30 ($0.60) load request might be more expensive if you compute credit card charges and fees.
Let’s say we follow Paypal’s stardard pricing of $0.30 + 2.9% per transaction. With a Php30 ($0.60) Ask 4 Load, you end up with $0.92 total charge; with a Php150 ($3.00) load you are charged ~$3.40. That gives you somewhere between 13% to 53% additional charges. These are rough computations but we can fairly say it’s gonna be expensive.
13 comments
I wonder how they do it. As far as I know there is no API for server-side autoloading. Do they just autoload from a GSM modem?
hi,,
as far as I know, Smart and Globe have their own API to provide prepaid loading service to resellers.
Yes you’re right budda… I asked someone in the know about it.
I was able to test it and send PhP 115 Smart load. I used a US (T-Mobile) cellphone that’s roaming here.
With the danger of being self-promoting, let me just say that it’s an old concept. We launched Etoload June of last year with the same concept — send ing cellphone loads from OFWs/Pinoys abroad to families back home. We’re about to release version 2 this year.
I believe it’s a common requirement and business concept. The “Friendster Connection” is the one that made Aryty prominent.
Hi,
I use it all the time… there are no extra charges. pricing is more the fair, for P150 that I send I pay $3 and that’s it, no other charges. What’s most amazing is the speed the load gets back home, it is almost instant.
Thanks for the mention of our Service. Just to clarify there are no minumum charges or additional fees. For example Aryty customers can send 150P load for $3.00 which we charge to a credit or debit card. We want to offer people overseas the opportunity to send load for the same low cost as if they were purchasing in the Philippines. (We do not accept Paypal.)
Our partnership with Friendster allows people to recieve load using their Friendster page by placing a button anywhere on their site. Visitors to their page can click on the button and send the person load without needing to have their number. This is called the “A-List.”
If you or any of your readers have any questions or suggestions for improvement we would love to hear from you! You can reach us using the link below.
http://www.aryty.com/contact.aspx
Regards,
Nils
Aryty CEO
there is defintely an API for this type of airtime top up. it runs thru a corporate reloading gateway(CRG).. we are one of the technology provider for Smart, Globe and sun… if you wish to know more about the details and you wish to get a connection just email me at macky.galler@gmail.com
It seems very interesting. Im just frustrated that we dont have that kind of service here in Greece. Could you please let me know if theres a way.
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The author of this article dont understand what its like to be Filipino abroad with family in Philippines, or foreigners with friends/textmates in Philippines. We send moeny all the time and they are always out of load, here we sit far away and dont hear a word until next time we send money in western union. We simply cant control what our families do with their money, and sending in western union is VERY expensive compared to buying load online.
The other problem is sending big loads online for them, they will text us a lot the first day or three and then QUIET. That is why i recommend this site:
http://www.loading-station.com – click on Load Plans or plans, have a plan load them 100 peso every 2 days isntead of buying 300 peso load every week. And those load plans are so cheap that its virtually no extra expense. Single loads are also very cheap there.