Glossary
The terms you meet buying mobile data and internet in the Philippines, explained in plain English — and, where it matters, what each one means for your money.
- Fair Use PolicyFUP · fair use
- A cap on how much full-speed data an "unlimited" plan gives you per day, after which your connection is slowed rather than cut off.
- Throttling
- Deliberately reducing your connection speed once you pass a data threshold, while keeping you connected.
- eSIM
- A SIM built into your phone that you activate by downloading a profile, with no physical card to insert.
- SIM Registration ActRA 11934
- Philippine law requiring every SIM to be registered to an identified person before it will work, with tourist registrations limited to 30 days.
- Prepaid fiber
- Home fiber internet you load like a phone — buy a day, a week, or a month at a time, with no contract and no monthly bill.
- Lock-in periodcontract period · minimum term
- The minimum time you must keep a plan before you can cancel without paying a pre-termination fee.
- Fixed wireless accessFWA · 5G home internet
- Home internet delivered over a mobile network to a router with a SIM in it, rather than through a cable to your building.
- "Up to" speed
- The maximum speed a plan can reach under ideal conditions — not a guaranteed or typical speed.
- Mbpsmegabits per second
- Megabits per second — the unit internet speed is sold in. Eight megabits equal one megabyte, so a 100 Mbps connection downloads about 12.5 megabytes per second.
- Unlimited data
- A plan with no hard data ceiling — but in the Philippines almost always with a daily full-speed allowance, after which you are throttled.
- Prepaid
- Paying for mobile service in advance by loading credit, then spending that credit on a data or call promo — with no contract or credit check.
- Validity
- How long a data promo lasts before it expires, whether or not you have used the allowance.
- Carrier locknetwork lock · SIM lock
- A restriction that stops a phone accepting SIMs or eSIMs from any operator other than the one it was sold by.
- Tetheringhotspot
- Sharing your phone's mobile data with a laptop or other device, either over WiFi, Bluetooth, or a cable.
- Installation fee
- A one-off charge to connect a fixed internet line, separate from and often invisible in the advertised monthly price.