[Galaxy S II General] rey031:
Btw, raezza, don't be misled with the term "autoload" which is just Globe's trademarked/marketing word for it. Whenever your prepaid balance is about to run out, you will still have to either buy prepaid load scratch card or pay for someone to send you load via "autoload" (concept is more like e-load, i.e. you pay the vendor P100 and vendor sends your mobile number P100 load right there and then).

So, unfortunately, prepaid won't be able to completely address this statement of yours -> I would like to not be at the mercy of someone to reload anything, just want to pay and forget about it until I leave.

About postpaid (monthly billing), unfortunately there's a lock-in period of two years so I guess that's not a viable solution, either, for your short stay.

If you go the prepaid route, you don't have to wait until your balance is up to go buy prepaid load cards. You can do the following:

1. Buy prepaid cards that total the amount you expect to use for your 1-month stay, i.e. 30 days divided by 5 days unli-internet duration multiplied by P220 = P1,320, plus additional load for calls and text. More info on call card denominations here and here.

2. You can either load your prepaid cards one at a time whenever your balance is about to run out or load them all at once so you don't have to check your balance or reload cards as often.

3. If you'll save the cards for loading later, make sure the cards' expiry date isn't too soon. Most cards bought from big stores such as 711, malls, dept stores have expiry dates that are months away while I've seen cards from small street vendors that would expire 1 week later (meaning you'll have to load them before the week ends. Once loaded, the value will last longer than 1 week depending on card denomination).

4. Check your balance if you have enough load for super surf (instructions here for checking balance). You usually need a minimum maintaining balance to use the service, i.e. make sure you have at least P225 load, P220 to be deducted for supersurf and at least P5 to maintain)

5. Make sure you receive a text confirmation that you've successfully registered or else your internet surfing will be deducted from your load at normal rate instead of unlimited. You can call Globe customer center at 211 if you need help. I didn't receive text confirmation one time and they registered me to supersurf themselves.

6. Once you're registered to supersurf, you will receive a text message of useful keywords to text such as how to know when your supersurf will expire, etc.

7. I believe you will also receive a text when it's about to expire (see more info here).

8. Once your supersurf expires, you can just text SUPERSURF220 to 8888 again making sure you still have enough load (at least P225).

Of course, before deciding to splurge all that money on prepaid cards, you can go ahead and first test Globe's internet performance in your area . You can just go time-based charging first (P5 per 15-mins) by texting TIME to 1111 or try out one day of supersurf (P50).

If it seems like your SGS2 sticks to edge/gprs/3g signals more often than HSDPA/HSPA+, it's either your stuck with that type of signal in your area or the SGS2 is choosing the stronger signal instead of HSDPA. What I usually do to make sure it chooses HSDPA/HSPA+ when it's available is I go to Android settings > Wireless and network > Mobile networks > Network mode and set it to WCDMA only. Make sure you put it back to GSM/WCDMA (Auto mode) after internet surfing to save on battery.

Your modem firmware version might also come into play. I've had more consistent HSDPA signals with the XXKI4 modem than the Philippines' official DXKI1 modem firmware.

Sorry for the long post :)