Before the year 2010 ended, I encountered an article at Manila Times about NTC allowing their broadband service providers to put a maximum limit to the number of data that is available to each subscriber. According to the NTC, the broadband cap is needed to address the persistent complaints from many broadband subscribers: internet is a lot slower than the subscribed speed.

According to the revised draft Memorandum Order released by the NTC, internet broadband service providers should “specify the minimum broadband connection speed and service reliability, as well as the service rates in their advertisements, flyers, brochures and service and legal agreements.” The service reliability should be 80 percent at the minimum.

With a capped internet connection, a subscriber is permitted to get a maximum amount of data within a specified amount of time. For example, a subscriber with 1 Mbps connection maybe allowed to get only 25 GB of data each month from its service provider.

Image credit to Dylan

My stand: I strongly disagree with this proposal of letting out ISPs put a cap to our broadband connections. I do not exactly understand how broadband capping solves the poor internet connection problem.

There will be a many people who will be affected by this change: online workers like me who fully rely on the internet for income, webmasters like me who need to upload and download huge amounts of data. Even the typical occasional user also gets much data from the internet – watching YouTube videos and playing games in Facebook also needs much data.

For my ISP PLDT, this could also mean that users may decide not to enjoy watching PLDT Watchpad or even upping their subscriptions to the newly launched PLDT Telepad because these also need a significant amount of data to download.

If you are like me who is against this proposal, then I suggest that you take active part in adding your signature to the online petition that is circulating around (I have just added my signature to it): No to broadband cap, yes to #betterinternet in the Philippines

If you are looking for information on how to send money via Western Union, then check out this post from an OFW: How to send Money via Western Union

Long ago, I decided not to blog about my experience in getting my Google Adsense paycheck via Western Union. However, I decided to write this post because I had this one rare chance of receiving money from a friend who is working overseas.

I live in Baguio – a city that’s around five to eight hours away from the Manila, Philippines – but there are plenty of Western Union branches available to claim money. However, most of these branches close as early as 6 PM. It’s always good to make a call to your preferred branch before the closing time. Not all branches are the same.

Before going to your preferred Western Union branch, it is important to be prepared. Here are the things needed before going to any Philippine-based branch.

1. Identification card: One ID is usually enough but I often carry a bunch of IDs in my wallet just in case. Employment and school IDs with the latest photos are accepted as well as government-issued IDs like driver’s license, PRC ID, postal ID… the usual stuff. Also, Western Union employees do not care if you are under the age of 18: what matters most to them is that the ID should belong to the person receiving the money.
2. List of information: Ask the person/institution sending the money should provide this. In particular, be sure to take down the following – MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number), full name of the sender and the exact amount of money to receive. The sender pays for the send charge involved in the transfer; the only deduction to expect is the Documentary Stamp Tax (DST) which is not a huge amount.
3. Fill-out “To Receive Money” form: Use the list of information above to fill out the form.

In any outlet you are given the choice to receive the amount in Pesos or in US Dollars. I usually have the amount converted in Pesos rather than getting the US dollar amount. Some people prefer to receive the amount in US Dollars then go to their favorite money-exchangers, which, they say, gives higher exchange rates compared to Western Union’s exchange rates.

I haven’t personally tried tracking money transfers online but Western Union provides one to their customers: Western Union Money Transfer Tracking

This is the reason why I signed up with CPALead not long ago. There is a huge gold mine waiting to be discovered from this hot (but not new) site!

Click the image below to view a probably happy CPALead user who earned $80,000 – or more than P3,000,000 in just a month!

In CPALead it is uncommon to see bloggers earning more than $50 per day, and there are a few who earn over thousands of dollars – evidence of these earnings are seen in the CPALead forums. Some bloggers swear that this income is far better than what they had been getting from Google Adsense, even for some people consistently at less than a dollar a day.

What does CPALead look like? Usually a CPALead powered site or blog shows a pop-up window that asks the users to complete a survey before getting to view or download premium content. The most popular use of CPALead is through TV shows, but it was also determined that CPALead is also used in movies and download links to eBooks and software.

Anybody who owns Paypal accounts will be pleased to know that CPALead pays via Paypal (and yes, they give payouts in thousands of dollars), so this is one way to get assured that CPALead is 100% legit (Paypal readily freezes accounts that give massive and huge payouts).

What you need before signing up

• A website or blog with quality content. You don’t just  submit a blog or website without anything on it and expect CPALead to approve that. Also, that website or blog DOESN’T NEED to be the one that you intend to power up with CPALead.
• A Paypal account: Sign up here for a FREE account (if you do not have one yet)

Step-by-step instructions in signing up

1. Use this link to get to the CPALead site: sign up for a FREE account at CPALead (this opens up a new window, so you can still return to this step-by-step guide).
2. Fill the information asked in Step 1. Most users who prefer being paid through Paypal would stop and ask about name on check and minimum for check fields. Here’s what to do:
   • name on check: simply type in your Paypal account name (this is usually the full name associated with Paypal account)
   • minimum for check: simply choose $50 as the minimum check amount for the meantime. You can change from Check to Paypal payment method later, after the entire account is set up.
     

     Click Continue to proceed to Step 2.

3. Fill in the contact information asked in Step 2. Again, click Continue to proceed to Step 3.
4. Fill in the website information asked in Step 3. Ifyou have an existing blog or website that you have even if you DO NOT INTEND to use these with CPALead. You can open up a CPALead powered site later.

   I actually submitted The Lady Programmer to CPALead even if I am not using any surveys here and it was approved. Later, I opened up another blog with CPALead survey on it.

   

   Click Start Earning Now to submit the information.

5. The next window logs you into your new account and you can see the dashboard. The popup appears, requiring you to provide tax information. If you have your tax information ready then click OK to go directly to the tax forms page.

   
   The tax forms page is divided into two columns – one for US and another for non-US residents. If you are a non-US resident like me (I live in the Philippines) then the right column for non-USA residents apply.

   

   • Online Compliance Certificate: This only requires the signature – just type in your full name at the bottom of the form and it’s done!
   • W-8 Online Tax Form: If this form doesn’t show up after signing up the online compliance certificate, then either do one of the following – 1) going directly through this link  at http://www.cpalead.com/dash_forms.php (if you are logged in to CPALead), or 2) search through the FAQ for the question “How do I submit my tax forms?” to get back to that page. Double check all the information before typing in the signature at the bottom of the form.In my case, I only need to type in my name for the signature at the bottom of the form. I did not make any changes to the other sections of the form.
6. To change the preferred payment method from Check to Paypal, choose Account in the CPALead dashboard. Make the changes as shown in the image below (click the image to view a larger version).
7. The next thing to do is to add the widget to the websites/blog that you intend to earn with CPALead. This is located in the CPALead dashboard, then click Widgets. Click Create New Widget then follow the instructions and options provided.

   For a typical TV show blog/site with embedded videos, choose video as the content type then choose webpage with video. Click the screenshot below for a closer look.

   

   I will NOT go further into discussing all the settings of the widget, as these settings are plenty and self-explanatory, such as choosing the skin, monetization methods, designs and other customizations. Once that you had decided on how you want your widget to look like and behave, you will be given instructions on how to add the widget to your website’s templates.

Other Notes:

• CPALead can be used with along with Google Adsense (see CPALead FAQ).
• Not all blogs/websites can be monetized effectively by CPALead.

Honestly, I started blogging just because I wanted to earn money from them. I first discovered that I could write short paid review posts in between some non-paid posts. Eventually, as I build content, some people became my loyal readers, and it was not long before I became so conscious of what I write.

I earned a few hundred bucks from several paid review marketplaces using several blogs. However, doing paid reviews can be tiring. Doing one non-paid posts in between each paid review (as most review sites require it) makes me lose all my creative juices.

However, I found another way to monetize blogs: a way to earn passively from your blog. InLinks matches keywords from my published posts and links these up to the advertiser’s website. I earn from those linked keywords as long as the advertiser wants to. It can also run alongside any other ad networks such as Google Adsense.

I had received several payments from them over six months. The payment I get is not that huge because I only submitted a single blog to them. If I happen to have five blogs monetized with inLinks then I would be getting more or less a hundred dollars each month!

inLinks Paypal payment proof

They never fail to pay me on the first day of each month. They pay by check, Paypal or Payoneer.

inLinks payment history

seemed to favor blogs that have good pagerank rating (PR3 and above), nice Alexa traffic (500,000 and below) and plenty of old blog posts. I tried submitting two more blogs but these were not accepted. One of the blogs was a new one while the other is an older blog with PR2 rating but more than 1M Alexa ranking. In both cases, I can resubmit these blogs after a few months after improving these blogs’ pagerank and Alexa.

These several platforms qualify for : Drupal 6+, Drupal 5.x, Express Engine 1.6.x, Joomla 1.5.x, MovableType, Vbulletin, WordPress 2.x, phpBB 3.x and MODx. If you happen to own a blog powered by Blogger or Blogspot, you cannot monetize that for inLinks, but you can still sign up for an account or be an affiliate. I had only submitted a single WordPress blog where I had to install a plugin that automatically links my keywords to the advertiser’s website so I do not have to hunt and modify those old posts to link that keyword.

Unlike paid review marketplaces, I can post as little or as often as I like on my blog. I can still sell links even if I decide to go on blogging hiatus. I do not also need to compose new blog posts using a particular keyword. I just have to let inLinks find an advertiser and automatically link* my existing post to the advertiser’s website. I do not have to worry too, as inLinks had been true to their word that they would not be linking my blog to inappropriate sites such as adult, pharmacy and gambling sites. My old posts are still useful after all!

As a way of thanking me in introducing another way to make money in blogging, please use my referral banner below to sign up for a FREE account.

*inLinks uses two approval systems – A and B. You can decide to go for system A, in which you leave inLinks to decide advertisers, or go for option system B, where you can manually approve advertisers. I am using option A.

Here’s a summary of the steps (as illustrated in the accompanying video):

1. Unionbank does NOT need any minimum balance requirements. However, one must pay P350 to open up a bank account and the accompanying Unionbank EON card.
2. Take note of the information written on the Unionbank EON card. The number at the middle of the card is the card number. The smaller number below your name is the bank account number. The bank account number IS THE ONE TO USE for verifying Paypal account.
   
   
3. You need the following:
   • EON card and bank account number
   • valid email address
   • valid phone number
   • valid postal mailing address which should be the same as the address indicated in your Unionbank EON card
   • at least P200 deposit to cover $1.95 that Paypal takes away for verification. (Note that $1.95 is returned back into one’s Paypal account after a successful verification).
4. Sign up for Paypal, choose Philippines then click the preferred account. Usually, a Personal Paypal account is enough. Make sure to use the same details that you had used with your Unionbank EON account. (If you want to know the  difference between Personal, Premium or Business Paypal account, then read this previous post: Signing up with Paypal, which account is suitable?
5. Confirm your email address by clicking the link in the verification email that came from Paypal. You will need to enter your Paypal password to complete this step.
6. Go back to the Paypal page, and just below the welcome line with your name click on the Get Verified link.
7. Login to your Unionbank EON banking and search on the transaction history for the VISA Expanded USE charge. Remember the 4 digits that appear after the word VISA.
8. Switch back to the Paypal page and enter those 4 digits into link and confirm your debit or credit card.

How to Activate “Withdraw to Bank Account” Feature

Like what Eireen Diokno-Bernardo had said in the video, I save more and get Paypal funds early using withdraw to bank account option. Please read my previous post: Withdrawing Paypal Funds: Should I Choose “Withdraw to Bank” or “Withdraw to Card”?

1. Login to Paypal account.
2. Click Withdraw tab, then click Withdraw to your bank account.
3. Fill in the information required. Although the video demonstrated how to add a Unionbank bank account, ANY OTHER PHILIPPINE BANK ACCOUNTS that are assigned Philippine bank codes by Paypal can be used: participating Philippine banks and their bank codes

Previously, I had made a post illustrating that “withdraw to bank” option is cheaper and faster than using “withdraw to card” option in Paypal. Read this post on how to withdraw funds from Paypal to Philippine bank accounts.

If the Philippine bank is not listed, then that bank does not support Paypal withdrawals. Open a new bank account in Philippine banks that support Paypal withdrawals.

SWIFT/BIC codes are different and doesn’t work with Paypal: these are either 8 or 11-digit numbers used to identify financial institutions. These codes are often confused with Paypal codes. Surprisingly, bank customer support ARE NOT AWARE of Paypal bank codes and instead, they give out their bank’s SWIFT/BIC codes that are used in international wire transfers and also with Moneybookers.

Sign up NOW for a FREE Paypal account

original source: Ebay.ph

click the banner above to sign up with a FREE Paypal account

For now I can just list down steps on how to get started in blogging.

How to get started in blogging

1. Decent writing skills. I started out using a word editor with a spell checker to help me out.
2. Knowledge of using the computer and the internet. Obviously.
3. Decent internet connection. Believe me, I started blogging and even freelancing using 56kbps free internet connection that came with my telephone line.
4. (optional) Your own computer. Here in my country (Philippines) you can always blog at any internet cafe for a  minimum of P10/hour.

Of course, the next thing to do is to open up a blog for free.

1. Blogger.com: The site is great for starters (and even advanced users) to start earning money from blogs. They allow placement of advertisements and other useful codes into the blog.
2. WordPress.com: Their blogs may look better and have better comment management, but they don’t allow advertisements and other codes to be placed on their blogs. If you don’t really intend to make money, then this may be a wiser choice.
3. There are more free blogging platforms out there such as Blogsome, but performance-wise, the first two options are still the best ones to start blogging.

What’s next?

1. Choose a topic for your blog. Most often people think of blogs as a place to write down personal thoughts: but blogging had matured and evolved, so it is now easy for one to pick a topic. It is best to write topics that revolve around your personal interest if you want to earn from your own blog: cars, technology, gadgets, fashion, kids and parenting, news and commentary – the list is endless.
2. Learn the technicalities of blogging, such as HTML. Or pay an expert to help you out in coding your blog. Or ask the help of a friend in doing simple HTML tweaks on your blog. Sometimes you want to insert advertisements and other useful codes into your blog.

Making Money from Blogs

1. Learn SEO techniques. If you want to attract huge amounts of traffic to your advertisements or offers.
2. If SEO is too technical to understand do occasional paid reviews and link selling instead in addition to SEO. You may even have to invest in a domain name just to qualify for these offers. Please visit this link to learn more.
3. Do not stop at the first two steps. Making money online doesn’t stop there. There’s always a new trick or technique that comes along the way.

The new card’s physical appearance is no different from the old one. It’s still the sleek shiny and black that looks better than most local debit and credit cards I’ve seen here in the Philippines. Once more, I get to use the card for three years before I get to contact Payoneer again for a replacement card.

I went through the instructions of reactivating the card several days after I received it through snail mail. I contacted Payoneer’s live support to activate that new card and disable to old one. I remember chatting to the support for about 15 minutes just to perform this one. My virtual bank account too, was transferred from my old card to the new one.

Ideally, this card should work with any ATM machines and credit card terminals that bear the Mastercard logo.

I was excited in using this card, only to notice later that they won’t work with Banco de Oro ATM machines anymore. I always get an error message from any of their ATM machines. I’m not sure if they don’t work with BDO Mastercard credit card terminals but I sometimes notice that my card is declined, even if my card has funds loaded in it.

I have no problems withdrawing funds from Metrobank and BPI ATM machines. But I would still love to have my Payoneer card work well with BDO ATMs because these are more accessible to me. Metrobank and BPI ATMs aren’t safe places to withdraw funds here in Baguio.

I keep on wondering if I am not the only Payoneer card holder experiencing problems with BDO ATMs. Right now, the only solution I can think of is to contact both Payoneer and BDO for this concern.

If you had encountered the same problem, suggest on what’s the best way to deal with this or even provide possible explanation why my card doesn’t work with a specific bank ATM, let me know through the comments.

I have personally used only one of the options listed here. Except for Payoneer virtual bank account where I am currently invited to participate in their pilot program, I have not personally tried out these services.

I had identified other options because there are more Filipinos who like to pursue ways in earning online. However, getting customer support help in withdrawing funds is really not that good, when someone gets into a problem withdrawing funds. Just like what this guy experienced: what started out as a dull bearable pain, came back and turned into a headache, then into a migraine – I hope this story doesn’t get worse than that.

PLDT Online

PLDT Online is a huge portal where one can shop, pay bills and buy e-load online. I am more interested in their Smart Money reload facility. If you own a Smart Money account, just withdraw cash directly from verified Paypal or Moneybookers account. I think the transfers are immediate except for the first withdrawal, where there is a need to submit documentation to verify one’s account. There are corresponding fees applicable depending on the how small or how large the amount to be withdrawn.

i$end

The i$end feature is the one that comes with the desktop version of Chikka Txt Messenger. Getting funds from Paypal is reported to be immediate: it will just take a few minutes that funds get credited into one’s Smart Money account. However, there are no enough writeups to see satisfied and dissatisfied users (I found only one through Google, as of writing this post), so it is safe to assume that there are less people who opted to try out this feature.

Payoneer debit card using its virtual bank account

UPDATE: This is already implemented. Enabling the virtual bank account costs $20 per year.

I received my Payoneer card from oDesk more than a year ago. I have used that card not only to receive earnings from that freelance site but also to receive Paypal earnings in just two days. Paypal to Payoneer transfers will be available soon to the card holders. As one of the participants in their pilot program, I am very satisfied with the smoothness of their Paypal to Payoneer transfers. The only problem that I had was when I discovered that my Payoneer virtual bank account was not listed as one of my Paypal bank accounts (I did not lose any money anyway). ReviewMe, Elance, Freelancer and iStockPhoto are some of the sites that offer debit cards powered by Payoneer, aside from the one that I use with oDesk.

Learn more about Payoneer from some of these previous posts:

• Receiving my Payoneer Card
• Coming Soon: Payoneer Virtual Bank Account
• How to Get Paypal Verified using a Payoneer Card
  

Xoom (do not use)

For a time Xoom was used to withdraw funds from Paypal when Paypal did not offer the facility to withdraw to a local bank, credit or debit card. Withdrawal is supposed to be quick but many users have now reported that their Paypal accounts turning into limited status after trying the Xoom facility. I still included this one since it was once an a facility to withdraw funds. Please do not use this option to withdraw Paypal funds in the Philippines.

a funny Happy Slip video about Xoom

Individuals who buy and sell Paypal funds (too risky)

I keep on seeing plenty of  individuals and even businesses who are roaming around in a lot of making money online forums to promote the trade of selling Paypal funds in exchange for G-Cash, Western Union or Smart Money funds. This kind of exchange is too risky because the other party can simply run away with the funds. Transact using small amounts with people who have gained enough reputation: this is best checked through trust ratings voted by many members in several make money online forums.

These alternatives may be more efficient and better than the popular options provided to withdraw Paypal funds.

Have you ever used any of those alternative services or know of any other withdrawal alternatives that I had missed out? Please share your experience through the comments.

Payoneer card for oDesk

-I read an announcement posted in my Payoneer account yesterday. Metabank replaces the First Bank of Delaware as the issuing bank. Here’s a snippet of announcement posted within my Payoneer account:

On February 9, 2009 , MetaBank will replace First Bank of Delaware as the issuing bank for the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard card accounts.
The transition to MetaBank will not affect card usage. You may use your card as usual without interruption in service or security. Please access your Terms and Conditions for changes.

Now this might explain why the First Bank of Delaware bank account suddenly dropped from my list of Paypal bank accounts. I used that virtual bank account a few times to transfer funds from Paypal to Payoneer (this feature is NOT available yet for all Payoneer card holders). This means I have to add that virtual bank account again with Paypal. I will still have to try adding that bank account again in a few weeks.

Payoneer is an alternative for me to withdraw cash from oDesk, but this card can also be linked to other websites such as ReviewMe, Elance and GetAFreelancer. It is a lot similar to a Paypal account, but this one is a Mastercard debit card that can be easily used to withdraw cash or to pay for purchases.