RM 0.99 for a 3G phone?

Unbelievable isn’t it? If you have been watching the TV or reading the papers, then you would know that it’s for real. Digi has came out with this new phone bundling plan with 4 models to be chosen from – Motorola (VE538), Samsung (F480), Sony Ericcson (W760i) and LG (KF750).

To begin with, video call is an integral part of our (kbcg) life but the screen resolution is dismally low with our Stone Age phone models. It makes life more difficult for me because it’s really hard for me to check on people (ahem, women) around kampungboy ok? Just kidding, the images simply look “grainy”. Although video calling is not crucial for day-to-day function it is still very annoying. So we had this talk of getting a new pair of 3G phone.

For Digi’s new phone bundling plan, subscribers get to enjoy smaller advanced payment i.e. RM 50 to RM 250 and lower priced 3G phone starting from RM 0.99 to RM 1499. It is much cheaper compared to Telco M’s upfront payment of RM400 to RM2000 and having to fork out another RM260-RM2290 for an exclusive phone as such.

On top of that, DG150’s plan also provides 1,500 minutes of talk time while a subscriber on Telco M’s iValue2 plan (RM155 commitment fee) gets only half the talk time – 667 min which counts to 22 min a day. The plan excludes free sms usage too, which means you’ll have to pay extra for any sms-es sent. Kill me please; we talked on the phone for more than 30 minutes and send like hundreds of sms-es everyday! DG150 deal sounds a lot better as Digi to Digi voice call would be free even if we hit the Rm150 limit!

Let me work out the math here:

If we were to take DG150 (24 month contract) with a Samsung F480 (looks so professional yet sleek with chrome trim and smooth black colored finish. yummy!), then the total upfront payment would be RM1279 (RM1129+RM150) and the total amount over contract would be RM 4729 which round up to less than RM 200 a month!  It still sounds much cheaper than any other ivalue plan under telco M or the hefty amount that we are paying for our phone bill currently. Time for a switch perhaps?

Sorry to say that I’ll opt for a value for money deal even though there is this universal hype over the gorgeous iPhone.

make every penny count, and count every penny: how to survive a grueling week in HK with only HKD6k on hand?

Somehow I love the intense competition between Malaysian Telcos. It has risen to a greater height with such aggressive handset subsidies. Nevertheless, the true winner will be us, the consumers who will enjoy the lower tariffs from the resulting competition.