article About The Best Prepaid Card for Singaporeans in West Malaysia - (all-vga-corner)

Update (27 Jan 2016): More Telcos have joined the competition and various factors are being considered. Many of the points below are still valid for your consideration. It is suggested that you read this before reading the new post.

Do I need a local prepaid SIM card?

Malaysia is the best getaway for Singaporeans despite increasing robbery incidents. However, Singaporeans are not daunted due to the ever increasing exchange rate versus Ringgit as Singapore Dollar becomes stronger over the years.
No matter if you are going to shop and pump petrol in Johor Bahru, enjoy a sweet vocation in Muar or Melaka or venture to Penang or Langkawi for holidays, you are constantly with your mobile to remain contactable. Roaming charges to dial back Singapore may range from S$0.60/min with S$10/mth roaming charges for postpaid customer or S$2/min for prepaid customers. The damage is higher if you are calling another friend who is travelling together with you in Malaysia who is using a Singapore mobile. Both sides are paying for roaming and the only way to reduce the bill is buying a prepaid local SIM card, especially for long or extended trips.
The obvious advantage of owning a prepaid SIM card is you do not need to pay for incoming calls. Need we say more?

The choices

There are 5 operators in Malaysia offering different prepaid services for travellers but not all the plans are suitable for Singaporeans. There are many Malaysians who are working outside their home states and buying a prepaid card is also their choice. Some plans are suitable for long terms use while many are suitable for short term use (ie Singaporeans). Below are the operators, their respective sites and unique selling points:
Happy � www.happy.com.my (lowest call out value for 15min @RM0.99)
Celcom � www.celcom.com.my (widest network coverage in Malaysia)
Digi � www.digi.com.my (auto reload of value)
Maxis � www.hotlink.com.my (3.5G data use)
U Mobile � www.u.com.my (per second billing)

The Needs

For a typical Singaporean, voice communication is all he/she needs. Ideally, we would like the following features for the prepaid SIM card:

1. Low startup cost to own a prepaid SIM card;
2. Low charge to call back Singapore;
3. Low charge to SMS to Singapore;
4. Low charge to call Malaysia landline or mobile;
5. Low charge to SMS a Malaysia mobile;
6. Low recharge value;
7. No expiry date of the SIM card;
8. Easy availability of recharge stations;
9. Good after-sales services;
10. Easy registration process;
11. Good coverage in city/rural areas; and
12. No cost to call the call center.

For Singapore drivers (GPS) or wish to surf the net via GPRS/3G/3.5G may have additional requirements on top of the above:

1. Good 3G/3.5G coverage;
2. Consistent link to network;
3. High bandwidth (both upload and download); and
4. Low cost in data plan.

Unfortunately, we can only wish the above but none of the operators meets all requirements. Therefore, we need to compromise and set different priorities for different needs.

For Singaporeans visiting city area (KL, Melaka, Johor, Penang etc)

Smaller companies are only focusing on city areas with exceptional good rates for voice and text communications.
U Mobile 018 charges RM0.42/min for voice or video call out rate nationwide in 1-sec block and RM0.08/SMS. Starting pack is RM6 with RM5 for 7 days. IDD call to Singapore costs only RM0.54/min (current promotion till 31 Dec). Minimum reload is RM10 for 10 days and calling to the call center is free. The use of 3G services (max 384kbps) is charged at RM0.01/kB which is not mentioned in the website. Free bundled VAS i.e. Voice Mail, SMS, CLIP, Call Wait, Call Hold, Missed Call Notification, Call Conferencing, Call Forwarding, auto activation of IDD are also thrown in to make this offer attractive.

Happy is another option with RM0.33/min and max at RM99 for 15min for voice call nationwide. You can reload any amount for 60 days validity. For long call, you only pay RM0.99 for 45min from 9am to 5pm. Starter Pack costs RM30 with RM30 value and reloading is easy. However, international call to Singapore costs RM5/min and RM0.33/min is charged for the call center. Clearly, Happy is not interested in Singaporeans.
U Mobile stands out as the perfect choice for Singapore who visit Malaysia for less than 7 days and only use voice communications with option for 3G services.

For Singaporeans who frequently visit sub-rural areas in Malaysia

There are 3 operators in this league. Since network coverage is the critical concern in sub-rural areas, we can only consider Celcom, Maxis and Digi. The interesting feature offered by the big boys are the friend concept where you can have friends at a discounted rate.
Celcom is the recognized leader of GSM coverage in west Malaysia and yet the network is below 80% of the entire Malaysia. This is reasonable considering the rural requirements for mobile use are non-existent so it is not cost effective to support these areas. Celcom has 3 different prepaid plans (Xpax, Blue and prepaid Broadband) to meet different needs. The top 3 advantages, besides widest coverage, over the competition are highest number of friends for discounted calls, lowest unlimited data value of RM6/day or RM20/7 days and RM50 for 2 years validity. In particularly, 2 years validity is a good offer for Singaporeans who frequent Malaysia because if you forget to top up, the card, together with the value inside, will vanish in thin air. For unlimited data over 7 days at RM20 is also good value considering a 5-star hotel will charge you RM20/day for in-house limited wifi. Drivers can also have a faster lock to the GPS with their smartphone with a-GPS function via 3G. One obvious shortcoming is Celcom restricts prepaid user to use 3G network which limits to 384kbps. For voice call, Celcom charges at 60 sec block compared to U Mobile's 1 sec block. The card will be suspended 100 days after last reload.
Hotlink is the 2^nd best option with reasonable coverage targeting many Malaysian teens. It prices itself close to the leader with slightly better values of RM0.33/min for local calls and RM0.35/min for outstation calls. A deeper look reveals that Hotlink's calls are much cheaper than Celcom and Digi over time. Moreover, it offers ad-hoc data plans at RM0.01/kB, RM8/day or RM25/7 days. The slightly higher cost is due to the 3.5G network offered by the network, which allows users to tap on the HSPDA network and surf at 7.2Mbps which is nearly 20 times faster than the nearest competition. The minimum top up is RM20 and RM33 for 1 year validity. IDD to Singapore is charged at RM0.5/min.
Digi is last player which fails to threaten the leaders. It offers RM0.36/min flat at 30 sec block and RM0.10/SMS nationwide. It charges unlimited data at RM5/day via EDGE (max 384kbps). IDD call to Singapore is RM0.28/min and minimum recharge is RM10. It also offers RM30 for 1 year validity and suspension is 90 days after last reload. There is no highlight in its prepaid offering and therefore should be avoided by Singaporeans.

Conclusions

It is clear that U Mobile 018 is suitable for Singaporeans who seldom visit Malaysia and just pop into the city with infrequent data needs. For frequent travellers, Celcom (Xpax or Blue) seems to be the clear winner for network coverage while Maxis's Hotlink is the clear winner for data if you need 3.5G speed.
If your family members are travelling with you, why not get them a U Mobile 018 prepaid to contact them when you are lost in the crowded city areas? If you are driving into West Malaysia, a prepaid Hotlink card enables you to search for the online review of a food outlet. You can even track your friends' locations via GPS and 3.5G combined live on your mobile in real time. Try them with your Singapore postpaid SIM card and I assure you will faint after receiving the exorbitant roaming charges.