article About Increase in Electricity rate - (all-vga-corner)

UPDATE: Click HERE to download the file for easy calculations.

Household electricity consumption

I have covered the topic on how to measure your household electricity bill in my last article in May 2008. Since then, SP services never fail to increase electricity tariff for four consecutive quarters. Starting in April, our new rate will be 23.56 cents/kWh or an average increase of $2.47 in our monthly electricity bill in four-room HDB flats as reported by Straits Times. The latest reason cited is the increase in oil price over the past three months from US$99.38 to S$102.95 per barrel.

Ranking of power hungry household appliances

The best power saving method is NOT to switch on anything. We know it is impossible so how can you maintain or reduce your electricity bill? Identifying the most power hungry appliances and reduce its consumption is the best approach. Below is the typical list:

Ranking	Household Appliance	Power Consumption (W)
1	Bathroom Heater	2000
2	Induction Cooker	1200
3	Cloth Iron	1000
4	Water Boiler	750
5	Air Conditioner	600
6	Rice Cooker	500
7	Fridge	200
8	Desktop PC	160
9	CRT TV	135
10	Fan	60
11	Notebook	55
12	Light bulb	40

 
As a rule of thumb, appliances that heat up or cool down in the shortest time consume the most power. Bathroom heater tops the list with 2000W of power consumption while light bulb only consumes 40W. Appliances worthy of mention are Induction Cooker, Cloth Iron, Water boiler and Air Conditioner which are power hungry. To get a realistic feel of how much they are consumed, we need to know the hours of usage to get the monthly bill.

Household Appliance	Power Consumption/ unit (W)	Hours of usage/ day(Hrs)	Monthly Bill with GST (S$)	Ranking
Bathroom Heater	2000	1	15.13	3
Induction Cooker	1200	1	9.08	6
Cloth Iron	1000	0.5	3.78	8
Water Boiler	750	0.5	2.84	10
Air Conditioner	600	8	36.30	1
Rice Cooker	500	0.5	1.89	11
Fridge	200	24	36.30	1
Desktop PC	160	8	9.68	4
CRT TV	135	9	9.19	5
2 Fan	60	4	3.63	9
Notebook	55	4	1.66	12
3 Light Bulbs	40	5	4.54	7
Total Electricity Bill			134.01

 
After punching in the average consumption per day, we get a realistic power consumption of the appliances. Fridge and Air-Conditioner top the bill charges while notebook tails behind. To effectively cut down on the bill, we explore how to reduce the usage time of the appliances. Bear in mind that basic necessities such as fridge cannot be touched. Below are some suggestions:

1. Use fans instead of air conditioner;
2. Cut down on using Induction Cooker and use gas instead;
3. Reduce the frequency of using bathroom heater;
4. Iron cloth every fortnight. FYI, heating up the iron is very time consuming;
5. Refrain from using water boiler to keep warm and use vacuum flask instead;
6. Adopt standby or hibernation mode for breaks exceeding one hour; and
7. Sleep early so watch less TV programs.

Household Appliance	Power Consumption/ unit (W)	Hours of usage/ day(Hrs)	Monthly Bill with GST (S$)	Ranking
Bathroom Heater	2000	1	15.13	2
Induction Cooker	1200	0.25	2.27	8
Cloth Iron	1000	0.05	0.38	12
Water Boiler	750	0.25	1.42	11
Air Conditioner	600	3	13.61	3
Rice Cooker	500	0.5	1.89	9
Fridge	200	24	36.30	1
Desktop PC	160	6	7.26	5
CRT TV	135	6	6.13	6
2 Fans	60	12	10.89	4
Notebook	55	4	1.66	10
3 Light Bulbs	40	5	4.54	7
Total Electricity Bill			101.47

 
After changing the consumption pattern, only fans cost more due to longer period of usage. If the fridge is your top list, then you have near to your target. Revised bill is $101.47 which is a 24.28% reduction in power consumption.

Conclusions

There are some devices (S$150) sold in the market which promise to save your electricity bill. The basic operation is to optimize the inductive and capacitive powers (correcting the power factor) which exist in any power supply due to different appliances used. This is especially useful for Air conditioner, washing machine and other inductive devices. In Singapore, the effect is noticeable for 5-room flat or bigger units but less significant in smaller HDB units. Suppliers claim that the savings vary between 5-25%. If you are interested, please attend computer show as they are always participating in such shows. Watch out for mini-sun or power save booths.
Now, you can save your pocket money and environment at the same time and preserve a greener earth for our future generations. I must talk big because cutting back on what you are currently enjoying is painful. Trust me�

article About Should I convert from Post-paid to Pre-paid mobile plan? - (all-vga-corner)

Planning for your ideal mobile plan

Many retirees "inherited" the obsolete mobile phones from their children when they upgrade the phones. Since a mobile plan (with a SIM card) is needed to make the old phone come alive, they leave the decision of their mobile plans to their children. Most of their children chose post-paid plan with limited incoming voice calls with no data plan. However, most old folks are wary of making outgoing voice calls because they are not used to the phone and it is chargeable. For some old plans, they are paying more than S$60+ for 300 min outgoing minutes per month. Due to fierce competition over the years, new plans are more competitive at S$25+ for 100 min outgoing. However, many are ignorance of this option when their contract is due. The same applies for students in schools, polytechnics and universities, except their phones are normally smart phones with data plan.
The demand of pre-paid mobile plan is attractive to short-term tourists and our foreign "talents" (aka workers) who rarely use their phone and cannot get credit. The beauty of pre-paid plan lies in the absence of 2-year contract with the telco. This target segment is not demanding of voice mail, text or data plan since their phones are either low-end or obsolete models. So they are compromised to pay a higher price to use pre-paid services.
Stop, read paragraph 2 again. If you believe every word I wrote, then perhaps you need a paradigm shift. Ten years ago, paragraph 2 is politically correct but it is no longer true now. If 50% of Europe is using pre-paid plans, you are a true believer on the myths of using pre-paid plan. Let me tell you why.

Post-paid vs Pre-paid

If a picture paints a thousand words, I hope this table shed lights on the differences.

	Post-Paid	Pre-Paid
Payment mode	After use	Before use
Monthly Bills	Yes	No
Subscription	Yes	No
Contract binding	2 years	None
Free phone bundle	Yes	None
Registration Charge	S$10.70	None
Free incoming voice calls	Yes	Depending on the plans
Free SMS	Yes	Depending on the plans
Free Caller ID	No	Yes
Free Voice Mail	No	Yes
Fee incoming calls	Yes	Depends

 
Yes. That's all for the differences. How about data plan, IDD calls, international roaming? Don't worry. Pre-paid plans cover them and sometimes offer more.
If you are using post-paid, there is no such thing as free outgoing voice call. It has been factored into your month free minutes. That's why you are paying more for 300 or 700 minutes. It is charged at SS$0.16/min if you exceed your allocated free minutes. Many customer service representatives will tell you to choose the highest minutes plan from your maximum usage. So you are choosing 100min/mth plan (S$16 value) if you are using 80min/mth and 300min/mth plan (S$54 value) when you are in fact using 101 min/mth.
Basically, prepaid plan is not restricted by the number of outgoing voice call minutes and number of SMSs. The catch is pay-as-you-use and in fact, more flexible than standard post-paid services. Therefore, get ready for the surprise if you are the frog still hiding in the well.

Pre-paid plans in the market

Being the largest mobile player in Singapore, SingTel has 4 different pre-paid offerings:

• Hi!card (standard prepaid at 8 cents/min during Happy Hour) with top-up options of (15% bonus, S$28, S$30 and S$55)

• Kababayan Card (calling Philippines at 7 cents/min )
• simPATI kangen Card (calling Indonesia at 16-26 cents/min)
• Sawadee Card (calling Thailand at 6 cents/min)

Since we are targeting at Singaporeans who are interested to convert from Post-paid to Pre-paid, cards and top-up options which are targeting for foreigners who wish to make IDD calls will be omitted in our discussion. Hence, we only consider the Hi!card and its top-up options.
Starhub has 2 basic plans � Green (Happy S$128 and Happy Star S$17) and MaxMobile for voice and data plan respectively. Top-up options are Happy (voice) and Happy Stars (data) prepaid. On and off, they introduce some perks to make their pre-paid cards more attractive. Since we are focusing only on voice plan, we shall take MaxMobile out of the equation.
M1 also has 2 pre-paid plans � M Super S$130 and SuperPac. The former targets standard users while SuperPac targets foreigners who live in a different time zone. We shall consider both plans with its top-up options.

Benchmark using a Post-paid plan

For low usage users, we need a benchmark for comparison so we take a standard 100min/mth plan with no data plan at a comparable value of S$25.68 (100 outgoing minutes and 500 SMSs). Over a period of 24 mths, a post-paid plan will cost a subscriber a total of S$616.32. Note that Post-paid plan can receive unlimited incoming call.

	100min/mth	300min/mth
Free outgoing voice minutes	100	300
Free SMS	500	500
Cost for 1 month (S$)	25.68	48.15
Costs over 24 mths (S$)	616.32	1155.60

 

Case studies

For the Pre-paid plan, let make the following presumption for both groups of consumers:

	Old folk	Night shift worker	Businessman
Duration of incoming calls a month (min)	50	75	150
Duration of outgoing calls a month (min)	50	75	100
Average call duration (min)	1	2	3
Calls made during peak period	80%	10%	60%
Calls made during non-peak period	20%	90%	40%
SMS per month	0	500	600

 
A run through the formula reveals the following:

Best plan	Old folks	Monthly bills (S$)		Night shift worker	Monthly bills (S$)		Businessman	Monthly bills (S$)
1	Singtel Hi!Card (S$55)	9.71		Singtel Hi!Card (S$28)	15.96		Singtel Hi!Card (S$28)	32.63
2	Starhub Green	12.75		Starhub Happy Star card (S$17)	18.46		M Card Super S$130	38.75
3	Singtel Hi!Card (15% bonus)	13.25		Hi!Card (S$55)	19.71		Starhub Happy (S$128)	41.58
Post-paid Plan	Standard 100 min/mth	25.68		Standard 300min/mth	48.15		Standard 300min/mth	48.15

 
The results may be surprising for many because 100min/mth plan can be cheaper than S$10/mth. Yes, it happens. By seizing advantages of the off-period period, you are able to make cheap calls thereby reducing the costs of mobile ownership. Either case, we see most pre-paid plans are cheaper than standard post-paid plans if you ignore the free incoming calls. Bear in mind that pre-paid plans are pay-as-you-use so if you have low usage for that month, you can effectively save more. It is a wonderful way of limiting your phone bill.
An excellent example is a night shift worker. Since there is no 200min/mth plan and outgoing voice at 150min/mth, one need to take up the 300min/mth plan as "adviced" by experts. If he/she takes up a pre-paid plan, savings is sizable and even better than a 100min/mth plan. The saving is nearly half of what he is paying for 300min/mth plan. Can you see the beauty?
Even for a businessman with 300min outgoing voice calls, the bill is much cheaper than a standard 300min/mth plan. Yes, it is possible and you can do your own maths.

The balance of the equation

If pre-paid plans are superior in value, why most of us still signing up post-paid plans? The answers are simple. In the beginning, many have no phone and signing a 2-year contract can get a free or discounted phone. Also, we are haunted by the old Pre-paid plans which are unattractive in value as compared to post-paid plans. It may costs twice as much to call out as compared to post-paid plans.
Now, new pre-paid plans are customized for the new market segments to suit the trend. In Europe and USA, pre-paid plans are bundled with phones and some are having free incoming calls (like M1 SuperPac). These pre-paid plans are very attractive as it offers customers good benefits without a contract to tie them down. If they are near to the end of their contract and the phone is working fine, a new pre-paid plan with free incoming call may offer more values to them.
An interesting find is the M1 SuperPac and Starhub Happy Star. They offer data plan and 24-hours free incoming calls so they are in-between pre-paid and post-paid plans. If you really compare the details, they are catered for travellers and adults who are working 9-6pm who cannot answer mobile during this period (ie. Hotel service staffs).
Last but not least, it is important to consider the validity of the card since its last top up. It will make a difference on what is the frequency of top-up. It is crucial if you seldom use the phone. So, how about getting a pre-paid card now?

article About Before you upgrade your phone� - (all-vga-corner)

Evolution of Technology

Technology engulfs us both slowly and silently. We carry technology with us in our cell phone and sleep with it. Little do we know that this small piece of device is packed with many features that change our lifestyles. You know how to use a mobile phone but you just don't know how to make it works better for you.
Real life stories about expensive phone bills frighten many of us. To avoid paying more, many choose to terminate core features of the phone or disable these features to make sure they don't chalk up their bills. Essentially you just defeat the purpose of getting the latest phone in the market if your sole purpose is simply making voice calls and sending SMSs.
Some may argue that they "reserve" these features and will use them during critical moments. My question is how do you know if they are working during those moments and how much you know about using the application?
Many of my friends show off their new phones boosting many new features like GPS, WIFI, push mail, full QWERTY keys, LCD screen, vibrating touch and feel, 10M pixel camera, elegant look etc and etc� but they don't have a data plan. If you are happy driving a Ferrari in a congested car park, follow their footsteps. Many will laugh at you inside their heart if you notice the smile at the corner of their mouth.
So how can you avoid becoming the next clown?

Look into the eyes of Technology

If you confine yourself to making voice and sending SMS, Philips Xenium series is your best upgrade choice which boosts standby time of up to 30 days. It has no gimmicks like GPS, 3G or WIFI and squeezes its battery life to extend your calling time. So stop wasting time to shop around for other phones. Else, your 2G mobile is good enough till you are ready.
Now, if you are seriously wish to upgrade your phone and explore some new features, get ready to pay for data plan else read the earlier paragraph again. Many are tapping into data use and someone wrote about paying only US$23/month for iphone bill. So, the future is now.
I have earlier mentioned how to select a suitable mobile phone for broadband. Read about the technology and decide a phone which suits your lifestyle. Bear in mind the battery life and your budget in hand.
Next, do sign up for a suitable mobile broadband plan with your telco. You may wish to consider my earlier article on the BEST mobile broadband plan in Singapore. It is outdated but you may wish to read for your reference.

Myths on features in mobile phone

There are also many questions about the features which many are shy to ask around. I hope to disperse these myths which cloud your minds:

1. WIFI is chargeable
   WIFI is free if you connect to a network which is free. For example, when you are at home or when you have access to wireless@sg in McDonald etc. Many WIFI network are private which requires password authentication. For example, you are in a Malaysia hotel which they may charge you RM25/day for using WIFI. The limitation of WIFI is the range of up to 100m in open space and privacy related issues.
2. GPS is NOT FREE
   If you have a built-in GPS in your mobile phone, it is 100% FREE to use GPS above the sky and locate yourself anywhere in the world. You only need direct connection to the sky. If you wish to have more features such as navigation and locating friends, read my earlier post on installing a suitable GPS application on your mobile phone.
3. Data use is very expensive
   In the past, you are right to say so but with the revise of plans by telcos and the increasing amount of users, the charge is reasonable. For pure data users, you may wish to refer to my earlier post on the mobile broadband plans available in Singapore. In exhibition, you may enjoy 50% discount and pay only S$19.36/month for M1 V2 for unlimited data use. For data plan over your voice plan, the minimum is adding S$10 to your existing plan.

Will my monthly bill costs much more?

It depends on your lifestyle and the data plan you choose. In any case, you should not be charged more than S$37 for unlimited use in Singapore.
If you make frequent international calls, having a data plan may actually help you to save more. You can tap on into skype for voice calls, msn for messaging and push mail for email exchange. You buy time and accessibility with data plan while you are on-the-road. You need not rush back home or office to check email and you can reply messages via msn on the street.

5 critical considerations

1. If you are a business and serious user, select a 3.5G phone with 7.2Mbps instead of a 3G phone with only 0.384Mbps of transfer speed. 3G is nearly 20 times SLOWER than 3.5G. The latter usually come with S$0 plan catering for students and budget users. You just have to pay more for a 3.5G phone and S$0 phone expresses itself clearly on its price tag.
2. Next, get a phone with good battery life by comparing their standby and talk times. There is no point in having a phone with low juice unless you only wish to satisfy your ego by driving a Lamborghini for 10m.
3. You have to compare data plans offered by different operators as some are simply not suitable for you. Questions to ask yourself are: Are you able to afford unlimited data plan? What applications do I need in my new phone which requires data plan? For instance, real time push mail requires unlimited data plan for businessmen while normal user may stick to pop mail for a periodical mail download.
4. Bundled plan offers incentives for consumers. If most of your family members and friends are using M1, it makes sense to join M1 as you may enjoy 3 free call numbers. For starhub hubbers, you enjoy further discounts for your maxOnline, maxTV and mobile lines. For Singtel users, MIO may be attractive due to the overall package. No matter which plan you choose, there is a binding contract of 2 years else a heavy penalty will be imposed.
5. Lastly, omit those features that are not needed in a phone. For example, do you really need a 12M pixel camera phone? Get a Canon or Nixon DSLR camera at S$1,299 with tons of features to take great photos instead. After all, phone is for making call and not for photo shots. 3M or 5M pixel is good enough for an average Joe.

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.