From the earlier posts, we consider both the mobile phone and the data plan for mobile broadband plan.
Now, how do you know the speed of your data transfer of your mobile phone? Does it matter?
Of course, there are many factors that affect the transfer speed. If the transfer speed is slow, then you have failed to select a good mobile phone or you have signed a rip-off data plan. So what are the factors?
Mobile Phone
Can your mobile phone support high speed transfer? I hope you get the right phone from earlier post.
What browser are you using? Different browsers may affect the transfer speed due to their efficiencies.
Are you running too many applications while running the test? I would suggest you to close all applications before running the test.
What test sites are involved? Read on�
Data plan
What is the promised maximum download speed? Higher speed means higher price but do you really need the extra mileage?
What is the promised maximum upload speed? This speed is usually slower than the download speed and most of the telcos match their competition.
How much are you paying monthly? You have to make sure every penny you pay delivers the promised speed.
Environment
Are you testing in peak hours?
Are you getting a 3G or 3.5G network?
Before we can answer the above, let's run the tests on these 2 websites from your mobile phone.
The user interface is simple and you can start selecting 100k to run the test. You should get this result: "unstable/too fast a result (0.324s) please choose a larger file ". You will keep trying until you select "1MB" because the smaller files are too fast to show any latency during transfer. Eventually, you should get messages like below showing the kbps, Latency/Sz, Domain (if any) and the User agent (browser):
"875 0.191s (1024k) elisa-mobile.fiHTC_Touch_Pro_T7272 Opera/9.50 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en)" or
"664 0.393s (1024k) tmodns.netMozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.5; en-us; HTC Hero Build/CUPCAKE) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1"
Using the same file size (1024k), we can see that HTC Touch Pro (875kbps) has a faster transfer speed than Android (664kbps).
You may need to run the test a few times to get an average. Make sure the network is consistent at 3G or 3.5G during your tests else the results may differ.
This website is straight forward. Once you enter the web address, it will start to run and generate a report. If the smiley face is smiling, you are in business.
Else, consider changing this plan when the contract expires. The speed is written in red located on the left of the smiley face.
I hope you can try out these 2 test sites and post your results here. Your results will help others in selecting the best valued mobile broadband from telco.
Many have bought a brand new latest expensive mobile phone but never fully utilize its functions. Ask yourself, if you are just using it for voice communication, then a S$60 phone is good enough for you. You do not need camera function, radio function, 8GB memory card and HSCSD support... not to mention mbb plan. Instead, you should look at size, weight, appearances, large keypad, battery life, big characters for easy viewing and durability.
However, manufacturers are packing tons of features into the phone to make it the best selling models. To best utilize mobile broadband (mbb) plan, there are some fixed and variable factors to consider and I list them for your considerations.
Fixed factors - Must have for mbb plan
3.5G support � There are many standards of data transfer. We are concerned on the maximum speed as listed below:
Technology
Generation
Theoretical speed (Mbps)
Practical speed (Mbps)
GMS
2G
0.0144
0.002
GPRS
2G
0.1140
0.056
EDGE
3G
1.0000
0.300
HSDPA
3.5G
7.2000
2.500
For mbb plan, this is the critical criteria of selection � HSDPA. Forget about GPRS and EDGE which are older technologies and cannot be utilizing the full bandwidth of the mbb plan. Visit GSM Arena for the list of mobile phone with HSDPA. Please note that the practical speed maybe even slower than stated due to network traffic. Therefore, it is pointless to select a mobile phone without HSDPA support. It just cannot make the mark.
For example, why Nokia E71 and not Nokia E63? Both have identical outlook. The former is HSDPA (3.6Mbps) while the later is UMTS (0.384Mbps)�nearly 10 times speed difference. So E63 is a bad choice and that's why it is selling cheap or given away free.
Long battery life � Running applications can be torturing for the battery. Without a long lasting battery, you have to run to charge it every now and then. I would recommend a battery with stand-by time of minimum 300 hours for 3G.
Reasonable large screen � We prefer to have the largest screen size so the words are bigger for viewing. However, the larger the screen, the more power consumed. It is best to balance battery and screen size after comparing the specifications.
Good Operating System (OS) � There are a handful of OS in the market dominating by few players. A good OS will minimize hanging issue that disrupts routine use of mobile phone.
Deciding factors � Deciding applications
Deciding factors are the 2nd most important key in selecting your mobile phone for mbb. The more features you have, the more applications you can run with your mbb. Therefore, it is important to select as many factors as possible from the list below.
Wifi � VOIP calls and local connection thereby saving battery life
Global Positioning System (GPS) � Location based service
Internet Radio � Use of internet radio can save some battery life over conventional radio using antenna
Communication services � Support of emails, RSS, messaging services
Web browser � Use for browsing the web
Games � for leisure and in between work/study.
Optional factors � Desirable and good-to-have
Though are optional, they make the phone fun and complete.
Bluetooth � for transfer between phones
Video Camera � for video call
Memory card slot � for data storage
USB connection � for data transfer
Soft factors � personal preferences
Size and weight
Form factor (bar, flip, swivel or slide)
Colour
Touchscreen/QWERTY
MP3 ringtone
Lastly, I feel these features are of little significances � camera flash (drain battery life), infrared port (replace with Bluetooth), WAP (replace with standard html).
Generating the list
Apart of the clone and doubtful quality china-made phones, I run a list of my criteria above from HERE and below are the results:
From the above table, we can see that manufacturers made mobile phones but compromise on key features such as GPS and Wifi capabilities. Only 45.5% of the phones are qualified for our next round of review. A total of 50 mobiles phones qualified for mbb plan. Note that some of these may not be available in Singapore.
Narrowing the choices
The key to find the right phone likes in how much you are willing to pay for it. Older models are cheaper when new models are launched in the market. Out of these 50 sets, 4 are new models (Nokia E72, E55, 6710 Navigator and SE Aino) which have yet to be launched.
After considering the optional and soft factors, you will zoom in to a handful of models. For instance, if you further set below criteria:
Standby time - 400 hrs
With radio
Minimum 2.2 inch touchscreen
Form factor - slide
The final choices are Nokia N97, SE XPERIA X1, HTC Touch Pro or O2 XDA Serra. Happy shopping!
Time flies and prices just got cheaper and we are talking about 3.5G plan with more 3.5G phones readily available in the market.
Again, the conditions for comparison must be stated before we proceed further:
We aim to identify the BEST VALUE plan - broadband for mobile phone (not mobile device or notebook).
Monthly data transfer is UNLIMITED. Those plan not included in this review are purely rip off plans to slaughter so-called causal or low-end users.
Typical broadband mobile access speed of 3G and 3.5G phone are limited to 384 kbps and 3 Mbps (max) respectively.
The minimum download speed is fixed at 2Mbps to optimize the capability of 3.5G mobile phone.
Plan must support data and voice in the SAME sim card.
We are focusing on ONE (1) SIM card for voice and data to explore the full functionalities of 3G/3.5G mobile phone.
Someone mentioned that my table is too complicated to compare. So I have broken them into stages for your easy viewing.
STAGE 1 - 100 minutes free incoming plans
Let's look at what is available for mobile broadband + voice (both data and voice) for 100min free incoming plan. This target segment consists of low-end voice users.
Telco
Singtel
Starhub
M1
Singtel
100min plan
iOne Plus
Powervalue 100
Sun Saver
3G Flexilite
Free minutes
100
100
100
100
Basic charge
25.68
25.68
25.68
39.00
Unlimited data plan
37.00#
38.72
27.10
500MB^
100 min
62.68
64.40
52.78
39.00
150 min
70.46*
72.43
60.81
46.78
200 min
78.23*
80.45
68.83
54.55
*Singtel charges excess minute at S$0.204 (peak) and S$0.107 (off peak). For simplicity, we take the average at S$0.1555.
#Singtel offers 50GB limit for mobile bb plan. We presume there will not be any excess usage above the limit.
^This new plan is included for comparison but 500MB can easily be exceeded in view of the heavy traffic that the current applications are running.
On first look, there seems to be a conspiracy between the 3 telcos offering similar plan at the magic number of S$25.68. However, due to the cheaper mobile broadband (bb) rate offered, M1 becomes the best plan in our first stage selection for unlimited data use.
STAGE 2 � 300 minutes free incoming plans
For the mid-end users for voice, we compare more plans offered by the telcos.
Telco
Singtel
Starhub
M1
300min plan
iTwo Plus
Powervalue 300
Sun Saver Plus
Basic charge
48.15
48.15
48.15
Unlimited data plan
37.00#
38.72
27.10
300 min
85.15
86.87
75.25
500 min
116.25*
118.97
107.35
700 min
147.35*
151.07
139.45
#Singtel offers 50GB limit for mobile bb plan. We presume there will not be any excess usage above the limit.
Again, M1 offers the BEST value plan for Stage 2. For high-end users, you can see that it is also M1 who offered the best since it has the lowest mobile bb charges.
STAGE 3 � Other mobile broadband plans
Singtel has introduced new new plans to capture bb market. But are they worth the money? Definitely not, the plans launched are not competitive with M1 V2Mbps plan.
Telco
Singtel
Singtel
Singtel
M1
Plans
3G Flexi
3G Flexi Plus
Plus
V2Mbps
Free minutes
200
500
300
0
Basic charge
48.15
95.00
48.15
27.10
Data limit
50 GB
50 GB
1GB
Unlimited
100 min
35.10
200 min
56
43.10
300 min
70.10
62.08
51.10
500 min
101.20*
95.00*
93.18*
67.10
700 min
132.30*
188.30*
124.28*
83.10
STAGE 4 � Evaluation
In this evaluation stage, we take the best plans from the above and combine them into this table. They are all benchmarked against only 1 plan (M1 V2Mbps).
Free minutes
Telco
Plan
Data (GB)
Charges (S$)
Saving over the 2nd best plan
100
M1
Sun Saver
Unlimited
52.78
Singtel
3G FlexiLite
0.5
39.00
M1
V2Mbps
Unlimited
35.10
50.37%
200
Singtel
3G Flexi
50
56
M1
V2Mbps
Unlimited
43.10
29.93%
300
M1
Sun Saver Plus
Unlimited
75.25
M1
V2Mbps
Unlimited
51.10
47.26%
500
Singtel
3G Flexi Plus
50
95.00
M1
V2Mbps
Unlimited
67.10
41.58%
700
Singtel
iTwo Plus
1
96.86
M1
V2Mbps
Unlimited
83.10
16.56%
It is no surprise that M1 V2Mbps stands out as the clear winner in all categories from 100 to 700 min free incoming calls. Where is STARHUB in the final comparisons? No idea. They are totally not in the bb league.
STAGE 4 � Conclusions
Since M1 V2 plan beats all categories, is there any catch? Yes, there are. We list them below for your reference and consideration:
Why we are not including V4Mbps or V7.2Mbps? The answer is obvious. Most of the 3.5G mobile phones have a maximum download speed of only 3.6Mbps. So V2Mbps is the optimal plan in this selection.
SMS uses are not factored into our discussion. My question to you is - Why use SMS when you have MSN?
M1 V2 plan is a per minute billing and not per second billing.
There is no discount on 3.5G mobile phone as compared to regular sign-up for new mobile plan. A brand new 3.5G mobile phone may cost S$450 - S$1300. Do not get a 3G phone for mobile bb plan because the maximum download speed is limited to 0.384Mbps (for example Nokia E63).
Despite its shortcomings, we still consider M1 V2Mbps plan to be the BEST valued 3.5G mobile bb plan for a 3.5G mobile phone. So after selecting the plan, what 3.5G phone should be purchased and what are the applications to tap the full capabilities of the bb plan? We shall discuss next time.
It has been 5 months since I put up the inaugural blog on Singapore BEST 3G broadband for mobile plan.Things just got better and cheaper with new alternatives plan launched.
Before we begin to review the latest offers, let�s not forget about the presumptions we have for the comparisons.I summarise them as follows:
1)We aim to identify the BEST VALUE plan - broadband for mobile phone (not mobile device or notebook).
2)Monthly data transfer is between 50MB � 50GB.Those plan not included in this review are purely rip off plans to slaughter so-called causal or low-end users.
3)Typical broadband mobile access speed of 3G and 3.5G phone are limited to 384 kbps and 3 Mbps (max) respectively.
4)Plan must support data and voice in the SAME sim card.
5)We are focusing on ONE (1) SIM card for voice and data to explore the full functionalities of 3G/3.5G mobile phone.
If you have doubts on above, please revisit earlier blog on the details.
The filtered results are presented below:
Telco
Starhub
M1 Broadband
Singtel
Broadband Plan
Value
Ultimate
V 2Mbps
V 4Mbps
V 7.2Mbps
1000
2000
3600
7200
Free Data (GB)
0.9MB
Unlimited
30
50
50
50
Excess Charges (S$)
0.32/KB
NA
0.001/2KB
Download Speed (Mbps)
2
7.2
2
4
7.2
1
2
3.6
7.2
Upload Speed (Mbps)
0.5
1.9
0.5
1
2
0.375
0.5
1
1.5
Incoming calls
Need to bundle with voice service.
FREE
Need to bundle with voice service.
Outgoing calls (S$/min)
0.08
Monthly bill w/GST (S$)
5.35
Capped at 36.38 for unlimited use
72.76@
36.38^
38.72@
27.10
51.36@
35.95
69.30@
48.51
22.42@
17.94#
34.85@
20.91#
62.37@
37.42#
72.76@
43.66#
Target Segment
BUDGET
HIGH
BUDGET
MID
HIGH
BUDGET
BUDGET
MID
HIGH
FIRST ROUND WINNERS
X
X
X
X
X
Legends: @ - Standard price, # - Christmas promotion, ^ - for MaxOnline customers
5 winners topped their respective categories based on the performance/pricing ratio.Starhub is totally out of the consideration.
My comments are:
1)Singtel and M1 has upgraded their plan in terms of download and upload speed to match Starhub.They have also offers 1 more plan to cater customers� needs.We observed that Starhub is totally not interested in this market segment and price itself unreachable to all customers.Perhaps they have surrendered in this uncompetitive field.
2)The previous M1 plan is definitely cheaper at 384 kbps upload speed.By enhancing to 512 kbps, they increase the price from S$19.36 to S$27.10 (40% increase) for the additional insignificant 128 kbps upload speed.We have only ourselves to blame.After we strongly recommend M1 Broadband V2000, M1 must have noticed the considerable boost of subscribers.To maximize shareholders� benefit, they chose profit over market share.M1 no longer seems attractive if we consider Singtel�s 1000 plan offered at a mere S$17.94 montly (with FREE security suite).
3)The next question to ask is whether 30GB monthly is enough for a normal user as we know that the penalty for excess use is heavy since Singtel is the only telco offering LIMITED bandwidth.Here, we see that Singtel is smart to pinpoint what 50GB provides to avoid future arguments.However, they fail to tell those who choose 1000 what 30GB can do.We shall fill in the gap for your comparison based on a realistic 100kB/email, 300KB/web, 5MB/song, 50MB/video.
KB
Email
WAP Pages
Web Pages
Songs
Videos
50,000,000
500,000
1,666,666
166,666
10,0000
1,000
30,000,000
300,000
1,000,000
100,000
6,000
600
1)
2)
3)
Typically, If you have 100 emails, surf web for 30 minutes (10 clicks/min), download 2 songs and watch 10 youtube videos daily, you will clock 15.87GB/mth.This is still way below the quota of 30GB.We can deduce that the bulk of the use depends on video which consume much bandwidth.By limiting watching videos, you can dramatically control your bandwidth below 50GB or even 30GB.Perhaps this chart tells us 30GB plan is good enough for an average Joe.
4)The picture is crystal clear now.The recommendations are suggested for various users based on performance/price ratio.The remaining question is how good the connection is.This is a tough one as it depends on your location.Though everyone claimed the coverage is more than 99%, it is skeptical if there is sufficient coverage for denser population in certain areas.We are also skeptical if there is suffice coverage in less dense area.From earlier post, OCworkbenchremarked the old M1 network is excellent.He has tested on weekend in a crowded area.
5)Last but not least, we realized that calls can be made much cheaper if we can hop on the VOIP wagon.To eliminate latency, it is advisable to clock minimum 1.5Mbps upload and download speed.
6)Useful updated information for your consideration before you make decision.
Telco (Customer care officer)
Voice billing charges
Free gift(s)
Promotions
M1 (Ms Athiah)
Full 1st min following by 6 sec block
Huawei E960 router
Currently 30% discount, down from 50%.
Starhub (Ms Sophie)
Per second billing is an advantage.
None
None
Singtel (Ms Shan)
Full 1st min following by 6 sec block
None
You must catch the weekends Christmas promotion to enjoy the discount.Valid for new voice plan with added value broadband on mobile.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Real cost analysis - There is no free lunch and the 3 telco confuse us with the different bundle smoke screen.In order to determine the BEST plan, we need to dissect and scrutinise the real cost.We shall take the 5 candidates and include Starhub Value plan to distinguish the thorn among the roses.
PICK
Telco
Formula
Starhub
M1
M1
M1
Singtel
Singtel
Plan
Value
Broadband V 2Mbps
Broadband V 4Mbps
Broadband V 7.2Mbps
1000
2000
Target Segment
BUDGET
BUDGET
MID
HIGH
BUDGET
BUDGET
Standard Price (S$)
36.38
38.72
51.36
69.30
22.42
34.85
After discount (S$)
A
36.38
27.10
35.95
48.51
17.94
20.91
Lowest mobile plan
B
20.33
NA
NA
NA
15.00
15.00
Number of minutes
C
80
80
80
80
80
80
Cost per minute (S$)
D
0.1605
0.08
0.08
0.08
0.1605
0.1605
Cost for 80 minutes
E = C * D
12.84
6.40
6.40
6.40
12.84
12.84
1.Total cost without 80min (S$)
F1 = A - E (Starhub/Singtel),
F1 = A (M1)
23.54
27.10
35.95
48.51
5.10
8.07
2.Total cost for 80min (S$)
F2 = A + B (Starhub/Singtel),
F2 = A + E (M1)
56.71
33.50
42.35
54.91
32.94
35.91
3.Total cost for 120min (S$)
F3 = F2 + (40 * D)
63.13
36.70
42.55
58.11
39.36
42.33
4.Total cost for 200min (S$)
F4 = F2 + (120 * D)
75.97
43.10
51.95
64.51
52.20
55.17
On first sight, we notice that Singtel seemingly offers the lowest cost of pure broadband on mobile (great marketing smoke bomb!).However, with the heavy burden of adding a voice plan, M1 stood out to be the winner.Note that at 80min level, M1 plan is superior than Singtel 1000 in terms of upload/download speed despite the cost being marginally higher.Furthermore, since voice is an add-on service, you will pay less if you call out for less than 80 min/mth.On the contrary, you will still pay the least should you exceed the call out to 200 mins.The last thing on your mind is the bandwidth which is unlimited making it the definite choice.
It is amazing how broadband on mobile has come so far to make it possible to own a mobile voice plan and access the net for less than S$50 (200 min talk time and unlimited access).Technology has made it possible.To make the deal sweeter, sell the Huawei router in eBay and earn some pocket money.(Thanks to hdtv�s comment, Huawei router is for renting only and regretfully cannot make the deal any sweeter.Hitherto, M1 V2Mbps is still the BEST value plan.) The challenges ahead are what to do with the knowledge at hand while you are on the road.Perhaps I will suggest some in the next blog.
For more details on telco, please visit the following:
This website is straight forward. Once you enter the web address, it will start to run and generate a report. If the smiley face is smiling, you are in business.
