Singapore’s BEST 3.5G broadband for mobile phone Plan (Jul 09)

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:

1. We aim to identify the BEST VALUE plan - broadband for mobile phone (not mobile device or notebook).
   
2. 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.
   
3. Typical broadband mobile access speed of 3G and 3.5G phone are limited to 384 kbps and 3 Mbps (max) respectively.
   
4. The minimum download speed is fixed at 2Mbps to optimize the capability of 3.5G mobile phone.
   
5. Plan must support data and voice in the SAME sim card.
   
6. 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:

1. 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.
   
2. SMS uses are not factored into our discussion. My question to you is - Why use SMS when you have MSN?
   
3. M1 V2 plan is a per minute billing and not per second billing.
   
4. 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.

References

• Singtel (voice)
  
• Singtel (mobile bb)
  
• Starhub (voice)
  
• Starhub (mobile bb)
  
• M1 (voice)
  
• M1 (mobile bb)