300Mb quota exceeded

DiGi Smart Plan LITE is the latest mobile internet plan from DiGi telco Malaysia. For a low price of RM28 a month, you will get 300Mb of data. Internet users in Malaysia are getting more cautious since telcos have started using a term called FUP, or Fair Usage Policy. Basically, this is where the telco will tell you that you have been allocated a certain amount of data usage allowance (maybe 300mb, 3gb or 6gb, some truly unlimited usage) and if you exceed that amount, the telcos will start doing weird and sometimes nasty things to your mobile service and bill.

But for Smart Plan lite, the first thing Digi will happily tell you is that if you exceed the quota, you will not be charged an extra sen, unlike some green M telco in Malaysia. But what happens to the speeds and can the internet still be used?  I’ve been to a few DiGi booths and DiGi roadshows, included the latest one in 1 Utama New Wing Oval on the 2nd of January 2011. I asked one of the promoters there about the speed and according to him, the speeds will be throttled to 128 kbps. To make things clear, during the entire conversation, i only asked about the DiGi Smart Plan lite and not other plans, so the DiGi person was not confused.

128 kbps speeds after exceeded the quota maybe true for other plans such as the Broadband Discover Plan which i used previously personally but that’s not true for DiGi Smart Plan lite. DiGi has been lying to their customers because the true speed of DiGi Smart Plan lite after the quota is finished is actually only less than 10 kbps!!

I understand that if i wanted a needed quota, i should have gotten the more expensive Smart Plan, but since i was using Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds most of the time, 128kpbs would be acceptable for me after 300mb is all used up. Besides, 3Gb would be way too much. It’s only middle of the month and i’ve only used 300mb. I would be just paying blindly for more which i will never use in the end. However at these speeds, it’s better just to turn off internet entirely instead of waiting for pages to load. Final word of warning, depending on your usage, 300Mb is really very tight. You might even need to think twice if you wanna use data intensive functions such as Google Maps.

Huawei Ideos S7 on Maxis

While DiGi is in their Xmas mood, Maxis has gone ahead and released their second tablet, after the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The other Telcos aren’t even worth mentioning at this point. This tablet is by Huawei, called the Ideos S7.

Maxis has several packages to offer:

1. Huawei Ideos S7 retail = RM1599
2. Huawei Ideos S7 + 1 year contract = RM999 for device (save RM600) – In my opinion, if you need a tablet, The Huawei Ideos S7 on a one year contract is not a bad deal because it’s cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Tab and with comparable specs as well.
3. Huawei Ideos S7 + 2 year contract = RM899 for device (save RM700) – I highly discourage signing for two years just to get another RM100 off.
4. Huawei Ideos S7 + Ideos U8150 smartphone + 1 year contract x 2 = RM1599 for devices (save RM899) – If you need a smartphone as well, just pay RM1599 for both devices. In this case, my idea would be to put your contract voice+data Maxis SIM into the smartphone and use the tablet on the contract data sim, or WiFi.

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Your contract will include a voice plan and a data plan, but don’t be surprised, although this is a tablet, it is still capable of handling voice calls. Full tablet specs below:

Windows Phone runs on HTC HD2

The newest and latest Windows Phone OS runs on the HTC HD2 as seen advertised here by HTC Malaysia on our RapidKL LRT trains. Also seen on the HTC ‘decorated’ LRT coach is a mention of the HTC HD mini (below the window on the upper left corner of the picture) and also the HTC Touch 2 (partial picture on the right).  Do both the phones comes with the new Windows Phone software as well?

Unfortunately, the answer is actually NO. Windows Phone OS DOES NOT run on the HTC HD2, HD mini and Touch 2. This is obviously a misleading ad by HTC. You don’t see computer manufacturers advertise a Pentium 3 computer beside a Windows Vista logo, do you? These three older phones (around 1 year old, give and take) actually run the older (and obsolete) Windows Mobile 6.5. I assure you that not once does Windows Mobile 6.5 logo appear on the same train.

Currently, the latest phones with Windows Phone (7) which are available on the market are the:

• HTC HD7 on Maxis[source]

• HTC 7 Mozart on DiGi[source]

• LG Optimus 7 on Celcom[source]

So, don’t be mislead by anything you see advertised by mobile phone brands (and also telcos) nowdays. Phones are gaining momentum and are gaining popularity as mobile computers that they’ll tell you anything to make a sale.

Wimax is now also officially 4G, Yes4G no longer big fat liars.

The ITU (International Telecommunication Union) is an agency of the United Nations which regulates information and communication technology issues. Just like WHO is for Health, ITU is for telecommunications.

Previously, the ITU defined that the term 4G is only applicable for two standards, namely Wimax2 and LTE-Advanced ONLY. That meant any other technology faster than 3G but not using Wimax2 and LTE-Advanced are not officially 4G.

In Malaysia, our country, that would mean our Wimax providers, P1 and Yes are not actually providing 4G services, but are still adamant as promoting their services as 4G. Yes4G which launched its Wimax services lately, immediately labelled itself as 4G out of the box claiming speeds up to 5 times of 3G. In a countermeasure, our first Wimax provider, P1 Wimax also renamed itself to P1 4G. From this point onwards, issues about deceitful marketing arose.

However, recently the ITU has revised its terminology, now stating that:

..it is recognized that this term (4G), while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed.

This means now that any wireless service which provides speeds faster than 3G is now considered 4G. Yes4G (and also P1 4G) must be relieved that they have been accepted into the family and no longer claimed as big fat liars.

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Christmas with DiGi

Christmas is not in another 1 week plus or so but santa has already dropped by to visit DiGi. That’s because finally DiGi is getting the Samsung Galaxy S. Maxis sold the ‘great’ Samsung Galaxy S since the phone was released in June. To join the fun, the Samsung Galaxy S will be sold on DiGi on contract with a ‘younger sibling’, namely the Samsung Galaxy 3. Both phones are available from DiGi without contract, or you can sign with DiGi Smart Plan contract (RM63/month for 3GB of data only, calls and SMS are additional) for 1 or 2 year contracts and get discounts on the phone. Check the pics below for prices on DiGi. So, if you’re on DiGi, would you get the Samsung Galaxy S, or the slightly cheaper (by RM100) 4.3″ HTC Desire HD?

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Good to DiGi for finally building up some smartphones to sell with the phone plans.