Battle of the mobile prepaid providers
In Malaysia there are three mobile prepaid providers.
When I got my first prepaid pack, I for one was rather confused when trying to one of the providers here. Competition has sprouted a whole new range of promotions and plans that is while great for us consumers but can be rather confusing.
Call Plans
Lets take a look at the providers sms and call rates. Both DiGi and Hotlink require you to spend over RM30 before you get the better cheaper rate. An exception is DiGi's Chat Plus that has a flat rate no matter how much you spend. Xpax charges you differently when you call people in different states. Personally, when I make a call, I hate to calculate how much this call is gonna cost me. Better a flat rate, less hassle.
DiGi's Fu Yoh plan has the cheapest sms among all the providers, but you have to pay a subscription of RM3 per month. Hotlink give a cheaper rate when you sms maxis customers. Xpax is the most expensive, costing 20c to sms other providers and 10c when you sms celcom customers, they do have an off-peak rate of 1c per sms if you send your message between 12am to 5:59pm.
Data Packages
At the time of writing DiGi does not have a working 3G network yet, they do however hav EDGE, which has speeds in between 3G and GPRS.
It is unfortunate that Hotlink does not have any unlimited data plan. I can use data quite heavily sometimes, especially if I'm on the road and I need to check or download some stuff.
International calls
All three providers have "budget" international calls. With Hotlink and Xpax, you have to dial a prefix 132 and 131 respectively in order to get the cheaper rates. Whereas with DiGi you can directly dial the number. For example:
To call Singapore: The number stored in my phone is +6591234567. With DiGi, I can directly dial this number, but with Hotlink and Xpax I have to edit the number before I dial:
Hotlink: 1320091234567
Xpax: 1310091234567
This to some people can be quite a pain if they use this service a lot. Personally I make a lot of international calls especially within the asia pacific region. I picked a few countries that people would normally call for comparison.
Overall, DiGi looks like the cheaper provider to use to make international calls. It is also easier to make calls with DiGi as they do not need any special prefix in order to get the above rates.
Bonuses/Rewards
I really love the birthday bonus given by DiGi. When my birthday comes up I always topup to the max. 50% extra credit can easily amount to RM150. I would top up more if they allowed. The reload bonus allows you to earn extra credit over 4 months. When compared with Xpax, the rebate you get is slightly higher but you have to wait.
Hotlink works on a point reward structure. You can swap 100points for RM1 credit or 50 SMS.
One thing I really love about Hotlink is that they give you points when people call you. Yes, thats right, if your using your mobile mainly to receive calls, hotlink is really great for you, as you can pretty easily earn points without spending much.
Xpax reward system is similar to DiGi and vice versa. It has a birthday bonus that allows you to call your 8pax for free for 7 days. If you don't have many Xpax users, this is pretty much useless to you. The reload bonus is like a lottery, you have a chance to win some extra credit whenever you reload. Also, every month you will be rewarded if your monthly usage exceeds a certain amount.
Technical Support
DiGi - Free calls to technical support line
Hotlink - Sorry no free calls :(
XPax - Free calls to technical support line
Conclusion
There is no overall winner here. It all depends on your call patterns.
Personally I have chosen Digi as they offer the cheapest international rates. Hotlink has a great point system which I really love, but their international rates are slightly more expensive and they do not have an unlimited daily data plan. Xpax has nothing really to compete except their mobile coverage is probably the best (well in sabah anyway).
In summary, if I were going to get a prepaid card, I'd see what provider the people that I frequently call are on and factor in the following:
Do I need to make a lot of international calls? DiGi
Do I need to use data frequently from time to time? DiGi & Xpax
Will I have a mobile mainly to receive calls? Hotlink
Hope this helps in your selection or change of your prepaid provider :) I know during the course of writing this, I was tempted to switch over to Hotlink :p
I did forget to write about one more prepaid provider called Happy. Let's leave that for another time :)
Note: Author is biased to using DiGi as he himself is a DiGi user
 |  |  |
| DiGi Prepaid | Maxis HotLink | Celcom Xpax |
When I got my first prepaid pack, I for one was rather confused when trying to one of the providers here. Competition has sprouted a whole new range of promotions and plans that is while great for us consumers but can be rather confusing.
Call Plans
Lets take a look at the providers sms and call rates. Both DiGi and Hotlink require you to spend over RM30 before you get the better cheaper rate. An exception is DiGi's Chat Plus that has a flat rate no matter how much you spend. Xpax charges you differently when you call people in different states. Personally, when I make a call, I hate to calculate how much this call is gonna cost me. Better a flat rate, less hassle.
DiGi's Fu Yoh plan has the cheapest sms among all the providers, but you have to pay a subscription of RM3 per month. Hotlink give a cheaper rate when you sms maxis customers. Xpax is the most expensive, costing 20c to sms other providers and 10c when you sms celcom customers, they do have an off-peak rate of 1c per sms if you send your message between 12am to 5:59pm.
Data Packages
At the time of writing DiGi does not have a working 3G network yet, they do however hav EDGE, which has speeds in between 3G and GPRS.
It is unfortunate that Hotlink does not have any unlimited data plan. I can use data quite heavily sometimes, especially if I'm on the road and I need to check or download some stuff.
International calls
All three providers have "budget" international calls. With Hotlink and Xpax, you have to dial a prefix 132 and 131 respectively in order to get the cheaper rates. Whereas with DiGi you can directly dial the number. For example:
To call Singapore: The number stored in my phone is +6591234567. With DiGi, I can directly dial this number, but with Hotlink and Xpax I have to edit the number before I dial:
Hotlink: 1320091234567
Xpax: 1310091234567
This to some people can be quite a pain if they use this service a lot. Personally I make a lot of international calls especially within the asia pacific region. I picked a few countries that people would normally call for comparison.
Overall, DiGi looks like the cheaper provider to use to make international calls. It is also easier to make calls with DiGi as they do not need any special prefix in order to get the above rates.
Bonuses/Rewards
I really love the birthday bonus given by DiGi. When my birthday comes up I always topup to the max. 50% extra credit can easily amount to RM150. I would top up more if they allowed. The reload bonus allows you to earn extra credit over 4 months. When compared with Xpax, the rebate you get is slightly higher but you have to wait.
Hotlink works on a point reward structure. You can swap 100points for RM1 credit or 50 SMS.
One thing I really love about Hotlink is that they give you points when people call you. Yes, thats right, if your using your mobile mainly to receive calls, hotlink is really great for you, as you can pretty easily earn points without spending much.
Xpax reward system is similar to DiGi and vice versa. It has a birthday bonus that allows you to call your 8pax for free for 7 days. If you don't have many Xpax users, this is pretty much useless to you. The reload bonus is like a lottery, you have a chance to win some extra credit whenever you reload. Also, every month you will be rewarded if your monthly usage exceeds a certain amount.
Technical Support
DiGi - Free calls to technical support line
Hotlink - Sorry no free calls :(
XPax - Free calls to technical support line
Conclusion
There is no overall winner here. It all depends on your call patterns.
Personally I have chosen Digi as they offer the cheapest international rates. Hotlink has a great point system which I really love, but their international rates are slightly more expensive and they do not have an unlimited daily data plan. Xpax has nothing really to compete except their mobile coverage is probably the best (well in sabah anyway).
In summary, if I were going to get a prepaid card, I'd see what provider the people that I frequently call are on and factor in the following:
Do I need to make a lot of international calls? DiGi
Do I need to use data frequently from time to time? DiGi & Xpax
Will I have a mobile mainly to receive calls? Hotlink
Hope this helps in your selection or change of your prepaid provider :) I know during the course of writing this, I was tempted to switch over to Hotlink :p
I did forget to write about one more prepaid provider called Happy. Let's leave that for another time :)
Note: Author is biased to using DiGi as he himself is a DiGi user
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