Don't expect a price war with DiGi iPhone

There has been lots of talk that DiGi's entry into the iPhone market will start a price war with Maxis.

I personally think this may be wrong. My 1st reason is because Apple wouldn't allow that to happen. As we all know, Apple doesn't compete on price rather than they compete on quality and experience. The same thing will happen with the iPhone, the pricing shouldn't have much different from what Maxis has to offer.

My second reason is- DiGi wouldn't want heavy users on their network. In the US, mobile operator AT&T is already suffering with heavy traffic on their network, thanks to the iPhone. It is proven that iPhone users consume a lot more data on the phone versus any other mobile operating system out there. I am sure, DiGi's data pricing for the iPhone will have a lot of limitation(one example: limited to 3GB usage) although it may be cheaper than Maxis.

The only benefit if you use iPhone on the DiGi network is this-> Experience

DiGi may not have mobile coverage as good as Maxis, but it has a more stable network and their customer support is much better. iPhone users on the DiGi network is guaranteed to have faster loading speed when they use the web browser or while they download an app. This is because DiGi has less data users if compared to Maxis.

As for DiGi, I am sure they are more than happy to welcome iPhone customers who are disappointed with the Maxis service. Afterall, Maxis has probably invested millions to educate Malaysians on the iPhone and now DiGi is going to benefit from it.

Related:

• DiGi entry in mid-year may spark iPhone price war

DiGi has launched the Blackberry Bold 2

The Blackberry Bold 9700(Bold 2) has been launched by DiGi in its roadshow at Mid Valley Megamall today.

DiGi is selling the Bold 2 at RM1,999 without contract(cheaper than Maxis) however the promotion price is set at RM1,299 with a 24-months contract, only available at the roadshow. The older Curve 8520 is now cheaper at RM549 with a 24-months contract.

The roadshow will end on 7th March 2010.

Video: DiGi CEO revelead iPhone on Bloomberg

This is where DiGi CEO Johan Denellind 1st talked about the Apple iPhone:

DiGi to offer iPhone 3G & iPhone 3GS

In a short media statement to the press, DiGi said that it has reached an agreement with Apple to bring iPhone to Malaysia in the coming months.

DiGi has setup a webpage at http://www.digi.com.my/iphone/. According to the FAQ, DiGi said the iPhone will launched by the the 1st half of 2010, which is by April 2010 (Correction: By the end of June 2010).

Pre-booking should be available soon on the DiGi website.

DIGi to offer Blackbbery Bold 2

I am kind of surprise that DiGi will be offering the Blackbbery Bold 9700(Bold 2) this March as I expected DiGi to only offer it after April 2010(according to some sources).

Hopefully DiGi will price it cheaper than the other telcos if it wants to have a bigger pie of the local Blackberry market.

Pricing to be announced- 1st week of March 2010

Friends & Family numbers at 5 sen/min

Make voice and video calls to your Friends and Family numbers at 5 sen/min during "Happy Hour", 4pm - 6pm, Monday-Sunday. Details here.

Also free 1500 DiGi-To-DiGi SMS if you sign up or switch to DG50 postpaid plan between 9 Feb - 31 Mar 2010.

DiGi Limited Edition Prepaid Internet

Just as I reported, DiGi has launched the Limited Edition Prepaid Internet starter pack.

Similar to the Celcom Broadband Prepaid, no registration is required.

More info here.

DiGi 3G now in Ipoh and Kuching

DiGi's 3G service is now available in Ipoh, Perak and Kuching, Sarawak. The 3G coverage will be expanded to other towns such as Taiping, Kamunting, Kampar and Miri by the second half of 2010. It will invest RM100 million to support its expansion in both states over the next three years.

DiGi currently has more than 500,000 cumulative 3G mobile internet customers, out of which around 10% are mobile broadband customers.

The company claims to cover 30%(3G coverage) of human populated areas in Malaysia.

300 SMS at RM3 with DiGi Prepaid

-Offer ends 28 February 2010
-SMS only allowed to another number within the DiGi network
-Dial *118# to subscribe, more info here

Reader's Letter: SMS Scam

Email me your opinion and it might be published here!

Letter from Wong:

I just found out that I've been charged RM3 daily for the past three months for a mobile "quiz" service by 36181. I checked with my telco (DiGi) and I was told that I sent 'on iq' to 36181 which I didn't. That means I've lost around RM300 for a service I didn't subscribe to.

After checking the issue online (the link provided above) I found out that I might only be one of plenty of mobile phone users who are affected by this. It doesn't take a genius to realise that this is clearly a scam. One example of the message I received (today, in fact) is: "IQ: Onions help reduce cholesterol if eaten after a fatty meal."
And users get charged RM3 for a message like that. This is completely ridiculous. It's not a song/picture/video or a piece of news. It just doesn't make sense that anybody would pay RM3 for something like that, they're clearly exploiting mobile phone users, hoping that they didn't notice their phone bills.

After contacting DiGi, I found out they are very reluctant to take any action about the service provider and I can't help but wonder if this has something to do with the fact that the telco company earns a percentage from the service provider's charge as well. I've contacted MCMC and is waiting for their reply.

I know this might have little to do with your blog, but I'm sure I'm only one of plenty of other mobile phone users affected by this. I get a feeling that the telcos aren't doing much about this problem because they're making loads of money from scams like this as well. Seems to me like DiGi's anti-spam system is rather poor as well. Hope you'll look into this matter in your blog and at least post something to get people informed of this scam.

Thanks in advance.

DiGi Prepaid Internet Data Only Sim

As I mentioned before, DiGi is launching the Prepaid Broadband pack soon.

Some details:

• the Prepaid Broadband pack will cost RM25 with 5days validity
  
• Download speed- 384Kbps
• Upload speed- 128Kbps

I cannot confirm on the data limit but it should be either 1GB or 3GB.

Charges are RM10(5days), RM30(15days), RM50(25 days), RM100(50days).

No 3G from DiGi, unless you request for it

That's right folks, DiGi is not gonna give you 3G unless you call in and make the request to activate it.

I am not sure if your DiGi data plans requires 3G activations, but prepaid and some postpaid users have to call in to activate 3G.

On top of that, its a sad case that DiGi seems to be limiting the data speed on the phone. As far as I have tested in 3 different areas using a prepaid sim(Hsdpa modem), I am only getting the maximum 3G speed at 384Kbps even in HSDPA mode. DiGi's so called HSPA network can offer speeds up to 7.2Mbps!

On top of that, the DiGi customer service team are not even sure what speeds can 3G users enjoy on the phone. Some says 384Kbps and most of them says 700Kbps. I have records of such conversation(one with a team leader) and I am thinking of referring this to MCMC. I don't think DiGi has the right to limit user's speed on the phone without the options for a faster speed.

DiGi, make things clear and fix your problem please.

P.s: I never blog about this in hope that DiGi would have DONE IT RIGHT. DiGi used to be a company that understand customers, but things has changed now.

Reader's Letter: Confusing DiGi Postpaid Plans

Email me your opinion and it might be published here!

Letter from Allan Wong:

Note: Letter has been edited

July 2008, DiGi make a big surprise to Malaysia mobile subscriber by launching 4 new DiGi postpaid packages. DG20, DG50, DG150 and DG250. Later on May 2009, they discontinued the DG20 but replaced it with the DG30 plan.

But recently, DiGi also discontinued the DG250 plan without any announcement.

Just today, I received news from a DiGi CS saying that, effective from January 31, 2010, DG150 plan also will be revised.

What is the major different between the old DG150 compared to the new DG150?

The old DG150 subscribers can enjoy "unlimited" free Digi-to-Digi call and sms after hitting RM150 usage within the month.

The new DG150 subscribers can also enjoy free DiGi-to-DiGi call and sms, but capped at RM300 which is not "unlimited" like the old plan. For example, once your current month unbill amount has touched RM150, you can start enjoying the free DiGi-to-DiGi calls/sms but limited up to RM300. After you hit the RM300 free call/sms, DiGi will start charging RM0.10/sms or RM0.10/minute.

It is confusing right?

What is going on in DiGi? Their postpaid plan sounded cheap, but it is so confusing and the free call/sms after RM150 is not transparent. We may not know which number is discounted or which number is not.

DiGi, are you still "The Smarter Choice"???

Mobile Network Status during Christmas Eve

It was the night before Christmas and you probably had problems to make a call, send an SMS or connect via mobile broadband.

There was problem with the Maxis and Celcom network, although I don't expect the Celcom network to go down till the 5th day of Christmas(Celcom has the best prepaid charging system). Surprisingly there were no reports on DiGi.

It is common that the telcos would have a standby team to handle unexpected high traffic during festive seasons. If you faced problem with your telco yesterday, in most cases it means that the network(base station) at your area was congested, or the whole network can't handle million of customers at one time.

Here's a short compilation of tweets from mobile users who were frustrated with their mobile operators between yesterday night till early this morning:

Maxis:
A number of reports on slow broadband speed or can't connect.

http://twitter.com/zaf4124/statuses/7020181246
http://twitter.com/EDyew/statuses/7024171755
http://twitter.com/myloismylife/statuses/7024234972
http://twitter.com/blee008/statuses/7026760038
http://twitter.com/imjunie/statuses/7026911360
http://twitter.com/HayatiRamli/statuses/7027667736
http://twitter.com/sapiensbryan/statuses/7029138912
http://twitter.com/AminAshaari/statuses/7002515417

Celcom:
There were reports that Celcom Broadband was slower than dial up speed(dial up speed is about 56Kbps), and a number of users can't connect. However the service recovered during noon.

http://twitter.com/Danialhamzah/statuses/6998771839
http://twitter.com/luthtextile/statuses/6999812721
http://twitter.com/nyssnisacha/statuses/7001235092
http://twitter.com/derrickveejay/statuses/7002392549
http://twitter.com/AminAshaari/statuses/7002515417

DiGi:
I tested DiGi EDGE, voice and SMS during midnight and all of it was working fine. If you did face problem with DiGi, then it was not a nationwide problem but more to a specific location.

http://twitter.com/ayiE5811/statuses/7022007400
http://twitter.com/jennihsurf/statuses/7018938945


The compilation above is just to show you the on-going network problems yesterday. There could more users out there who had problems but did not tweet about it or most probably they are not on Twitter.

A simple guide to choosing a Mobile Broadband service

Are you not decided on which mobile broadband service to choose? Here's a simple guide for you.
Before you read below, please check out my blog post on "Mobile Broadband is not for Everyone".

Coverage
If you are getting a mobile broadband service for use while traveling, choose between Maxis Broadband and Celcom Broadband. Celcom may have more 3G/2G coverage areas compared to Maxis in Malaysia but Maxis could offer faster speed than Celcom considering that Celcom Broadband has about 3 times more broadband subscribers than Maxis.

Conclusion: Go for Celcom Broadband when it comes to coverage.

Speed
Speed really depends on current network traffic and overall network subscribers. As Celcom has the highest number of mobile broadband subscribers(about 500k), I personally do not recommend Celcom Broadband if you are looking for speed.

You may choose between Maxis Broadband, P1 WiMAX, DiGi Broadband and U Broadband after you consider the options below based on your requirements:

Maxis Broadband- More than 100k broadband subscribers(may not get high speed all the time and in all areas), but it offers the best coverage among the 4 above.

P1 WiMAX- About 100K subscribers and speed is very much dependent on location and signal strength. Coverage is not there yet for mobile broadband but expanding aggressively.

U Broadband- Network is not congested and may offer you speed about 1Mbps at most of the time, but lack of good 3G coverage.

DiGi Broadband- Could offer high speed broadband at the moment but lack of good 3G coverage for mobile broadband.

Conclusion: It is a hard decision to make but if you are looking between standard coverage and speed than Maxis Broadband is recommended.

Price
From a price perspective, all of them (mobile broadband providers) have very attractive packages, as low as RM40. Some packages comes with USB modem as well. Refer their websites:

• Maxis Broadband
• Celcom Broadband
• U Broadband
• DiGi Broadband
• P1 WiMAX

Conclusion: Refer to the ISP websites


Note that experience on a mobile broadband service may vary depending on location and current traffic load that the network is handling. You may want to pick a package that offers a trial period before subscribing.

DiGi Unlimited Prepaid Data

DiGi could be launching a data only prepaid starter pack, similar to the one that Celcom has.

I hope this won't be a huge mistake as this could also mean more data traffic for DiGi to handle. At this point, DiGi's 3G network handles much lesser traffic than Maxis3G and Celcom3G.

This new prepaid pack could be launched within the next one month.

U Mobile to roam on DiGi EDGE Network

A domestic roaming agreement signed by U Mobile will allow its subscriber to roam on DiGi's EDGE network.

The deal will last for 3 years but the most interesting part of the agreement is this, U Mobile can't say when it can start roaming on DiGi's EDGE network. The reason? U Mobile's agreement with DiGi is exclusive but it has an existing domestic roaming agreement with Celcom.

I don't understand why this agreement is being announced when U Mobile can't say when the agreement will take effect. And secondly, this supports what I have been saying all these while that the Celcom network is overloaded. At this point, there are at least four MVNOs on the Celcom 2G network with Tune Talk to launch GPRS on a network that already has crawling Internet speed.

It is not clear how long U Mobile subscribers will be enjoying "crystal clear calls" on the Celcom's network and when will they benefit from the latest agreement with DiGi.

The domestic roaming agreement with DiGi includes GPRS and EDGE. I hope DiGi has prepared its EDGE network for an additional 100-200k subscribers from U Mobile.

The official story here.

DG Smart Plan for Blackberry (UPDATE 1)

Update1: Since this post went online this morning, DiGi has updated the page. The link below will no longer work. Now it is more easy to understand their offering with the new page here.

I find the details a little confusing on the DiGi website. However here's some of it:

• Purchase the BB Curve at RM1,199
• DG Smart Plan for Blackberry at RM58 per month including unlimited data, 15sen/min, 10sen/SMS
  
• Blackbbery Lite postpaid add on at RM38/month- BIS+ 10MB free data

Complicated details here on the DiGi website.

DiGi 3G in KL

DiGi has activated 3G services on mobile phone for customers in the Klang Valley. Now you can use video call and 3G Internet on your DiGi line.

It is not 100% covered in KL but you can check for 3G coverage area here.

The official announcement is taking place at One Utama today, there could be a DiGi roadshow with special offerings.

DiGi Prepaid's New Charging Block

For those who has been asking about the new prepaid charging block, here's the official announcement.

Effective 1st November 2009, DiGi Prepaid customers on selected plans (i.e. DiGi Family, DiGi Prepaid, Super FnF, Super Talk, Super SMS and Powerpack,) will be charged per 60 seconds for all domestic calls.

Effective 5th November 2009, customers on the new DiGi Prepaid plan will enjoy 12 sen/min to all domestic calls and 1 sen/ SMS to all DiGi numbers when they hit RM1 on their DiGi Prepaid any day. Domestic calls will be charged per 30 seconds, after which customers who hit RM1, will be charged per 60 seconds. Terms and conditions apply.