Tech

10 Interesting Facts About M1’s Unlimited Data Plan That You Should Know

2017-09-09 , 2:20 pm

Unlimited mobile data.

That’s like the phrase that would make any sane millennial jump in elation, even more than straight A’s in his or her examinations.

Because not only would they not be receiving this anymore…

…but they can finally watch Netflix while in the bus.

Or could they really?

Now, before you sign on the dotted line, you really need to know about these facts, because while it says “unlimited”, it might not be that unlimited at all.

What is it

First, the basics.

The name of the plan is called mySIM3 98, which costs $98 a month. If you sign up without a contract, you will only be entitled to just 25 GB of data; signing up with a 12-month contract will entitle you to unlimited data.

For that plan, you’ll also get 100 minutes of talk-time and 100 SMS/MMS. But seriously, who cares about that?

Here’s the interesting thing: unlike plans in other telcos that require a 2-year contract, the plan is only a 12-month contract. Here’s when it gets tricky.

You can’t buy a phone with this plan

It’s common for us to select a plan and a phone with it, but this isn’t just a regular plan: it does not come with handset offers, so when you sign up for this plan, you won’t get a phone at a low price.

Considering that it’s a $98-per-month plan, it’s quite a waste, since other telcos would have given you a high-end phone for that kind of amount you pay monthly.

Then again, remember: it’s a 12-month contract, so while you lose some, you gain some, too.

You can’t “upgrade” your current plan to this plan unless it has expired

If you have a current two-year contract with M1 and would like to “upgrade” your plan to this unlimited one, you can’t do it.

So it’s only good for people whose contract are ending soon or have ended. Such a bummer, isn’t it?

Is this plan better than their other plans?

It really depends on your lifestyle. But if you’re reading this, we presume you’re one who loves the Internet so much that you practically live in it, so it probably will be better.

Their most expensive data-bundled plan is at $228 a month with 13 GB mobile data, unlimited talk-time and 5,000 SMS / MMS.

So unless all your friends live in 2006 when 1,000 SMSes are considered low, you’ll be better off with the unlimited plan.

Why M1 started this unlimited price war?

The official reason is to cater to consumers’ “growing data needs, for social networking and video and music streaming services on the move”.

I’ll add the unofficial reason here: someone has to start the ball rolling, right?

Would speed be compromised?

Despite what you would think, there is a possibility of network being congested if there are too many data flowing around. At least that’s what the telcos have been saying.

M1 has invested in their network to ensure that they “can handle any increase in network traffic.”

Here’s something even more interesting: Circle.Life isn’t officially the fourth telco because they are a mobile virtual network operator, which means they lease hardware and infrastructure from the main telcos to operate.

And guess who they rented from? Yeah, M1. Pretty sure they’ve got big-ass servers to lease hardware to Circle.Life and still provide unlimited data.

A Service called Data Passport Means You Can Use The Data Even Overseas

For $10 a month, you can use your data in another country as well. Top up more and you can use your data in so many countries, days of buying and topping up SIM Cards from other countries might just be part of history.

Here, take a look here and you’ll be convinced.

However, do note that it’s not unlimited in other countries even if your plan is unlimited in Singapore: it’s up to 30 GB per month.

Still good enough, isn’t it?

So, what’s the speed?

Unlimited doesn’t mean 3G, yo.

According to its website, the theoretical download speed is 300Mbps but the typical download speed is 40.1 – 102.6Mbps.

Still good. And I love how honest they are to use the word “theoretical” (because theoretically, I can be a millionaire within six months, too).

The plan will auto-renew by itself

We all always remember that our contract is ending because that means we could buy a new phone at a discounted rate.

However, due to this nature of this plan, it will auto-renew unless you do something about it.

While they would send an email and SMS, you would have to opt out manually. So don’t presume that the contract will expire by itself and find yourself attached to yet another 12-month contract!

Fair Use Policy: It’s not completely unlimited

StarHub’s weekend unlimited mobile data plan has a clause that clearly defines how they would prevent abuse: on a single day, the maximum usage is 10 GB, and once that is reached, the speed will drop to 1Mbps until the next day.

It’s common to have a fair use policy to ensure that it’s not abused.

For M1, it’s slightly more ambiguous: they have what they termed the “Traffic Management Policy”, but they did not mention about any cap. Instead, if the cap is exceeded or they found someone abusing the system, the speed will drop to 512 Kbps.

Well. Guess it’s the same everywhere.

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com