MONEY SPECIALIST

Hotlink prepaid subscribers can now rejoice! Previously the Apple iPhone 3G is only available for postpaid customers. Now, the official iPhone is now available to Hotlink customers as well.

The price is RM2960 for the 16GB version, while it is RM2540 for 8GB version. The last time I check at Lelong, the price is about the same as the official product. So why spend so much money on the unofficial iPhone with questionable warranty. I would recommend to buy it from Maxis to get official warranty from Apple. Rest assured that the official iPhone is not telco locked. You can freely use any SIM card on the iPhone.

Apple iPhone 3G on Digi line

Besides that, you can get free monthly 500MB worth of data for 12 months if you buy the official iPhone. You can now surf the net freely through 3G connection on the iPhone without restriction to just WiFi. However, data usage over 500MB will be charged 0.5sen/kb, which is quite standard rate.

So Hotlink members, are you ready to embrace the world of iPhone officially?

I have been maintaining my new Hotlink Youth Club line active on a spare phone for few weeks now. So it is about time to share my experience using the service thus far.

As far as I can tell, the service is the same like any other Hotlink plans. The calling rates are definitely much better compared to my normal Hotlink plan. I’m very pleased that the charging rate is at 30 seconds a block. I realised that I made a lot calls lasted less than 20 seconds. I will more likely be spending less money on this plan. The call quality is also good as long as you are within Maxis network coverage. So this plan is really suitable for me!

Then, it got me thinking. Most people subscribe to postpaid plan because they want to enjoy better calling rates. So what if a prepaid is able to match the calling rates of postpaid. Would that convince people to switch back to prepaid?

I tried to make a comparison table by sourcing data from various telco websites on their postpaid plans. I find that postpaid plans with RM50 commitment fee to be suitable for this comparison. Check out the rates of Hotlink Youth Club against other postpaid plans below.

Prepaid and Postpaid Plans Comparison

From the table, you can see that Hotlink Youth Club rates are very competitive. As you may already know, prepaid rates are inclusive of tax, so what you pay is for what you use. For postpaid plans, you will be charged 5% tax in the bill at the end of the month.

If you wonder where your prepaid credit gets spent, you can sign up at Hotlink website to retrieve statement online any time. You can keep track of call details and SMS made from your phone by accessing Hotlink E-statement.

Nowadays, it is easy to top up prepaid card from the comfort of your home. There are so many ways to reload online. My recommendation is to reload through your favourite online banking service or pay by credit card on Hotlink website. There is no extra charge.