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SingTel iFlexi Plans for iPhone 3G

This article takes a look at SingTel’s iFlexi plans that are exclusive for iPhone 3G customers. It was leaked online on Tuesday morning, and SingTel put up their official information at the end of Tuesday.

Read the iFlexi price plan chart first otherwise this article will not make sense!

Ok, you’re done reading? Let’s concentrate on the more affordable plans (iFlexi Value & iFlexi Plus), since the rich can afford any expensive plans anyway. :)

Similarities & Differences

The iFlexi plans are similar to standard voice plans in some ways:

• Free incoming
• Same per minute voice call charges
• 500 SMS per month

But they are a little different too:

• 200 and 500 mins bundled outgoing calls (standard plans are 100, 300 and 700)
  • Notice how SingTel slots the free talk time of their iFlexi plans in between their existing plans? This makes it harder for consumers to make a one-on-one comparison.
• Caller ID is included
• iPhones are cheaper
• Data is included for the iPhone’s internet features

Its quite obvious these plans are priced high to cover the cost of the iPhone 3G, while offering little upside in terms of service features.

Data is Important for iPhone

To fully utilize the internet-enabled features of the iPhone while on-the-road, it is crucial that the data plan provides a generous amount of free data.

Streaming a couple of YouTube videos using the app built in the iPhone would gobble up a few hundred MB in less than an hour. If you’re out and about using the GPS feature, streaming maps and satellite images as you travel, there goes your data bundle for the month.

• 300 MB (iFlexi Value, after 5 Sep) - too little
• 1-3 GB - ok for light use, but in dangerous territory when exceeded
• 5-10 GB - just nice for moderate to heavy use, without fear of exceeding monthly limit

The bundled data would be less important if the data overuse charges are reasonable, but as you can see in the table below, they aren’t. If the bundled data is low, and overuse charges are high, it is obvious that the telco is depending on this little “tweak” for more revenue.

The way to prevent yourself from receiving phone bills amounting to hundreds and thousands of dollars due to SingTel’s habit of not capping their data charges (unlike StarHub and M1), is to avoid the costly overuse charges by using a plan with free bundled data that covers your monthly internet usage needs.

Don’t leave yourself with a nagging feeling that you might be charged extra while using the features on your latest shiny gadget. Imagine going back to ADSL/cable broadband that is limited to x GB per month. The feeling sucks!

Therefore, the conclusions are:

1. Bundled data in iFlexi is too low for moderate to heavy usage
2. Exceeding the bundled data & incurring overuse charges is too costly
3. Hence, we need reasonable bundled data in the plans from the outset

Compared to Other Countries

Unfortunately these plans remind us of the Rogers fiasco. Singapore is getting less free data than Canada (from the cheapest to most expensive plans):

• SingTel: 300 MB, 500 MB, 1500 MB
• Rogers (from Engadget): 400 MB, 750 MB, 1000 MB, 2000 MB

Most telcos worldwide provide unlimited data including AT&T in Apple’s home ground.

(Note: Since each country’s economics, competitive landscape and spending power is different, we are only looking at how generous the free bundled data is. If you’re in the ISP business you’ll know that bandwidth is already provisioned and paid for, and pricing is mostly based on how much the telco wants to earn vs. competitors’ pricing vs. how much consumers are willing to pay.)

Compared to Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s Hutchinson provides 500 MB on most plans. Let’s just compare their most expensive plan with the top two plans from SingTel:

Getting Decent Data for iPhone

1. Rather than signing up for the iFlexi plans with bundled data, let’s look at signing up for a traditional/standard SingTel voice plan
2. Standard voice plans don’t have data, so we’ll add SingTel’s Broadband on Mobile (BoM) plan as a value-added service (VAS), tacked on to the voice plan

Choosing an affordable and suitable BoM plan to add to the standard voice plan:

• The “Lite” and “Value” BoM plans are practically useless, since they offer only 2MB and 10MB free
• The new BBOM Plus iPhone-only plan offers only 500 MB which is insufficient for most users
  • 500 MB isn’t very generous compared to the cheapest iFlexi Value plan with 1 GB of data (if signed up before 5 Sep)
• So we’ll skip them altogether and use the 50 GB “1000” BoM plan at $22.42 for iOne and iTwo

This table compares the iPhone plans with SingTel’s standard post-paid plans, iOne & iTwo.

@ Calculated based on the monthly price of $5.35 multiplied by 21 months. SingTel gives 3 months free Caller ID for iOne & iTwo all plans.

^ Data rates based on “1000” BoM plan with 1 year contract at 30% discount + 2nd year at the normal rate of $22.42 per month. The 1 year contract gives customers an additional “$100 off any 3G/3.5G phone” but this is not factored in the table above since we do not know if this discount is applicable to iPhone 3G SingTel has removed this offer on 20 August.

New SingTel subcribers: For other promotions, like the one SingTel is currently having at UOB Centre for LG phones until 22 August, the registration fee ($10.70) and SIM card ($32.10) charge is waived. This is not so for iPhone, so be prepared to add $42.80 to the upfront cost if you are signing up a new line or moving from another telco.

Feature Differences

1. Data Overuse Charges

   • The penalty for exceeding the data limit is around 5 times more for the iFlexi/iPhone plans compared to BoM!
   • Telcos here are playing fast-and-loose with data charges, hoping consumers don’t notice the disparity. Imagine paying $5 for a can of Coke that costs $1 at NTUC because its redder.

2. 3G/HSDPA Data Speed Limit

   • To ensure that the full potential of its Infineon 3G/HSDPA chipset is utilized, the speed shouldn’t be limited
   • But on BoM plans:
     • 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps limited speeds for the $22.42 and $34.85 plans
     • 3.6 Mbps full speed (comparable to iFlexi) at $62.37

Caller ID Costs

All plans only have 3 months of Caller ID free. Free for iFlexi plans, excluded for other SingTel post-paid plans with free incoming calls.

Removing Caller ID from a basic plan gives customers the impression that they are paying less per month, when in fact almost everyone is paying the extra $5.35 per month ($64.20 per year) to enable the basic phonebook and missed calls feature available on every $0 or $1000 phone to function as expected.

Singapore is one of the few countries in the world where telcos conveniently omit caller ID for most of their plans, which is atrocious considering that its a basic feature provided by modern digital telephony systems (GSM/3G/UMTS).

Other Telcos?

In Singapore, StarHub is the only telco with a decent pay-as-you-use mobile data plan that can be attached to a voice plan. (We’re not talking about those plans that come with the USB 3G modems.)

StarHub’s MaxMobile Value plan requires post-paid customers to pay an additional $5.35 per month for 10 MB of free data, which is stingy, but:

• The maximum charges are capped at $36.38 once you exceed 10 MB $30 worth of data (thanks Gary for the correction)
  • Usage is charged at 0.32¢ per KB (cheaper than iFlexi)
• 3G/HSDPA speeds are not artificially limited, compared to the 1 or 2 Mbps limits for SingTel BoM

What To Choose?

It all depends on two key factors:

1. The free talk time you need per month
2. Your expected internet usage

Recommendations:

• Little or no internet usage

  • You can consider the iFlexi plans, but keep watch on the data usage meter in the iPhone (which is inaccurate, according to firesong in the comments)
  • The internet-enabled features on iPhone are irresistibly great, so you’ll find yourself using it more and more. Don’t say we didn’t warn you! :)

• Lots of internet usage

  • The iFlexi plans are a no-go, so consider paying more for the iPhone 3G upfront, sign up for SingTel’s standard plans and add BoM for 50 GB of data per month
  • You’ll lose a little burst speed with the cheaper BoM plans, but 1 Mbps is very decent for a mobile device anyway
  • Or as mentioned above, try to get the phone separately and use StarHub’s MaxMobile Value plan. Many smartphone and iPhone “1G” users are doing it this way.

Or Wait!

Its just a freakin’ telephone!

If you think that this is a raw deal, vote with your money and don’t buy the iPhone until the plans are more favourable (less likely), or when the other telcos sell it, and provide some competition to SingTel.

It is with true competition that we as consumers can get a better deal. In the meantime, let’s vote with our wallets.

Updates:

• 19 Aug, 8pm: Updated with details from SingTel’s official price plans
• 19 Aug, 11pm: Updated with further clarifications
• 20 Aug, 3am: Reorganized the article for better readability
• 20 Aug, 5pm: Added correction (thanks catcat) and comparisons with Hong Kong
• 21 Aug, 12pm: SingTel added fine print to the plans page clarifying that “FREE Value-Added Services” do not apply for 24 months. Tables are recalculated based on the fact that SingTel is not including Caller ID free in the plans (thanks Sophie & etre). Added a note on registration & SIM card charges. Deleted information on $100 discount for BoM.
• 21 Aug, 9pm: Added green highlighting to compare iFlexi Value and iOne + BoM