Last week, M1 announced it was rolling out a (fantastic) no-frills-$30-data plan in Singapore. Even without looking at the exact figures, we could sense that this represents a massive coup for Singaporeans in our quest for a better and cheaper mobile data plan.
For a long time, Singaporeans have been constantly exploited to overpay for mobile phone data plans while simultaneously getting convinced by advertisements that we somehow need to upgrade our handsets every 2 years. This is despite the fact that our current smartphones might be in perfect working condition, and that they have more computing power than the computers used by NASA in the Apollo missions during the 1960s.
Of course, there was no real way to prove that we were “overpaying” for our data plans. At least, none until M1 announced their new SIM-only plans last week.
The Main Differences
The lowest tier of M1 new mySIM Plan is easy to understand. Here is a comparison of the new $30 plan compared to similar existing plans.
| MySIM 30 (New) | Data Bundle Regular | Data Bundle Regular + | |
| Monthly Subscription | $30 | $61 | $81 |
| Talk Time (Mins) | 300 | 300 | 400 |
| SMS | 1000 | 1200 | 1500 |
| Data | 5GB | 4GB | 5GB |
| Additional Amount You Pay Over 2 years | – | $744 | $1224 |
To break it down, MySIM 30 actually gives 1GB more data per month than the Regular plan while saving consumers $744 over a 2 years period. For the Regular + plan, the data provided from both plans are equal at 5GB. Though you get 100 minutes more talk time per month, you have to pay an extra $1224 over the 2 years period.
What Should You Go For?
Let’s use an example of a 64GB iPhone 6 for comparison purpose. It retails on Apple store at $1,148.
Wait a minute! Did we get our numbers right? An iPhone selling at $1,148 (inclusive of free delivery and GST) in the Apple store is already less than the amount ($1,224) you will save, if you were to go for the MySIM 30 rather than the Regular + plan. In addition, you have to pay another $290 just to buy the phone for the Regular + plan.
If you were to go for the regular plan, you would need to cough up $470 for the phone and another $744 for the 2-year plan compared to MySIM. That adds up to $1,214. Again, you could easily have bought the iPhone ($1,148) separately, saving $66 at the same time. Don’t forget, you only get 4GB for the regular plan as well.
| MySIM 30 | Data Bundle Regular | Data Bundle Regular + | |
| Total Subscription Cost Over 2 Years | $720 | $1,464 | $1944 |
| + iPhone 6 (64GB) | $1,148(Apple Retail Price) | $470 | $290 |
| Total | $1,868 | $1,934 | $2,234 |
Improve Your Finances Today
Just to be clear, we are not believers of the whole change-your-phone-every-2-year cycle. Most of our phones have more than enough computing power to do what we need; be it, playing games, reading emails or staying connected through social networks.
We are not sure about you, but we think this new plan rolled out by M1 is a great deal for Singaporeans. It helps us save money and stops us from spending more money to change phones every 2 years. And even if you are inclined to having the latest phone, it will be cheaper to buy the phone outright taking the MySIM plan rather than taking up conventional phone plans.
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