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Which Singapore Telco Plan Is Best For You: Data vs Price (SIM-Only Comparison)

Ming Feng

28th March 2018

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TL;DR: You Should Definitely Switch To SIM ONLY Telco Plan

Editor’s Note: Updated 28 March 2018. Not kidding! We are stalking the telcos.
It may be convenient to extend our telco plan every time it becomes available for a re-contract, but this simple hack can help save you money and gives you the freedom of choice for the next 2 years.
Most Singaporeans might be on a wrong mobile plan costing them hundreds every year. We found this out when we were debating on our Personal Finance facebook group where everyday Singaporeans just like us, shared one of their biggest fixed expense each month – Mobile phone bills.

The Best No-Contract SIM ONLY Plans: 

• For 3GB: Singtel – Their plan is the most value for money at only $20 per month. (Note: No talk time)
• For >5GB: Circles.Life – Their 6GB plan wins at $28 per month with 100 minutes call time.
• For 9GB: Zero Mobile – If you embark on their contract before 28 February 2018, you will receive 9GB total  worth of data for $40 per month
• For 15GB: StarHub – Their DataJump add-on gives their SIM Only plans a huge edge in this field at 9GB for only $44 per month, and 15GB at $54 monthly.
• For >25GB: Circles.Life – Still a market disruptor at 26GB with full speed at $48 per month with add-ons which are crazily cheap for heavy mobile data users.
• For Unlimited data:
  Zero Mobile – Full speed unlimited data and unlimited talktime at $65 per month
  Zero 1 – Unlimited data at $29.99, but maximum speed capped at first 3GB

Read Reviews On Telco Mobile Plans

The Best 12 Month Contract SIM ONLY Plans:

• For 5GB and 30GB: Singtel – For 5GB, they edge slightly ahead with a $20 per month plan with 150 mins talk time, 50 mins more than their competitor M1. Their 30GB plan is cheaper too!
• For 6GB and 8GB: StarHub – For 6GB, StarHub is ahead with a $24 per month plan with 200 mins talk time, and unlimited weekend data. Their 8GB plan is only at $34 per month.
• For unlimited GB: M1 – M1 just turned the tide for the 12 Months Contract SIM Only Plan with $98 per month for UNLIMITED data.

You can read more about the actual comparisons below. Subsequently, you can also learn about the strategy we recommend on how you can get a brand new phone at a cheaper price.

Further Reading: Detailed Illustration of SIM-Only Plans

Each telco provides a plan known as the SIM-only plan which costs much lower than most of their 2-year mobile plans. Finally, we have here, the hard facts behind how each telcos line-up against each other with their SIM-only plan.

Singtel vs M1 vs Circles vs Starhub vs Zero Mobile vs Zero1 (No Contract)

In the table below, we come out with the best SIM-only mobile plan with 3 assumptions:
(Information updated as of 26 February 2018)

1. The monthly data package is our main priority, hence, mixed different add-ons for each telco to get the best bundle. By data, we refer to data connection not restricted to certain places (eg. Singtel wifi).
2. The table below is for SIM Only with no contract mobile plans.
3. We excluded comparing the SMS bundle as it is not a deciding factor, given the minimum usage of such function.

Two new players Zero Mobile and Zero1:
(What’s with the word Zero?!)

• Both new virtual telco offers only 1 standard plan each for now.
• Zero Mobile offers consumer with a 9GB and unlimited talk time bundle if they sign up before 28 February, $4 cheaper than closest competitor for 9GB space, Starhub.
• Zero1 tries to intervene the market with unlimited data and 200 minutes talk time at only $29.99 per month. The catch, however, is that 4G data speed is capped at the first 3GB of the plan.

Read Reviews On SIM Only Plans

Singtel vs M1 vs Starhub (With 12 Months Contract)

Singtel, Starhub and M1 came out with a SIM Only 12 months contract mobile plan in an attempt to lock in some customer loyalty, while Circles.Life, does not have such plans available.

There is a split decision when it comes to the best deal for the 12-month contract, consumers should select based on their usage and lifestyle.

source: Singtel 
source: M1

Re-Contracting = An Overpriced 2-year Phone Payment Scam

1. It is the best and the only deal we know of.
2. It is the first mobile plan we started with and it is rather convenient to just renew it.
3. A 2-year mobile plan comes with a rather attractive discount on the latest mobile phones.

The harsh truth is that telecommunication companies (telco) are shaving dollars off your favourite mobile phones to make re-contracting attractive. The remaining cost of your “subsidised” mobile phone plus interest is distributed throughout the rest of your 2-year mobile plan, which you are stuck with.
In the face of new entrants such as Circles.Life and stiffer competition, the power has shifted to the consumer, you. The data plans prices were slashed drastically and you would be really be losing out if you re-contracted a new 2-year plan.
Read Reviews On Telco Mobile Plans
Read also: Get on these 4 apps to save $1,600 on lifestyle expenses!

SIM-Only Plan + Carousell Phone Strategy

With data for a mobile plan being the main priority, we have a simple strategy. Simply get a SIM Only plan with the same amount of data followed by our preferred mobile phone on Carousell.

The cost of a typical Starhub 2-Year Plan with Samsung Galaxy S8:

The cost of a Starhub SIM-ONLY Plan with Samsung Galaxy S8 from Carousell:
Total savings over 2 years: $367.00

For a more extreme comparison, we do a comparison across telcos for high data bundle plans. Also, take note that we are not taking the amount of call time into consideration for our comparison.

The cost of a typical M1 2-Year Plan with iPhone 7 Plus 32GB:

The cost of a Circles.Life SIM-ONLY Plan with iPhone 7 Plus 32GB from Carousell:

Total savings over 2 years: $3,441.60

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Conclusion – Switch To SIM ONLY

In conclusion, we hope that this simple hack has taught you how to save you a ton of money and you now know it is definitely worth marking down the date on your calendar, the moment your current 2 years end. Our whole team has jumped on and we have been spreading the word around.
Good things are definitely worth sharing, so please feel free to share this with your friends and family! If not you can always head over to our Personal Finance Facebook group to join in on more of such discussions.

Ref:https://blog.seedly.sg/singapore-telco-plan-comparison-data-price-best-plan/ 

Remember those days when Singaporeans mobile users only had the option of choosing between Singtel, M1 and Starhub no matter how poor the customer service or how unreasonable the prices?

But then Circles.Life appeared on the scene, and the floodgates opened. Recently, new virtual telcos Zero1 and Mobile Zero announced they would be entering the market and releasing their own mobile data plans.

So for those who have sworn off the big telcos, which of the four mobile data plans in Singapore is the best? Let’s compare your options.

Circles.Life vs Zero 40 vs Zero X vs Zero1 Plan Comparison

[Updated 5 Mar 2018]

Circles.Life	Zero 40	Zero X	Zero1
$28/month	$40/month	$65/month (first 3,000 customers) or $75/month	$29.99/month
4GB data + 2GB if you port in + unlimited WhatsApp (except calls)	6GB data	Unlimited data	Unlimited (but only first 3GB at full 4G speed)
Data add-ons: + $20/month for 20GB + $3/day for unlimited daily data	Data add-ons: + $30/year for rewards membership (extra 3GB/month data) + $15/month for 3GB + $25/month for 6GB
100 min talktime	Unlimited talktime	Unlimited talktime	200 min outgoing calls
$0.05/outgoing SMS	$0.05/outgoing SMS	Unlimited SMS	200 free outgoing SMS
Other add-ons: + $2/month for unlimited incoming calls + $16/month for unlimited outgoing calls	Other add-ons: + $5 for unlimited SMS
Free caller ID	Free caller ID	Free caller ID	Free caller ID
Registration & SIM card fee: $38	Sign-up fee: $18 SIM card fee: $30 (waived for first 3,000 customers)	Sign-up fee: $18 SIM card fee: $30 (waived for first 3,000 customers)	Registration & SIM card fee: waived for now

Which data plan is the cheapest?

Circles.Life still has the cheapest no-contract data plan. For $28/month, you get 6GB data (assuming you port-in with an existing number), but not much talktime and no SMSes. Note that you’ll have to pay a registration fee of $38 though.
Zero1 used to have the best promotional rates, but now its fee has gone up to $29.99/month. Still affordable, plus there’s no registration fee at the moment. However, you only get 3GB of data at guaranteed 4G speed – any data beyond that is at “managed speeds”, whatever that means.
Winner: Circles.Life

6GB is not enough data for me. What are my options?

It depends on how much more you need. The best upgrade package is Circles.Life’s 20GB for $20 which gives you 26GB in total for $48/month.

Alternatively, if you don’t need THAT much data, you can save a few dollars a month with Zero Mobile’s Zero 40 plan ($40/month currently) and signing up as a rewards member ($30/year) to get an extra 3GB/month. That works out to $42.50/month for 9GB data.
Winner: Circles.Life

But I really, really want UNLIMITED data!

Then get Zero Mobile’s new Zero X plan at $65/month (for the first 3,000 sign-ups), which will give you unlimited data at 4G speed.
Zero1 offers “unlimited” data too at less than half the price ($29.99/month), but there’s no guarantee on your data speed after the first 3GB. So only sign up if you’re willing to risk it.
Alternatively, if you just need unlimited data every now and then – like when your router dies or you’re marooned somewhere with no Wifi – Circles.Life lets you buy a day’s worth of unlimited data for $3/day.
Winner: Zero X

What if I need to make phone calls too?

People who talk on the phone a lot, like property agents, insurance agents and needy boy/girlfriends, will know how lousy data calls like WhatsApp or FaceTime Audio can be. Luckily, there are a few options for unlimited talktime.
You can go for the Zero 40 plan at $40/month. Or add unlimited incoming ($2) and outgoing ($16) calls to your Circles.Life plan, bringing it up to $46/month.
Finally, Zero X also has unlimited talktime in addition to unlimited data and SMS. It’s pricier at $65/month though.
Winner: Zero 40

Conclusion: So many Zeros, which one is best?

Despite the fact that 3 out of 4 no-contract mobile plans have pretty much the same name (guys, can you please be more creative with the names?) they actually have different target audiences.

Circles.Life focuses on data, with talktime and SMSes more or less as afterthoughts, so it’s great for millennials with phone call phobia.

Zero Mobile’s (Zero 40 and Zero X) unique selling point is unlimited talktime, making them ideal for people working in sales who need to make lots of phone calls.

Zero1 has lots of talktime and SMS, like a conventional postpaid plan. Their “unlimited” data is quite a gamble. Call us cynics, but we expect anything beyond the first 3GB will be stupidly slow.
Of course, all this presupposes some level of stability with regards to mobile network, which of course is a huge factor. What will happen remains to be seen but don’t discount the quality of the network in exchange for a cheap phone plan!

Ref:https://blog.moneysmart.sg/budgeting/zero1-zero-mobile-circles-life-data/