Anyone using pre-paid phone cards & what do you spend/month?

johnny333 · Apr 30, 2015

I have a normal post paid handphone account with one of the telcos & I find that I don't use my handphone that often. So I am thinking of switching to a pre-paid card & save some $. Want to find out if it is worth the hassle?

Since I already have a landline for my home I want to get the cheapest type of solution for handphone ownership. Don't need data as I prefer to use my home internet connection for surfing

I notice that all the telcos charge about $25 to $30 if you have the basic post paid account.
Anyone out there using one of those pre-paid SIM cards? How much does it cost each month :confused:

Sideswipe · Apr 30, 2015

I bought a M1 pre-paid phone card for the first time for $5 this week. according to the sales assistant. you can top up the card's balance with at least $5. it's expiry date is 6 months from the first activation, and 1 year from the last top up. that means the pre-paid phone card would last forever as long as you top up it's balance ?

Reddog · Apr 30, 2015

How much for a sms, or a phone call to mei mei for 1 minute ? Oso any charges if the wife call to check ?

zookeeper · Apr 30, 2015

johnny333 said:
I don't use my handphone that often.
Don't need data

That's 2 main reasons to choose prepaid Sim.

It is stored value card with an expiry date, which extends (say 6 months from date of top up) each and every time you top up (say $25).

Amount will be automatically deducted from your card based on each call/sms usage.

Card becomes useless from the expiry date (even if there's unused card balance), or earlier if card balance becomes zero.

To continue using, you just top up the card. The total amount (unused card balance + top up amount) is valid till next expiry date.

For extreme low user, you may only use say $10 from the card during 6 months period. For some telcos, you can pay a few dollars from your card balance to extend expiry date by 3-6 months.

johnny333 · Apr 30, 2015

zookeeper said:
...For extreme low user, you may only use say $10 from the card during 6 months period. For some telcos, you can pay a few dollars from your card balance to extend expiry date by 3-6 months.

It's actually wasteful for me to have a Spore SIM card because my handphone is only used when someone calls me & in the future I'll be spending more time overseas.

2 questions:
1) While overseas can I use my pre-paid SIM card :confused:

2) If I have to top up while I am oversea & I have on stand by a top up card, can I do the top up while I am overseas. :confused:

johnny333 · Apr 30, 2015

Sideswipe said:
I bought a M1 pre-paid phone card for the first time for $5 this week. according to the sales assistant. you can top up the card's balance with at least $5. it's expiry date is 6 months from the first activation, and 1 year from the last top up. that means the pre-paid phone card would last forever as long as you top up it's balance ?

Looks like a pre-paid card is a better deal for me. I have not been under contract for years & I don't see why I shoud be paying almost $30 just for a contact number.

I only need a handphone for emergencies when people have to contact me & when I'm buying air tickets from companies like airasia, because they require the verification number that the bank will SMS to me as proof of ID.

zookeeper · Apr 30, 2015

johnny333 said:
1) While overseas can I use my pre-paid SIM card
2) If I have to top up while I am oversea & I have on stand by a top up card, can I do the top up while I am overseas.

Using SingTel Hi!card as an example:

1) Yes you can, provided minimum $8 in card.
See http://info.singtel.com/personal/phones-plans/mobile/prepaid/prepaid-mobile-cards#prepaid-roaming

2) Yes you can.
See FAQ 14 http://info.singtel.com/personal/phones-plans/mobile/prepaid/support

If you are always going to the same foreign country, a local prepaid Sim card could be a better option.

JOKERCHEW · Apr 30, 2015

Pls note,
if you want free incoming calls,
50+ cents is deducted daily even if you do not use it.
only useful if you expect lots of incoming calls.
otherwise, be sure to Opt Out of this option.

Jah_rastafar_I · Apr 30, 2015

Have prepaid sims on all 3 telecos. You can activate their various call plans or purchase them. Their data plans aren't that good. The best IMO would be singtel since you can activate more than 1GB at a relatively cheap price but expiry of 1 or 3 days. The rest only have 1 GB of data that lasts 5 days or 1 month and it's not that cheap but the worst thing is the amount of data they give in their plans. With HD video available and phones able to double off as modems 1GB is easily used up. A monthly phone plan is still preferable if you need to use data. If you just need phone and sms prepaid is better IMO. All 3 telecos give you free sms after you have sent out a couple of sms like say the next 10 sms are free is you send out 5 sms in one day for example.

Like i mentioned they have plans and top ups for extra minutes etc take free 100 min top up plans for example if you feel that their sms and phone call charges are too expensive.

johnny333 · Apr 30, 2015

zookeeper said:
...If you are always going to the same foreign country, a local prepaid Sim card could be a better option.

I've already got a Thai SIM card because it is cheap & convenient. I am not a regular visitor to LOS, so I can't top up the card regularly. That is why I paid about 72 baht to keep the card active for 1 year.

johnny333 · May 1, 2015

zookeeper said:
For extreme low user, you may only use say $10 from the card during 6 months period. For some telcos, you can pay a few dollars from your card balance to extend expiry date by 3-6 months.

If I go with Singtel I will probably get the $20 top up card.

According to the small print. The $10 top up expires in 90 days while the $20 top up card value expires in 180 days. It's more convenient to top up only twice vs 4 times a year.

johnny333 · May 1, 2015

Jah_rastafar_I said:
Have prepaid sims on all 3 telecos. You can activate their various call plans or purchase them. Their data plans aren't that good. The best IMO would be singtel since you can activate more than 1GB at a relatively cheap price but expiry of 1 or 3 days. ....

Singtel prepay cards are cheap so I will initially use them as backups because my account is with M1 & they have had problems with their network
If all goes well I intend to terminate my M1 account.

Since I'll lose my telephone number I'll have to do a gradual transition. Have to let me know about my new handphone number. This is probably why I didn't do it sooner.

Jah_rastafar_I · May 1, 2015

johnny333 said:
Singtel prepay cards are cheap so I will initially use them as backups because my account is with M1 & they have had problems with their network
If all goes well I intend to terminate my M1 account.

Since I'll lose my telephone number I'll have to do a gradual transition. Have to let me know about my new handphone number. This is probably why I didn't do it sooner.

So far i have heard about porting a prepaid number to a post paid plan but i don't think you can port a post paid number to a prepaid one. If you are worried that once you get rid of your old number you might not be able to contact some people well nowadays most people use whatsapp, line etc and you can still keep your old number on it since the phone number registered with these internet programs don't change when one changes his sim card so data is actually getting more and more important nowadays and they have plans if you just want to use data simply for internet contacts and not surfing the net and the prices are really cheap.

johnny333 · May 1, 2015

Jah_rastafar_I said:
...people well nowadays most people use whatsapp, line etc and you can still keep your old number on it ..

Thanks that's useful to know. I'll transition slowly so I'll make sure people know that I have a new number.

The only concern I have now is if I lose the phone & SIM card. Anyone knows if Singtel will give me a replacement SIM card with the same number :confused:

Sideswipe · May 3, 2015

I topped up $10 via AXS machine to my M1 prepaid card but the expiry date is not extended. went to M1 website and can't find any information on the top-up money to extend the expiry date. anyone knows ? :confused:

johnny333 · May 15, 2015

I've finally bought a Singtel Pre-paid card. Here are some things that I found out about Singtels pre-paid cards.

If you have a postpaid account & not under contract, you can change the account into a pre-paid account. Therefore keeping your original hdph no.
If you lose the SIM, you can request that Singtel make another SIM card with the same number
To extend a SIM's card expiry date, you can pay for this extension. 99 cts for 30 days or $1.40 for 90 days

I visited M1 & found out that they do not allow conversion from a post paid account to a pre-paid type. So for me it's good bye to M1.

Cestbon · May 16, 2015

What is the best plan or package for prepaid data plan?
Eg. 3 day/7 day/1 month ....

Thanks in advance.

Gigo88 · May 17, 2015

johnny333 said:
I've finally bought a Singtel Pre-paid card. Here are some things that I found out about Singtels pre-paid cards.

If you have a postpaid account & not under contract, you can change the account into a pre-paid account. Therefore keeping your original hdph no.
If you lose the SIM, you can request that Singtel make another SIM card with the same number
To extend a SIM's card expiry date, you can pay for this extension. 99 cts for 30 days or $1.40 for 90 days

I visited M1 & found out that they do not allow conversion from a post paid account to a pre-paid type. So for me it's good bye to M1.

Did not know about this. Can now consider to switch from Singtel postpaid account to prepaid account, after the contract expires.

Thanks for highlighting this info.

Cestbon · May 17, 2015

Can we transfer postpaid phone number to prepaid??

hokkien · May 17, 2015

Cestbon said:
What is the best plan or package for prepaid data plan?
Eg. 3 day/7 day/1 month ....

Thanks in advance.

Bro for starhub it will be $7 for 1g.. Time frame 7 days.. If heavy user can choose $5 for 1g. Time frame will be 3 days :biggrin:

Anyone using pre-paid phone cards & what do you spend/month?

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