Reached JB by bus around 9.30 pm last Friday, the pushcart shops and 7-11 at JB Sentral said they cannot sell the prepaid card at night after certain timing because they cannot do the registration. I needed internet to book a Grab ride to Sutera area ( RM$17 ) and sadly could not find wifi at City Square or Komtar JBCC. So no choice, took one of the taxi lined outside Komtar, trip was around RM$25.
So fast forward, in KL on Saturday night, Bukit Bintang, Alor Street, I was still determined to get a prepaid card for convenience sake. Encountered make shift stalls that are selling starter pack for higher prices. I know how much is each telco's starter pack price as I saved it on my phone so I just refuse to buy anything for RM$15.00 -RM$18.50 when it cost only RM$8.00 - RM8.50.
Found a convenience store ( forgot is it 7-11 or the other one ) which carries U Mobile cards. The cashier said I have to buy the RM$18.50 if I want data ( 200 MB only ) and if i get the RM$8.50 starter pack - it does not come with any data.
Seriously, if I didn't know better, I would have paid RM$18.50. But luckily I have bought the RM$8.50 pack before in KSL in May and know it comes with a bundled 200MB data.
This is the kind of gimmick that one may encounter if they are not familiar with the prices... I refuse to pay extra $10 for the starter pack and told the guy I wanted my prepaid card without data at the published price on the pack.
When I insert the card into my phone and opened up the umobile app to check, it has data contrary to what the guy claimed.
BTW, for short trips of 1-3 days, U Mobile has promotions at Tesco, selling starter packs for only RM3! ( my cousins snapped 4 packs when they were in KSL JB )
Starter Packs RRP ( As of 29 July 2018 )
Celcom - Xpax RM$10
Maxis - Hotlink RM$10
Digi Prepaid Live RM$8
U Mobile RM$8.50
My trip ended up being 5 days, so my U Mobile 200 MB data and credit were all used up. Bought Xpax from the official Celcom store in NU Sentral, Lvl 2 ( KL Sentral ). Should have bought Xpax from Day 1 if I could since I can choose either 10GB Facebook or 10GB Instagram freebies. I think that's great for instagram heavy users like me.