VIVIFI

[hereiam7788]

Yep. We just have to wait and see. But the big 3 appear to be signalling cost increases with their other offerings for a while now (eg, Broadband, TV), with M1 the slowest to increase (they don't do triple play, so we can't compare any video offerings). It's only a matter of time that mobile will go that way.

While 5G is not yet fully deployed, the capex is happening now. "Spend extra money, must earn back that money spent" is a very simple idea that anyone can understand, and businesses are all about making money.

There's also a case to be made - that they kept prices low because of Covid, but now that the government's signalling we're out of the woods (notice there's more chatter about more numbers of unemployment going down, inflation slowing down, etc in the news), and with areas like public transportation and food already raising costs, telcos will naturally want in on the extra earnings too. It's just simple business.

Also, cost increases take many forms. While the dollars and cents may stay the same, giving a user less (eg, no Caller ID and charging for it) is already a cost increase to the consumer. I only hope we don't get both - have seen a few hawker stalls that both raise prices and shrink their portions, and that's definitely a way to raise profits.

But again, we just wait and see. It's end March 2021, and in some 9 months' time, there will most likely be a price increase across the board because of the GST increase.

Edit: Corrected poor phrasing that was unclear.

if u ask me, telcos certainly are not making money (at least for now comparing to previously).

simple example, 22 years ago, a typical mobile plan that most ppl were using called "singtel classic plan" which costed $28 if remembered correctly. cannot even confirm that it includes GST or not. as it was a 'cheapest' typical plan that time most ppl used, and the bundled talktime/sms were very little which most people will incur extra cost due to the exceeded usage. so typically per customer spending minimally probably would be average of sgd30++ to 40++.

came back to 22 years later now, with the popularity of 'sim-only plan' and the high competitions among the telcos/MVNOs. how much are we playing month? average maybe $17/18 at most. and in fact some are using less than $10 plan while i advised them to pay for few more bucks to go up $17/18 plan so they do not need to constrained by the data they can use and they told me that it is 'expensive'! wt .... did u guys remember how much u guys have been paying for 22 years ago or not? in consideration of 22 years worth of 'inflation', u have advantages of payiing a monthly fee that is not even half of what you paid 22 years ago while to some may not even pay for half as they are using below $10 plan.

with this, u know what does it translate to? it means the telcos are making lesser $ per consumer. not to mention now there is no only 1 or 2 competitors like last time, now there are even MVNOs to fight business with them.

to be fair to the telcos, becos of the faster speed of the frequency band they use, they need more towers/base stations to cover the same area as the older technology too. like 4G will need more comparing to 3G. 5G will need more comparing to 4G too. technically they need to invest more on the infrastructure but again the price they get back per customer is even lower than 22 years ago which this cannot be justified. A typical worker will also complain about the food price now vs 22 years has increased by a lot so their salaries must be increased to catch up. but they did not complain the fact that they have been paying lesser and lesser for monthly telco fee.

 

[crystalnox]

if u ask me, telcos certainly are not making money (at least for now comparing to previously).

simple example, 22 years ago, a typical mobile plan that most ppl were using called "singtel classic plan" which costed $28 if remembered correctly. cannot even confirm that it includes GST or not. as it was a 'cheapest' typical plan that time most ppl used, and the bundled talktime/sms were very little which most people will incur extra cost due to the exceeded usage. so typically per customer spending minimally probably would be average of sgd30++ to 40++.

came back to 22 years later now, with the popularity of 'sim-only plan' and the high competitions among the telcos/MVNOs. how much are we playing month? average maybe $17/18 at most. and in fact some are using less than $10 plan while i advised them to pay for few more bucks to go up $17/18 plan so they do not need to constrained by the data they can use and they told me that it is 'expensive'! wt .... did u guys remember how much u guys have been paying for 22 years ago or not? in consideration of 22 years worth of 'inflation', u have advantages of payiing a monthly fee that is not even half of what you paid 22 years ago while to some may not even pay for half as they are using below $10 plan.

with this, u know what does it translate to? it means the telcos are making lesser $ per consumer. not to mention now there is no only 1 or 2 competitors like last time, now there are even MVNOs to fight business with them.

to be fair to the telcos, becos of the faster speed of the frequency band they use, they need more towers/base stations to cover the same area as the older technology too. like 4G will need more comparing to 3G. 5G will need more comparing to 4G too. technically they need to invest more on the infrastructure but again the price they get back per customer is even lower than 22 years ago which this cannot be justified. A typical worker will also complain about the food price now vs 22 years has increased by a lot so their salaries must be increased to catch up. but they did not complain the fact that they have been paying lesser and lesser for monthly telco fee.

Just like how we used to pay $500+ for a 1TB harddrive, you can get one now for under $100. 4G has way more capacity than the 3G or even 2.5G networks of the past making it far cheaper to offer more GB for less.

Besides, part of the higher cost of plans in the part were due to the telco "subsidizing" phone costs, essentially you're paying a small portion of your phone subsidy yourself hidden in installments. I might "only" pay $10 for my phone plan sure, but I also forked out $1.8K for my flagship smartphone vs paying $30-50 in phone plans with far cheaper $500 flagship phones in the past. My total cost of ownership actually went up as compared to last time.

 

[rainbow99]

just to check, is it a given that if the port out is delayed till the beginning of a new month, the full month bill of the new month will still be mandated by Vivifi, no proration or partial waiver will be entertained, even if no usage incurred? thanks.

 

[hereiam7788]

Just like how we used to pay $500+ for a 1TB harddrive, you can get one now for under $100. 4G has way more capacity than the 3G or even 2.5G networks of the past making it far cheaper to offer more GB for less.

Besides, part of the higher cost of plans in the part were due to the telco "subsidizing" phone costs, essentially you're paying a small portion of your phone subsidy yourself hidden in installments. I might "only" pay $10 for my phone plan sure, but I also forked out $1.8K for my flagship smartphone vs paying $30-50 in phone plans with far cheaper $500 flagship phones in the past. My total cost of ownership actually went up as compared to last time.

certainly not the case. It used to be in the past but certainly not now. the advatange of buying iphones with contract does not have a single benefit now.

If u do not believe, go and check out any of the 3 telcos contract plan for iPhone and u calculate the total cost of ownership

u just compare any telco's 2 years contract plans to buy an iphone.

1) one off contract price for iphone + subscription x 24 months

vs

2) retail price for iphone + sim only plan subscription x 24 months

any time total cost for 2 years for (2) is certainly cheaper than (1).

certainly not true also. The infra of 5G is certainly more expensive than building the same coverage of the 4G. if u research on this u will know. If 1 tower can cover the same 4G area, 5G will need 4.

5G can allow faster speed and more concurrent users. This is good for end users. To telcos there is no difference, they still get the similar subscription from u for 4G and they are paying much more capital to set up the infra than 4G.

u see telcos are taking approaches of collaborating among themselves to build the 5G infra is also due to this.

 

[hereiam7788]

just to check, is it a given that if the port out is delayed till the beginning of a new month, the full month bill of the new month will still be mandated by Vivifi, no proration or partial waiver will be entertained, even if no usage incurred? thanks.

no prorate, u still pay the same subscription no matter ur port out is done or no matter u use it or not.

 

[Descay]

Hi guys, I am planning to sign a plan with Vivifi. Does anyone has any referral code to share with me? Thanks in advance.

 

[gapboy]

Hi guys, I am planning to sign a plan with Vivifi. Does anyone has any referral code to share with me? Thanks in advance.

replied

 

[ZenTape]

Hi, I just heard about this Vivifi on another mobile forum. I've been using Giga for years and love it.

However, now considering whether to try out vivifi or portover my main line from giga since this has better value.

Just wondering if anyone port over their main phone line to Vivifi or did you just try it as a backup? Would appreciate any feedback/reviews on how you've found the experience?

Thanks a lot.

 

[crystalnox]

certainly not the case. It used to be in the past but certainly not now. the advatange of buying iphones with contract does not have a single benefit now.

If u do not believe, go and check out any of the 3 telcos contract plan for iPhone and u calculate the total cost of ownership

Actually my point was that those higher prices you saw in the past were because the telcos were essentially extending a loan to you over 24 mths to subsidise your upfront cost of a new phone. Current SIM Only plans and MVNO plans don't do that, therefore the lower charges.

certainly not true also. The infra of 5G is certainly more expensive than building the same coverage of the 4G. if u research on this u will know. If 1 tower can cover the same 4G area, 5G will need 4.

5G can allow faster speed and more concurrent users. This is good for end users. To telcos there is no difference, they still get the similar subscription from u for 4G and they are paying much more capital to set up the infra than 4G.

Not really, they use the same amount of towers and frequency bands as 4G. Only the mmWave 5G needs 4x more towers, and as of now only TPG has been granted mmWave spectrum, so we're not likely to see any mmWave for a long long time.

 

[crystalnox]

Hi, I just heard about this Vivifi on another mobile forum. I've been using Giga for years and love it.

However, now considering whether to try out vivifi or portover my main line from giga since this has better value.

Just wondering if anyone port over their main phone line to Vivifi or did you just try it as a backup? Would appreciate any feedback/reviews on how you've found the experience?

Thanks a lot.

No issues with Vivifi as a main line, service and billing are good.

 

[gapboy]

Hi, I just heard about this Vivifi on another mobile forum. I've been using Giga for years and love it.

However, now considering whether to try out vivifi or portover my main line from giga since this has better value.

Just wondering if anyone port over their main phone line to Vivifi or did you just try it as a backup? Would appreciate any feedback/reviews on how you've found the experience?

Thanks a lot.

main line for 2mth + so far so good .. as good as ex-GRID mobile

 

[firesong]

certainly not the case. It used to be in the past but certainly not now. the advatange of buying iphones with contract does not have a single benefit now.

If u do not believe, go and check out any of the 3 telcos contract plan for iPhone and u calculate the total cost of ownership

u just compare any telco's 2 years contract plans to buy an iphone.

1) one off contract price for iphone + subscription x 24 months

vs

2) retail price for iphone + sim only plan subscription x 24 months

any time total cost for 2 years for (2) is certainly cheaper than (1).

certainly not true also. The infra of 5G is certainly more expensive than building the same coverage of the 4G. if u research on this u will know. If 1 tower can cover the same 4G area, 5G will need 4.

5G can allow faster speed and more concurrent users. This is good for end users. To telcos there is no difference, they still get the similar subscription from u for 4G and they are paying much more capital to set up the infra than 4G.

u see telcos are taking approaches of collaborating among themselves to build the 5G infra is also due to this.

Not entirely true. I ran the numbers for the iPhone for a friend recently. There's still some possibility of the contract being worthwhile. Especially if you faithfully use the early upgrade to get a new phone and a new contract, not wait out the entire 2y before changing. Also, sometimes they have additional phone discounts for people recontracting, so it lowers the TCO a bit - like some companies still have $200 off phone price when you sign 2y.



For CIS, I just took the standard 20% off since that appears to be what's the prevalent rate. Of course users are free to choose cheaper plans for their phones, so prices are probably closer to StarHub's $20 than Singtel's $30 asking prices. For StarHub, NTUC membership also qualifies the user for CIS rates, so it's a lot more accessible.

Too many variables, but it is possible that SIM-only + Street pricing could be more expensive than the alternative, although admittedly this is true for Singtel's case based on current $30 rate (before whatever promotions they may be running. Note that not everyone gets the cheaper promotions too, so to be fair let's just take street case for someone who's new and walks in to a telco to sign up a plan now - without any further promos).

To clarify, Street pricing = Carousell (buy BNIB from recontractors) or "ahbeng shops". May sometimes be lower, but these are about the median prices based on a quick search over a few days.

 

[hereiam7788]

Not entirely true. I ran the numbers for the iPhone for a friend recently. There's still some possibility of the contract being worthwhile. Especially if you faithfully use the early upgrade to get a new phone and a new contract, not wait out the entire 2y before changing. Also, sometimes they have additional phone discounts for people recontracting, so it lowers the TCO a bit - like some companies still have $200 off phone price when you sign 2y.

View attachment 30817

For CIS, I just took the standard 20% off since that appears to be what's the prevalent rate. Of course users are free to choose cheaper plans for their phones, so prices are probably closer to StarHub's $20 than Singtel's $30 asking prices. For StarHub, NTUC membership also qualifies the user for CIS rates, so it's a lot more accessible.

Too many variables, but it is possible that SIM-only + Street pricing could be more expensive than the alternative, although admittedly this is true for Singtel's case based on current $30 rate (before whatever promotions they may be running. Note that not everyone gets the cheaper promotions too, so to be fair let's just take street case for someone who's new and walks in to a telco to sign up a plan now - without any further promos).

To clarify, Street pricing = Carousell (buy BNIB from recontractors) or "ahbeng shops". May sometimes be lower, but these are about the median prices based on a quick search over a few days.

u call $2193.60 vs $2220 and $2227 vs $1980 cheaper for signing 2 years contract than buying at retail price with sim-only plan?

one u are tied up to one telco without the possibility for any change for 2 years.

while one u are totally free from contract, and u can use any MVNOs plans that are at even cheaper price than telco's sim only plan and again get good deal like zym etc.?

 

[ZenTape]

main line for 2mth + so far so good .. as good as ex-GRID mobile

No issues with Vivifi as a main line, service and billing are good.

Thanks guys. I have went ahead to portover my main line to test it out.

 

[firesong]

u call $2193.60 vs $2220 and $2227 vs $1980 cheaper for signing 2 years contract than buying at retail price with sim-only plan?

one u are tied up to one telco without the possibility for any change for 2 years.

while one u are totally free from contract, and u can use any MVNOs plans that are at even cheaper price than telco's sim only plan and again get good deal like zym etc.?

In this case I did the comparison, traffic light telco only. Since the company's policy for this friend with regards to his phone subsidy does not allow claims from MVNO.

Besides, there is a clear case, at least with Singtel, that SIM-Only is more expensive than the 2y contract, even without phone discounts at corporate roadshows.

For other users whose companies do not give mobile phone allownance, yes it's probably cheaper. Still, as indicated, those plans are more likely within the $18 price range, which is closer to StarHub's $20 pricing and can be estimated accordingly.

Then there are people who don't qualify for CIS cos their SMEs are not on the CIS scheme, so they have no choice but to go with MVNOs for maximum dollar, because the traffic light telcos require them to sign additional CallerID for $5 more, changing the pricing structure altogether.

So while not simple, I didn't do this table for everyone. I shared this cos it was done for a friend with his specific requirements, but it sufficiently demonstrated that SIM-Only may not be cheaper than a 2y plan.

 

[hereiam7788]

In this case I did the comparison, traffic light telco only. Since the company's policy for this friend with regards to his phone subsidy does not allow claims from MVNO.

Besides, there is a clear case, at least with Singtel, that SIM-Only is more expensive than the 2y contract, even without phone discounts at corporate roadshows.

For other users whose companies do not give mobile phone allownance, yes it's probably cheaper. Still, as indicated, those plans are more likely within the $18 price range, which is closer to StarHub's $20 pricing and can be estimated accordingly.

Then there are people who don't qualify for CIS cos their SMEs are not on the CIS scheme, so they have no choice but to go with MVNOs for maximum dollar, because the traffic light telcos require them to sign additional CallerID for $5 more, changing the pricing structure altogether.

So while not simple, I didn't do this table for everyone. I shared this cos it was done for a friend with his specific requirements, but it sufficiently demonstrated that SIM-Only may not be cheaper than a 2y plan.

cheaper - 2193.60 vs $2220 by $26++? for 2 years contract?
if one goes for MVNO plans that is $18 = technically it is not 'cheaper' especially if u consider one is tied with 2 years contract while one is free and has the freedom to make any change within these two years freely. for u should be aware that starhub CIS plan is much more expensive than one is going for sim-only plan. fyi, singtel is the most generous in giving out CIS discount comparing to M1 or Starhub which i have noticed long ago. So anyone who goes for 2 years CIS contract under M1 or Starhub will spend even more.

u have been using a lot of special cases that applicable to specific group of ppl such as claiming from company. i can tell u that among all the companies, those can claim from company for mobile benefits are way minority depending on ur job nature. majority of jobs does not allow u to claim for mobile bill. and given these are isolated cases, they are totally not worthy to discuss. i am discussing on the majority. if one belongs to the minority, one just goes with the 'better' option that is unique to him.

while CIS 2 years contract vs sim-only plan does not draw much cost advantage, you probably also missed out the fact that the CIS plan is way inferior than the same sim-only plan that you are comparing.
Singtel XO 68 gives u 30GB only data while any sim-only gives u minimum of 50GB data. data is what most ppl need now. while one pays 2 years similar "CIS" contract subscription to sim-only, you are getting lesser data to use and u may get into the stage of incurring extra data usage which you may end up paying even more.
it seriously concludes that CIS 2 years contract has no significant advantage for anyone (majority).

One is paying similar subscription or more for CIS 2 years contract vs sim-only plan by

1) tying up with 2 years contract - cannot switch telco, cannot change plan etc. so if the telco is having bad network/blind spot that affects u, you sxxk thumb for 2 years, and you will miss whatever good deals that can be offered by any telco/MVNO within the 2 years.

2) less data - you are having 40% lesser than the similar price plan you can get for sim-only plan that has generous amount of data which u may end up incur extra data charge becos you are on a plan that does not even provide you with adequate amount of data.

 

[Descay]

replied

Thanks for the code. But I have used another guy's referral code as he messaged me first.

 

[gapboy]

Thanks for the code. But I have used another guy's referral code as he messaged me first.

no worries.. just a code to me

 

[Descay]

Hi guys, I have switched over from Singtel Combo 2 plan to Vivifi Plus plan. So far no major issues.

Signed up on 27th Mar night and got the confirmation email on 28th Mar morning. Collected my SIM card at Raffles Places MRT station in the afternoon.

29th Mar morning 5 am received an SMS to inform me that porting was completed.

I have only a small issue with the online portal still not showing the updated usage balance I have left.

Did a Speedtest on my mobile phone for both my Vivifi and Singtel (corporate) sim cards [Placed Vivifi card in SIM1 and Singtel card in SIM2] at Gambas Crescent area. Here are the results:

Vivifi:
Download: 38.1 Mpbs
Upload: 4.39 Mpbs

Singtel:
Download: 40.0 Mpbs
Upload: 3.73 Mpbs

 

[laurenspang]

Referral code got what benefits/discounts for me?
Eg free 1 mth?