Best coverage for pre-paid GSM in Malaysia

I'm going to be in Malaysia for two weeks at the end of October. I've
been searching the web, but haven't been able to find much information
on Pre-paid SIMs for tourists.

As I'll only be there a couple of weeks, price is secondary (I'm
guessing that anything will be cheaper than Roaming). What I really
need is coverage - ideally most of Pensinula Malaysia and if possible,
Singapore as well.

Matt

wrote:
I'm going to be in Malaysia for two weeks at the end of October. I've
been searching the web, but haven't been able to find much information
on Pre-paid SIMs for tourists.

As I'll only be there a couple of weeks, price is secondary (I'm
guessing that anything will be cheaper than Roaming). What I really
need is coverage - ideally most of Pensinula Malaysia and if possible,
Singapore as well.

If you are going to be in urban areas then Digi is the cheapest and
easiest to deal with.

But if you will be in the countryside then you may want to go with
Celcom.

International roaming (from Malaysia to Singapore) is expensive enough
that if you expect to use your phone for more than about 10 minutes in
total, you're better off getting a new card in Singapore.

To make it easier on others, I have a single number that I give out to
people, and I forward it to my pre-paid card whenever I get a new one,
so I don't have to worry about giving out the number every time I go to
another country. I have to pay for the calls this way, but it's much
cheaper than roaming (2 US$ cents a minute in Singapore, 7 in Malaysia,
4 in Thailand, etc.) In Europe and Australia it gets a little pricey but
still a better deal.

miguel
--
Photos from 40 countries on 5 continents: http://travel.u.nu
Latest photos: Malaysia; Thailand; Singapore; Spain; Morocco
Airports of the world: http://airport.u.nu

In article . com,
says...
I'm going to be in Malaysia for two weeks at the end of October. I've
been searching the web, but haven't been able to find much information
on Pre-paid SIMs for tourists.

As I'll only be there a couple of weeks, price is secondary (I'm
guessing that anything will be cheaper than Roaming). What I really
need is coverage - ideally most of Pensinula Malaysia and if possible,
Singapore as well.

As others have pointed out Celcom has the best coverage. Maxis is second
best. Both are 900MHz operators. Then there is Digi, not too bad, but
it's a 1800MHz network, whose coverage is not as good as that of the two
900MHz networks. Make sure your phone is compatible.

Singapore is a different country so you'll need a new prepaid card.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

Thanks for that.

It looks like Celcom is the way to go as I will be moving around a bit.

I had a good hunt through their website, but can't find much
information on their starter kits. Any links to costs and amount of
credit/airtime would be appreciated.

Do you know if a top-up gives an additional (say) 7 days of airtime, is
this airtime calculated from when you apply the top-up, or is it added
onto the end of the previous expiry time?

Ta

Matt

Nick Chan wrote:
get celcom prepaid. celcom has coverage EVERYWHERE in malaysia
prepaid startup packs are for anyone, even tourist. just buy anywhere,
and use. no registration or whatever (at least for this year)
they are el-cheapo
starting RM8 to RM20 i think
prepaid accounts has roaming features in singapore
receiving call in singapore will cost you money
so after u get the elcheapo startup pack, u top it up with RM50 or
RM100. up to you
account will remain active if u keep reloading. RM10 for 1 week, RM30
for 1 month. etc.. etc...
el cheapo, even for us locals !


wrote:
I'm going to be in Malaysia for two weeks at the end of October. I've
been searching the web, but haven't been able to find much information
on Pre-paid SIMs for tourists.

As I'll only be there a couple of weeks, price is secondary (I'm
guessing that anything will be cheaper than Roaming). What I really
need is coverage - ideally most of Pensinula Malaysia and if possible,
Singapore as well.

Matt

wrote:
I had a good hunt through their website, but can't find much
information on their starter kits. Any links to costs and amount of
credit/airtime would be appreciated.

Don't worry about it until you get there, it's all really cheap. Expect
to pay about US$5 for a SIM card with a bit of credit on it. They are
available absolutely everywhere... though the one place in Malaysia
where it's hard to buy cell phone stuff is at the airport, for some
reason. There is a booth in the arrivals area, it's either Celcom or
Maxis. And there's a little-known convenience store on level 2 across
the car park bridge that has starter kits and reload cards (though
sometimes they're out of stock). Once you get on the train to KL Sentral
you'll face a wealth of options; at least 5 or 6 places on the main
level there selling SIM cards and reloads.

Do you know if a top-up gives an additional (say) 7 days of airtime, is
this airtime calculated from when you apply the top-up, or is it added
onto the end of the previous expiry time?

Far as I know it restarts the counter from when you reload. At least
that's how it seems to work with Digi.

miguel
--
Photos from 40 countries on 5 continents: http://travel.u.nu
Latest photos: Malaysia; Thailand; Singapore; Spain; Morocco
Airports of the world: http://airport.u.nu

On 12 Aug 2006 18:37:31 -0700, wrote:



It looks like Celcom is the way to go as I will be moving around a bit.

I used MAXIS in my UK phone and did not find any coverage problems -
travelled around the Peninsula and Borneo (Sarawak). MAXIS had one
other really good feature - it provided a special dialling code - 132,
I think - which enabled international calls to 20 countries inc US,
UK, Aus for 20 sen per minute - that was around 3 pence per minute.
From a mobile! I could call home for less money than my family paid
to call a local taxi. Truly, I was astonished. I didn't use the
hotel phones at all, and it was much cheaper than UK folk calling me.
The MAXIS service is called 'Hotlink' - it has its own website.

Looking at the coverage maps, Celcom probably do have a bit better
coverage in the more rural parts of Borneo, if you are going to the
really rural bits. If you're around most towns and on inter-town
roads even in Borneo, then either Maxis or Celcom would be fine, I'd
have thought. If Celcom can match the 20 sen per minute for
international, then Celcom would definitely be the best choice.

I enjoyed my visits there - people were very friendly. And the food's
great.

______________
best wishes,
Ron

In article , Ronnie says...


Looking at the coverage maps, Celcom probably do have a bit better
coverage in the more rural parts of Borneo, if you are going to the
really rural bits. If you're around most towns and on inter-town
roads even in Borneo, then either Maxis or Celcom would be fine, I'd
have thought.

It's not just a bit better, Celcom's coverage is a lot better:
http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=my&net=ce
http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=my&net=sa

But that 20 sen/min. 132 feature of Maxis is definitely cool - almost as
cheap as Skype.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe