Since the announcement of the sales of Apple iPhone from Starhub and M1 on Monday, the price war has erupted. When Starhub announces iPhone, it has 4 new Smartsurf plans for user to choose when purchasing the iPhone, starting with free 1 GB data with the most expensive price with unlimited data.
However, after M1 announces their Price Plan that includes a free 10GB data plan, Starhub immediately reacted by “improving” their price plan by increasing the free data from 1 GB to 12 GB. I started to look at my own price plan (I am subscribing to Starhub PowerValue 300 at SG$48.15 + 1GB data plan at SG$19.90). This is when I feel uncomfortable…
This is captured on the 9th December 2009 (6:00am)
At a glance, you might not notice. However, if you break down to dollar and cents, you will realize that the Smartsurf plan is actually cheaper (after their free 12GB “upgrade”) than their PowerValue plan. Of course, if you don’t intend to use data, you will not see the benefit.
In short, with Starhub PowerValue 300 and 1 GB data plan, it cost me SG$68.05 (SG$48.15 + SG$19.90) monthly. But with SmartSurf 300, it cost me just SG$58.00 monthly and I get a 12GB data plan.
That means I can save SG$10.05 per month by changing my plan and canceling my value added service (Max Mobile & MMS). It may not seems a lot.
However, if you exceed the 1 GB data, you will need to pay extra (cap at max of SG$36.38). So, if I may need to pay SG$84.53 (SG$48.15 + SG$36.38) per month if I stayed on this plan.
I may be wrong as the Starhub website did not give any details to the SmartSurf plan. And also for the SmartSurf 300 plan, it mentions 500 SMS/MMS inclusive whereas for the PV 300 plan, it mentions 500 SMS/500 MMS inclusive.
Click Here to Check Out Starhub Price Plans
or
Click Here to Check Out Starhub Value Added Service
So, what do you think? I will call Starhub hotline (1633) to check it out.
December 9th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Of course we ARE short-changed. I am not very happy about it too. But you know what bro?.. It’s iPhone you know.. iPhone!! An “ultimate” device that (they think) will increase their sales.
December 9th, 2009 at 9:41 am
hhaha.. anyway.. the details are scattered.. need to find out mroe before “blaming” Starhub. There may be other catch that I missed out.
December 9th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I have the same feeling as well. Are we allowed to change to the new price plan without getting the iPhone? The data plan is kind of attractive in my opinion.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:48 am
i called them last night and wanted to upgrade to the smartsurf 100 which is technically an upgrade from my powervalue 100 plan. however, they refused to allow me to do that insisting that to switch to a smartsurf plan, i will have to have completed 21 months of my contract. i asked for a explicit T&C that confirms that but they cannot show me. then they allege that the smartsurf was launched in oct and has to be part of a contract. where in the t&c does it say that subscription to smartsurf must be for a period of 24 months? it should be just like any normal plan!
What nonsense. Why am i allowed to upgrade to powervalue 300 or any other higher value plans and not the smartsurf 100? are they discriminating against current subscribers who are non-users of the iphone?
December 9th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I managed to change my plan from Powervalue100 to Smartsurf100! Recommend those on similar plans and maxmobile premium to do the same as well.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Just received a call from Starhub. Now they say can change and automatically cancel my SG$19.90 MaxMobile Premium plan to become SmartSurf 300 plan. Now, they also say HTC HD2 is already in stock and can be delivered.
Walau.. what a good surprise!
December 9th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
WHEN IS THE HTC HD2 IS RELEASING IN STARHUB.. ANY NEWS..?
April 5th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
If you notice, they also have this Blackberry Premium/Unlimited plan. It’s basically a data plan as well, but it’s under the Value Added service thing. But it’s quite pointless since the Smartsurf plans (which are not just for the iPhone) can also be suitable for Blackberry users. They are just hoodwinking us!
April 16th, 2010 at 12:02 am
So when you change your Power Value to SmartSurf, does the plan restart? Like will the plan last for 2 more years or will the plan continue from where we upgraded the plan?