Monday, March 14, 2011

YES can be pretty expensive

Without going into the details of the advantages of YES which is easily found in their website yes.com.my, my understanding of what could be useful to me specifically is to make cheap overseas call using their 'internet with voice' which I presume to be similar to Skype's use of Voice Over Internet Protocol. Going by its claim of 9 sen per minute, it would cost only Rm5.40 for an hour's conversation anywhere in the world! I have yet to test it. I had a bad experience when my wife called Holland using Telekom fixed line without using iTalk, and the bill was something like Rm120 for an hour's talk!

However, based on 9 sen per minute, using Digi's prepaid at Rm2 per day as a comparison, YES will last only 22 minutes! I dread to calculate how much it would cost for hours of average use per day, everyday. Of course, now they have plans for Rm68 per month unlimited use according to a fixed rate of data transmission, but to those unaware it will definite be an unpleasant surprise. This would make my current Streamyx at Rm90 per month with free unlimited fixed line to fixed line national calls, comparatively attractive and safe in terms of unexpected charges.

YES should be attractive to those who use the internet to download stuff which involved heavy data transmission where speed equates with lower costs.

The Star's 'It doesn't have to cost a bomb to use mobile internet' is useful to learn from others' mistakes:
Quotes:

“I learnt it the hard way. Once I forgot to switch off my data roaming while travelling. I ended up forking more than a thousand (ringgit) and the telco wouldn’t give me any discount,” says a young executive who uses a smartphone.
...
In contrast, iPhone user Jenny Teo says the vast availability of WiFi enables her to access Internet for free. “Why do you want to pay so much for data package? There are lots of cafe that provide free WiFi access. I pay for the basic package and monitor my usage so I do not go over the allowed quota,” she says.
Link

No comments:

Post a Comment