Vinko’s Thoughts On…

As I still found my Smartone-Vodafone charges too high, I decided to look for alternatives, including those from competitors, like: PCCW, Three and People.

For those of you who’ve been following my ideal iPhone tariff plan search in Hong Kong, you will know that I had been using Smartone-Vodafone’s 3G voice plan (HKD128/month) + Internet Browsing (HKD38/month)+ Data plan (HKD118/month), giving me a total monthly bill of HKD296/month (including the MTR and administrative fees).

What did these combinations of plans gave me? I will only focus on the features that matters for an iPhone user.

Smartone-Vodafone (Option 1):

• 1200 minutes of talk time outside of the Smartone-Vodafone network
• 800 minutes of talk time within the Smartone-Vodafone network
• Free SMS within the Smartone-Vodafone network
• Voice mail, Call forwarding, Caller number display, Call waiting and Conference call
• 20MB/day of Internet browsing (HTTP traffic)
• 20MB/month of Data traffic (all traffic except HTTP, ie. POP3, IMAP, etc.), extra usage will be at a rate of HKD0.01/KB

I looked at my bill from September and notice that I had approximately 8MB of data usage outside of the HTTP protocol. I used approximately 700 minutes within the Smartone-Vodafone network and 130 minutes outside of the network.

I then looked at PCCW’s “Web + Talk” HKD98/month tariff plan, to see if it is something more appropriate for my usage habits. I found that for HKD98/month, there is no contract commitment. Plus the plan gives you the following.

PCCW “Web + Talk” (Option 2):

• 600 minutes of talk time outside of the PCCW network
• 600 minutes of talk time within the PCCW network
• Free SMS within the PCCW network (the sales person told me there was no free SMS, but their web site claims there is)
• Unlimited use of PCCW WiFi hotspot
• 60MB/month of data usage (the sales person claims this is HSDPA, but the web site claims it is GPRS), any extra data traffic will be charged at a rate of HKD10/10MB, with a maximum of HK298

Basing on my September usage, I use on average 18MB per day of data traffic, I am expected to pay and extra HKD298/month to cover the extra data usage. Giving me a total cost of HKD98 + HKD12 + HKD298 = HKD408/month.

So I decided to give Smartone-Vodafone’s new Internet Browsing plan a try. Starting on November 12th, I am using their new Internet Browsing Plan, “IOM Value Pack” for HKD136.00 per month + HKD12.00 for MTR and Administrative charges = HKD148/moth.

Note that the HK96.00/month and HKD116/month plans require contractual agreements of 15 months. As many of you know I am against committing to any contracts for mobile tariff plans, as these prices usually drops within 6 months time. Due to the heavy competition in Hong Kong’s mobile market.

Smartone-Vodafone “IOM Value Pack” (Option 3):

• 600 minutes of talk time outside of the Smartone-Vodafone network
• 600 minutes of talk time within the Smartone-Vodafone network
• Free SMS within the Smartone-Vodafone network
• Voice mail, Call forwarding, Caller number display, Call waiting and Conference call
• 600MB/month (20MB/day) data usage.

The thing about Smartone-Vodafone’s data allowance is that it only covers HTTP traffic, or in their words “web browsing”. They really should be more specific than calling it “web browsing”. I understand that anything more technical may be confusing for the average user, but they should clarify what “web browsing” mean in a footnote, detailing the Internet protocols. For the moment I can only deduce that “web browsing” covers any traffic using the HTTP protocol (ie. HTTP GET, HTTP POST, HTTPS activities).

Any extra data usage over the 600MB/month (20MB/day) or outside the HTTP protocol will be charged at HK15.00/15MB. Given my September month’s usage (8MB of data usage outside of the HTTP protocol and less than 20MB/day HTTP traffic) I am expected to be charge an extra HK15.

This gives my monthly bill under the IOM Value Pack plan to be HKD136 + HKD15 +HKD12 = HKD163/month.

So my options are:

Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
HKD296/month	HKD408/month	HKD163/month
Smartone-Vodafone	PCCW	Smartone-Vodafone

I will report back in a month’s time to see if my new plan choice is the right one for an average iPhone user in Hong Kong.

Tags: 3G, Hong Kong, internet browsing, IOM Value Pack, iPhone, mobile, pccw, Smartone-Vodafone, tariff plan

There was a report last night that the iPhone 3G sold by the carrier, Three, in Hong Kong is unlocked; meaning it is not tied to a specific carrier.

This news was a bit hard to believe as news from other countries like US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, the iPhone 3G sold there are all locked to the respective mobile carriers.

Therefor, if you do not want to stick with Three’s service you now have a choice, but the cheapest choice is:

HKD4680.00 + HKD188 x 24 months + MTR Fee (HKD12 x 24) = HKD9480.00 - HKD1742 = HKD7738 (including the rebate you will receive over 2 years)

Now I have first hand confirmation from a friend who purchased one of these iPhone 3G at Three HK. He was able to put in a PCCW SIM card while having full access to all functionalities of the phone including EDGE and GPRS functions.

Is this really worth it. I say not, especially if you already have an iPhone (1st generation). Wait for the other carriers in Hong Kong; namely PCCW and/or Smartone-Vodafone receive the rights to sell the iPhone 3G.

Tags: 2nd generation, 3G, Hong Kong, iPhone, pccw, Smartone-Vodafone, Three, unlock