Funny example of a lack of logic with cellphone networks...

[aster]

I bought myself one of those new iPhone 4S's which as most people know requires a Micro-SIM. Unfortunately my Starhub prepaid SIM was of the larger variety, so I went to Starhub to ask them to replace it with a Micro-SIM.

"Cannot," was what I heard. When asking why I was told that they simply cannot change/replace prepaid SIM cards... even at a charge. I was advised to cut the card to the Micro-SIM size instead, which was exactly what I attempted to do soon afterwards.

Now my SIM was of the older variety where the chip itself is quite wide, so when I put it into the cutting tool I could see straight away that it would clip the chip itself. So I pre-clipped the card with scissors first, and then used the tool to clip the SIM so that the chip would fit right in the middle instead of getting damaged.

Well, needless to say, the chip wouldn't work in my iPhone, but it would still work in my old phone if I positioned it right. Still a pretty useless solution for me as I just bought myself a new phone. So I went back to Starhub, told them what happened, and received the same answer that they cannot give me a new SIM, and that I should buy a new number from them instead. I dooooon't think so!

Turns out that in Singapore there is a solution to this, namely to... CHANGE CELLPHONE NETWORKS! So I went to Singtel, and lo and behold... they were able to give me a new Micro-SIM card and port my old number across from Starhub.

What a silly way to lose a customer... adios Starhub! Bye!

[zzm9980]

You won't be missing anything. Singtel's service (while still abysmal compared to most other civilized countries) is significantly better than the other options on the island.

[x9200]

You won't be missing anything. Singtel's service (while still abysmal compared to most other civilized countries) is significantly better than the other options on the island.

I've got that impression too but I am curious if this is only on the level of the customer service or there is any practical difference when it comes to the quality of the technology services provided (i.e. better mobile coverage, higher mobile data transfer rates etc.). Using both starhub and singtel mobile bbands at this moment, both low end plans I can hardly see any difference. How is m1 compared to the other two?

[zzm9980]

You won't be missing anything. Singtel's service (while still abysmal compared to most other civilized countries) is significantly better than the other options on the island.

I've got that impression too but I am curious if this is only on the level of the customer service or there is any practical difference when it comes to the quality of the technology services provided (i.e. better mobile coverage, higher mobile data transfer rates etc.). Using both starhub and singtel mobile bbands at this moment, both low end plans I can hardly see any difference. How is m1 compared to the other two?

Oh, I was talking quality of service of the mobile network, not customer service. (Although in my unofficial surveys, Starhub's shop at Parkway is even slower than Singtels).

I extensively use mobile data around CBD, East Coast, and Changi areas. Starhub's quality was atrocious. I would have outages of hours at times where I was shown full signal with 3G. Other times the data speed would just crawl...

Singtel still has numerous outages and slowdowns in many of the same areas, but almost never as blatantly bad as Starhub.

I have little experience with M1, except their customer service queues always look short. And an acquaintance who now works for M1 (via acquisition) doesn't want to switch to their cell service (even with generous discount) based on what he's learned about their service

[the lynx]

You won't be missing anything. Singtel's service (while still abysmal compared to most other civilized countries) is significantly better than the other options on the island.

I've got that impression too but I am curious if this is only on the level of the customer service or there is any practical difference when it comes to the quality of the technology services provided (i.e. better mobile coverage, higher mobile data transfer rates etc.). Using both starhub and singtel mobile bbands at this moment, both low end plans I can hardly see any difference. How is m1 compared to the other two?

Oh, I was talking quality of service of the mobile network, not customer service. (Although in my unofficial surveys, Starhub's shop at Parkway is even slower than Singtels).

I extensively use mobile data around CBD, East Coast, and Changi areas. Starhub's quality was atrocious. I would have outages of hours at times where I was shown full signal with 3G. Other times the data speed would just crawl...

Singtel still has numerous outages and slowdowns in many of the same areas, but almost never as blatantly bad as Starhub.

I have little experience with M1, except their customer service queues always look short. And an acquaintance who now works for M1 (via acquisition) doesn't want to switch to their cell service (even with generous discount) based on what he's learned about their service

I used to use M1 for mobile broadband. Generally, M1 is like a Proton in comparison to Singtel as a Honda and Starhub as a Hyundai (and I'm not going for any other car models beyond that range - if you get what I mean). Cheap but you get what you pay for.

And oh, and I'm talking about the quality of network service, not customer service. I guess bad customer service is normal regardless of which telco.

[zzm9980]

I've never even heard of a "Proton" before now, so I suspect that tells me all I need to know!

And based on my experiences with the telcos and Japanese+Korean cars, I'd downgrade Singtel to a Hyundai and Starhub to a Kia or Daewoo - from 10 years ago.

[the lynx]

I've never even heard of a "Proton" before now, so I suspect that tells me all I need to know!

And based on my experiences with the telcos and Japanese+Korean cars, I'd downgrade Singtel to a Hyundai and Starhub to a Kia or Daewoo - from 10 years ago.

If that is the case, then M1 would be this in comparison