Cellular frequency bands allocated to Malaysia mobile network operators

The telecommunication spectrum assignment in Malaysia is handled by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

Mobile network operators (MNOs) need to pay multi-million ringgit to MCMC in order to get the spectrum assignment in specific frequency band, so that they can provide cellular mobile service to customers with their assigned frequency bands.

The customers' device need to be able to communicate on the same band with the cellular transmitter at the nearby telco tower of the mobile service provider in order to establish a connection for voice and data transmission.

SIRIM is the certification body who will test and certify the mobile devices sold in the local market are complying to the spectrum used in Malaysia.

Current allocated frequency bands to MNOs in Malaysia are as below. Note that the mobile operator might not make use of all of their allocated frequency bands. In fact, most of them are not using the 900MHz band for 2G GSM.

Lower frequency means longer wavelength. This will have better in-house penetration and also able to reach a longer distance, but the bandwidth is lower and connection speed is slower.

Higher frequency means shorter wavelength. This can carry more bandwidth and also provide faster connection speed, at the trade-off of poorer in-house penetration and shorter coverage distance.

LTE frequency bands are numbered according to either the FDD specification or the TDD specification. For example, FDD Band 5 used by Unifi Mobile has a low frequency of 850MHz, therefore the LTE connection speed in this band is generally slower than those in FDD Band 3 (1800MHz).

Android mobile device users can install an app called LTE Discovery by Simply Advanced to have realtime information about which LTE band the device is connected to, as well as the signal strength, cellular tower position, and many other related information.

Tourists bringing mobile phone and/or tablet to Malaysia can check the table above with their own device specification on 2G/3G/4G to ensure that their device can function well in Malaysia, either using roaming or a SIM card purchased in Malaysia from one of the MNOs or MVNOs.

Hotlink Postpaid Flex plan by Maxis

Hotlink Postpaid Flex is a postpaid (not prepaid) mobile plan operated by Maxis.

At a monthly fixed cost of as low as RM30, you can get unlimited voice calls, unlimited SMS and 1GB of high speed data usage. After the data quota used up, you can still use the Internet at capped speed for no additional charge.

On top of the base plan, you can buy monthly auto-renewed or single month one time bundle(s), which provides you categorized apps-based unlimited high-speed Internet access:

• Unlimited Social (RM10) - Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest & Twitter.
• Unlimited Music (RM10) - Spotify, Joox, Saavn, KK Box & Smule.
• Unlimited Chat (RM5) - WeChat, WhatsApp, Line, IMO, QQ & IM.

These apps-based unlimited Internet access bundles are sharable via mobile hotspot tethering, although the tether speed will be capped at 5Mbps.

Additional high speed Internet quota can also be purchased as Internet pass with the current rate as follow:

• 2GB for RM10 (valid until next billing cycle)
• 1GB for RM3 (valid for 1 day)

However, only the base Internet plan can be tethered, and these additional Internet pass cannot be tethered to share with other devices.

If you need more high speed data in your base plan, you can switch your plan to:

• RM30 plan = 1GB high speed Internet + unlimited calls + unlimited SMS
• RM40 plan = 5GB high speed Internet + unlimited calls + unlimited SMS
• RM60 plan = 10GB high speed Internet + unlimited calls + unlimited SMS

When you subscribe or switch to the RM60 plan called Hotlink Postpaid Flex Plus, you can buy the following phones with 24 months contract with very attractive price:

• Vivo Y81i @ RM1 only
• Vivo Y85 @ RM199
• Vivo Y95 @ RM399

Note that these are mid-range Android smartphones, which performance is not comparable with high end or flagship smartphones.

You can install the Hotlink Flex app available in Google Play Store or iTune App Store to manage your account and monitor your high speed Internet data usage.

Note that the app for this Hotlink Postpaid Flex plan is called Hotlink Flex, not the other Hotlink RED (for Hotlink prepaid users) or MyMaxis (for Maxis postpaid users).

Inside the Hotlink Flex app, there are also quite a number of hot deals containing discount e-voucher as a kind of benefit to its users.

Note that as this is a postpaid plan, Maxis will charge you RM10/month to send itemized paper statement to your address. This is considered pretty expensive. Even if you opt for the summarized paper statement, it will also cost you RM5/month.

You can eliminate this monthly charge by opting for eBill to have your monthly statement sent to your email address instead. eBill is free of charge. You can switch between eBill and paper statement inside the Hotlink Flex app.

You can also set up Direct Debit to have Maxis auto-charge your credit card for monthly payments, so that you don't have to worry about handling your monthly payment. Hotlink Flex app contains a direct web link for you to manage your Direct Debit instruction, which you can register, change credit card, suspend, reactivate or terminate your Direct Debit with Maxis.

To subscribe or port in to this Hotlink Postpaid Flex plan, you will need to visit a Maxis Store. Your SIM card will be given to you on the spot. If there is available stock for the Vivo phone and you are subscribing to the Hotlink Postpaid Flex Plus plan with contract, you can also straight away carry your phone back from the shop.

This is quite a cost effective plan, especially for those who can make good use of the unlimited calls and unlimited SMS (e.g. businessman, sales person, agent, remote support person, etc. who needs to make a lot of calls and/or SMS every month). After all, Maxis is still the industry leader with good and stable 2G/3G/4G network coverage and speed that you can rely on.

Unifi Mobile #bebas prepaid with no credit reload expiry

It seems that Webe Digital (formerly known as Packet One or P1) had taken a long time to keep on pivoting their mobile service from P1 4G to Webe to Unifi Mobile, until recently, they seems to find some light at the end of the tunnel after the launching of Unifi Mobile #bebas prepaid plan in January 2018.

However, this prepaid plan has become less and less attractive. Initially when it was newly launched, it provided each subscribers with up to 5 free SIM cards, in which each SIM card preloaded with free 20GB of LTE data, 10 minutes voice call and 10 SMS.

Soon, it changed to provide each subscribers with up to 3 free SIM cards only, and each SIM card preloaded with free 10GB of LTE data, 10 minutes voice call and 10 SMS.

Now, it has changed to provide each subscribers with only 1 free SIM card, and the SIM card preloaded with free 10GB of LTE data, 50MB of 3G/LTE data, 10 minutes voice call and 10 SMS. Soon, the SIM card might cost you RM10, and the bundled LTE data might be further reduced to 2GB only.

In order to subscribe to this Unifi Mobile #bebas prepaid plan, you will need to download and install the Mobile@Unifi app from Google Play Store or iTune App Store, then order your SIM pack from inside the app.

During the SIM ordering process, you can either select a new number or port-in an existing phone number from another telco's existing plan. You can also select to collect your SIM pack for free at your chosen TMpoint outlet, or to have your SIM pack courier to you at the cost of RM10.60.

What makes this Unifi Mobile #bebas prepaid plan attractive?

• You can get a beautiful phone number (or port-in your existing phone number) and start using it without paying a single sen.
• You can port out the beautiful phone number to your preferred telco later, to get a better service.
• If you prefer to stay with the plan, unlike other prepaid plan with fixed weekly or monthly reload commitment, your reload in this plan does not expire. This means your next reload has no time limit, and you can perform the next reload only after you have used up all the existing quota.

Anyhow, you need to keep your SIM card active at least once in every 90 days, otherwise your number could be terminated.

To keep your SIM card active, just perform any one of the following actions, and your 90 days deadline counter will be zerorized and recalculated from scratch:

• Make a call to any number
• Send an SMS to any number
• Connect to the Internet and use some data
• Top-up your plan with at least RM10

Unifi Mobile is using its own ex-P1/Webe 4G LTE infrastructure, which has limited coverage, and running on LTE Band 5 (B5, 850MHz band). It is also riding on Celcom 3G and LTE infrastructure to obtain a much wider coverage, which is crucial to provide usable service to its subscribers nationwide.

This has made their plan a little bit complicated. Their data usage quota is separated from own Band-5 LTE (listed as LTE only in the subscription options) and Celcom network (listed as 3G/LTE in the subscription options).

For 2GB, 4GB and 8GB high speed data top-up, you get 50% of the top-up data for their own Band-5 LTE usage, another 50% for Celcom 3G/LTE usage. If you are connected to their own tower, you consume your data quota under LTE; If you are connected to Celcom tower, you consume your data quota under 3G/LTE.

Unlike other telcos which provide free unlimited capped basic data, you need to pay for the basic data in this Unifi Mobile prepaid plan. You can connected to the Basic Data either using 2G/3G or LTE, with a capped maximum speed.

Note that beside the ordinary non-expiry data reload options, there are also some unlimited data reload options with expiry (2 hours, 24 hours, 7 days) for you to subscribe whenever you need to consume a lot of data usage during certain specific occasions.

The voice call and SMS subscriptions are more straightforward, and both of them are bundled together.

Currently there are only 2 types of subscription available:

• 200 minutes call + 200 SMS for RM30
• 60 minutes call + 60 SMS for RM10

You can consider the SMS as free bundle to the voice call minutes, and each voice call is costed at 15 sen (for 200 minutes) and 16.67 sen (for 60 minutes) respectively.

This is considered pretty attractive, because for normal postpaid plans, unused voice call minutes and SMS will be burnt every month, and for normal prepaid plans, you got to keep on top-up every week or every month in order to keep the unused voice call minutes and SMS, or else all the accumulation of them will be burnt in one go.

For this Unifi Mobile #bebas prepaid plan, 15 sen per minute is really 15 sen per minute, there is no restriction of when you use it. There is no commitment to pay monthly or to periodically top-up a minimum amount, until it is fully used up, as long as you remember to keep your line active (you got plenty of SMS, just simply send out one SMS every quarter will be able to keep your line active).

As such, this Unifi Mobile #bebas prepaid plan might be suitable for you if you are:

• trying to get a free beautiful new mobile number.
• planning to use it for tablet that connects to WiFi most of the time.
• planning to use it for secondary phone with low usage.
• planning to use it for mainly receive calls and/or SMS.
• an elderly person who most of the time stays at home with Unifi broadband subscription (with WiFi, IPTV and DECT phone), so you only need to use your mobile phone when you are not at home.
• a tourist who plans to stay in Malaysia for at least a few days, up to 3 months, and wants to get a free SIM card with free 10GB data, together with minimal bundled voice minutes and SMS. (you don't need to pay for it, until you need to top-up after fully used)
• a person who finds that Unifi Mobile #bebas prepaid plan is able to provide flexibility and freedom to pay for your actual use, without monthly payment or periodic top-up commitment.

You can easily toggle on/off the IDD and roaming service of your SIM card from within the Mobile@Unifi app setting.

It is advisable for you to turn OFF both IDD and roaming unless you need to use them. This is because if you use them (either intentionally or accidentally) without prior subscription to an IDD and/or roaming pass, you will be charged on Pay As You Use (PAYU) basis which could burn your wallet a big hole. The rate of IDD and roaming pass in Unifi Mobile is on par with most other postpaid/prepaid plans, not so attractive either. The IDD and roaming pass in Yoodo has more attractive price.