Who offers best iPhone Deal ?

I don't know about you ... for years I am not able to tell which telco actually offer better iphone deal than another. All seems like marketing fuss to me. Each has a layout plans that confuse me easily when I switch view from one Telco to another ...

Well, this is my petty try ...

1 phone : iPhone 4
2 model : 16GB & 32GB
3 telcos: Celcom, Digi, Maxis
2 contract periods : 12 & 24 months
1 verdict.

At first I don't really care about usage. I just want to buy an original iPhone that I can get full support. Considering that, it should be cheaper to get it from a Telco than from a retail shop.

Maxis wins hand down on that aspect simply because they offer the lowest monthly package where you pay only $50 per month. So for $129 a month I can own 16GB iPhone 4 and $145 for 32GB model.

But what if I do care about data usage ? ie. 500MB from Maxis $50 package is just not enough. So I analyse the price from the per GB perspective. Surprisingly Celcom comes up to the top picks.

So if you just want the phone, get from Maxis. If you use a lot and don't worry about cash flow, you should properly get it from Celcom.

It seems like no single verdict can be drawn then. I know its lame but the verdict is "it depends on what you want".

This hasn't considered

• cash flow where the payment options would be important
• calls and SMS and other goodies that comes with the package
• telco specific bonus ie. extra free calls, free SMS, free facebook browse etc.

But here is the source document I use, you can go ahead and analyse for your own need : link to spreadsheet

What is your opinion ? Which telco offers the best iPhone deal ?

Building more than ONE PC

When building more than one windows computer, its important to prepare the installation media instead of having each computer to download its own which will consume too much bandwidth and too slow. Some of the OEM installation kit or writing network installation script may be too advance for home / SOHO user so the best is to download all the important software and burn them into a CD.

The following is where I download the latest 'Complete' package for my 'Offline' installation ... The sequence follows too ...

Chrome - to browse internet. My habit is not to launch IE until I have virus scanner in place. I have had bad experiences where the first thing the old IE did was to download a virus.

Acrobat Reader - I install this be default. Most of the business documents on web are pdf. Later stage I may want to prepare an installation media that disable auto update by default too.

Avast - Virus scanner of choice

Avast Latest Update - because its easy to update its virus definition, its just an exe file !

Spybot - spyware ad-ware prevention

Spybot latest update

I install Spybot the last so that it wouldn't keep on asking me if I want to install the virus scanner etc. Minimizing number of clicks is 'important' when you install more than 2 computers.

Once downloaded all above offline installation, it will be just nice to burn them into a CD ( less than 700MB on 22 July 2011 ). But there shouldn't be a worry cause there are DVD and better still, use USB drives. But my environment is filled with tons of OLD PC ... with 256MB RAM and 36X CD ROM is considered 'fast' ....

Other Options

AVG x86 or AVG 64bit - also Virus scanner of choice ... but its harder to update its virus definition so I don't use this normally. AVG Latest Update

Claimwin is the ultimate FREE virus scanner for all systems even server OS. So I always have Clamwin installed side by side with Avast or AVG as a backup. Although improved a lot now, but Clamwin is weak on prevention. Its ok on scanning and killing viruses but its main winning feature is its legally FREE for all to use.

I used to install Zone Alarm but now windows comes with firewall. Although windows firewall doesn't do much but its ok together with Spybot and virus scanner, I find Zone Alarm being redundant nowadays. However, for machines that can't install virus scanner like windows server operating system, I will install Zone Alarm there.

Firefox is also popular but its only good if you really like all those add-ons. I just browse so I don't like Firefox. After all, IE has tons of addons too anyway ...

Thunderbird is the email of choice but old windows comes with Outlook Express, the new windows uses Live Mail. But quite a handful are assessing their emails through web browser too. So I only install Thunderbird if the user needs it.

After the 'important' installations, I then follow with PDFCreator, OpenOffice, Teamviewer, IrfanView, MpcStar ... Oh yea, and lastly I may do the Windows Update the last cause it will take such a long time and reboot so many times ...

Deadly Sins of YES 4G - especially Buzz Phone

DON'T READ if you already BOUGHT from YES !!

Should you really say YES to YTL's 4G ? Well, may be you should consider these deadly sins that I have observed . . .

First of all, they said, "pay only what you use". But there is a minimum charge of RM 30 every month if you engage one of their packages. As far as I know, this 4G network is a closed network. Meaning the only way you can engage their services is by buying one of their devices. And once you DO NOT use their services anymore, your device is ABSOLUTELY USELESS !! Hence the only way to engage them is by buying one of their packages. So how is that "charge only what you use" with this RM30 monthly ?

Note: You still can BUY their device separately and then TOP UP with credits. In that case, I suppose you will NOT be charge the minimum RM 30 a month. But the question remains . . . You HAVE TO buy their devices ! How is this a fair trade ?

FYI : RM 30 = 1GB usage or 333 SMS or 5 hours 33 minutes.

The next big hu ha is you pay only 9 cents. BUT there is NO WAY you can find out how much you have used so far from your phone. How many calls have you made ? How many minutes have you called ? How many SMS have you sent ? How many MB have you used ?

The only way to find out your usage is by login to their web site. And once you login, all you can view is your usage up to yesterday.

The good thing is, they said login to their web site to check usage does not incur cost. But there is really NO WAY you can tell whether charge does incur or not when you browse to 'their web sites. Simply because there is NO details of your browsing bandwidth.

The phone . . . is basically not a phone. It is just a device for you to log in and log out to their 4G network. Below screen shows where you do just that. At the moment you sign in, you basically leave your fate to them. There is NO WAY you can track or measure your usage. There is NO WAY you can find out if there is a background application using bandwidth without asking for your prior approval.

As a matter of fact, in order for 4G phone to work, your phone WILL check the connection and other info 'from time to time' and it will DEFINITELY use some bandwidth. They may say those do not incur charges, but then again there is NO WAY you can be sure either way.

OK, even if we assume YTL is your god and you trust them fully. But once you install some of your own application ie. facebook !? Then how do you tell if that application is continuously using bandwidth even when you are NOT using it !? You DON'T !!

The only way you can CONTROL your usage is by log out of the network. But once you log out, you will not be able to receive call or sms. So you HAVE TO keep yourself login.

You HAVE TO keep yourself login

Once login, you have NO CONTROL of the usage

When you buy the package, you get nothing else but a receipt. So basically you are just buying a 'thing' like any other trade transaction. They DID NOT promise their up time, NOT their coverage and NOTHING about provide you a fair services like a proper way for you to track your usage.

As long as the 'thing' / device you get is still working and their 4G network is still up, you basically have NO LEGAL RIGHTs whatsoever against them. It doesn't matter at all if you can't make call, your sms didn't get delivered and your usage has been abused etc. You just DON'T have any legal rights against all those situations.

You PAID and you GET the 'THING'.

There were NO other service warranty / guarantee at all.

Since when is the voice and internet NOT together ? It has always been internet on top of voice even during those dial up era. Now with their so called 4G, its voice on top of internet. Which really is no different than Skype, which has been existed for ages. Either way, voice and internet has ALWAYS been 'together' !

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There is a "Auto Sign In" check box on the phone, even if you don't check that, the device will still sign me in without me asking it to do so.

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Once you login to their web site, your usage up to yesterday will be reported. However, the account details seems NOT changing even after 3 days of usage. Says I have used 9MB so far for example but my total credits in my account remains the same RM XXX. So even if I know my usage, I have no ideas how they are going to charge me in future. We will see but I am quite sure "PREPAID" is suppose to mean deduct immediately after each call/sms/bandwidth usage.

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The general perspective of YES Buzz 4G Phone

yes Buzz 4G Phone Samsung SWD-V100

This is the advs published on Yes web site. After delaying for more than 3 months, this phone is finally launched on 4 March 2011. The phone itself is RM 488. If you get the package RM 1,199 then you get the phone for FREE.

The phone comes in RED and GOLD color. Mine is the RED one. The GOLD one seems a bit yellowish and 'not apparent'.

This side is the Camera button and the interface port. The same port is used for USB data sync and charging. When connected to USB, it will automatically be charged too.

Volume up down buttons and micro SD card slot. It comes with NO extra memory.

. . . when you slide out the keyboard. The keys layout is not that good. You can really type like the way you type on a keyboard. I suspect the spacing between the keys are too wide.

The 'shift' keys are also not that convenient. They called it the Alt key. And the layout for all the Alt keys are not the same as the keyboard. They are actually one row down. If you don't know typing, then the QWERTY layout wouldn't help you neither.

You get a CD to install PC Studio. This piece of software take ages to install and I highly suspect this is a piece of badly written software. My whole system slows down big time after installing this.

The phone's main screen.

This phone main menu screen.

the interface cable, the same goes to USB cable and Power Charge cable.

The back side of the phone. 2MP camera is just alright.

These are the stuff you get in the whole package.

You can go to Lot 10 or KL Sentral to try out the device. Don't bother asking too much technical stuff. Most of the staffs working there have no clue what 4G or Wimax is really about. Nor will they tell you ALL the right stuff. They will give you tons of misleading information anyway.

If you are serious, do all your research online before you go. While on side, just try out the device you want to buy. Then make a decision right there.

When you are buying, just pay and give your IC. Then you will need to pick a number. 30 mins to 2 hours later, your line will be active !

outdated side : yesbuzz4g

Want to know the deadly sins of YES ? Read HERE !!