Broadband DiGi Internet – Better speed for less? Is it true?

There is a newcomer in high speed mobile broadband in town, DiGi Broadband. I’ve checked Maxis and Celcom’s mobile broadband before. I’ve read many reviews and user comments about their services. Based on these comments, I learned that Celcom Broadband coverage and connection speed is better than Maxis Broadband. And of course both do not match the speed of a fixed like broadband, it will be unfair to compare it this way.

Today, DiGi has launched their own 3G mobile broadband services after a long time.. Broadband DiGi Internet!

Their tagline and home page claims “Better speed for less. Broadband done right. For as little as RM2 a day, you get consistent speed with our advanced 14.4Mbps HSPA network and generous usage volume. So you’ll keep on smiling. Just some of the things that make our broadband a little nicer.“. What?? Only RM2 for 14.4Mbps mobile broadband speed? Is it true you will get higher mobile broadband speed for less money? Well, I checked out DiGi’s website for details. Read below..

They have 3 packages: Discover, Explore and Extreme. They are priced at RM58, RM108 and RM188 respectively.

Discover package looked extremely attractive, until I read the package details. Discover package costs only RM58/month for speed of 700kbps/200kbps(download/upload) but there is a usage volume limit of 3GB a month. If you exceed the 3GB limit, you will be charged RM0.15/10MB. And the maximum capped charge is RM138.

That does not make me too happy. I know that my Windows operating system will frequently download updates and patches. I know my 3 antivirus programs will download daily updates. I know that there are many softwares in my laptop with automatic updates turned on. I watch YouTube videos, from interesting news to songs and entertainment. I listen to streaming songs online. I use Skype to video talk to family and friends. All this will contribute to the volume limit of 3GB. And of course 3GB is not enough for for all these, unless I plan to just read/send emails, read news, text chat and blog. With the things I do with internet, I guess I will have to pay the maximum capped charge of RM138 monthly. Maybe I’ll pay RM58 when I go for vacation 3 weeks in a month and only use the internet for 1 week.

Explore package costs RM108/month for speed of 700kbps/200kbps(download/upload) and there is a usage volume limit of 10GB a month. If you exceed the 10GB limit, you will be charged RM0.05/10MB. And the maximum capped charge is RM138.

For both Discover and Explore packages, you can get Broadband E219 HSDPA USB Modem for payment of RM30 for 12 months. This modem supports speed of up to 3.6Mbps only.

Extreme package costs RM188/month for speed of 2Mbps/1Mbps(download/upload) and there is a usage volume limit of 20GB a month. The maximum capped charge mentioned is RM188, so I guess you can have “unlimited” usage volume.

For Extreme package, you can get Broadband E230 HSPA USB Modem for payment of RM50 for 12 months. This modem supports speed of 7.2Mbps for HSDPA and 2Mbps for HSUPA.

Whichever modem you use, seems like you will never get the speed of 14.4Mbps HSPA network based on the current packages and modems offering from DiGi. Maybe they will provide in the future.

What I am happy about DiGi entering this mobile broadband arena is that DiGi is well known to introduce many firsts in mobile services and create massive competition and price cuts among mobile service providers. Since DiGi has started, I welcome them and expect high competition between all the mobile broadband providers which will benefit users in Malaysia.

So anyone has subscribed to DiGi mobile broadband? Let me know your experience.