Travel in Sabah Malaysia – Mobile phone and internet service
Travel time：Nov 6~11, 2011
People: 6
City: Kota Kinabalu (KK)
There were no problems with the telephone calls, but problems with the internet surfing during my travel in Sahab. So here is my experience for your reference.
Mobile service providers in Malaysia
There are several mobile service providers in Malaysia, and general you can find the advertisements of Maxis, Celcom, Digi, U Mobile, Tune Talk in KK. I tried 2 SIM cards in Sabah, at first it's a Tune Talk card, later I replaced it with a Digi card.
Both Tune Talk and Digi have the WCDMA networks, so my HTC Desire was working fine with these two networks, "3G", "H"(HSDPA) icons were displayed in my phone.
Note:
Your passport is required to register the SIM card.
The prepaid SIM card for Malaysia with a world cell phone is the most convenient and economical solution for staying in touch while in Malaysia. All incoming calls while in Malaysia are FREE, regardless of where they originate.
Prices to buy the cards:
Tune Talk: RM 5.00 (1RM ~= 0.32 USD), with RM 2.00 available after activation
Digi: RM 8.50, with RM 5.00 available after activation.
IDD call rate:
Tune Talk: RM 0.16/min to USA
Digi: RM 0.18/min to USA
Internet：
Tune Talk: Thought "H"(HSDPA) was displayed in my phone, but actually it's too slow to open any web pages. SO, DON'T BUY THE TUNE TALK IF YOU NEED TO USE THE INTERNET.
Digi: It's much faster, the speed is about 50KB/s. To use its 3G internet service, it's strongly suggested to subscribe its weekly 250MB package at RM15.
Where to buy the SIM cards and Top up：
Tune Talk: You're able to buy Tune Talk cards when you're on the Air Asia's plane, and in the KK airport (don't be too late, the shop closes early). You can top up your card easily in 7-11s, the minimum top up amount is RM10.00
DiGi: You can buy DiGi cards and top up easily in many shops in KK, the minimum top up amount is RM5.00.
About WiFi:
I lived in 2 hotels in KK, both had free wifi, but unstable, and the speed was slow.
About smart phone internet sharing：
Many Android phones and iPhone can share the internet connections to others. With the DiGi card I shared the internet connections to my friends during my travel in Sabah.
Support Wikipedia
