iPhone

This is for those poor souls who got served a 200SGD bill from Singtel because they didn’t read my article on the dangers of getting an iPhone without a data plan or read it way too late.

To disable data on your iPhone if you don’t have a data plan, the easiest way is to install bossprefs via Cydia and turn off edge and 3G, if you have a jailbroken iPhone.

For those of you purists who rock original unmodified iPhone software, the best way is to mess up the APN settings.

Under Settings>General>Network>Cellular Data Network>Advanced, change the settings from this;

APN: e-ideas
Username:
Password:

to something like this;

APN: xxxxxx
Username:yyyyyyyy
Password: zzzzzzzzz

Remember, it is not enough if you just turn off the 3G in the settings. All it does when you turn off the 3G is to revert to Edge/GRPS in order to save battery power.

Edit: Ever since iPhone 3.0 came out, many iPhone users, particularly Starhub ones, have complaint that changing the APN settings no longer stop the 3G/GRPS data from working. The only way is to call up Starhub, and tell them that you want to cancel your GPRS service with immediate effect.

Great article by Applematters on just why people should just stop whining about having apps like Mail and iTunes alternatives rejected from the iPhone App Store. If you want to complain so much, let me offer you some alternative platforms, the darkside platform called Windows Mobile, the only-just-recently-caught-on-despite-so-many-years-of-development Symbian platform, and the we-want-to-be-apple-and-we-hate-microsoft Google Android platform.

You can find the article here.

Since I’m still too lazy to do a write-up on the Singtel iPhone launch, I’ll just link all of you to GadgetDotRed’s coverage for now.

So Singtel finally released the iPhone. While they are touting their iFlexi plans, they also had the courtesy to make the iPhone available to new and existing customers with voice-only plans, such as the iOne, iTwo and iThree plans (which I got) and the classic plans. Singtel also kindly “suggested” that customers who opted for the above plans get a Broadband on Mobile (BBoM) plan for the data usage, but does not force it onto their customers.

Is it really a good idea to do that (read: get an iPhone plan that is voice only and not data)?

Let us think about the charges of mobile data for Singtel and other local telcos. Typically, when one gets a 3G phone and does not sign up for any mobile data plan, he/she will be put on a “use-as-you-pay” data plan where data can cost around ten singapore dollars per MB, yes that’s correct, ten dollars per MEGABYTE, not GIGABYTE.

Up till now, it does not pose a problem for most 3G phone users for the phones on the market are not capable of using up much data. So even if someone managed to use up a few hundred kilobytes of data through careless exploration of their “3G services” (not really anywhere near decent), it will just be a few dollars over their standard handphone bill.

Now the iPhone comes into the picture. Thanks to its sheer popularity, even Aunties, Uncles, Grandpas, Grandmas and the general tech idiots are buying up the phones like nobody’s business. This is where the problem comes in. The iPhones in Singapore, like the other official ones elsewhere in the world, are pre-configured to use data even if a data plan has not been purchased, for these people who signed up for the iOne plans without a data plan has already been signed up for the “pay-as-you-use” data plans. So when these uncles and aunties and the general tech idiots starts playing around with their iPhones, downloading apps and stuff, serious damage in terms of data usage will be done.

Furthermore, the iPhone’s browser and other services, such as the App Store, generally requires a much higher data download rate than that of the other 3G phones. The Safari browser renders whole webpages with images and everything, the App store apps can go up to many MBs in size. “Accidental” usage can easily go up to even 100MB per month. 1MB = 10 SGD. 100MB = ? You do the math. The iPhone 2.0 software is yet another problem. It seems to download data even when it’s in sleep mode, probably due to the MobileMe push email.

The last blow to the whole problem is that there is no way to turn off your data connection unless you call Singtel up and ask them to cancel your “pay-as-you-use” plan. Either that or you mess up the APN settings in the General Settings config page. However, for the common people and the tech idiots, they will take the “turn off 3G” setting to mean “turn off data”, which is NOT TRUE! Turning off 3G will turn on EDGE! Data will still be used!

I will be interested to see how many people will be shocked when their first month’s bill arrives in the mail. Hehz. Maybe $ingtel will have a big big big PR problem on their hands.

Anyone? Sound out here if interested.

Childish, but at least it allows us to vent our frustrations a bit.

Buying an Apple product shouldn’t be this stressful/saddening.

I will not be getting the iPhone from $ingtel.

Edit: Eventually I did get the iPhone from $ingtel, since it was possible to get the standard BBoM 1000 plan for the iPhone, and my brother was basically pestering me for my Aluminum iPhone.

What the hell is wrong with Singtel?

In its FAQ page for the iPhone, they stated that one can buy the iPhone by signing up for a normal voice plan. For data, they referred to the standard Broadband on Mobile (BBoM) plans page. These plans have a cap of 50 GB.

However, in another page, they actually advised consumers to get a special Broadband on Mobile Plus plan that is different from the standard BBoM plans, costs more than the standard plans, and have a cap of only 500MB!

What exactly is wrong with Singtel? Their marketing materials are in a total mess, with contradicting information all over, and placing a call to their customer service does not help as the CSOs have no information about the iPhone launch at all.

The largest telco in Southeast Asia?

You guys suck big time.

Why am I not surprised that Singtel is so closely tied to the Singapore government?

Fuck you Singtel. Stop treating Singaporeans as idiots!

Update: Singtel has completely changed their FAQ page so a lot of the information here no longer applies. They even changed their plans at the last minute. Sneaky bastards

As expected, Singtel made official their iPhone plans tonight.

You can check out the plans here but they are not too different from what was originally leaked this afternoon.

I am going for the iOne plan and will be paying $850 singapore dollars for an originally advertised as USD$299 phone.

Then again, if you consider the fact that to Singtel, the raw cost of the iPhone 16GB is $1200SGD (from their contract-free Optus sale), paying $850 dollars for the 16GB iPhone while signed to a 2 year contract is decent actually, for we get a “rebate/discount” of $350 dollars.

Edit: Apparently they are trying to trick Singaporeans with their confusing BBoM policies. Check the post above for more details.