Keeping in touch with your loved ones back home is easy and cheap these days. That’s because of the power of Prepaid mobile. If you’re not keen on receiving a phone bill that sky rockets to 4 digits but you still want to be reachable, just purchase a starter pack for any prepaid mobile service provider and you’re all set.
There are many different mobile service providers in Malaysia and all of them offer prepaid services. The most popular choices would be Maxis or Digi but Celcom has come up with a notorious X-Pax promotion where phone calls are so cheap it feels free of charge. Then again, that only applies to local calls. All three service providers offer the most basic of services such as incoming and outgoing calls as well as SMS’s.
Unlike certain mobile providers in other countries, all incoming calls are free of charge. This applies to both prepaid and postpaid lines. So you family back in Timbuktu can call you and you don’t have to pay, they would. Outgoing calls are charged based on peak and off peak rates and the charges depend on the service provider. Making local calls are cheap but international calls can be quite costly especially if you’re calling rather obscure countries like Albania and Senegal. International SMS’s are RM0.20 to most mobile providers worldwide, granted that the receiving country accepts SMS’s from Malaysia. A mobile prepaid starter pack would cost something like RM18 with RM10 credit ready to use. Top ups are easy and simple. Just make your way to any 7-11 outlet, petrol station or convenient stores and you’ll be able to pick up reloads of RM20, RM30, RM50 and etc.
Besides using a prepaid phone line, you can also purchase International calling cards (IDD). This is a cheaper way to make international calls but the downside is that you won’t be able to receive calls. With an international calling card, you can use any local phone line to dial a local number of the company that provides the IDD service. Since it is a local call, the charges would be local call charges. The IDD company would then connect you to the destination of your choice and you’ll be able to chit chat for as long as your credit allows you. Once again, it is a cheap option if you’re making calls to the more common countries.
Most people would own a mobile phone so public phones are few and far between. Even if you manage to find one it might not be in working order. So do remember to bring your mobile phone along when you travel to Malaysia. If you’re worried about roaming charges, just purchase a prepaid mobile number. By the way, mobile phones/cell phones are commonly referred to as handphones in Malaysia.
