Was doing some gadget shopping at the nearby Sunway Pyramid Mall last night when I spotted several SmartBro Plug-It and Sun Wireless Broadband USB dongles being sold in one of the stalls.
At first I thought it was for data-roaming or something like that but when I asked the sales lady she said it’s unlocked.
The 3G USB dongles were selling for around Php2,000 (forgot the exact price in Ringgit) and you can use it with any of the local telco’s SIM card.
I also got some rates for their 3G internet and this one is by Celcom Broadband:
Daily Unlimited 3G Internet @ 384kbps – RM6/24 hours (Php90/day)
Weekly Unlimited 3G Internet @ 384kbps – RM20/7 days (Php300/week)
Broadband Basic @ 384kbps – RM64/month (Php1,020/month)
Broadband Advance @ 3.6Mbps – RM98/month (Php1,470/month)
Come to think of it, our daily unlimited internet rates are like 55% cheaper than here in Malaysia and it’s even slower at 384kbps. The monthly postpaid plans aren’t very attractive either and I think our Php1,200 per month @ 2Mbps seem pretty competitive.
hey sir,
i was in Bangkok last June and at their IT Square, something like our Gilmore they also sell the same smart bro and globe dongles for about 2,000 THB per. that’s about 2,800 PHP.
They even have the old white ones ng smart.
@jomar- thanks for posting wi-free. i got from him the unlimited internet service for only 350/month. its so cheap. i can now surf even without any load on my globe tattoo.
hey yuga, bring that here in phils, for sure dami bibili nyan dito…
tagal ko na hinihintay na magkaopenline ang mga wireless broadband… hahahaha
or if not try to ask how did they do the unlocking then you teach me nalang.heheheh
search for “rorymabangis wi-free” at google and you would’nt believe the rates. its so low for unlimited internet
hahaha.. parang ng galing yan d2 sa pinas ah..
BTW, the link Head Geekette posted is dead.
How did they unlock them? Tutorial link anyone?
cellcom in malaysia is expensive.
kung mag-youtube ka sa malaysia gamit nito, asa pa ang pangarap mong mapanood nang no bufferring
@kiks – yeah, I know. But for most people, it’s hard not to.
abe, you cant really directly compare ringgit versus peso without considering cost of living/expenses in those countries.
HolyCow! Inernetzz rates are kinda crazy in Malaysia!
glad our rates are way much cheaper!
the USB dongles selling here for <php1000 is subsidized heavily by the local telco. thus, it's cheaper to buy the dongles from globe, smart and sun than from huawei and zte directly. it's crazy!
@seju What sellers would do is to buy as many prepaid broadband modems as they could here in the Philippines and have it unlocked. (Check my previous post on unlocking USB modems http://www.thegeekettespeaketh.com/2010/06/how-to-unlock-your-huawei-usb-hsdpa-modem/)
I’m surprised they have SmartBro’s ZTE modem since that takes a bit more effort to unlock than the Huawei brand. It’s possible it is old stock since I heard the newer versions they’re selling are not can’t be unlocked. So to with Globe’s Huawei E1552 “Redbox” modem.
yuga do you know which is the cheapest net provider in adelaide, australia. Unlimited data and speed counts, either dsl or broadband connection card would do, napaka mahal kc d2 ng internet. Thanks
Astig. international ang smart and sun.
***SAMBA***
@seju
why don’t they?
business is business. sell as many units as you can. still favorable to them since it’s a prepaid.
mas madami din bibili kasi alam nila pwede i-openline.
“unlocked” means it’s open for use to other networks (not locked to Smart)
example: Smart Bro USB modem can be used with Globe tattoo sim card or Sun sim card.
is this legal in malaysia? does smart and sun allow this? and what do you mean by “unlocked”? kinda confused.
@abeolandres huh? Abot signal Smart dyan sa malaysia?
@BBtambayan Malaysian telco gamit nila using the unlocked dongle.
@abeolandres is that legal?