Recent news that Singaporean telcos are lowering the generous data cap of their mobile price plans have sent most local smartphone users into a frenzy. No more will you have the convenience of tethering your laptop to your mobile without considering if watching that Youtube clip will cost you an additional SGD30 (Or if you’re with Singtel, SGD88) extra in your phone bill that month. Here’s the issue in a nutshell.

According to media reports, SingTel will remove its current 12 GB cap and replace it with a lower 2 GB limit for its entry-level plan. The higher data plans are capped at 3 GB, 4 GB and 12 GB. Starhub followed suit with plans to cap their plans at 1 GB, 2 GB and 5 GB. And all this is likely to be implemented by July of this year.

 

M1, what say you?

Cue the shock and horror. So what does this all actually mean for the average smartphone user?

Firstly, I doubt most people actually finish using their allotted 12 GB per month. Mobile apps don’t consume a lot of data due to the inherently compact nature of mobile surfing. I know I don’t even come close, unless I am actively out and about using my phone as a portable modem.

Secondly, many industry insiders have also pointed out that this move has been a long time coming. Singaporean telcos have been extremely generous with mobile data caps when you compare them to telcos overseas – a mobile plan on AT&T in the United States only has a measly 200 MB cap per month. But of course, Singapore is a lot smaller geographically, you say. Do note that our price plans for data per month are also significantly lower than the average price plans overseas.

On the bright side, this may also mean faster surfing speeds on the go as this cap discourages excessive data usage, freeing up those clearly overstrained base stations.

To help you out more, here are some data usage monitoring apps for your Windows phones (built-in!), iPhones and Android phones so you don’t get a heart attack the next time your bill comes in the mail.

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