Despite being a millennial, I have a typical auntie character where I constantly seek value for money bargains. If I can't find one, I will negotiate for one, because I believe in 'you don't get what you don't ask for'.
One of the things I have negotiated for is my monthly recurring mobile phone bills. The latest deal I negotiated for myself was a no contract sim-only plan with the following subscription for a year at $16.44 including GST:
- 30 GB data
- 1000 mins outgoing call
- Free local incoming call
- Free Caller Number ID Display
- Unlimited Weekend Data Add On
- Unlimited Streaming of Music on Spotify
I still think this is a good deal in the market, but it seems like all good things must come to an end, and the promotion I have negotiated for will end next month. In the past few years, I would just ring up the customer service and try to extend the deal or negotiate for another deal, so I have never pay more than $20 for it since then. My charges are so low that I could never redeem anything with the reward points before it expires.
However, things might be different this year. I have just received a company phone which doesn't restrict my usage as long as I don't abuse the system, so it seems that I will be using lesser data from my phone in the future.
While my current bill is cheap, I am still considering if it's really suitable for me so I retrieved my bills for the past 6 months and noted that my highest usage was 6.42 GB in February.
| Month/ Year | Data Usage |
| Dec 2019 | 5.4 GB |
| Jan 2019 | 5.18 GB |
| Feb 2019 | 6.42 GB |
| Mar 2019 | 5.91 GB |
| Apr 2019 | 6.57 GB |
| May 2019 | 3.16 GB |
This is still a far cry away from the 30 GB limit which means that I probably wouldn't need that much data in the first place. My usage during working from home is even lesser than half of it and it could definitely go down further given that I'm connected to Wifi at home.
The 1000 mins outgoing call and SMS are hardly utilised as well since I have
no friends I usually use communication apps over wifi or data.
Since I'm not using as much as what I'm paying for, does it justify the $16.44 monthly payment? $16.44 may seem like a small amount, and it's really cheap at the market rate, but if I sum it up over a year it would be $197.28 per year.
Now, let's look at what can we buy at $197?
55 pieces of fried chicken from KFC at ala carte price (gasps!)
1147 rolls of toilet paper (gasps! x 2)
1231 pieces of Pasar fresh eggs (gasps! x 3)
*quotes are from Fairprice's website
You can also buy a decent smartphone, a sofa bed, a 32-inch HD LED TV, a wardrobe, a nice office chair that doesn't hurt your back, or at least a week's worth of groceries to feed a family at this price.
Unlike food that you will definitely eat and stuff you will use and can still preserve value, things like the mobile subscription is a drain. The money will still go 'poof' even if you don't get to maximise the full value of it.
I'm starting to think about different ways I can go about keeping my number while paying a minimal price for it. My current idea is to cancel my subscription plan and port my number to Circle's Life Flexi Plan, where I don't have to pay anything to retain the number, and still be able to have minimal usage of 1 GB data, 30 mins outgoing calls and 10 SMS. In case I need extra usage or roaming services, I can always top up for it. The cost will still be much lower than if I were to pay a monthly bill.
So the plan is to use the work phone's plan as the main point of contact for work (duh!) and the main source of data/calls, while my personal number will facilitate as a backup on my current dual sim phone.
In the case when I lose or move on to another job, I can always evaluate the plans available in the market and port over to the telco for a plan that fits my usage again.
I still have another month to think about it, and who knows, maybe I will still stick with the current telco if I managed to negotiate for a better deal by then.
So that's it from me. Do you think I'm sweating too much on the small stuff? Are there any other perks for staying with a mainstream telco? Would you be able to provide any recommendations for me? Please share your thoughts with me and many thanks for reading.
How do you negotiate such an awesome deal with your telco?
ReplyDeleteHi Roger
DeleteCheck with them if there's any special promotions and they will try to persuade you to sign up for a contract and that's when the negotiation starts.
My usage is generally low with minimal call/text and low data usage so I used that to propose if I can get a discount for it since I'm using much lesser resources than the plan's limit anyway. I never end up with a contract but still get a slightly lesser benefit as one, which is good enough for me since my main goal is to cut cost rather than having more value.
The duration and value of the discount largely depends on your vibes with the CS officer so be really nice to them and talke to them politely. The discount can range from 6 months to 1 year, so remember to put an appointment in your calendar and call them again when it's due.
There's no harm asking for it anyway since you may not get what you ask for, but you won't get what you don't ask for ;)