U Mobile Prepaid 12 sen/minute Promo but is it really to anyone?

U Mobile has launched a new promo called U3G for prepaid that offers lower 12 sen/minute for voice calls. This is seen as a counter reaction towards TuneTalk‘s low 16 sen/min rate to all numbers.

12 sen/minute seems cheap until you dig deeper into the details.

Firstly this promotion is only valid if calls are made within U Mobile’s 3G network. Currently U Mobile’s 3G coverage is limited at Klang Valley, Seremban, Port Dickson, Ipoh and JB. Once you’re outside those areas, U Mobile depends on Celcom for domestic roaming where U3G is not applicable. To make use of this offer, you would need to ensure that you’re on U Mobile and there will be an indicative beep if a call is made on the home network.

Secondly this is not applicable to all numbers as the asterix indicates only for Peninsular Malaysia only. U Mobile is currently sold nationwide it is unfair to their customers especially in East Malaysia for not being able to enjoy such rate. For non-promo calls, the normal call rate of 30 sen/minute for same network and 35 sen/minute for other network applies. So why would U Mobile want to mention 12 sen/minute to anyone when there’s such restriction? They could have been more truthful to their customers.

We would also highlight that the block billing is 60 seconds for the u3G promo rate which is similar to TuneTalk. For normal U Mobile Prepaid calls (non-promo), it uses 30 seconds billing block.

More details here.