It appears that Digi is introducing a new prepaid service that’s focused on delivering a fully digital experience. It’s called tapp and it looks like a direct response to ookyo by Maxis.
Unlike ookyo’s unlimited data offering for a collection of apps, tapp gives you full control over how much data, calls and validity you want. What’s interesting is its sell back feature, where you can get back credit for unused data and voice call minutes.
Similar to ookyo, everything is managed through the tapp app which is currently available as a beta on the Google Play store. After installing the app, you’ll need to login with either Facebook or Google ID and then proceed to pick a mobile number which uses the 015-914XXXXX prefix. Every new tapp account is credited with RM3.
There are no fixed plan options as tapp empowers you to decide how much data and calls you need each month. From the app, you can customise a plan from as little as RM1.
For RM1 with 30-day validity, you can get 4MB of data or 5 minutes of calls. For RM100 with 30-day validity, you can get 31.83GB of data or 2,000 minutes of calls. Obviously, you’ll get more value if you spend more but take note that there’s a limit of RM100 and you can’t increase the validity beyond 30 days.
If you plan on spending RM30 with 30-day validity, you can either get 5GB of data or 400 minutes of calls. Alternatively, you can mix it up with 4GB data + 80 minutes of calls for the same price and you can adjust the respective sliders manually according to your preference. Meanwhile, RM50 with 30-day validity will give you 10GB of data or 800 minutes of calls. If you didn’t purchase any minutes with your plan, “ala-carte” calls will cost you 20 sen/min while SMS is charged at 15 sen.
Need more voice minutes? tapp lets you modify your plan at any time and you can convert your data to minutes and vice versa. On top of that, you can exchange your unused data and call minutes for tappCredit at 65% of the original value.
Even without the SIM, you can make voice calls immediately using the tappConnect app. It’s basically a VOIP app which allows you to make/receive calls using your tapp number. This is quite similar to the Yes Life app which was introduced during Yes’ WiMAX days.
In theory, you can enjoy local calls overseas with this app as long as you have an internet connection. At the moment, calls and SMS between tapp to tapp users are free of charge. To provide more transparency, you’ll be informed of the rates before you make a call or send an SMS.
Similar to ookyo, you’ll need to enable VPN before you can use your data and that also means that it won’t work with iPhones for now. When it comes to payment, you can top up your tapp account like a typical prepaid. They are accepting online banking, credit and debit card, as well as Digi reload vouchers.
Since it’s still in “beta”, tapp says that it does not support mobile hotspot, Mobile Number Portability (MNP), international roaming and surprisingly Uber, Netflix and Snapchat at the moment. You can order the SIM for free and tapp will give you free Instagram data for 3 months.
In terms of coverage, tapp runs on Digi’s 4G network and we can confirm that it’s under Digi since it’s stated that “tapp is a stand-alone service, currently operated and owned by Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd” in its terms of use document.
So, why is it called tapp? A Lowyat.net forum user had ordered a SIM card and it’s clear that tapp is short for “telco in an app”.
If you’re interested, check out the tapp website.
