Review of Circles.Life (1 Month On)
About more than a month ago, I wrote a blog post about wanting to change telco away from Singtel to a telco which provides more data for lesser costs. During the IT Show, it was down to M1 and Circles Life. I chose Circles Life in the end because of a lower overall cost (looking to the future), considering its popularity, and partially because M1's queue was super long (more than 3 hours wait). After more than a month of usage, it is a good timing for me to blog about my experience using Circles Life, to talk about the pros and cons.
Although I got my new SIM on a Saturday, I had to continue using my Singtel SIM until Monday night, when the port over took place. In the meantime, I was trying to figure out the Circles Life app. My new SIM, which was a temporary number from Circles Life, had to be used to activate the app. Afterwards, I registered my existing number for the port over, and then changed back to my old SIM. On Monday evening, I changed over to my new SIM and used WiFi for the rest of the night. By Tuesday morning, the port over was supposed to be completed in the wee hours, but it was only completed at around 8am when I arrived at work, hence I couldn't use my new data for quite a few hours while I was awake. But by noon, there was no more data issues. Another issue during the port over was that the app took forever to change over the number, and turns out I had to log out and log in with my new number (which no one told me TT). But in general, by Wednesday, all port in issues were settled.
First, I will explain the good parts of my experience. Circles Life's marketing was not only good, but also without any hidden costs. I would have 20GB for S$28.00 per month, with unlimited data for the first month, and S$120.00 cashback for 1 year, hence S$10.00 off my bill every month for a year.
The app, after porting over, was easy and fun to use, where I can track and update my plan in a user-friendly interface. Topping up my plan, or extra charges, are stated upfront when tracking my usage.
For example, thanks to myquite frankly useless and stupid contractors (building IC, for one) and some warrant officers, I had to make more calls and SMSes as they were not technologically savvy (actually tbh they're just lazy lol). Therefore, my calls and SMSes exceeded my base plan by quite a bit. However, due to Circles Life's fair and cost effective prices, I only had to pay an extra S$4.00 or so.
One thing to note, however, is that for the first bill payable, I paid for my first 2 months of usage, which are March and April. This, I guess, is because Circles Life practices pre-paying your plan for the month. There is also a minimum of 2 months subscription that you have to do before cancelling your plan, which is a bit defeating the idea of no contract SIM, but hey, better 2 months than 24. Another related point is that our plan resets every 1st of the month. Since I got my SIM on 9th March, that means my cost for the first month was 9 March to 31 March, and second month is 1 April to 30 April. In other words, one can take it that our data resets every start of the month. This is unlike Singtel, who refreshes on the day that you buy the SIM (for example, I started my plan with Singtel on 4 June 2010, so my plan rests every 4th).
Now on to the bad part of the experience.
Firstly, the connection for Circles Life is... questionable at best. I understand it takes from M1 for its signal and data. When I am in public, I won't have any issues with the data and can get data at 4G speed, except perhaps when the area is too crowded (it only failed on me once during NUSHS' open house). However, as I work in an army camp, and army camps are in more 'rural' areas of Singapore, to put it bluntly the signal is damn bad. My unit is also about 1.5-2km away from the guardhouse, making the signal even worse. In fact, from my desk, I cannot receive any signal! I either have to go outside, another office, or even the toilet to find signal! My friends who use M1 and Circles Life also give the same negative feedback.
This is extremely inconvenient as I need to be contactable all the time while at work, but I also need to access my desktop to do crucial work. Hence, when I'm on my desktop I cannot receive calls, and vice versa. When I switch on hotspot for my peers, I also have to be near them in a place with signal, and may not be able to do work! While indeed this won't be a permanent issue as I will only be in army for another 10 months (no, not signing on), it's certainly really inconvenient. My Wing Sergeant Major did nag at me, though she's quite right. "Cheap things no good. Good things no cheap."
To compare, Singtel never had this issue, even when I was in Tekong.
Secondly, this is solely my bad, and in no way is it to blame Circles Life. When I switched over from Singtel to Circles Life, my main Singtel contract already expired, so I had no penalty there. However, my top-ups had not expired, such as my DATA X3 and Extra Data 2GB add-ons, which I purchased only last year, and were of contractual duration for 2 years. In the end, as I prematurely ended the contract, I, or rather my mum, had to pay off the remainder of the contract for both add-ons, which amounted to more than S$200.00! This is more than the S$120.00 given by Circles Life to offset the costs of contract breaking. Of course, I blame myself for the mistake, but this is also due to the money grubbing nature of Singtel and their contracts, one of the reason why I broke away in the first place. Hopefully, because of my lower monthly bills from now on, my mother can save more than she spent. I am still quite "salty" over this ludicrous incident, but sadly the damage has been done.
For those considering a switch over to Circles Life, for now I still stand on the recommending stance, as they have not done anything too detrimental out of my tolerance. Furthermore, the plan itself is sound and actually very useful, my friends with not much data can use mine instead of spending more on a private router. I can also surf Instagram, Youtube, and all my other apps without much hassle. Overall it's been cool thus far.
Just 3 things to take note, though:
1) If you're an NSF/Regular, there's a chance you may not receive much/any signal. If I in Kranji Camp 3 cannot receive signal at certain locations, those in Pulau Tekong Camp, Sungei Gedong Camp, Police Coast Guard, SAFTI, and Pasir Laba Camp will have it even worse. Even the camps not in the far corners of Singapore may not have good signal. If you can wait, maybe wait till you ORD.
2) If you are porting over from another Telco, always ensure that not only your plan contract, but all of your chargeable top-ups have ended or reached their minimum contract length. Otherwise you'll be in for a rude shock when you port over and have to pay off all your outstanding debts for porting over prematurely. In my case, even the S$120.00 cashback from Circles was not enough to cover the losses. So one has to be very careful on this. Telcos are inherently profit driven, so even when we leave one they will milk as much money as they can from us.
3) If you wish to change your phone too, you have to prepare to fork out more for the new phone. This is because Circles Life SIM doesn't come with a phone. You can opt for a phone plan, however, but that will set you back at least S$30.00 per month for 2 years (oh no, a contract!), so about S$720.00 for a normal smartphone. While they do give discounts for their phones, the price range is still around the retail rate outside, less about S$100.00 for mid-tier phones and S$300.00 for high-end phones (which cost a bomb). The cost between buying from Circles and outside retail is not much different. Personally, my OPPO R9 is nearing the end of its life expectancy. However, thankfully my mum can renew her 12-month Singtel plan to get me a new OPPO R17/PRO, or I can wait for the OPPO R19 to start selling in Singapore before buying a new one.
I hope my post has helped some readers decide whether it is better to stick to their telcos or to make the switch.
Choose wisely, not hastily.
Although I got my new SIM on a Saturday, I had to continue using my Singtel SIM until Monday night, when the port over took place. In the meantime, I was trying to figure out the Circles Life app. My new SIM, which was a temporary number from Circles Life, had to be used to activate the app. Afterwards, I registered my existing number for the port over, and then changed back to my old SIM. On Monday evening, I changed over to my new SIM and used WiFi for the rest of the night. By Tuesday morning, the port over was supposed to be completed in the wee hours, but it was only completed at around 8am when I arrived at work, hence I couldn't use my new data for quite a few hours while I was awake. But by noon, there was no more data issues. Another issue during the port over was that the app took forever to change over the number, and turns out I had to log out and log in with my new number (which no one told me TT). But in general, by Wednesday, all port in issues were settled.
First, I will explain the good parts of my experience. Circles Life's marketing was not only good, but also without any hidden costs. I would have 20GB for S$28.00 per month, with unlimited data for the first month, and S$120.00 cashback for 1 year, hence S$10.00 off my bill every month for a year.
The app, after porting over, was easy and fun to use, where I can track and update my plan in a user-friendly interface. Topping up my plan, or extra charges, are stated upfront when tracking my usage.
For example, thanks to my
One thing to note, however, is that for the first bill payable, I paid for my first 2 months of usage, which are March and April. This, I guess, is because Circles Life practices pre-paying your plan for the month. There is also a minimum of 2 months subscription that you have to do before cancelling your plan, which is a bit defeating the idea of no contract SIM, but hey, better 2 months than 24. Another related point is that our plan resets every 1st of the month. Since I got my SIM on 9th March, that means my cost for the first month was 9 March to 31 March, and second month is 1 April to 30 April. In other words, one can take it that our data resets every start of the month. This is unlike Singtel, who refreshes on the day that you buy the SIM (for example, I started my plan with Singtel on 4 June 2010, so my plan rests every 4th).
Now on to the bad part of the experience.
Firstly, the connection for Circles Life is... questionable at best. I understand it takes from M1 for its signal and data. When I am in public, I won't have any issues with the data and can get data at 4G speed, except perhaps when the area is too crowded (it only failed on me once during NUSHS' open house). However, as I work in an army camp, and army camps are in more 'rural' areas of Singapore, to put it bluntly the signal is damn bad. My unit is also about 1.5-2km away from the guardhouse, making the signal even worse. In fact, from my desk, I cannot receive any signal! I either have to go outside, another office, or even the toilet to find signal! My friends who use M1 and Circles Life also give the same negative feedback.
This is extremely inconvenient as I need to be contactable all the time while at work, but I also need to access my desktop to do crucial work. Hence, when I'm on my desktop I cannot receive calls, and vice versa. When I switch on hotspot for my peers, I also have to be near them in a place with signal, and may not be able to do work! While indeed this won't be a permanent issue as I will only be in army for another 10 months (no, not signing on), it's certainly really inconvenient. My Wing Sergeant Major did nag at me, though she's quite right. "Cheap things no good. Good things no cheap."
To compare, Singtel never had this issue, even when I was in Tekong.
Secondly, this is solely my bad, and in no way is it to blame Circles Life. When I switched over from Singtel to Circles Life, my main Singtel contract already expired, so I had no penalty there. However, my top-ups had not expired, such as my DATA X3 and Extra Data 2GB add-ons, which I purchased only last year, and were of contractual duration for 2 years. In the end, as I prematurely ended the contract, I, or rather my mum, had to pay off the remainder of the contract for both add-ons, which amounted to more than S$200.00! This is more than the S$120.00 given by Circles Life to offset the costs of contract breaking. Of course, I blame myself for the mistake, but this is also due to the money grubbing nature of Singtel and their contracts, one of the reason why I broke away in the first place. Hopefully, because of my lower monthly bills from now on, my mother can save more than she spent. I am still quite "salty" over this ludicrous incident, but sadly the damage has been done.
For those considering a switch over to Circles Life, for now I still stand on the recommending stance, as they have not done anything too detrimental out of my tolerance. Furthermore, the plan itself is sound and actually very useful, my friends with not much data can use mine instead of spending more on a private router. I can also surf Instagram, Youtube, and all my other apps without much hassle. Overall it's been cool thus far.
Just 3 things to take note, though:
1) If you're an NSF/Regular, there's a chance you may not receive much/any signal. If I in Kranji Camp 3 cannot receive signal at certain locations, those in Pulau Tekong Camp, Sungei Gedong Camp, Police Coast Guard, SAFTI, and Pasir Laba Camp will have it even worse. Even the camps not in the far corners of Singapore may not have good signal. If you can wait, maybe wait till you ORD.
2) If you are porting over from another Telco, always ensure that not only your plan contract, but all of your chargeable top-ups have ended or reached their minimum contract length. Otherwise you'll be in for a rude shock when you port over and have to pay off all your outstanding debts for porting over prematurely. In my case, even the S$120.00 cashback from Circles was not enough to cover the losses. So one has to be very careful on this. Telcos are inherently profit driven, so even when we leave one they will milk as much money as they can from us.
3) If you wish to change your phone too, you have to prepare to fork out more for the new phone. This is because Circles Life SIM doesn't come with a phone. You can opt for a phone plan, however, but that will set you back at least S$30.00 per month for 2 years (oh no, a contract!), so about S$720.00 for a normal smartphone. While they do give discounts for their phones, the price range is still around the retail rate outside, less about S$100.00 for mid-tier phones and S$300.00 for high-end phones (which cost a bomb). The cost between buying from Circles and outside retail is not much different. Personally, my OPPO R9 is nearing the end of its life expectancy. However, thankfully my mum can renew her 12-month Singtel plan to get me a new OPPO R17/PRO, or I can wait for the OPPO R19 to start selling in Singapore before buying a new one.
I hope my post has helped some readers decide whether it is better to stick to their telcos or to make the switch.
Choose wisely, not hastily.
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