Maxis Multi-SIM 1 Line

Finally went and applied for the Maxis multi-SIM 1 line service. I think it would be useful considering that I got spare mobile phones here and there. Besides, my Sony Ericsson X10 mini pro battery seems to knock out very fast these days. So perhaps a second phone with the same line might come in handy. However, after getting the new multi-SIM card it didn't work with my X10. Hopefully when the 2nd line SIM card becomes activated would work. Now waiting for activation which takes 24 hours. So keeping my fingers crossed. Otherwise I would need to visit the Maxis center again to sort out the issue.

Meanwhile, I'm using the main SIM on my old Palm Centro nicknamed 'the Whiteberry'! Haha! The SIM card has no issue with this mobile phone.
It's been a long while since I typed on the teenie weenie keyboard so it is a little slow to tap out this blog!


[update]
After banging my head on the wall and wondering why the Maxis Multi SIM 1 line SIM card was not working with my Sony Ericsson X10, I went and did a quick search and found out from Maxis website that some mobile phones are not compatible with the multi SIM 1 line system. Just my luck, the X10 is not compatible! Now that my second line was activated, it still could not connect.

So that's the end of the line for my Sony Ericsson X10 mini pro. Can't use it as my main phone now. I will have to switch the SIM card with my other old Sony Ericsson T700 mobile phone. That means I will be using the Maxis Hotlink prepaid card in my X10. I'm not using the 2nd line so much because prepaid call are more expensive and the 2nd line was more for back up rather than as a main phone line for me.

Perhaps I should sell off this X10 and get another Android model. After all the X10 display screen is rather small and my presbyopia eyes is making it difficult to read the fine print on display. And I have been musing about getting another bigger screen Android model. I have been putting it off because I really like the keyboard for very quick typing, which is good for SMS texting, email correspondence and blogging.

Unfortunately the current trade in price for the X10 mini pro is only a miserable RM200, down from the RM300 offered by Atlantis about 6 months ago. This was a big drop from the brand new purchase price of RM1100 when I bought it 1 year ago. Nowadays trade in mobile price really drop like a stock market bear run! A trade in option does not sound that great and keeping so many extra phone would be really cluttering my collection!

Sigh! Them the breaks. The Maxis multi SIM 1 line would have been really great if it worked with the X10 mini pro. So now I have to bear this in mind that other mobile models that I get may or may not be working or have problem with the multi SIM 1 line SIM card.

[update 14/12/2011]
I have decided to discontinue using Maxis Multi-SIM 1 Line after a short try of two months. There wasn't any penalty (update: finally saw the penalty, RM25 for switching back to normal SIM card), probably because I was corporate customer. This system is only best if you got unlimited internet data plan and you plan to share the internet data plan package line with another device like iPad or Android tablets.

So here's my trial experience:
1) You can't share the data package if you are using limited data plan. So you will need to sign up for another data plan.
2) Your bill starts to look funny, it will separate the billing based on your SIM card serial number
3) You will need to add additional VAS such as itemized billing which means you will incur more phone charges apart from the extra RM18/month for the Multi-SIM function.
4) Not all phone is compatible with this system

In the end if you want to carry another phone around, it would be better if you sign up for another line instead and make use of the Value Plus feature of cost sharing.

If you afraid of missed calls, just make your main mobile phone to forward your calls whenever you are not able to pick it up. I think a second line would be a much better option than using Multi-SIM 1 Line.

[update 25/4/2012]

Recently I just got myself a 3G + Wifi Acer Iconia A501 tablet. So needed a 3G data for internet connection. Decided to park it under my wife Maxis plan. Upon inquiring with Maxis customer service, to my dismay, again this Multi-Sim 1 Line did not fit to my requirement. Although my wife has 3GB unlimited data, it is not considered as completely unlimited because it still has a fair use policy cap at 3GB. It has to be the the no quota unlimited data in order to share the data without charges on your second SIM card line.

To upgrade to the no quota unlimited data it is RM99 per month, which was an addition of RM31 plus the RM15 per month for the multi-sim service that makes it about RM46 per month. On top of that, she still under a package plan for the tie in purchase of iPhone, so a change in plan would result in some penalty charges. This charges may be waived if upgrading a plan to a certain extent. However I'm not sure what kind of penalty would still be suffered. So at this rate, it would be better to sign up with another line. Although I won't get unlimited data, my usage is not that high to warrant such a hefty increase in monthly payment.

Based on my uMobile 500MB unlimited mobile internet prepaid plan, my usage is hovering around 300MB per month. My guess is that a 1GB mobile data should be fairly sufficient for my needs. Hunting around the various telcos in Malaysia, my conclusion for the 1 GB mobile data comparison:

1GB mobile data monthly
Maxis / Hotlink @ RM48
Digi @ RM48
Celcom @ RM38
UMobile @ RM28

If I latch on to my wife's account as a supplementary line, there is still the supplementary charge of RM10. Unless I sign up completely new or take on the Hotlink prepaid card version. I can't latch on to my current line as it is a company's line and not a personal line. So looks like UMobile would be the best plan to go for plus it has some extras like free 300 SMS (or rather 100 SMS to umobile lines and 200 SMS to other telcos) which is a fit for my Acer Iconia tablet which cannot make phone calls. However it does have some limitation as its coverage is not so great, but given the balance on data requirement plus coverage, this looks like the best fit for now.

[update 10/7/2014] -------------------

There's been some changes to Maxis Multi-SIM One Line, now you don't have to take the RM99 unlimited data to share data between the multi-SIMs, as long as you take a 2GB mobile internet data, they allow you to share the data quota. Each extra SIM (up to 5 SIMs) still cost you RM15/month+service tax.

At the same time there is still no way to know for sure whether the mobile you owned currently is compatible with the Multi-Sim card. The Maxis people can't help you there as they are not able to test each and every phone out there in the market, you will just have to try your luck. Most times it will work, but you may get unlucky like I did.