Surf for free with #Hotlink

By TAN KIT HOONG
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Maxis Berhad has launched a new prepaid mobile package with a new emphasis on providing free data for smartphone users. The package, called #Hotlink  (pronounced “hashtag Hotlink”) provides free “basic internet” 24 hours a day for smartphone users.

In Maxis terms, “basic internet” means a 64Kbps data connection — good enough for two-way communication using basic mobile apps like Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and other messaging apps but may be a bit slow for more data-hungry apps like watching a YouTube video.

The advantage, however, is that unlike most prepaid packages with data plans which limit the “free Internet” usage to certain mobile apps like Twitter or Facebook, there is no other limitation for the Internet usage in #Hotlink except for the speed.

Additionally, if a user needs faster Internet speeds at the full 3G speed (up to 42Mbps), users can opt to temporarily add a high-speed data package for RM30 per month with a 1GB quota. Daily and weekly plans are also available.

However, according to Dushyanthan Vaithiyanathan , head of Maxis’ consumer business division, higher-speed LTE network support is currently not available for prepaid users due to a limitation of the SIM card, although the company has plans to upgrade those cards to support LTE in the near future.

#Hotlink also offers other benefits beyond just free Internet, most notably a single price for calls and SMS within Malaysia to any network at 12sen (for 30seconds) for calls and 7sen per SMS.

Maxis is also offering a Top Up Bonus for users which can give users back up to 8% in credit once every two months based on how much the customer’s cumulative top-up is over the course of those two months.

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www.hotlink.com.my