Best Value Prepaid Mobile Broadband in Singapore for iPhone, iPad

Since I visit my hometown Singapore quite often to see my sister and her family, or stop off when travelling to do the same, I thought I'd do some research for cheapish prepaid mobile broadband plans to use while I'm there for short trips and came across this:

M1 Prepaid Mobile Broadband

Effectively for SGD$18 it gives you:

• 9 hours or 3 consecutive days of unlimited local data usage


• Access anywhere within Singapore at speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps*


• Convenience of short-term usage without a contract

This is great as for a short trip to Singapore you get unlimited mobile broadband access for 3 days (or 9 hours total if you connect and disconnect, but I can't see the benefit of this).

Compare this to the prepaid iPad plan for SGD$20 with only 1GB included (30 day expiry), it's better value for short trips 3 days and under, however the $20 iPad prepaid plan will be better value if you have low usage requirements and are on a longer stay.

All you really need is an unlocked mobile broadband USB dongle for your laptop, or an unlocked iPhone (or 3G iPad). However for iPhone 4 upwards, or for iPads you need a MicroSIM rather than a standard SIM that this service provides. I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to work out how to make a standard SIM fit into a MicroSIM slot.

Once you have trimmed the SIM into a MicroSIM format, you just need to configure your iPhone to use an alternate APN(Access Point Name) so that you can access data using the MicroSIM. Most iPhones (that are not jailbroken) you can't change the APN's as it's configured as part of the carrier settings (based on the sim card installed) so you'll have to install a custom file to change the APN. (Note: since all iPad's are effectively carrier unlocked, you can just manually enter the APN in the settings.)

Easiest way is to head to unlockit.co.nz from your iPhone and follow the instructions (choose 'Singapore' as the country, and M1(prepaid) as the carrier Note: seems like the website has the APN incorrectly set as 'prepaiddata' instead of 'prepaid' and I've emailed them to let them know, but in the interim use this file - settings.mobileprovision but note that the certificate for this file will expire on 24/07/2012. I will update instructions if website is updated with correct data), and either download or email yourself the file. It's a settings.mobileprovision file, and if you do not have access to the internet when you first get to Singapore, just be a good boy scout and email yourself the file and check your mail when you have internet access prior to landing in Singapore.

Quick steps for adding custom profile for Singapore M1 APN ʻprepaidbbʼ:

1) Open Email



2) Click on attachment ʻsettings.mobileconfigʼ



3) Click ʻInstallʼ



4) Click ʻInstall Nowʼ



5) Click ʻDoneʼ and enjoy your mobile broadband!

Then when you are leaving Singapore, or just want to switch back to your normal SIM, follow the instructions below to remove the profile installed before.

Quick steps for removing custom profile for Singapore M1 APN ʻprepaidbbʼ:

1) Goto Settings --> General --> Profiles



2) Select ʻAPN Carrier Settingsʼ



3) Click ʻRemoveʼ



4) Click ʻRemoveʼ

'Original' Content by the numbers

So it's been just over a year where iOS 4.3 came out and I came across a hidden feature that wasn't included as part of the release notes where you can now tether an iPad running iOS 4.3+ to an iPhone (even pre-iPhone 4's without the wireless hotspot feature) via bluetooth (assuming you have the Personal Hotspot feature enabled on the iPhone by your carrier).

I thought this can't be new so decided to Google it and came up with nothing, so decided to dust off my personal blog and post my experiences just as an experiment to see how 'original' content on the web would fair with Google rank etc. Hence I did this post -> Bluetooth tether iPad to iPhone in iOS 4.3 without jailbreak.

So as a test I did a quick google for 'bluetooth tether iPad to iPhone' and it showed up in the first page of results... neat.

Then after a few days of getting 300+ views a day, I thought "Maybe I can make a squillion dollars from ad revenue like all those other bloggers that do this for a living... So why can't I?" Moments later, I added some Google Adsense to my blog (and Google owned Blogger platform that I created this blog with has an easy 'Monetize' tab to make it super simple).

It is safe to assume that I'm not posting this from the Caribbean, sipping cocktails, retiring off my ad revenue for a single fortuitous post made from my accidental discovery, but it is interesting, a year on, to look at the numbers.

Here is the spike of page views of the blog when I first made the post, from my otherwise un-interesting (other than for family and friends that put up with my g33ky tomfoolery) posts:



(Yes, from the flat line prior, it wasn't that interesting... :P)

Then some numbers (as at 13/03/2012) - Original post was on 10/03/2011:



103,327 page views [approx 280 page views per day]*
181 clicks (for Adsense ads on the site) [approx 0.5 clicks per day]]*
$116.39 (ad revenue, and the kicker is that Google doesn't pay out until I hit AUD$150... *heh*) [approx $0.32 per day]*

(*Note: These numbers are aggregate for the entire blog since I made that post, but assumption is that there really isn't much other interesting content, so the majority of views were for the post mentioned. Also these numbers are not just from Google searches, after the first few months in an experience to see how I can get more traffic to the post, I did a search for similar terms. The search results mostly had posts/articles mentioning jailbreak solutions like iTether etc. so decided to get some cross linking action by posting comments on these posts with an alternative non-jailbreak method and linked to my post.)

And the traffic sources below gives an idea about some of these, as well as others posting the link to the post to help out others with a similar question etc.



Anyhoo, so bottom line is that it is hard work making a living writing blog posts, but it was an interesting experiment. (Not that I was actively posting that much)

One thing I have to say, the best thing I did was to suggest as part of the post is that people who got it working to post back in the comments with their experiences and also hardware/iOS versions that they got it working with. This meant that basically people who read the post can continue to read the comments, and know that someone with similar hardware/iOS versions got it working. It definitely helped with helping out others with a similar configuration, and troubleshooting problems that people were having.

All in all, in spite of the measly monetary value that is not worth doing for that reason alone, the value of the goodwill to others far outweigh that. So if you do have some original content (technical or otherwise) and can't really find anything similar online, do yourself a favour and take the little time it'll take to post it somewhere, and have the satisfaction that other people will benefit from it... and as an added bonus if someone asks you if you know how to do something, it's much easier to post them a link, rather than explain it again for the umpteenth time... :)

P.S. For all you people expecting a delivery in the next few days/weeks from the postal delivery man, give this a go and see if it works with the new 'New iPad' and post your experiences on the comments of the original post. Doubt it wouldn't work, but I won't know for sure until someone tries as I can't justify getting one just yet...

iPads in Emergency Health...

So it's been an exciting (read: stressful and emotional roller coaster ride) morning, with me taking my first ride in the back of an ambulance with Ms 1 (no details, except all is well now and thanks for all who were concerned).

After confirming all was well and took some time to settle myself... I had a chat to the ambulance officer riding up back with me who was madly scribbling notes on a clipboard about their processes to put that info into some system... Do you have to double entry into your system, how much time does it take etc? (Background: I was involved on a project with the emergency response for the local state police department years ago, hence I was interested in the perspective in a similar but equally distinct industry).

To my interest he mentioned that they scanned in the sheets to archive in their system *AND* re-key into their database system the details from the sheets filled out. Also more to my interest, he mentioned that they (Ambulance) are in the process of developing a system involving iPads which will be trialed towards the end of this year...

Was interested in seeing what the user (Ambulance Officer) response to the project was, he mentioned that it was positive for most people as it will cut down the re-entry of the data into their database system, and will cut down on transcribing errors (hard to read handwriting etc.), but then there were also concerns about reliability of data entry especially in the time-critical work of ambulance officers (nothing beats the reliability of a pen and pad, or more so a bunch of pens for redundancy :P) . I also joked about the ruggedising of the iPads, and also exposure to bodily fluids which might be an occupational hazard of being lugged around in the back of the Ambulance.

Interestingly, it will be integrated into their existing dispatch system, so that it will be all tied into their systems, which might sound a bit ambitious, but they have lots of gain from this...

Anyways, I thought cool, they will save some time with double entry etc. so good luck to them, but the penny only dropped after spending some time in the Emergency Department of a children's hospital...

I swear I was going to thump the 3rd Emergency Department nurse who asked me for the history of the past 2 days and also what happened this morning, to which I told the Ambulance Officer, the first Triage nurse, the 2nd Triage Nurse, the paediatrician who attended, and this last nurse (who seemed a bit grumpy in response to my frustration of re-telling the events)...

So I hope the trial of this project by the Ambulance Department is successful, and more importantly I hope that they allow the information to be shared transparently with the hospitals, so that there is no need to re-tell the important information multiple times, (and in turn increase the chances of missing some information), and let the health professionals get on with their important jobs, rather than struggle with the process and hopefully the new technology/systems in place will be a help rather than a hinderance...

Sure this is intended more as a distraction post for me (it's been a really stressful day for me as a dad to say the least), and any useful information/opinions or statements presented is purely accidental (and I apologise in advance... :P), but this kinda stuff really excites me about the use of technology/systems more than just playing with the newfangled devices we now have access to.

I'm all for awesome games like Angry Birds and the like (timesinks), and business productivity apps which save you time and make you more money, but think there is something about using all this technology in something as worthwhile as actually saving lives, or making the quality of life of people much better gets me all excited... :D

We have come so far, just hope we carry on pushing the limits of technology to worthwhile causes...

Where's my personal jetpack? :) (Which incidentally is over-rated... cos I don't have one yet...)

I'm living in the 'future'...

Okay, just had another accomplishment today, where I actually *finished* a book I started...

FYI, it was Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

This is quite huge as due to work and family commitments, I usually struggle to finish anything that I start as a personal (just me) endeavour for the past 6 years since Ms5 came along. Also completed Portal2 *and Portal (original) a few weeks back which might have sparked off this whole new 'Finish what I start' mantra (2 in a row counts as life changing right? :P)

Anyways, won't make this a book review or a book club thing, but just sharing the reading experience on a non-dead tree book (last non-technical book read for pleasure would have been > 6 years ago)...

I read the Kindle version on my iPad rather than borrow my wifey's new Kindle 3 (Mother's Day present), and it was surprisingly quite readable. It was only until about 1/3 of the way through when it hit me that I'm living in the 'future'...

Let me explain... the author made reference to piano lessons her daughters were doing and mentioned a piece by Dvorak which was Humoresque No. 7 and said that it would be familiar to most people (I learnt piano for almost 8 years of my childhood, and had no idea), and went to describe how the first theme was a catchy opening theme and that the second theme changed to an overly sentimental theme, and how the piano teacher was trying to explain to her daughter how to emotionally connect with the piece when playing it...

Even though the author described it well, I found myself scratching my head and trying to work out what she was going on about, until it dawned on me that I can actually look it up and hear it for myself, right from the iPad! A quick Google search found this on YouTube and just like that, I got what she was going on about...

Yup, I'm living in the 'future'...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's the best way of reading and there is no arguing with most purist readers about the feel and refresh rate of a dead-tree book (Kindle comparisons aside), but being to look up and experience certain things I came across whilst reading an eBook, and the convenience of doing so definitely enhanced my reading experience...

Oh, and the book was pretty good, definitely recommended, but YMMV as to fully enjoy it you may need some pre-requsite life experiences (e.g. being brought up in an Asian family/ethos or have close friends that have)... :)

Bluetooth tether iPad to iPhone in iOS 4.3 without jailbreak

Came across this undocumented feature of the new iOS 4.3 update for iPad and iPhones and seems that now you can use the new Personal Hotspot feature in iOS 4.3 for iPhone 4 [Update: turns out it works with iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS on iOS versions less than 4.3] to tether the iPad to the iPhone via Bluetooth for Internet connectivity.

Previously the only way to achieve this is to jailbreak the iPad and purchase an app on Cydia called iTether.

I assume that Apple enabled Bluetooth tethering on the iPad as it is in effect no different to the Wifi tethering offered by the new Personal Hotspot feature in iOS 4.3 (assuming the carrier allows it and additional charges may apply).

Here in Australia, I'm with the carrier Optus which allows tethering of my included 2Gb per month data at no additional cost which is a bonus and I don't ever come close to using up my included data. Even though I have a Wifi + 3G iPad (1st Gen), I hardly use the 3G function and only use prepaid data for when I really need it, so this new feature is a real bonus as the price is right! Free! ;)

Steps to setup iPad to iPhone bluetooth tethering are:

1) On iPhone 4: Turn on Personal Hotspot (Settings -> Personal Hotspot -> On)



2) On iPad: Go to Bluetooth Settings (Settings-> General -> Bluetooth)




3) On iPad: Select iPhone to pair with, and confirm pairing on both iPad and iPhone




4) Enjoy Bluetooth tethering! :)



Notice the new tethering icon next to the iPad label at the top left of the iPad screen...


Note: to disable just turn off Personal Hotspot on iPhone 4, and to re-enable turn on Personal Hotspot on iphone 4 and manually pair via Bluetooth on iPad (Settings -> General -> Bluetooth -> <select iPhone name>)

Why Bluetooth tethering over Wifi tethering? Better battery life and iPhone doesn't heat up so much (Apple was apt in naming it Personal *hot*spot :P). Down side is that it does not connect automagically from iPad to iPhone when you turn on Personal Hotspot as is the case if you configured Wifi tethering, but not a big trade off for longer battery life...

So if you're in the market for a new iPad 2 and already have an iPhone 4, then unless you really need the GPS, I reckon go for the Wifi only version and save some money to put towards future Apple purchases...;)

Disclaimer: seeing the iPad 2 is not yet released at the time of writing this post, I'm only assuming that this will work on the iPad 2, so don't just take my word for it. If anyone has one and can confirm that this will work, let me know... (Or if someone wants to buy me one to try, I'll report the findings in return... :P)

Update: Turns out you don't need an iPhone 4 for this to work... I tested it on my old iPhone 3G (which you can't load iOS 4.3 on), and if you turn on Internet Tethering (prior to iOS 4.3) instead of Personal Hotspot in iOS 4.3, and pair the iPad and iPhone 3G, bluetooth tethering will also work, so seems like only the iPad needs to have iOS 4.3. I'm assuming that the iPhone 3GS will also work in a similar way...

Update 2: If you get this to work can you please post in the comments below what version of iPhone and what iOS version you are running? Would be good to know so that others can verify if their current hardware/firmware works using this Bluetooth tethering method. Thanks in advance! :)

Update 3: Some people have issues pairing the iPad to the iPhone, especially iPhone 3G on 4.2.1, so if it doesn't work at first, just keep trying. I did some testing on my old iPhone 3G on 4.2.1 and iPad (1st Gen Wifi and 3G) and initially got the error that the iPad is not supported on the iPhone and the iPad keeps asking if the iPhone is on and close by. After a few attempts it finally worked. Also make sure that you enable tethering first (as per the steps above) before attempting to pair, otherwise it just won't work regardless of number of tries. Hope that helps out some people with similar issues.

Update 4: Tested it out with iOS5 on both iPhone and iPad and this still works. Different combinations of iOS between iPhone and iPad also continue to work so if it doesn't work, do continue to post your experiences in the comments and I'll try and help out with options where possible.

Life in the cloud...

So ever since I got my iPhone 3G almost a year ago now (End of Aug 2008), I've been slowly trying to come to grips with the real potential of this device. Did I mention that this thing makes phone calls too? :P

Having a 24/7 connection to the intrawebs is a game changer for me as this opens up endless possibilities. But the ability to get my email, check my calendars, have access to my contacts and keeping the calendars and contacts always up to date have always been an issue for me until now...

Enter Google... they pretty much own me now... let me explain... My main email is a Gmail account, my calendar is through Google Calendars, my contact list is sync'ed through to Google Contacts (little known feature as part of Gmail). I'm playing happily in Google's eco-system and I'm hoping that they keep to their motto/code of conduct of 'Don't be evil', and a whole bunch of my life is now kept in the Google cloud.

Anyways, it wasn't easy getting to the point of synchronisation zen for having access to my up to date email, calendar and contacts. Actually email was easy as it worked right off the bat with the iPhone and accessing Gmail through IMAP, however calendar and contacts are trickier due to the myriad of computers, devices and operating systems that I need access to this information from.

My work life is all Microsoft centric, I'm a software developer/IT consultant for a company that does pretty much work revolving entirely Microsoft products/offerings/solutions. But at home I'm an Apple fanboy running Leopard OSX and use my iPhone for most things.

Also I need access to multiple calendars, work/personal/wife's calendar and these span both Google Calendar and Microsoft Exchange, and thankfully my requirements for my contact list is that I only keep a personal contact list.

Oh, did I mention that a requirement is that I don't have to spend a single cent? :) Even though there is a great solution using a paid offering like MobileMe (which works very well, and is well worth the money), my super tight-arse asian upbringing led me to find a free offering...

So after much research online, trail and error and testing, my solution which suits my purposes is as follows:

Google Calendar

This is used to host my personal and work calendar, as well as my wife's calendar. As Google Calendar allows multiple calendar, my main calendar is the work calendar, and I also created a personal calendar. My wife has her own Google Calendar, which is shared and linked to my Google account.

Basically, I have the luxury of having a work computer that is always on, and on my work network, so I use Google Calendar Sync to 2-way sync my Outlook exchange calendar with my main Google Calendar (this is a limitation on the tool, which can only sync with the main Google Calendar), which takes care of getting my work calendar up to the cloud.

These calendars (3 - Work, Personal and Wife's) are then synced back home to iCal my Mac through CalDAV (Enable Google Calendar in Apple's iCal).

Same process to setup my iPhone to sync to my Google Calendar (Calendar & Contacts Sync: Set Up Your iPhone or iPod Touch), noting that I set it up for when my iPhone was on OS Version 2.2.x. Version 3.0 allows you to sync with Google's pseudo-"I'm pretending to be an Exchange Server"-server as well as to a local calendar through iTunes, but since the old way still works for me, I'm leaving it status quo (if it ain't broke...).

Extra note is that you'll need to log into http://m.google.com/sync to choose which Google calendars on your account you would like to sync (Calendar & Contacts Sync: Choose Which Calendars to Sync)

Google Contacts

Since I am only interested in syncing my personal contacts, I'm only syncing my contacts stored in Address Book on my Mac to Google Contacts (iTunes: Syncing address book contacts with your Google contacts) which is done through iTunes everytime I sync my iPhone.

Technically, I can sync directly to Google Contacts from the iPhone as per the instructions for syncing the Google Calendar(s) to the iPhone and selecting the 'Contact' option of what to sync with Microsoft Exchange, but I have grown to like the photos of people I associate with contacts on the iPhone and Address Book on the Mac, and these do not get sync'd if directly synced with Google Contacts (although this is an assumption and I'm not willing to lose my pretty pics of people doing a test...). This works pretty well whenever I sync my iPhone with my Mac (every day), and most times update contact information on the iPhone which means I don't really get out of sync with the cloud.

Thing to note is that if you do not have an iPhone or iPod touch, there will not be an option to sync Address Book on the Mac with Google Contacts (as this option is only available in iTunes when syncing with either of these types of devices). I actually needed to do this on my hackintoshed netbook, as I do not sync my iPhone to this, so a workaround is described here. This will allow you to manually sync using the standard iSync functionality on the Mac.

Benefits

Key benefit is that I have access to my calendar and contact information wherever I go. I have access to them whenever I am on a computer with internet access, so if I forget my iPhone or lose it, I still have this information handy. I also have the added benefit of using iCal or Address Book on my Mac to search, view, edit these in a nice UI on a client app. Another benefit which only occurred to me recently is that I'm no longer afraid of losing any of my gear as it's all stored in the Google cloud, and I'm not going to be overly put out, and lose productivity/efficiency by not having access to this information.

Nice touch is also having my work calendar to automatically update when I get invited to meetings, without having check my work email (which I don't do outside of work hours), and not miss an appointment which was organised with short notice based on having missed checking my work emails.

Personal benefit is that I am able to put appointments into my wife's calendar to remind her of upcoming things organised like dinners, birthday parties, etc. and they get sync'ed to her iPod touch. Similarly, she can put in appointments so that I can have visibility of these and not double book nights out with the boys when it's our anniversary or something like that... :) Now if I can only get her to enter in appointments in her iPod touch, and also to turn that darned thing on at home so that it will get sync'ed of wifi, then this might actually be useful... :)

Pitfalls

Syncing with Exchange Calendar at work relies on a client desktop computer turning and running at all times, although I'm not sure if I can sync to multiple exchange servers in OS Version 3.0, which means I can do this directly over the air (although this would mean that I cannot edit/update my work calendar through Google Calendar if I don't have my iPhone or have access to Outlook Web Access).

This solution also puts a lot of trust and faith in Google in their code of conduct of "Don't be evil.", as they would have alot of personal information about me in Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, Search History etc. but I'm going to just put up with that based on the convienience/elegance of this solution. Oh, and the price is right... :)