CirclesLife, the cheapest telco in Singapore with the most data?

Mar 11, 17 CirclesLife, the cheapest telco in Singapore with the most data?

Posted by in Featured, Reviews

  So my Starhub mobile contract just ended. The first thing I did? I went to CirclesLife. While the 4th Telco in Singapore has been a highly talked about topic, most people do not know that there is actually a virtual operator run by Liberty Wireless. How this is done is that Liberty Wireless leases M1’s mobile network on a wholesale basis in order to provide their own coverage. In the USA, and even in Australia, virtual operators are a common place. By making use of reliable infrastructure, operators can provide unique offerings in order to target a niche market segment. In this case, CirclesLife is aiming straight for the younger generation who don’t need sms, and lots of data. Another appeal is that there is no mobile contracts! With the proliferation of affordable phones such as Xiaomi, it just makes sense! Starting at just $28/month for the base plan, you get 4GB of data and an additional 2GB if you port in a number. On top of that, there’s free caller ID. Comparatively, my previous Starhub plan was $42.90 a month for 3GB of data, and I had to pay $5.35 for caller ID. That’s a total of $48.25 per month. Now, with a 24 month Starhub plan, you could buy a mobile phone on contract. But how much does that actually cost you? Not taking into account the extra data, unmetered whatsapp, and ease of adding additional data when you are about to bust, Starhub would have cost you $1158. CirclesLife would have been $672. That is a differential of $486. Without a contract, the Samsung S7 Edge costs $1048 (as of 8th March 2017). On Starhub’s contract purchase, you get various price points. On my earlier example, you can get the phone at $548. That would be a savings of $500, vs a contract differential of $486. Thus, the 2 biggest factors to your decisions would be 1 -> Do you need a bigger data package? 2 -> What phone do you use? In my...

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The barefoot craze. Vibram Five Fingers VS Actos Skin Shoes

Dec 01, 13 The barefoot craze. Vibram Five Fingers VS Actos Skin Shoes

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I have always liked simple designs. Back from the old Nike Prestos (Late 1990s, early 200s), to the more recent Reebok zignano and Nike Free, simple, lightweight shoes seem to always capture my attention. Now, there’s this new age trend of barefoot running or minimalist shoes. Literally overnight, there’s an explosion of shoes being made with lesser materials, yet costing a good 2 to 3 times that of a normal sports shoe. It’s almost like selling bikinis or lingerie. The lesser the material, the more expensive it is. One of the main reasons for barefoot running or minimalist shoes is that when you wear a  heavily cushioned shoe, the small muscles in the legs loses it’s strength. On top of that, a thick shoe encourages heel strike. Barefoot running or minimalist shoes are suppose to help maintain a more natural gait. After all, the ancient people didn’t really wear shoes right? I jumped onto the bandwagon and got myself a Vibram Fivefingers classic then. However, my second toe is longer than my big toe, or scientifically speaking, it’s called Morton’s toe. Thus, I wasn’t really able to wear it longer than 3 hours. I did manage to clock 5km runs in it though, and my calves were screaming bloody murder for quite a while. While I wanted to use it for vacations because of it’s size and easy packing, I never really got round to it. Not being able to wear it longer than 3 hours was definitely a major deal breaker. I kept my eye out for something similar in the market, but I just couldn’t put my money down for a minimalist shoe that costs so much. Then I discovered Actos shoes! Essentially they are like aqua shoes, in that they have a slim outsole, and the top of the shoe is a lycra like material. The best thing however, was that it costs S$30! While they say it is made in Korea, who knows where they came from. Trying the shoes, it...

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Spa Infinity @ Far East Shopping Centre (Orchard)

Sep 03, 13 Spa Infinity @ Far East Shopping Centre (Orchard)

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I have always loved going for massages. They say, humans generally like touches, and who wouldn’t love being served like a VIP? Massages to me, have many uses, such as sports massage when you went for a intense gym workout, or a relaxing massage, when you just have too much on your mind and you just want to destress for that 1 hour. Other than Refresh Day Spa, one of the few spa places I really liked is Spa Infinity. While they are a little bit more pricey than Refresh, they are generally considered a full facilities spa.  That is, besides just massage rooms, they have a full range of facilities. There are less than 5 of such spas in Singapore that I know of.. Do you know of any? Located at the basement of Far East Shopping Centre, getting to the entrance is sort of a quirk. You actually have to go to the basement level, exit the mall into the car park area, and across you would see the Spa entrance. However, once you enter the spa, it’s a totally different environment. Nice dim lighting, soothing atmosphere, and friendly staff definitely brings your mood at ease. After exchanging your identity and signing in, you get a locker key. Going to the changing room, you can see the difference between a typical massage place. There’s rows of lockers, a sauna, a steam room and even a jacuzzi! I would suggest even going 1 hour earlier than your specified massage timing, just to use the facilities. I suppose soaking in the jacuzzi before an oil massage would help open up the pores? After that, you go out to the lounge area to wait for your locker number to be called. There’s a little cafe where you can get some bites, or even a TV lounge area with some plush recliner chairs for you to sink into. The massage itself wasn’t that great though. A typical sized treatment room, decent quality towels and oil. In general,...

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iHerb is the place to get your supplements cheap and fast!

May 18, 11 iHerb is the place to get your supplements cheap and fast!

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The internet has changed many things in our lives. One of the biggest change in the last 2-3 years is online shopping! In the past, people would go to shops to buy CDs, bags, shoes, clothes etc.. But now, CD shops have all but closed in Singapore, since everybody either use online streaming or amazon.com anyway. The blogshop phenomenon has pretty much taken the world by storm, seeing how blogshops are popping up like wild mushrooms! Essentially, anything that does not require you to physically touch can be sold online! The biggest consequence of this is that retail malls become boring. There is  less  diversity in shop types and almost every shopping mall would only contain clothing outlets or food outlets. Not only that, but the same clothing outlets would be repeated in almost every mall! One of the things I have been buying online for quite a while is nutritional supplements. Things like multi-vitamins, fish oils, probiotics and your standard vitamin Cs are my regular purchases. Places like GNC, Guardian, Watsons are seriously overpriced in terms of these supplements, especially since it is generic and so widely available. I used to get my stuff from other places, but more recently (okay the last 1-2 years), I have been getting from iHerb. One of the reasons initally is that they carry the highest rated Multi-vit, Source Naturals Life Force Multiple, which is still the same one I am taking now. Of course, after trying them out for sometime, I basically shifted all my supplement purchase to iHerb. For now, I regularly buy Omega 3 fishoils, Probiotics (since our diets consists of a lot of processed food nowadays), and vitamin C once in a while. The other good news is that shipping to Singapore can be as low as US$4 for orders below US$80. Pretty decent in my opinion. For those with bigger orders, they use the usual international shippers and the goods can reach as fast as 3-4 working days. One of the main reasons...

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