When traveling in Malaysia, using a prepaid SIM card in your GSM phone can save you the nightmare of an astronomical phone bill waiting for you when you return home. (Read about cell phone roaming in Southeast Asia.) Malaysia’s mature and widespread GSM network allows for almost seamless calls wherever you go in Peninsular Malaysia, although when it comes to East Malaysia, all bets are off once. which ventures beyond the cities of Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Miri. And Malaysia has many telecommunications companies vying for its telephone sponsorship.
Maxis is one of the largest telecommunications firms in Malaysia, and its brand of prepaid SIM card is known as Hotlink. The prepaid service comes in a tourist version with relatively low call / SMS rates, and a Hotlink broadband SIM that provides a large amount of data (for mobile Internet users).
I was looking forward to buying the tourist SIM card when I arrived in Malaysia, but the Hotlink kiosk at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) did not have them in stock. They offered a good deal on the LTE-compatible Hotlink SIM card, so I took the bait.
Buy the Maxis Hotlink prepaid GSM card and recharge
Connecting to Hotlink is as easy as searching for the provider’s kiosk at any point of entry in Malaysia. Outside of the airport, SIM cards and recharge cards can be purchased at any convenience store, bus terminal, newsstand, cell phone shop or mall in Malaysia.
Balance Check: To check your phone number, look at your Hotlink SIM card package or dial * 139 # to have your phone display the number for your reference.
To check the remaining balance on your SIM car, dial * 122 # for your phone to display the balance available to you.
Dialing * 100 # invokes an “Easy Menu” that allows you to take advantage of a wide variety of Hotlink-specific services, from buying more value to surfing the Internet to checking your voicemail. To check the status of your mobile Internet, for example, dial * 100 #, choose “Internet and settings”, then “Mobile Internet”, then select “Status”.
Top-up: You can buy reusable top-up cards called “tickets” anywhere Hotlink SIMs are sold. Follow the instructions on the back to add (“reload”) the stored value to your SIM card.
Surfing the Internet with Maxis Hotlink
When you buy your Hotlink SIM card at the airport, the staff will set up your phone for immediate access to the Internet. Internet usage is measured in gigabytes downloaded; If you are a heavy Internet user, you can “top-up” GB on your SIM card as you go. To know the recharge values and their cost, visit the Hotlink page for more details.
My experience with Hotlink was not exhaustive: I used my SIM card in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, two highly urbanized cities with excellent GSM coverage. (I imagine a fair test of Hotlink’s capabilities should include trips to the darkest and deepest Sabah in Borneo, or through one of Malaysia’s national parks.) Internet speeds were quite good, exceeding 2mbps in Kuala Lumpur city center. (Read more: Top Ten Reasons to Visit Malaysia)
Depending on the model of your phone, Hotlink allows the connection between the phone and the laptop; I found this extremely useful when working in areas where WiFi was not available.
Calling home with Maxis Hotlink
While calling abroad with Maxis Hotlink is still relatively expensive if you simply dial the other party directly, telecommunications offers a cheaper alternative to users looking to update people at home about the trip.
Maxis’ 132 call service charges are based on individual 30-second blocks; Calling the continental US using this scheme costs MYR 0.07 (2 US cents) for 30 seconds. To get these cheap rates for calls abroad, dial 132 00 (country code) (area code) (phone number). Phone calls are somewhat choppy but legible. As you will be charged for each 30 second block, you will pay the total of MYR 0.07 even for a 15 second call home.
The detail of the Maxis Hotlink prepaid SIM card
Maxis Hotlink is pretty reliable, and visitors limiting their trips to Malaysia’s busiest tourist trails will find no reason to complain. Calls abroad are cheap (assuming calls are made using 132 service) and internet speeds can be quite fast in Malaysian city centers. While Hotlink is slightly more expensive than its rivals in the Malaysian telecom industry, the reliability of service and satisfactory download speeds more than make up for that small stumbling block.
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