That's of course, true. But then, I know many people who have become heavy downloaders due to the availability of torrents.

But the main point is the consumer's relationship with Singtel itself. Singtel can always send you a bill saying that you have exceeded 50gb and ask you to pay for the excess. How are you going to argue with them if their records show that you have used more than 50gb?

And don't think this doesn't happen. All you have to do is listen to the morning call-in talk shows on radio (eg. 93.8 fm) and hear what the callers have to say. Recently they had a show about Singapore power and how some consumers' electricity consumption had impossibly doubled, tripled and quadrupled - but they had to pay anyway as they can never keep an independent record of their electricity consumption which can stand up as evidence against the meter reading.

Not long ago, Singtel sued a customer for S$20+K for going over his 10GB limit (before it became 50GB late last year). IIAM, the guy proved that he was out of the country for most of the month (and the max bandwidth x remaining days < 10gb) - but that was no defense as Singtel said someone else (eg his kids, wife, friends etc) could have used his computer and/or simcard. Bottom line is that whatever the corp giant says you've used, you've used. No argument.

Now Singtel has an online usage monitor on a webpage. Key in your simcard phone number and it'll show your month to date usage. I always take screen shots of it, just in case.

That's the page I use. Not sure what the issue is for you though.

Ummm, use the 'search' function?

The search allows you to search for individual posts, within a thread - using a keyword.

True, the search function only allows you to limit the search to with forum categories, rather than individual threads - but with the judicious use of some obvious keywords: 'rent, hdb, flats, www, singapore' etc - I think you'll find what you need.

My experience is S$1:RM1. Others in this thread have quoted slightly less. But I think if you set your expectations at S$0.9:RM1, you won't be very far off.

Press reported that SMU survey of its graduates showed that a high percentage got more than 3K, with the highest few tipping 10K.

I wonder who'd be insane enough to pay 10K for a fresh grad from a local U?...

I mean if that chap is so damn good that you, as an employer, would feel irresistibly compelled to hand him 10K a month, even though he has never done a day of work in his life and is totally unproven - logic dictates that such an overwhelmingly superior individual would have been scouted & spotted long ago, and given a scholarship to Oxbridge, Ivy League, MIT or Stanford during his high school, JC or undergrad days. How come he was stuck, virtually unnoticed & ignored at a backwater uni like SMU, for years until some employer suddenly discovers this, unpolished diamond of a talent?

There's currently 118 pages of experience in this thread alone for you to explore, and judge for yourself. The answers lie within.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jul 31 2008, 08:40 AM

Fair enough, the primary point being 'with working experience'.

If those people were earning like 9K before they graduated, and they get 10K after graduation, I can accept that. That's realistic enough.

But the way the media presented the survey, there was nothing to suggest that those SMU graduates might not have been newly employed fresh graduates. In fact the press compared those numbers to the 'starting or entry level' salaries of various industries in Singapore.

Hmmm... I seem to always have a different experience. Most of the Singaporeans I work with are quite used to taking orders from Malaysians... hehe. And the Singaporeans I meet socially, most of them are quite okay. Not much different from meeting someone from Malaysia. There are some good, some bad - obviously.

Aiyo, how many times do we have to explain that this is only half the story?

The other half of the story, that folks like you always conveniently forget, is that if you earn RM1000 in KL, you'll most probably earn S$1000 in SG. Tell me, who is more well off? The chap who earns RM1000 paying RM1.20 for a coke (0.12% of salary) or the chap who earns S$1000 paying S$0.80 (0.08%)? In actual fact, 0.12% is 50% higher than 0.08%. So according to your coke example, the real cost of living in Malaysia is 50% higher than Singapore.

How much do you pay for a room in KL? When I was studying in Taylors College more than 10 years ago, I paid RM500/month for a BACK ROOM in SS15. My classmate paid RM250/month for the damn storeroom under the stairs.

Secondly, how much savings from your RM salary do you have at the end of the month?

How much S$ savings do your friends in Singapore have at the end of the month?

If after 10 years, your friends bring their S$ savings back to Malaysia, how much RM will they have in the bank? Comparatively, how much RM will you have in your bank account?

In KL, you rent a room further from town, but you have to buy a car or a bike. If you tally it all up, isn't the 'cost of accomodation' in KL the sum of both rental, car instalment and petrol?

See... that's the trouble of drawing a conclusion about something as complex as 'cost of living' from a couple of isolated anecdotal examples like the rental for a room and a can of coke.

Again, why complicate the comparison by bringing in something subjective like 'will power'?

Assume the same willpower, same person, same lifestyle, same everything. What would YOU have saved in Sg vs what would YOU have earned in KL over the same period?

At the end of the day, isn't that the question everyone who wants to work overseas, need to ask themselves?

If public transport and a bicycle are realistic options, then Malaysia would not have one the largest car populations per capita outside the OECD.

But there's a fallacy to your argument. You are implying that just because someone in Malaysia has 2nd thoughts about buying RM200 jeans, they will not buy any jeans at all. But this is the wrong assumption to make. The consistent assumption would be that he buys a RM80 pair of jeans.

So, again... who saves more? The person who earn RM1000 and buys a RM80 pair of jeans, or someone who earns S$1000 and buys a S$80 pair of jeans?

Will a Malaysian earning ringgit never buy jeans if he cannot afford Levis?

This post has been edited by seantang: Jul 31 2008, 04:56 PM

All major pharmaceutical MNCs have a regional HQ in Sg. Several have substantial R&D and/or supply chain centers there as well. Pharmaceutical manufacturing is a major high value add industry, substantially promoted by the Sg govt. Hospitals and health care is another growth industry and Sg is actively promoting medical tourism.

Been in Sg 3+years, doing finance. Why do you ask?

If there's any place in the world where the customs is damn connected to the various depts and authorities... it's Singapore. This is the place where over almost all govt and enforcements depts are connected in real time.

If I were you, I wouldn't set foot in Singapore until I clear everything up. I would think of an excuse to get out of travelling to Sg for this meeting of yours. If you get detained at the checkpoint, your company will certainly find out about it when you don't show up for work - and then you would have committed what is known as a career limiting move, by getting arrested travelling on company business.

Maybe arrest wasn't the right word to use because you're right, not paying bills isn't a criminal offense... well, not until they officially declare him a bankrupt and a fugitive of the court. So... detain, most probably.

But I wouldn't put it past Singapore to 'detain' people for 'further action', especially if a police report has been made by the creditors. I mean, this is a country that 'detains' you for not paying your TV license, downloading MP3s, piggybacking your neighbour's wifi, forgetting to pay parking fines etc. Having said that, I could just be paranoid. But then again, who would have thought, not so long ago, that you could be arrested (with handcuffs and sh1t) for simply logging on to an unsecured wifi connection in a public area?

Firstly, there was a previous case (still ongoing) of people being prosecuted for downloading manga. Others can provide more details perhaps.

And secondly, any legal action taken for downloaded content, can ONLY occur if there is SOMEONE who (has legal standing to) complain. Therefore, any action must be initiated by the owner (media, movie/music or software company), or their biz association, distributors, dealers or agent, of that content.

Therefore, it is only safe to download IF you are downloading something that NOBODY (has legal standing to) complain about. This means find something that has no owner, distributor, dealer or agent in the country, to download.

This post has been edited by seantang: Aug 6 2008, 12:57 PM

I take it you don't have a master's degree?

1. Does the next higher job require a degree to do? If it does, then wouldn't the company want to hire someone who can progress to that higher job, from your job?

2. A degree's main purpose is not to give you the operational 'knowledge' or the 'skills' to do a job. It's there to set a standard, a criteria, a ticket to play. A degree is like being 7 feet tall in a community where basketball is the primary job. Being 7 feet tall isn't going to guarantee that you'll be good at basketball, nor does it mean that someone who's less than 7 feet tall can never be good at basketball... but it does mean that on average, with all other things being equal and as a rule of thumb - people who are 7 feet tall are generally going to be more successful at basketball than those who are not.

Wouldn't the company want to hire someone who's 7 feet or more, as they stand the best chance of being successful at basketball?

This post has been edited by seantang: Aug 7 2008, 07:04 PM

MBB's iSavvy and Std Chartered eSaver accounts give the highest interest rates without having to commit the funds to a fixed deposit (> 1%. Many S$ FDs give less than that).

But both are primarily internet and/or phone accounts ie. you pay fees if you use the counter at a branch and no ATM card. So, you use the ibanking to transfer money to your daily account.

MBB however gave me a free debit card linked to the account later on and it's also a convenient way to send money back to Malaysia if you have a Malaysian MBB account.

I use POSB/DBS as my daily account as it's got the most ATMs and branches.

This post has been edited by seantang: Aug 7 2008, 08:37 PM