The very first thing I look for upon arrival at any international destination — a local SIM Card. Of course theres roaming and my tel-com’s international data plans, but I always find it more convenient to have a local number.

Not every country allows you a local SIM Card (and then I have to rely on wi-fi), but usually most do, and as a travel blogger and social media addict, getting connected on the go is one of the most important things. And, I have a worried mother at home who needs to be assured during most of my travels. So yes, a local SIM Card. Very important.

For travellers arriving in Malaysia, I thought I’d share with you how you can get some pretty good deals for calling, surfing and staying connected while in the country. There are a couple of network operators in Malaysia — but today I’ll be writing about DIGI. There are two prepaid plans available, and passport (details) are needed for registration purposes:-

DIGI Prepaid BEST: Most suitable for travelers, the starter pack costs RM8 and is preloaded with 300MB internet 4G Plus + RM5 credit, valid for 30 days. You also get free 200MB 4G Plus internet with daily usage of RM1. Social messaging is also free.

DIGI Prepaid LIVE: This is for the heavy internet users, the starter pack costs RM12 and is preloaded with 300MB internet + RM8 credit, valid for 7 days. There is also a free 8GB video and music streaming every month, free 100GB cloud storage on Capture app with no Internet charges, and free social messaging.

If you’re staying a little longer in Malaysia, it is good to know about the add-ons available for your prepaid internet plans. The daily, weekly and monthly internet plans start from RM1 for 50MB valid for 1 day, RM4 for 150MB valid for 7 days, to RM28 for 7GB valid for 30 days. If you need more data, there are lots of other options available too. Click here to find out more.

For calls, you can also reload your SIM cards from RM10 (free RM1 internet credit) to RM100 (free RM20 internet credit).

Digi Prepaid Plan Add-On – Unlimited Daily Passes
For further convenience to its users, DIGI has recently introduced the Unlimited Passes for prepaid users to enjoy unlimited talking, surfing and streaming from as low as RM1/day, valid for 24 hours upon activation. 

For RM 1/day, prepaid plan users get a choice of unlimited video streaming (Lite), unlimited social (Lite) or unlimited internet calls via WhatsApp, WeChat and Facebook Messenger.

Unlimited Video Streaming (Lite) – During your downtime in the country, you can catch up on your favourite shows via YouTube, Iflix (Southeast Asia’s version of Netflix), Tonton (Malaysia’s local streaming site), and Viu (Korean drama’s anyone?). It is optimised for Standard Definition videos at 512kbps.

Unlimited Social (Lite) – For the frequent social media and internet users (AND bloggers), this is convenient for surfing, watching videos and chatting on Facebook and your other social sites all day.

Unlimited Internet Calls – And for those that need to call your love ones back home (because it is IMPORTANT to make sure the people back home knows where you are), with this plan, you can make video and voice calls all day via Whatsapp, WeChat and Facebook Messenger.

You can find out more about the add-ons here.

There are times during my travels that I pass the validity of my local SIM card, and because I am not staying much longer in the country, I find it unnecessary to reload my card with long plans that cost a lot, or cheap ones that don’t allow me to surf much. So for international travelers (and of course our Malaysian users as well), cheap and unlimited additional usage is just a click of a button away (okay, maybe a couple of clicks) with DIGI’s newly introduced unlimited daily passes add-on. It can also be a lifesaver especially if you’re running low on your budget and on cash, and you need to stay connected. It’s just RM1!

Hope this helps you with deciding on your prepaid SIM Card during your travels in Malaysia. There are DIGI booths available upon your arrival at all our international airports, just look for the bright yellow ones. This post is accurate at the time of writing (Dec 2016). Happy travels!