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“Don’t tell your parents ah, this money for you…” Ah Gong and Ah Ma would whisper as they secretly press an ang bao into your hands each Chinese New Year. Later, as you surreptitiously open the red packet, it’s chock full of $50 bills.
Even now, although you’re well into your 20s, 30s or older, your adorable grandparents still have this habit of spoiling their precious grandchild silly. Not just with their generous ang bao, but also cooking your favourite dishes and pampering you as much as they can.
Yet, alas, it’s tough to reciprocate the gesture. Although you’re no more the precocious 8-year-old and you’re now working to earn your own keep, granny and grandpa refuse to accept the ang baos you try to give them each CNY.
Therefore, it’s time to try a new tactic! Instead of trying to give them cash, why not gift Ah Gong and Ah Ma a prepaid SIM card this CNY?
Let’s check out 6 reasons why they might say “yes” to this.
1. More conversations with family
With everyone’s busy schedules, visits to Popo and Yeye’s house could get less frequent, especially if there’s a looming deadline for an important work project or other family commitments.
One way is to catch up with them via a scheduled phone call every week, or keep your phone lines open to them for ad hoc calls (I’ve overheard a grandmother chatting to her grandson on the phone in the bus, because he wanted to call to tell her about his fun day in school and his new Transformers toy).
Of course, the first order of business is to ensure Ah Gong and Ah Ma have their own mobile phones. Then, bestow upon them the power of up to 1,000 local minutes of talktime and free incoming calls, so that communication becomes more frequent even if you cannot be physically present all the time.
“Ah ma, use this Singtel prepaid SIM, okay? We can chat every few nights and you can call Ah Beng and Ah Lian (your other married siblings) too!”
2. Bond over the latest shows
If grandma and grandpa are into binge-watching the latest Asian movies and dramas, they’ll surely love having a free subscription to Viu Premium, which comes with certain Singtel prepaid SIM plans.
This way, you’ll never run out of topics to chat about, and can “intro” to each other the hottest shows to watch. Even better, you’ll bond over endless discussions over Hyun Bin’s abs and dashing good looks (okay, maybe not for Ah Gong), Charlene Choi’s cool character in Police Tactical Unit, rant and rail over evil villains, hype over the latest Asian movies, and even brush up on your own Cantonese dialect skills.
You can even watch the episodes together when you’re visiting — Grandpa’s running commentary is always comedy gold. Someone, bring out the popcorn and melon seeds!
3. Teach them to TikTok
Help Ah Gong and Ah Ma flaunt their unique style or dole out their signature advice on camera, with the help of social media such as TikTok (the dance challenges can ensure they stay active too).
Show them their peers who have hit the big time, such as the 93-year-old Fran the Hip Gram from Florida, or this 84-year-old fashion icon who has more swag than my whole circle of friends put together.
If not, there’s always the world of WhatsApp, so that they can regularly “Apps you” those good morning images while you keep them updated with all the family happenings — or just to keep them in the know of possible scams they have to look out for such as this misleading FairPrice vouchers flyer.
It costs nothing too, as bundled with their Singtel prepaid SIM card, gramps and grannykins get free data for their WhatsApp, WeChat and Line use, and up to 10GB local data.
4. Keep them protected
On that note about sharing scam warnings with your grandparents, protect them in another way with the free insurance included with the Singtel prepaid SIM card.
Yup, just as Ah Gong and Ah Ma showered you with much care when you were young, it’s now your turn to protect them. A free 30-day insurance from Income is included with their purchase of the Singtel prepaid SIM card or with a top-up of $30 or more.
This covers and includes:
- Job loss after hospitalisation benefit
- Permanent disability
- Accidental death
- Daily hospital income
- Get well benefit
5. Seniors get extra perks
You know how much they love a good deal, and yes — seniors get more with Singtel prepaid SIM’s $15 Ultimate Plan (60+).
Here’s a quick comparison of how much better their plan is:
| Singtel prepaid SIM plan | $15 Ultimate Plan | $15 Ultimate Plan (60+) |
| Local data | 5GB | 10GB + free data (WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE) |
| Local talktime | 500 minutes | 1,000 minutes |
| Local SMS | 100 | 200 |
| Incoming calls | Free | Free |
| Viu Premium | N/A | Free movies |
| Insurance | N/A | Free |
6. Get more Huat with free LUCKYCAT totebag and lucky SIM numbers
In addition, Ah Gong and Ah Ma can receive even more huat this CNY (aside from the benefit of having you as their grandchild, heh heh) as they can get a free LUCKYCAT totebag (2 limited-edition designs, while stocks last).
One more reason to huat is to get a free Singtel prepaid lucky SIM number (worth $1,070) if you buy the $15 Ultimate plan at any Singtel Shop. The free prepaid SIM comes with easy to remember or auspicious numbers. All you have to do is get them a new hi! SIM Card or top up with the $15 Ultimate Plan.
As for the LUCKYCAT tote bag, simply buy a new hi! SIM Card or top up with the $15 5GB or $35 60GB Ultimate Plan. Head online or drop by any Singtel Shop, Singtel Exclusive Retailer, Singtel mRemit, 7-Eleven, Sheng Siong supermarket, or PRIME NTU supermarket to bring home your free LUCKYCAT tote bags from now till 28 February 2022 before it runs out.
Having a Singtel prepaid SIM also means there’s no bill shock, no contract, no pay-per-use charges — they only pay for what they use… so good right? And they’ll be on Singapore’s #1 network to boot… no poor reception when they’re trying to tell you something important or missing out specific deets about their food requests!
Get Ah Gong and Ah Ma their Singtel prepaid SIM cards here.