While the Apple iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR already have eSIM support, only a small number of Malaysian telcos are currently able to support the feature. Having said that, Maxis is looking to change that scenario next week.

Thanks to Amanz, we now know that Maxis intends to get out support for the eSIM feature starting 25 February, which is tomorrow.

For those up unaware, An eSIM is an embedded SIM within a phone that allows phones to connect to use specific telco services within a country. The feature is useful, negating the need to acquire a physical SIM card whenever traveling to a certain country.

To date, only a specific number of smartphones on the current market are equipped with the feature. The Google Pixel 3, iPhone XS series, and the iPhone XR being just some of the devices fitted with the feature.

In any case, it’s a certainty that we’ll be hearing more about Maxis’ eSIM plans and offers with the iPhones starting tomorrow.

(Source: Amanz)

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Maxis today has announced that the company has begun its first ever live trial for 5G network. Located in Cyberjaya which is also one of the chosen cities for the national-level 5G trial, the telco will be conducting the trial for the next six months.

The live trial is the continuation to the official MoU that the telco has signed with Huawei at Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona last week. Given the short period between the signing and the live trial, it seems that the telco is quite eager to embrace the next generation wireless network.

Maxis has claimed that its 5G network in Cyberjaya has managed to achieve download speed that is close to 3Gbps. The telco’s Chief Technology Office, Morten Bangsgaard stated that Maxis has been assessing 5G tech for the past few years in its test lab.

Morten also pointed out that Maxis has upgraded its transport network and virtualize core network elements in order to support the gigabit speed as well as the flexibility and scalability for the capacity demand of the 5G network.

However, it is not known at the moment when Maxis will allow the public to access its 5G network. Then again, it might be too early to ask that question anyway since the rollout of consumer-level 5G devices in Malaysia could be a while away.

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Opensignal today has released the latest edition of its Mobile Network Experience Report for Malaysia. Using data that the company collected from 1 December 2018 till 28 February 2019, the report is almost based on measurements that were done through almost 750,000 devices.

According to the report, Celcom is leading the way in terms of 4G availability as the telco is apparently able to provide LTE connection to Opensignal users 86.8% of the time. However, that figure is just 3.6% more than Maxis and this case also applies to upload speed as there is only 0.1Mbps gap between them.

Speaking about Maxis, the company is once again leading other telcos when it comes to download speed at 17.9Mbps. Despite being ahead, Opensignal has pointed out that Maxis’ download speed growth was less than 1Mbps as compared to previous report cycle while Celcom has managed to increase its download speed by more than 2Mbps.

Another area that Maxis has proved to be better than other telcos is latency at 47.2ms. That being said, it is being followed closely by Celcom and Unifi at 48.1ms while U Mobile and Digi have latency rating of more than 50ms.

Interestingly, Opensignal has rated Celcom and Maxis as equal when it comes to video experience. Not only that, both telcos are the only companies to receive Good rating in this category while Digi’s rating has positioned it within the Fair class. On another hand, Unifi and U Mobile landed themselves in the Poor side of the spectrum.

As far as this Opensignal report is concerned, it seems that Celcom and Maxis were having a very close fight for the past few months on a national scale. At the same time, it goes without saying that other telcos might want to start improving their performance.

(Source: Opensignal.)

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In a media briefing today, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has revealed the list of telcos that will be putting up their live 5G network at the upcoming 5G showcase in Putrajaya. In fact, some of them already up and running.

According to Gerard Lim, the Chief Office for Digital Industry Development and Commercialisation Sector of MCMC, Celcom and Digi‘s 5G network already went live on 1 April. Maxis, TM, and U Mobile will be deploying their 5G network for the showcase very soon as well.

At the briefing, Celcom representative has also stated that its 5G network deployment for the event is a localized implementation that covered a radius of less than 1km. Utilizing mmWave and C band, the telco’s 5G network for the showcase is delivered through 2 indoor and 2 outdoor base stations.

Other telcos didn’t provide any details regarding their 5G implementation but we generally assumed that it will be no different as well, given the nature of the occasion. The 5G Malaysia Showcase will be taking place at Kompleks Perbadanan Putrajaya and will be opened for public on 20 & 21 April.

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It has come to our attention that Maxis has started to offer SIM card to select Maxis Fibre customers. Through the SIM card, customers will be able to utilize unlimited data, calls, and SMS for free.

According to Maxis’ website, the unlimited usages don’t last forever though as customers are only able to enjoy it until 15 May 2019. At the same time, each customer can choose to have up to 3 trial SIM cards.

If customers like what they have experienced, they then can choose to continue using the SIM card for RM 98 per month. For customers that choose to retain two or three trial SIM cards, they will be charged at RM 98 and RM 128 per month respectively while at the same time, their Share Line fees would be waived for 6 months.

Given what we’ve seen here, this seems like an attempt by the telco to convert Maxis Fibre customers that don’t have a mobile plan with the company into full-fledged MaxisONE Prime customers. All in all, its an interesting move by the company although we are quite curious about the level of its effectiveness though.

(Source: Maxis. Image: SMS – Josh HD // SIM Cards – M Sharizan Nordin. Thanks for the tips, Josh!)

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UPDATE (15 April / 12:50 AM):

Maxis has released an official statement regarding the interruption of its home fibre service:

Some of our customers may have experienced some disruption to their home fibre services. We have been working with our access provider to resolve this and we are pleased to inform that services are now recovering. We would like to apologise to those impacted for the inconvenience.

Maxis didn’t clarify the exact nature of the issue though. We’ll keep you posted if there’s any follow-up statement from the company.

ORIGINAL STORY (14 April / 9:52 PM):

It looks like it was not only Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp that was suffering an outage earlier today. While Facebook Inc’s social and messaging services has since recovered, Maxis Fibre customers across the country are still reporting that their Home Fibre Internet is still experiencing widespread outages.

The outage, which is believed to have started around 6pm is to our understanding, affecting customers all over the Peninsular, as well as Sabah and Sarawak.

The outage is also affecting the Maxis Customer Service Portal at www.maxis.com.my, as well as the MyMaxis App. Customers have also highlighted, via social media channels that their calls to the Maxis Customer Service Line have gone unanswered.

We can’t confirm at this point in time if customers who are on the MaxisONE Prime plan are also affected by this outage.

The post Maxis Fibre Home Internet Is Also Experiencing Outages Across The Country (UPDATED) appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Maxis has just announced that it will be carrying out system upgrade for its Hotlink prepaid services. The upgrade will involve two phases, with the first one has been scheduled to take place on 22 April.

As part of the first phase, some Hotlink prepaid users will not be able to top up, make purchases or use the Hotlink Red app for almost 24 hours. The exact time frame is between 8:30 AM of 22 April to 6:00 AM of 23 April.

In anticipation of the system upgrade, Maxis has advised all Hotlink customer to top up their Hotlink credit and buy Internet passes in advanced. The telco will also send SMS to their customers as a reminder.

So, if you’ve received an SMS informing you to top up earlier, you should do just that. You should also make sure that any subscription services that you pay for using your Hotlink balance are not expiring within the said time frame.

(Source: Maxis)

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Seems like there is another round of fibre price war might be going on. Just mere days after TM begins to offer unifi 300Mbps plan, it turns out that Maxis is about to offer the same type of plan too.

Not only that, there are also 500Mbps and 800Mbps plans too which is something that the company has promised last year. Check out the leaked brochure below:

Aside from the pricing, another interesting thing to note about these Maxis Fibre plan is the addition of Mesh Wi-Fi. While details behind this particular offering are not yet known for the time being, it is likely that Maxis will be using Wi-Fi optimization as part of its marketing strategy for Maxis Fibre which is something that the company already been doing through Maxperts.

According to Amanz which is the source for this leak, these new Maxis Fibre plans are expected to be launched next week. We’ll keep you posted once we hear more from Maxis.

(Source: Amanz)

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After they were leaked out a few days ago, the three new Maxis Fibre plans are now official. They were confirmed by the telco after the company updated its website earlier today.

Here is how the current line up of Maxis Fibre offerings looks like with the addition of the three new plans:

In general, it is identical to the table that was leaked last weekend. With one exception though: we now know that the mesh Wi-Fi extender that Maxis is offering to the 30Mbps, 100Mbps, and 300Mbps is priced at RM 300 per unit.

Made by a company called AirTies, the Air 4830 wireless mesh extender can also be purchased by non-Maxis customers at the same price. On another hand, Maxis Fibre 500Mbps and 800Mbps customers will receive two units for free.

For further information regarding the three new Maxis Fibre plans as well as the AirTies wireless mesh extender, check out Maxis’ official website.

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Maxis and Malaysia Airlines have officially entered into a partnership. The collaboration between the telco and national carrier will last for a year, with plans to provide Maxis and Hotlink customers with some enticing deals, announced over several campaigns.

For the first campaign, which kicked off on 29 April and ends on 13 May 2019, both Maxis and Hotlink customers will be able to enjoy discounts on flight tickets – domestic and international – as high as 55%. Tickets purchased via discounts must then be used within the alotted travel period. From 29 April 2019 until 31 March 2020.

All Maxis customers need to do in order to enjoy this deal is to download and log on to the MyMaxis, Hotlink RED, Hotlink Flex, or MyMaxis Biz apps, which are available via Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Upon logging in, simply tap on the Deals section, select the “Malaysia Airlines Ultimate Travelicious Deals”, and download the promo code.

Besides the Malaysia Airline Ultimate Travelicious Deals, Maxis and Malaysia Airlines are also offering an MHexplorer Student Travel Programme. Maxis and Hotlink From now until March 2020, customers who sign up for the program will stand a chance to win flight tickets to Bali, Tokyo, Seoul, or Osaka.

Maxis also announced that starting from the second half of the 2019, the telco will announce exclusive deals for Maxis and Hotlink customer via the MH MObile App. Lucky recipients will be able to enjoy up to 30% on flight tickets to any destinations, be it domestic or international locations.

(Source: Maxis [1] [2] [3])

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For those who have visited the Maxis Centre in The Gardens Mall recently, you may have noticed that it has a different look to it now. This is because Maxis has given it a new face, and a new name – the Maxis Concept Store.

As part of the new face, the company also promises a brand new customer experience. And this means the elimination of the customer service counter. You might wonder then, what does a customer do when they step into the store?

The answer to this is the Maxis Interactive Retail Assistant (M.I.R.A). She’s essentially Maxis’ own virtual assistant, who takes your queue number, and directs a Maxis staff to assist you. Alternatively, customers can also head to one of the many experience zones and request for assistance via the phones on display. Essentially, Maxis wants you to explore the store and see what it has to offer, in addition to helping you with the purpose of your visit.

Also, in an effort to expand the customer experience beyond phones, the Maxis Concept Store will also stock accessories for phones, from casings to audio equipment. The telco also has a partnership with Razer, so you can get not only the Razer Phone 2, but other peripherals from the brand.

Maxis says that this concept store will also be used to measure the feasibility of applying this new concept to other major stores. Beyond the major stores, the smaller ones will also be adopting elements from the concept store.

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It is an essential part of Hari Raya celebration but not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to experience the Takbir. In conjunction with this year’s Aidilfitri, Maxis has unveiled an app called Deria Takbir that is designed to allow the hearing-impaired users to participate in the prayers.

To make sure that the app is able to meet the needs of the hearing-impaired community, Maxis has collaborated with the Malaysian Federation of the Deaf together with the Islamic Affairs Officer and Imam of Masjid Ara Damansara, Ustaz Mohammad Khairul Mohd Lias.

Taking advantage of the accessibility features within iPhone, the Deria Takbir app works by converting sound in real-time to cymatic visual patterns and haptic feedback which allows users to experience the rhythm and melody of the Takbir alongside its verses. The app also includes a separate section that contains an audio recital of the Takbir as well as a list of selected daily prayers in another section.

In addition to the app, Maxis has also released a short film called “Deria Takbir Raya” that helps demonstrate the app in a huge and touching way. Featuring an actual hearing-impaired boy named Faiz, the short film was produced with input from the deaf community just like the Deria Takbir app itself.

Available for free, the Deria Takbir app can be downloaded immediately from the iOS App Store. For more information, head on to Maxis’ official website.

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Update 6.27pm – Larni Bharatan has confirmed via @MaxisListens as well as via her personal twitter handle @Larni08 that she is fine and was not responsible for the viral tweet earlier today.

Hi everyone, I'd like to clear the air, the tweet about me and Alvin is not true. We are investigating the matter. Btw, Alvin & I have a great working relationship! – Larni

— Maxis (@MaxisListens) May 27, 2019

@MaxisListens Hi everyone, I'd like to clear the air, the tweet about me and Alvin is not true. We are investigating the matter. Btw, Alvin & I have a great working relationship! – Larni

— Larni Bharatan (@Larni08) May 27, 2019

— Original Story follows —

The Malaysian Twitterverse went into overdrive today after a tweet made on the official Maxis twitter account @MaxisListens, by someone claiming to be it’s Social Media Team Lead Larni Bharatan, went viral.

The tweet which has been since deleted was however captured by Twitter users and was trending at the #2 position on the Twitter Malaysia Trends, barely an hour after first being posted. Most of the comments were in a show of support for Larni.

We have reached out to Maxis to verify whether this was indeed a genuine rant from a  disgruntled staff, or if their social media account has been compromised.

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Maxis has announced that MaxisONE and MaxisONE Prime customers can now obtain smartphones for the MaxisONE Share lines under their account. Since such customers are allowed to have up to four Share lines depending on their respective plan, this means they can now obtain up to five devices for the whole family.

Specifically, the devices for MaxisOne Share lines are provided through the telco’s Zerolution program. For those who not familiar with Zerolution, it is an instalment program that allows customers to obtain some of the latest devices without any cash upfront and even without a credit card.

The 24-month instalment program also comes with 0% interest. There is a wide range of smartphones that are available through the Zerolution plan for MaxisONE Share line holders including Apple’s iPhone XS Max, Black Shark 2, Huawei P30 Pro, Vivo V15, Xiaomi Mi 9, and many more.

Each MaxisONE Share line will also receive 20GB of data alongside unlimited calls and SMS on the respective devices. There is also access to Maxis Deals on MyMaxis app as well as free roaming through the ASEAN region via the FamilyRoam pass.

For more information, just head on to Maxis’s official website.

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Ministry of Education (MoE) has announced that the role of the Internet service provider (ISP) for more than 10,000 schools throughout Malaysia will be taken over by new companies starting this July. This is due to the fact that the government will not be renewing its 7-years contract with YTL Communications’ 1BestariNet which will end on 30 June 2019.

According to the media statement, MOE has chosen Celcom, Maxis, and TM to become ISP for these schools. At the same time, they will also be responsible for Internet connection to selected departments within the ministry as well as 366 Pusat Kegiatan Guru nationwide.

However, this deal will only last for six months as the ministry is now currently in the look for the next long-term ISP which is expected to begin its tenure starting from 1 January 2020. MOE didn’t clarify within its announcement today whether these three companies are being considered for that role or otherwise.

Since MOE’s previous contract with 1Bestarinet also inclusive of the virtual learning environment (VLE) called Frog VLE, the ministry has also stated that it will be replacing the said VLE with Google Classroom. Despite the new arrangement though, the YTL subsidiary that was responsible for Frog VLE, FrogAsia has stated in its official website that the VLE will continue to be available for schools that want to continue using them.

(Source: Ministry of Education // FrogAsia.)

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YTL Communications, the folks behind Yes 4G and 1Bestarinet today has released a statement regarding the recent termination of contract by the Ministry of Education (MoE). In general, this particular statement provides its side of the story and claimed that the ministry has breached its contractual obligations.

Not only that, YTL Communications also claimed that MoE has apparently said that the Government has no budget to deliver Internet services at schools and asked the company to provide them for free. Despite YTL Communications’ willingness to do so, MoE still ended up choosing to pay TM, Celcom, and Maxis as its interim ISPs.

The statement from YTL is quite long-winded, hence it is much easier to see its contents through a chronological manner:

July 2018: MoE announced that a new tender for ISPs will be opened in early 2019.

YTL Communications pointed out in today’s statement that MoE at that time has confirmed that the company will not be excluded from the new tender.

23 April 2019: MoE meets up with ISPs including YTL Communications, TM, Celcom, Maxis and few other companies that were not mentioned in the statement.

YTL Communications claimed that during this meeting MoE has stated that it is not ready to call for a tender at the moment and expects that it only able to do so after 6 months.

Consecutively, MoE has requested for YTL Communication to continue providing Internet to schools for free during the interim period until the ministry has completed its tender process.   

31 May 2019: YTL Communications submitted a letter to MoE in which the company has agree to provide Internet services and access to Frog VLE for free during the interim period. No response was received from MoE.

A copy of letter was published by YTL on its corporate website [PDF].

27 June 2019:MoE announced that it has chosen TM, Celcom, and Maxis as the interim ISPs and is moving away from Frog VLE to Google Classroom starting on 1 July 2019. The ministry also stated that it is currently in the look for new long-term ISP to serve schools throughout Malaysia starting from 1 January 2020.

According to YTL Communications, this announcement was done without its knowledge. Additionally, the company also claimed that the Government has to pay the three chosen ISPs for Internet services even though YTL Communications already agree to provide for free.

Given the strong claims that YTL Communications has laid down in its statement, it seems that the company is ready to face MoE aggresively regarding the whole 1Bestarinet situation. While it still depends on how MoE will react to this, it is likely that we are going to be in one heck of a ride.

(Source: YTL Corporation Berhad.)

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Just around a month ago, Maxis has announced that users on supplementary line which is also officially known as MaxisONE Share line can now obtained a phone of their own via the Zerolution installment plan. The telco has since sweetened the plan by offering two phones for the price of one.

Of course, not all phones are available through this offer which is time limited according to the telco. Nevertheless, all the phones available through the offer are 2019 models.

As shown above, the phones that being offered by Maxis through this deal includes Samsung Galaxy S10e, OPPO Reno, Vivo V15 Pro, and the newly released Samsung Galaxy A80. While each of these phones might have different monthly fee, the principal line holder must sign up or already a subscriber of MaxisONE Plan 188 or MaxisONE Plan 155 in order to enjoy the offer.

For further details, just head on to Maxis’ official website.

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For those going through extremely rough patches in life, the Befrienders can be a lifesaver. That said, calls to its helpline are charged just as calls to any other number is. That’s set to change next week, according to an announcement by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

The MCMC is working with eight telcos to waive call charges made to the Befrienders helpline. The telcos are Celcom, Digi, Maxis, Telekom Malaysia, TIME, U Mobile, Webe Digital and Yes 4G. Calls made to the Befrienders through these telcos will be free of charge starting 1 August 2019.

For those who don’t know who the Befrienders are, it’s a non-profit organisation that has been around since 1970. The Befrienders provide 24-hour emotional support to all who are in a bad state in life, and in need of a listening ear. Its services are free, will cost even less once the call charge is waived.

If you’re in a situation where you think you may need a listening ear, then you can call the Befrienders KL at 03-7956 8145. While it’s the only one its helpline open 24 hours everyday, there are Befrienders in other states as well, including Penang, Perak, Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan. If you prefer, there’s also an email option, with the address being sam@befrienders.org.my.

(Source: MCMC, Befrienders Penang. Image: Befrienders Kuching)

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Maxis today has announced a rather interesting update to its network which the company dubbed as the Maxis A.I Network. If you think that name is a reference to artificial intelligence, it is indeed the case but of course, there’s more to the story.

In order to cater to the increasing demand of data from consumers as well as the imminent arrival of the 5G technology, Maxis apparently has merged its fibre and mobile network into one giant superhighway with multiple alternative routes. To make sure that the superhighway is able to deliver data without any hiccups, the telco has also implemented a smart network traffic control system into it.

According to Maxis, the system is able to predict potential network spikes based on previous data and automatically reroute the traffic to guarantee enough bandwidth and uninterrupted connectivity in anticipation of such incidents. This smart prediction capability is also implemented on multiple points throughout the telco’s network to ensure low network latency which is one of the key characteristics of 5G technology.

Maxis has also utilized artificial intelligence together with drones to keep its network towers in check with the help of the newest additions to the telco’s network team, Project SkyEye. Essentially, SkyEye involves the usage of industrial-grade DJI Matrice 200 series drone which would capture footages of the telco’s network tower and send them over to its AI-based diagnostic system.

Over there, the system will not only look for signs of structural damages through these footages but also provides a recommendation on related preventive measures. Since both the drone and AI-based diagnostic system can perform their job much faster than human, it is quite clear that Project SkyEye is designed to improve the efficiency of Maxis’ network team.

Aside from these implementations, another way that Maxis made sure that it is ready for the 5G era is by having the widest fibre-optic footprint to mobile base stations in the country. To learn more about Maxis A.I Network, check out the videos above or visit the telco’s official website.

(Source: Maxis.)

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Astro and Maxis today has announced that they have partnered together to offer an all-in-one broadband and content package called Astro & Broadband. Available starting from today onwards, it is available with two speed options: 30Mbps and 100Mbps.

According to Astro’s official website, the Astro & Broadband package offers total savings of up to RM 720 over the period of 24-month. The exact rebate that customers able to obtain ranges from RM 5 to RM 25 per month and depends on the type of the Astro content pack that they choose.

Here is the breakdown of the said rebate:

For existing Astro customers, they can add the broadband option into their current subscription for as low as RM 69 for 30Mbps and RM 99 for 100Mbps, depending on their existing content packs and Auto Debit preferences. Do note that the Astro & Broadband package comes with a 24-month contract duration.

Maxis has also stated that higher speed options will also be offered in the near future which is not exactly a surprise since the company currently offers fibre package up to 800Mbps to MaxisONE customers. However, the exact rollout schedule for these options was not revealed in today’s announcement.

While the details above might seem rather straight forward, there are still a lot more to them in this lengthy FAQ document (PDF) at Astro’s official website. So, make sure that you go through and understand every single detail before moving forward.

(Source: Astro / Maxis.)

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