[Update 18/11/2015]: Celcom has launched two of their latest plans, FIRST Blue and FIRST Gold. As a result of that, the telco has also removed all previous plans. Digi has also updated their SmartPlan with the addition of Digi SmartPlan 238. Maxis also removed SurfMore 75 and introduced MaxisGO.
[Update 11/5/2015]: A lot has happened since our last update. Almost all the telcos have new plans up their sleeves for the year, so hit the break to check them out.
[Update 26/12/2014]: We’ve added Celcom’s new postpaid plans with Optimiser to the list.
[Update 21/8/2014]: Since that quite a lot has changed over the past few months since posting this article, here’s an update to reflect all those changes. Maxis has removed most of its older postpaid plans and replaced them with an all new MaxisONE Plans that gives “limitless” calls and SMS from as low as RM78 a month. Celcom also renamed its data plans to the Celcom First One for those who complained about how the MaxisONE plans have too little data. Finally, DiGi added new iDiGi plans that are streamlined with its existing Smart Plan postpaid plans.
Just a little reminder, none of these plans are tied to any contract. Contract only applies for phone bundles, or when the telco gives you an extra discount for signing up for a contract. Otherwise, you will be free to change your plans anytime you want.
Hit the break to check out the changes.
There are four major telcos here in Malaysia that offers postpaid voice and messaging services along with data – Maxis, Celcom, DiGi and U Mobile. Each of these telcos have their own rates for different video and voice calls/SMS/MMS and data that are catered for different people in the market, so which one is best suited for your usage? We’ve compiled a list of all the plans offered by each of these telcos so if you want to subscribe to a postpaid line or simply wish to port to a different telco, look no further. These rates are the latest ones offered by these four telcos, which includes the latest plans from DiGi (the new SmartPlan plans with 4G LTE), as well as U Mobile’s latest Unlimited plans.
Celcom
[Update 18/11/2015]: With the arrival of the FIRST Blue and FIRST Gold plans, all previous Celcom plans have been removed. Yes, including the optimiser featured plans. That being said, Celcom subscribers who already are on these plans will continue to enjoy these features indefinitely. For new customers who wish to join Celcom, they only have two choices.
FIRST Blue has a monthly commitment fee of RM45 that comes with 6GB of internet, a combination of 2GB quota, 2GB Celcom WiFi and 2GB mobile data to be distributed equally on weekends. FIRST Gold, however, has a monthly commitment fee of RM100 and it comes with 12GB. That comprises of a 4GB internet quota, 4GB Celcom WiFi and 4GB mobile data (1GB/weekend). These new plans do have free calls and free SMS allocated, but once it is used up, the rates would be 20 sen/min/SMS rather than the 15 sen or 10 sen/min/SMS found on the older First Basic plans.
On top of that, these plans no longer have the Optimiser feature where Celcom would give users free additional internet, calls and sms when the original allocated ones were used up. Furthermore, FIRST Blue and Gold subscribers will also receive 6 months and 12 months of free unlimited music streaming respectively. This is not Spotify or Apple, but Celcom’s very own music streaming service called Yonder. More on it after the service’s launch.
Celcom’s official website does have the FIRST Blue and Gold available, but customers might see traces of their previous plans still on the site.
[Update 11/05/2015] Over the past few months, Celcom made some pretty awesome changes to its plans. They updated their optimiser for First Basic 85 and First Elite, to offer even more data or up to unlimited number of calls and SMS, depending on your usage. Things got even better when they launched a new plan at only RM38 for up to 3GB of data, 50minutes free calls and 50 free SMS. Called the Celcom First Basic 38, the plan was initially reported to have a speed cap on the data, but the cap mysteriously vanished during our tests. This means that you can enjoy the best of Celcom for only RM38! The 3GB of internet + 3GB of Wi-Fi is only available during promotion period. After that, it will return to the usual 2GB internet + 2GB Wi-Fi.
[Update 26/12/2014] Finally, to end the year, Celcom recently introduced new postpaid plans to follow the trend with fixed number of call minutes, SMS and data. The older Celcom First plans have now been replaced with two plans – Celcom First Basic and Celcom First Elite. Both plans comes with a fixed number of call minutes/SMS and internet quota but if you exceed those limits, depending on what you use, Celcom will automatically add on more completely free of charge.
Called Optimiser, if you’re a heavy internet user, Celcom will add on more data for you to use, but if you use more calls and SMS, the telco will automatically allocate more of those for you for free. Should you finish those quota, you’ll be charged at a pay as you use rate so for heavy internet users, you’ll need to monitor your usage closely because you will not be throttled or disconnected when you exceed your quota. for voice and SMS, and as for internet, you’ll be disconnected from the internet so you’ll need to send an SMS to request for more data (PPU or Max Up/Max Up All). Thanks @scamboy for notifying us!
No longer available
However, if you finish using up both quotas, you can opt to purchase more with the new add-on plans from Celcom called Max Up and Max Up All. Currently called Volume Purchase under the supposedly removed First One Plan, we’ll update this when it’s changed.
Maxis
I would say Maxis has got the most complicated postpaid plans but who could blame them? They’ve been around for so many years and some of the old postpaid plans from my mum’s era are still available. The new ones are in the table right below, and I think Maxis has done it right by offering different plans for different users – sign up for TalkMore if you make a lot of calls, or sign up for SurfMore if you use data more than anything else.
[Update: 20/8/2015]: Maxis has also refreshed its MaxisONE plans and introduced a new MaxisGO plan. Not only that, Maxis also has the SurfMore 50 plan, giving subscribers a total of 6 postpaid plans to choose from.
*Get extra 1GB for 6 months (valid until 30 November 2015)
**Get extra 1GB for 4 months during the promo period.
On top of the data, calls and SMS bundled with the plans, Maxis does include additional benefits with their plans. For MaxisGO, they receive an additional 1GB of off-peak data for use between 2am and 7am everyday. On the other hand, SurfMore 50 has a more affordable data add-on option at RM15 for 1GB. This is half of the price Maxis is asking for for the rest of its plans. Not to mention, the pay per use charges are pretty expensive at 20 sen/min and 15 sen/SMS to other networks.
Not only that, Maxis brings Spotify Premium to its MaxisONE plan subscribers for free. This means they have access to a Spotify Premium account (worth RM15/month) which removes all ads and data charges. MaxisONE plans also come with unlimited social chat on chat apps like Whatsapp, WeChat, Line and Facebook. Once your high-speed quota is used up, you are still able to chat, it’s just that sending images or videos might be slower than usual.
That’s not all. Maxis also allows its MaxisONE plan subscribers to opt for the new Zerolution plan. Essentially, Zerolution allows subscribers to bring home the device of their choice with zero upfront, zero interest and “zero 24 months contract”.
[Update: 11/5/2015] If you think that MaxisONE plan lite that costs RM78 a month is too expensive, just two months ago, the telco introduced a new cheaper postpaid plan – MaxisONE plan Start. At only RM58 a month, it comes with 100MB data, and limitless on-net calls and SMS.
Maxis’ postpaid plans have been getting more and more expensive, especially for heavy data users. With the removal of SurfMore75, the next best data plan to sign up for is SurfMore50, but watch your data usage, because data add-on for Surfmore50 can be pretty expensive. On Maxis’ website, it shows that 1GB of data costs RM25 while 2GB costs RM35.
However, a quick check at Mobile Internet Passes section for my SurfMore50 account via MyMaxis app shows that a one time 1GB pass costs a whopping RM48, 500MB for RM38. As for SurfMore Monthly Quota 1GB, it’s RM35 for 1GB, and RM28 for 200MB. There are also Volume passes at 500MB for RM25, 100MB for RM18 and 50MB for RM10.
Finally, we can’t seem to find TalkMore in the telco’s postpaid page anymore. However, a quick search will bring you to the TalkMore page and interestingly, an FAQ section called “Removal TalkMore”.
There are questions such as “Why I can’t find the TalkMore plans info from Maxis website?”, but the answer to the questions are all empty. Will Maxis remove the TalkMore plans in the near future? Maybe, but for now, these are the rest of the postpaid plans they are currently offering on top of the MaxisONE plans.
[Update: 21/8/2014]
Finally, Maxis has decided to simplify its postpaid voice plans, removing most of the old ones and replacing them with two new simple and straightforward plans – MaxisONE plans. Forget trying to calculate the minutes and SMS you’ve used, the new MaxisONE plans comes with “limitless” calls and SMS, allowing you to talk and text for as much as you want from as low as RM78 a month.
If you think that 2GB of data is too little, you can always add on more with Data Booster Packs from as low as RM10 for 200MB.
Valid as of 11 May 2015
Monthly data add-ons for MaxisONE plans
If you’re a heavy internet user, the new MaxisONE plans are without a doubt on the expensive side, especially when you have to pay a whopping RM30 to add on a mere 1GB of data. That said, the existing Maxis SurfMore50 and SurfMore75 plans are still available though, not for long. During the launch of MaxisONE, we were told that that they will be killing off these SurfMore plans and replacing them with data-only plans somewhere around September.
[Update 11/5/2015] As of 29 January 2015, Maxis has removed its SurfMore75 plan.
Finally, if you’re a really light mobile user, the cheaper TalkMore plans are still available for subscription as well – TalkMore28 and TalkMore48 though, if you wish to sign up for a device bundle with these plans, you will not be able to do so because Maxis has already revamped its device bundles to MaxisONE plans only.
These plans are still available as of 11 May 2015
Maxis iPhone Plans:
Maxis iPhone Plans, available for iPhone bundles only. Check out the full price comparison for telco bundled iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C in this link.
Others:
- Share ‘n’ Surf – Share your internet quota with up to 5 additional devices at RM15/additional SIM card/month. Only available for data plans of 2GB and above.
- SurfMore75 comes with extra 2GB of data for free only for Astro on the Go users (but only to access Astro on the Go)
- Spotify Premium subscription for only RM10/month instead of RM15/month for Maxis subscribers
- Some subscriptions even come with free storage on Maxis Loker
- Cheaper rates if you surpass certain usage a month
- Update 11/5/2015 – MaxisONE Share, free Spotify Premium for MaxisONE subscribers and Chromecast with Maxis
DiGi
DiGi has by far the simplest and most straightforward postpaid plans in the market with five SmartPlans catered for its users. There is an iDiGi plan as well but it’s only catered for iPhone phone bundles only so let’s not go into that.
[Updated 18/11/2015]: Few months later, Digi revamped its postpaid offerings. The company has added a SmartPlan 238 to its Digi SmartPlan (refer table below). Not to mention, they also introduced a limited-time offer (ends 30 November 2015) for its latest Digi SmartPlan. It comes in three packages, RM25, RM45 and RM65, and gives 1GB, 2GB and 3GB of data respectively. It offers various call and SMS bundles with extra services like Music Freedom, Capture and Unlimited Whatsapp and WeChat.
[Updated 11/5/2015] About a year later, Digi yet again revised its postpaid plans to bring even more value for its subscribers. Gone are the data plans that sounds like a lot, but in actual fact are split into two – Smart Apps and Internet usage. The new plans from Digi comes in two options catered for different users – High Voice or High Data.
Similar to Celcom’s plans with Optimiser, whether you’re a heavy voice user or a heavy data user, Digi has just the plan for you. Its SmartPlan 50/78/108/148 remains the same, but each of these plans now has two options. Check out our older post for the details. Now, there is also a SmartPlan 238 for the power users.
Click on image for larger version. Check out the older plans in this link
This definitely makes a lot more sense than its older plans. To top things up, there are also extra benefits such as unlimited WeChat and WhatsApp, Free Music Freedom or Free Facebook.
[Update 21/8/2014] DiGi also updated its iPhone plans, streamlining them with the existing postpaid plans. The telco also added a much more affordable option of only RM50 a month.
DiGi iPhone Plans, available for iPhone bundles only. Check out the full price comparison for telco bundled iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C in this link.
Others:
U Mobile
Interestingly, U Mobile is both the cheapest and most expensive postpaid telco in Malaysia. It’s cheap because it offers 1GB of data for only RM28 and it even comes with free SMS. At the same time, t’s also the most expensive because its call and SMS rates are the most expensive compared to the other telcos, especially if you frequently call and text friends and families who are on a different network. Its SMS rates for U Mobile to U Mobile numbers (RM0.05) may be cheap but let’s face it, how many people do you know are on U Mobile?
But of course, that said, for heavy users, U Mobile has got Add-On services for all of its postpaid plans that gets you a fixed number of call minutes and SMS at a fixed price RM8/month for 80 minutes of offnet calls, that’s 10sen/min for the add on, half of the normal offnet call rates. When used right (if you actually use up all that is provided inside the bundle plus all the add-on you purchase), U Mobile actually has the cheapest offerings of them all.
[Update 11/05/2015] Over the past couple of months, things sure have changed a lot for U Mobile. Earlier this year, they introduced new #GetClever postpaid plans – P50 and P70, with 3GB and 4.5GB of data respectively, and very affordable pay-per-use rates – only 10sen/min for calls. They also revised their Ultimate Device plans to bring more value at more affordable rates. Ultimate Device plans are usually used for device bundles from the telco.
The plans available as of 18 November 2015 are as follows:
Others:
- Supplementary line from RM10/month
- Share internet, calls and SMS with up to 3 SIMs on #GetClever plans and UD plans
- Internet Share Plans (SP68) also allows you to share you’re your free minutes and data with up to 3 SIM cards – first 2 is free, third is charged at RM10/SIM/month. Check out our price comparison for internet sharing plans between U Mobile and Maxis.
- Get 50MB of free internet roaming each day
Final Words
It seems strange that while Celcom, Digi and U Mobile have revised their plans over the past few months to cater for heavy data users, Maxis seems to have gone the opposite direction. The telco is pushing very hard on its MaxisONE plan that comes bundled with 2GB of internet for RM128 – add-ons are available, but they’re not cheap. There’s limitless calls and SMS of course, but for someone like myself who spends probably RM5 or so on calls a month, it’s definitely something I can’t relate to.
Of course, while price is an important factor when picking the right postpaid plan for all your mobile needs, the most important thing you should consider is the coverage area, especially if you wish to sign up for a device bundle with a telco with a contract of up to 24 months – that’s two whole years of continued suffering if there is hardly any coverage in the places you frequent (or even live in).
As a case in point, DiGi once failed on me very badly at home. At the time, it was during one of the company’s network upgrade process, and things was so bad I had to resort to buying a prepaid line just so that I can be contacted when I’m at home.
Hence, you should check the 2G, 3G and 4G coverage for each telco at their individual pages before jumping into any postpaid plans – Celcom coverage area, Maxis coverage area, DiGi coverage area and U Mobile coverage area. Once you’ve sorted that out and then refer to this guide, you should now be better equipped to make the most informed decision on which postpaid plan to subscribe.
