Just two days ago, we reported that Maxis has been experimenting direct billing on the Google Play Store for its postpaid customers. However, it seems that today the telco has activated the service for Hotlink prepaid users as well. Do take note that the direct billing feature is only available for content sold on the Google Play Store.

Direct billing is definitely a welcome feature for both Maxis postpaid and Hotlink prepaid customers, but there is a catch. Hotlink customers will need to be subscribed to either a weekly or monthly mobile internet plan to use the service. If the customer is already subscribed to a mobile internet plan on Hotlink, then they should be able to purchase Play Store content without a problem. Whether or not the purchase is successful, Maxis will send customers an SMS to notify them.

Image Credit: Amanz

The direct billing feature can also be set up during the phone’s initial startup for new Android users. During the setup process, customers will be able to add their Maxis or Hotlink account as a payment method. Just select “Maxis Billing”, wait for Google’s confirmation message, input your basic information, and you’re done.

Image Credit: Amanz

As of this writing, Maxis has not released any official statement regarding Maxis Billing. But in our testing, the service is live right now for both postpaid and prepaid users. For those who do not own a debit or credit card, Maxis’ Direct Billing feature might just be for you.

(Source: Amanz)

In conjunction with the Lunar New Year, Maxis has introduced the “CNY Zerolution Promo”. Essentially, the promo offers a reduced Zerolution monthly fee on selected phones, free 12GB of mobile Internet, and a limited edition pink Samsung Galaxy Note 5 – which is a first in Malaysia.

Maxis has selected to feature three phones for the CNY Zerolution Promo – the Samsung Galaxy A8, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, and the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+. Previously, these devices’ Zerolution monthly fees were RM107, RM138, and RM156 respectively. Now, the promotional monthly fees are RM62, RM93 and RM111 respectively.

Not only that, customers who sign up for Zerolution with any MaxisONE plan 128 and above, they are entitled to receive 12GB of additional mobile data for free. The 12GB of mobile data will be distributed equally over a period of six months – that’s extra 2GB of Internet on top of the MaxisONE plan’s quota for the first six months of subscription.

Coming back to the pink edition of the Galaxy Note 5, the limited edition colour option of the device used to be a South Korea-only release. Even Samsung Malaysia has not made the pink variant of the Note 5 available in its retail stores. However, Maxis has somehow managed to bring it into Malaysia. Do take note that the Galaxy Note 5’s Zerolution page now only offers white, silver, and gold, while the limited pink edition will only be available starting the 22nd of January.

Customers who act fast will also be entitled to receive a Samsung car charger for free, but it is on a while stocks last, first come, first served basis. Those interested can head on to Maxis’ CNY Zerolution page to check out the offer.

(Source: Maxis Zerolution)

Maxis is giving back to the Malaysian community by building homes for those in need. Called the “Kongsi Home” project, Maxis is collaborating with EPIC Homes as well as five online retailers to turn customers’ online shopping into online giving.

Founded back in 2010, EPIC Homes is a non-profit initiative that has been building homes for the underprivileged communities in Malaysia. The initiative has since built a total of 71 homes across Perak and Selangor and with their partnership with Maxis, they hope to build even more.

The five online retailers involved in the Kongsi Home project are Lazada, Gem Five, Zalora, Rakuten, and Happy Fresh. All you need to do is just visit any of these online retail sites and add RM8 worth of building materials to your shopping cart. These materials will then be donated to the community home-building projects by EPIC Homes.

To put things into perspective, if 5-percent of Malaysia’s seven million online shoppers donate RM8 worth of building materials each, the Kongsi Home project will have enough to crowdfund 50 new home-building projects by EPIC Homes.

John-son Oei, the CEO and founder of EPIC Homes said:

“This is a great step towards creating awareness amongst the urban communities, about the needs, the culture and lifestyles of those in the rural areas. When we’re able to achieve building homes for every single family in our country, you’ll know that your little action was part of something big. And I believe that would also change your life”

Kudos to Maxis and EPIC Homes for coming up with the Kongsi Home project. It’s great how they are working with online retailers to crowdfund resources to build these homes. To learn more about EPIC Homes head over to its official website. We look forward to more companies working on projects like these that actually help those who need it.

Originally announced by Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Razak under the revised Budget 2016 last week, the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has finally shed some light on the upcoming spectrum reallocation that will be done through bidding process. It apparently will be affecting spectrum in the 900MHz and 1,800MHz bands as well as involving four major telcos.

According to the announcement by MCMC’s Chairman, Dato’ Sri Dr Halim Shafie, the selected telcos are Celcom, DiGi, Maxis and U Mobile due to the fact that they have enough capital to expand their services. While the fee for the spectrum has yet been decided, many financial analysts expects that the total fee to be in the range of billions of ringgit following the trend in other parts of the world.

Hence, it is not surprising that there is already financial impact on some of these telcos following the announcement by Prime Minister last week. In a report by The Star, the share prices of Axiata (Celcom), DiGi, and Maxis have fell immediately after the announcement was made. In total, around RM 15.7 billion worth of market capitalization was gone within two days of the announcement according to another report.

Meanwhile, MCMC expects to complete the reallocation by August 2016. Subsequently, MCMC also expects that all four telcos will be operating in their new spectrum blocks by 1 July 2017. All the hype aside, we wonder what is the impact of this spectrum reallocation to consumers in terms of both network performance and financial because in the end, users need to know the quality of the services that they will receive and the price that they have to pay for it.

(Source: MCMC, The Star – 1, 2)

A new report on the state of LTE connections across the globe has been released by OpenSignal; and it shows that Malaysia is not doing all that badly compared to developed countries. The usual suspects still top the charts in terms of LTE speeds and coverage, but the rest of the world is catching up.

The fourth quarter of 2015 saw an increase of LTE speeds and coverage across all countries participating in the study. As expected, South Korea saw the largest coverage – with consumers in the country being able to find an LTE signal in 97-percent of the country. Japan and Hong Kong filled out the top three countries with the highest LTE coverage. Malaysia was recorded with an overall 55-percent LTE coverage in the country, which is comparable to countries like Germany, New Zealand, and Russia. Interestingly, the United Kingdom recorded only 53-percent coverage.

LTE speeds in Malaysia were on the lower end of the scale, but still respectable when compared to countries that are considered to be more advanced. Southern neighbours Singapore recorded the highest LTE speeds in the world with connections reaching 37 Mbps, while New Zealand comes a distant second with 29 Mbps. Malaysia recorded less than half of that speed at 12 Mbps. This puts in on par with several countries that are generally revered for their internet speeds like Hong Kong and Japan. To put things further into perspective, the United States only averaged 10 Mbps.

Malaysia’s LTE connection showed a positive trend compared to the third quarter of 2015, where average speeds were recorded at 11 Mbps and coverage stood at 50-percent. In other words, there has been an overall improvement in LTE service from telcos. There is still a long way to go for LTE in our country, but at least we are seeing an upward trend.

[Source: OpenSignal]

Maxis wants to help you take better selfies by adding the Oppo F1 smartphone in its Zerolution lineup. Called the “Selfie Expert”, the device is packed with an 8MP front camera and loaded with features to enhance your selfie-taking experience.

Customers looking to get the Oppo F1 via Maxis’ Zerolution plan simply need to select a MaxisONE or MaxisONE Share plan and pay the RM31 Zerolution monthly payment fee. On top of that, customers can also opt for the Zerolution upgrade programme for a monthly fee of RM67 (inclusive of premium protection, RM44 without premium protection) – to ensure a phone upgrade every year.

Alternatively, customers can get the Oppo F1 bundled with a Maxis plan. It is available with both MaxisONE and MaxisONE Share plans and  can be purchased at a subsidised price of RM1,130.19. However, a plan advance fee is required upon subscription.

Maxis has also sweetened the deal by giving customers who purchase the Oppo F1 an exclusive extended warranty of 18 months. This warranty will cover screen cracks and water damage, which is pretty much all the protection you need for a smartphone.

Those interested can check out the phone’s specifications here and see what plans Maxis has available here.

(Source: Maxis Zerolution)

Maxis today has officially launched a new addition to its signature MaxisONE postpaid plan in the form of MaxisONE World Pass. Under this new feature, customers will be able to make or receive unlimited calls, and consume data while roaming outside of Malaysia for a flat fee without any extra charges.

In other words, it doesn’t matter where the call originates from or even to where the MaxisONE customers are calling and this applies to SMS as well. As for data, the quota will be based on the customer’s own quota that is tied with their MaxisONE account alongside additional 500MB high speed data that Maxis refreshes on daily basis.

While customers will still be able to use the Internet even when they have depleted their data allocation, the speed will be reduced to 64kbps. To return back to normal speed, they can do by purchasing additional data through MyMaxis app which will be offered at the same rate as in Malaysia.

Priced at RM 38 per day, MaxisONE World Pass is now available for eight ASEAN countries for the time being: Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Brunei, The Philippines, Cambodia, and Laos. A free insurance plan underwritten by ACE Jerneh Insurance Berhad is also included as part of the new roaming pass.

To activate the feature when they are in one of these countries, MaxisONE customers only have to activate roaming in their phone setting. The phone should then connect automatically to Maxis roaming partner in the said country and customers will then be charged automatically once their calls, SMS, or data charges reached a value of RM 10.

If their roaming usages are less than that value or under 256kb for data, customers will only need to pay RM 10. Each MaxisONE World Pass is valid until the clock reaches 12 midnight at the capital city in the country that customers are visiting.

Maxis has stated that the launch today is just a start as the telco is also planning to expand the offering in more countries soon. Specifically, Maxis is working to cover Asia Pacific countries by the third quarter of this year before going further to Europe, America, and beyond.

Maxis has added yet another smartphone to its Zerolution lineup – the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016). The 2016 iteration of the Galaxy A7 is a device that elegantly combines decent hardware with premium materials.

Those who have set their eyes on the 2016 Samsung Galaxy A7 can get it from Maxis’ Zerolution simply by selecting a MaxisONE or MaxisONE Share plan. The monthly Zerolution fee is RM63 for the new Galaxy A7. Other than that, customers can ensure they get a phone upgrade every year for an added monthly fee of RM57 (inclusive of premium protection of RM23, which you can also opt out of).

Should customers wish to purchase the 2016 model of the Samsung Galaxy A7 without Zerolution, they can purchase the phone from Maxis – provided they subscribe to any MaxisONE or MaxisONE Share plans. Doing so allows the customer to purchase the phone at a subsidised price of RM1,791.51 (RRP RM1,899) with an advance fee applicable upon subscription.

Other than that, Maxis is also giving customers who purchase the 2016 Samsung Galaxy A7 a 32GB microSD card for free. We’re not sure if this is the one that’s already bundled with the phone, or an additional card given by Maxis itself. Another thing to note is that Maxis only offers the black and gold models of the phone.

Those interested can learn more about the phone and its hardware specifications here, or head on to Maxis’ website to learn more about Zerolution and what postpaid plans the company has to offer.

(Source: Maxis Zerolution)

Samsung may have announced its pre-order promotion for the arrival of the Galaxy S7 edge in Malaysia, but at the same time, Maxis has also come up with its very own offer for the Samsung flagship smartphone.

The pre-order for the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge on Maxis will begin on the 7th of March, which is the same day as Samsung’s pre-order event. To persuade customers on getting the Samsung Galaxy S7 from Maxis, the company will give you a Gear S2 Platinum for free- which is worth RM1,899. The first thing you’ll need is a Maxis Online ID.

If you’re already a Maxis or Hotlink subscriber, all you need to do is just login through this page here. If you’re not yet a Maxis customer, register for an account to start the pre-order process.

Also, existing Maxis customers will need to make sure that they have cleared all overdue bills with Maxis. Which in turn, will definitely hasten the pre-order process.

Currently, the pre-order site seems to still be in the preparation phase because the signup and login features aren’t working yet. That said, it’s best to keep an eye on the pre-order page if you’re interested in getting the Galaxy S7 edge from Maxis.

Celcom and Digi have both announced their latest postpaid plans for the year of 2016. Now, Maxis wants a share of the limelight with its new postpaid plan specifically catered to East Malaysians.

First things first, this plan is only for East Malaysian customers. To be able to sign up for the plans, one must have a billing address in Sabah, Sarawak, or Labuan.

The most affordable postpaid plan  – MaxisONE Plan 68 – consists of 5GB of mobile data, unlimited calls as well as texts to all network for a monthly commitment fee of RM68 a month.

The MaxisONE 98, 128, and 158 plans all have the same unlimited calls and text, with Internet quota of 3GB, 5GB, and 7GB respectively. That being said, those who sign up for the plans (OP98 to OP158) under Zerolution will get bonus 4GB to 5GB of mobile data for free. As for MaxisONE Plan 128 and 158 users, they will be getting unlimited Spotify music streaming, as well as the ability to add two supplementary lines for RM48/line.

To make the plans even sweeter, Maxis is also giving customers unlimited Internet surfing from 1am to 7am daily, although it is subjected to fair usage policy. Don’t worry, the unlimited Internet streaming applies to all MaxisONE plans.

With the introduction of the MaxisONE Plan 68, it is even more affordable than the SurfMore 75 plan, which also gives 5GB data but for RM75 a month. Also, do take note that this offer is only for new subscriptions. This means that existing users are not able to upgrade to these plans, and customers from other telcos cannot MNP in as well.

To learn more about these plans, head on over to Maxis’ official webpage for this specific plan – it’s not available on the main page – here.

The Huawei Mate 8 has been launched in Malaysia for about a week now but for those of you who do not wish to pay the full retail price of RM2,399 (Premium Model), you may now get it from Maxis from RM1599 with a contract, or for only RM147 a month with Maxis Zerolution.

Maxis is offering the Huawei Mate 8 with the MaxisONE postpaid plans starting from RM98 a month to RM188 a month (MaxisONE plan 98/128/158/188). A 2-year contract applies for these bundles, but if you do not wish to get tied to a contract, you can also get it with Maxis Zerolution for RM147/month inclusive of a device protection plan.

Maxis’ Huawei Mate 8 price with 24 months contract

Maxis’ Huawei Mate 8 price with Maxis Zerolution

The Huawei Mate 8 was launched in Malaysia just last week. The device features a 6” Full HD IPS display, and is powered by a Kirin 950 octa-core processor paired with 4GB of RAM. Other specs include up to 64GB of expandable storage, fingerprint sensor, 16MP rear camera with OIS, 8MP front camera, and a generous 4000mAh battery. The variant offered by Maxis is the Premium model with 64GB of internal storage and 4GB of RAM, and is available in Champagne Gold and Mocha Brown option.

Visit Maxis now for more information about its Huawei Mate 8 with Zerolution or with a regular contract.

Now that all four of the major telcos (Digi, Maxis, Celcom, and U Mobile) in Malaysia have put up their postpaid bundles for Samsung’s latest flagship – the Galaxy S7 edge, let’s take a closer look at each of them.

The full list of plans from all four telcos is quite extensive, so we’ve broken them down based on the monthly commitments. You can also find the full list of plans at the end of the article.

Monthly Commitment Of RM100 Below

The cheapest postpaid bundles from Digi, Celcom, and U Mobile all come with a monthly commitment of less than RM100. A quick look at the table will reveal that Celcom and Digi’s plans offer plenty of value for both data-heavy or calls-heavy users. Digi and Celcom’s plans also have the ability to carry forward unused data to the next month. That being said, for call and SMS rates, U Mobile offers the lowest rates of the bunch.

Monthly Commitment From RM101 to RM200

Surprisingly in this price range, there are only three plans for you to choose from – the Digi Postpaid 148 plans and the U Mobile UD135 plan. Together with Internet Rollover, Digi’s mobile data offering of up to 14GB is substantially higher compared to U Mobile’s 6GB quota – even if U Mobile’s UD135 plan is RM13 less per month.

When it comes to free calls and SMS, U Mobile is not offering much. Putting them side by side, Digi is offering 500 minutes free calls and 500 SMS with the More Internet plan and unlimited calls and texts if you’re on the More Calls and SMS plan.

Monthly Commitment OF RM201 And Above

For those looking to get more out of their plans, this is the price range you should be looking at. Digi’s plan seems to be the most value for money with the monthly commitment of RM238 but with up to 20GB of data, whereas Celcom and Maxis only offer 4GB and 5GB to 8GB of mobile Internet respectively.

There’s no need to worry about calls and SMS as these plans have zero quota. Digi’s More Internet Postpaid 238 gives 1,000 minutes and 1,000 SMS, which should be more than enough for a month’s use.

Apart from that, it’s also worth noting that for the total monthly commitment fee you’re paying (and cost of ownership), Maxis does not allow for Internet quota to be carried forward. While Celcom has the feature, only 2GB of data can be brought forward.

Here is the full comparison table for your reference:

Click for larger version

Depending on your budget, there’s definitely a plan to suit your needs. Maxis and Celcom have Zerolution and NewPhone respectively to offer an easy upgrade path to a new phone every year at one fixed monthly price.

Of course, you can purchase the device directly from Samsung retail stores at the price of RM3,099 and not be tied down to a postpaid contract for 24 months. For more information on the device, check out our review of the Galaxy S7 edge.

Hotlink has introduced a new offer that allows subscribers to buy Steam Wallet codes using their phone credit. This will operate in addition to the existing offer of converting Hotlink top up tickets into Steam Wallet codes; and will share the same discounts.

All a Hotlink user needs to do is visit the Hotlink site and select the option to buy Steam Wallet codes using credit. They will then select the preferred amount and enter their mobile number to make the purchase. Hotlink will first send a confirmation SMS before the purchase is completed, allowing users to back out at the last minute.

As a bonus, Hotlink is offering a 15-percent discount on the first purchase of each denomination of Steam Wallet code for each user. Codes are sold in amounts of RM8, RM16, RM24, RM48, and RM80 denominations; although they receive an additional surcharge from the vendor. After the original discount is claimed, Hotlink customers are provided with a 7-percent discount.

It should be noted that this new method of buying Steam Wallet codes is somewhat cheaper than using Hotlink top up tickets. These codes are usually subject to a 20-percent extra charge from the vendor, which makes the conversion a little less attractive than simply using a credit card.

Hit the link for more information and to give the offer a go.

It looks like the newly announced iPhone SE is coming soon to Malaysia, according to Maxis at least. The telco just announced that the device is “coming soon”, and has even opened a registration of interest page for the new iPhone.

Available at its website, the ROI page only requires you to fill in your name and email address. Unlike previous ROI for older iPhone models, you don’t have to pick the storage option or colour you are interested in. The ROI page seems a bit buggy for us at the moment (I keep receiving an “error 404” notification), so you might want to give it a few tries.

Malaysia may not be in the first or even second wave of the iPhone SE launch, but let’s keep our fingers crossed that we’re in the third. The preorder for the first wave, which is available in selected countries like Australia, Singapore, UK, US and more, begins on 24 March 2016, and will go on sale on 31 March 2016. Preorder for the second wave starts on 29 March 2016, and will be available in early April.

Announced just yesterday, the iPhone SE may look almost identical to the 3-year old iPhone 5, but Apple has upgraded everything inside it to match the current flagship iPhone 6. It is a more “affordable” iPhone targeted at those who still prefer a phone they can fully operate using one hand. Available in Space Grey, Silver, Gold and Rose Gold, Apple is offering the iPhone SE in two storage options – 16GB and 64GB.

For those who are interested in Maxis’ ROI, check out the telco’s site for more information. Meanwhile, read up on our previous post to find out more about the iPhone SE, and find out why it is a perfect move from Apple…well, almost a perfect move.

According to a study among Malaysian mobile users, the best local network operator in terms of mobile Internet network is Maxis. Interestingly enough, the other three major operators aren’t exactly lagging too far behind.

The past few months has seen Malaysian telcos really stepping up their game, as the rise of data-centric consumers mean a greater need for better offerings from telcos.

Since U Mobile begun its aggressive recruitment drive to gain more subscribers with its competitive postpaid plans that offer generous amounts of data, other telcos have no choice but to follow suit. Digi introduced its new More Internet postpaid plans, while Celcom refreshed its First Gold plan.

Only Maxis has remained seemingly stuck behind the curve with its ONEplan. That said, our sources (and word on the street) indicates that a new, better value ONEplan is nearing its launch.

Maxis leads overall, but the others are not too far behind

OpenSignal has released its latest report focusing on the state of mobile networks in Malaysia. From its previous global report last year on LTE, we already know that Malaysia’s LTE coverage and LTE download speeds have been steadily increasing and somewhat on par with the average data recorded globally.

Based on a sample size of 40 million collected by 21,000 OpenSignal app users between 1 December 2015 until 29 February 2016, the report contained some pretty interesting highlights.

One of the most important findings lies with LTE coverage in Malaysia. With the war of words taking place late last year about who has greater LTE coverage, OpenSignal’s findings point overwhelmingly in Maxis’ favour. Using OpenSignal’s time coverage metric (the proportion of time users are connected to a particular network), it was found that Maxis’ 4G time coverage was 70%, compared to 58% or less from Celcom, Digi, and U Mobile.

In the Klang Valley, Maxis again pulls ahead with its superior 4G coverage, with the data revealing a 77% time coverage compared to Digi and Celcom, which had an average of 66%.

Here’s where it gets really interesting. Besides coverage, the four major telcos in Malaysia all fared just as good (or just as bad, depending on your outlook in life) as one another.

For instance, OpenSignal’s data found that 4G download speeds were a statistical tie between Maxis, Digi and U Mobile, with Celcom lagging a little behind. These three telcos were again tied when it comes to 4G network latency, with Celcom faring quite poorly in this regard.

OpenSignal’s data also allowed for 3G network comparisons; after all, consumers will fall back on 3G connections where there aren’t any 4G ones. Surprisingly, U Mobile’s 3G network proved to be the best, having the fastest 3G download speeds and tying with Maxis in terms of 3G latency.

Because of Maxis’ superior 4G coverage, its subscribers also had the best download speeds overall throughout the country.

Besides the report’s findings, OpenSignal also confirmed a few things we reported last year. For example, Digi is working on launching its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service this year, while both Digi and Maxis have begun upgrading some of its 4G networks to LTE-Advance. These efforts are complemented by both telcos’ refarming of the 2G 1800MHz band into 4G networks, which will dramatically increase the 4G spectrum that its subscribers can enjoy.

Overall, OpenSignal’s report on the state of mobile networks in Malaysia is a positive one. Despite our grumbles, we are actually not too far behind established countries in terms of mobile Internet. The speeds at which our local network operators are now working on upgrading their respective networks augurs well for the future of mobile Internet in Malaysia.

The full OpenSignal report can be viewed here.

Recently, a media invite has reached our inbox from Maxis which stated the telco will be launching its new home fibre broadband service on 28 March. Given how Maxis is already offering home fibre broadband service to consumers since few years ago, we are quite curious of what the company meant by “new” in its invite.

Understandably, there is almost zero information regarding its new fibre home broadband service in the invite. That being said, Maxis did mention that the service is designed to provide “an overall better experience” and “the first of its kind service to complement the product”.

Frankly speaking, we have no clue what all those means at the moment but we do know one thing though: the time is certainly ripe for Maxis to elevate its home fibre broadband service. This is because the company can’t simply ignore the fact that its two main competitors in the market – TM and Time – have recently beefed up their home fibre offerings.

For example, the minimum speed for UniFi customers is now 30Mbps with the same price tag as Maxis 20Mbps package despite using the same infrastructure. Not only that, UniFi customers are given 50Mbps speed at the price of Maxis 30Mbps package.

While Maxis 100Mbps package might gives it a slight advantage over TM who doesn’t offer such package to its home customers (for now at least), Maxis is still being edged out by Time earlier this week who went absolutely bonkers by not only having 100Mbps as the current minimum speed of its home fibre package but also pricing it at less than half of what Maxis charged per month.

Well then, let’s see if Maxis has some good news to announce for its home fibre customers this coming Monday then.

(Images: Blog Uncle Chai, Raja Iskandar Shah)

UPDATE (554PM): The website goes back online during the official launch event few hours ago. We’ve updated this post with video explanation for Maxperts.

UPDATE (959AM): The website has been taken down as we speak, but a copy of it has been cached by Goggle. 

Ahead of its official launch later today, Maxis apparently has unveiled its new home fibre broadband plans on its official website which are now known as MaxisONE Home . While there are not much differences between MaxisONE Home and previous Maxis Fibre plan for home customers, there is one particular exception: Maxperts.

According to Maxis official website, Maxperts are Maxis own team of certified installers that will help customers deploy MaxisONE Home to their home. Among their responsibilities are to evaluate how users utilize Internet, determine the best position to place router in the house to deliver optimum Wi-Fi signal, and other necessary installation issues such as extra equipment or cabling.

Maxperts consultation apparently costs RM 188 but is waived for MaxisONE Home customers. However, Maxperts are only available for new customers though since their work only takes place during installation which is not required by existing Maxis Fibre customers.

Pricing-wise, the new MaxisOne Home plans are certainly made to cater MaxisOne subscribers since they receive monthly discounts of RM 28 for 20 and 30 Mbps customers while 100 Mbps subscribers are entitled to RM 68 discounts per month. That being said, the finalized pricing is more or less equal to previous Maxis Fibre plans as shown in the comparison below:

As expected, the contract period for MaxisONE Home is 24 months which is an industry standard in our market. Since all the information above are solely based on Maxis website, it is possible that the company might reveal new information at the launch event later today. We’ll keep you updated if that happens, so stay tuned.

(UPDATE – 554PM): There is no new essential information to add from the launch event except for a video that explains what MaxisONE Home and Maxperts are all about. 

(Source: Maxis)

Good news to Maxis subscribers, the telco is now offering a 60-day trial subscription for not one, but two video streaming services – iflix and Viu. iflix offers unlimited access to thousands of TV shows and movies from all over the globe, while Viu brings to you your favourite Korean shows such as the Sun, Oh My Venus, Running Man and more.

Both iflix and Viu costs RM10 a month however, for Maxis subscribers, you can enjoy full access to both platforms at no charge for 60 days. Just visit Maxis’ website, and pick the video streaming service of your choice, and follow the instructions to enjoy your free trial.

Do note that for iflix, subscription is not needed – just make sure you are connected to your Maxis network to enjoy your free trial. Sadly though, since this offer does not come with free data for iflix, it means that you must watch out for your data usage, especially if you are on a limited data plan.

As for Viu, you will need to subscribe via your mobile number, which means that when your trial expires, the monthly subscription of RM10/month thereafter will be charged to your Maxis bill. If you do not wish to subscribe to the video streaming service, make sure you cancel your subscription before the trial period is over.

Check out Maxis now for more information and to enjoy your free two months trial on iflix and Viu now.

“We were late in responding to you, and we treated individual customers differently, and for that, we’re sorry.”

In a statement delivered live via its Facebook page moments ago, Maxis CEO Morten Lundal has apologised to Malaysians over recent developments, while promising significantly improved MaxisONE plan offerings later this month.

Here’s the full statement:

Lundal touched on several aspects that have irked Maxis customers in recent months, especially regarding the company’s failure to catch up with other competitors in offering postpaid plans with larger data quotas.

More importantly, Lundal also touched on the developments that went viral across Facebook and our own forums in the past few weeks.

“Very recently, the market has moved on, focused on providing more data. We had been preparing our own offerings, but we have taken too much time because we wanted to add more great features than just more data.

While we were developing these new plans, some individual customers had tailored plans offered to them. This had angered some of you, and it also doesn’t fit with our company’s commitment to fairness and transparency.

We were late in responding to you, and we treated individual customers differently, and for that, we’re sorry.”

As a result of this, the company will accelerate the launch of its new MaxisONE plans, as well as offer all existing MaxisONE subscribers 3GB of free data from next week.

Dushyan Vaithiyanathan, head of consumer business at Maxis, also announced that all MaxisONE customers will be automatically upgraded to “much higher data quotas” for the same price. For example, MaxisONE customers on 1GB data (RM98/month) will now get 5GB, while those on 3GB (RM128/month) will get 8GB. These changes will also apply to MaxisONE Business customers.

Dushyan also promised that the company will be announcing new features to allow ONEplan customers “to do a lot more with their data” on Maxis networks.

However, these enhanced plans will only be available later this month.

Until then, Maxis is promising 3GB of free data to all current MaxisONE customers, starting next week (14 April 2016).

For those of you who have been looking to see what Maxis has got to offer to counter all the negativities the telco’s been receiving over the past week, here it is. The telco just announced that its existing MaxisONE plan subscribers will be receiving much more data than before.

Maxis is maintaining the same plans – MaxisONE 98/128/158/188 that comes with unlimited calls and SMS, but as mentioned in its statement earlier, there are now a lot more data – up to 9GB more than before.

Existing MaxisONE plan subscribers will automatically be updated “really soon”. The upgrade is a permanent enhancement, so you can enjoy all these data for as long as you are subscribed to the plans.

That’s not all, Maxis says that “up until you receive the additional data, you’ll be given 3GB FREE from 14 April onwards to tide you over to your next bill”.

This upgrade is also applicable to enterprise MaxisONE Business plan subscribers. Any new MaxisONE Plan customers from today onwards will also automatically get the upgrade before the end of the month.

Check out Maxis now for more information or watch their announcement earlier today.