[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 is 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
Celcom’s plans looks like the most expensive of them all, but that’s because they do not list out what you’re paying for in their website. Because the telco has a flat rate for all its voice calls, SMS, MMS and even video calls, the monthly commitment you pay – RM40 for Celcom First Prime, for example – will be used to cover all the calls you make and messages you send. i.e. Celcom First Prime comes with RM40 worth of calls, SMS, MMS and video call minutes which roughly translates to a combination of 266 minutes/SMS/MMS, which isn’t listed out. Additional usage after the monthly commitment will be charged at a flat rate depending on the plan you sign up for. Another benefit Celcom has over the rest of the telcos is Auto Rate that automatically transfers you to the next tier once you exceed a certain usage: if you sign up for First Prime but you have used over RM80, you will be charged at Celcom First Premier’s rate at RM0.12/min/SMS/MMS instead of 15sen/min/SMS/MMS.
[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!
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.
[Update 26/12/2014]
Alternatively if you’re a heavy data user, Celcom also has a Celcom First Data voice plan – mAdvance Plus and mPro Plus – that comes with up to 5GB of data as well as some free calls and SMS. The call and SMS rates may be slightly more expensive than the Celcom First Voice plans, but if you hardly make any phone calls (or rely on VoIP for example), this sounds like a perfect plan to pick.
[Update 21/8/2014] Celcom has recently renamed its Celcom First Data plans to the Celcom First One that are pretty much the same as the mAdvance Plus and mPro Plus, but with new names – Celcom First One 3GB and Celcom First One 5GB.
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. While the telco is only promoting its new plans, its older plans are still available if you wish to sign up for them but be warned, they are a lot more expensive because you’ll need to pay for monthly fees that will not be used to offset your calls/SMS made that month.
Like Celcom, if you use a mix of voice and data, you can always sign up for additional data or voice. Maxis offers add-on packs for both the TalkMore and SurfMore plans, allowing you to have cheaper rates than the pay-per-use rates for a particular plan. All the plans are listed below:
[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.
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.
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 21 August 2014
Add-on options that are only available for SurfMore plans
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
DiGi
DiGi has by far the simplest and most straightforward postpaid plans in the market with four SmartPlans and one Postpaid Simple catered for the basic 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. Unlike the former two, DiGi’s postpaid plans comes bundled with literally everything you would need with a mobile line – talk time, SMS as well as data, starting from as low as RM50/month. As for those who require only calls and SMS, Postpaid Simple costs RM50/month with RM100 worth of usage; additional data can be purchased from as low as RM28/month for 250MB.
This is the latest SmartPlan plans offered by DiGi as of 5 March 2014 comes with more data than before, most likely to help cope with its new LTE speeds.
Click on the image for larger version
[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:
- The SmartPlan 78/108/148 data are split into two different usage - Mobile Internet Quota that can be used for any internet-related stuff like browsing websites and streaming music, and Smart Apps Quota for selected apps like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and WeChat.
- The new SmartPlans comes with additional freebies such as DiGi Visual Voicemail, unlimited WhatsApp messaging, unlimited internet surfing on Opera mini, unlimited weekends calls from DiGi to DiGi, and free Norton Mobile Security (different freebies applies for different plans)
- Free Deezer Premium+ (music streaming service) for selected DiGi Postpaid plans
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.
U Mobile postpaid plans. Click on image for larger version.
Others:
- Supplementary line from RM10/month
- U Buddy service with 5 hours of onnet calls for RM10
- WOWLOUD music streaming service for RM4/week
- Share your call minutes/data between 3 devices for RM10/extra SIM/month on Unlimited Postpaid 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.
Final Words
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.