Phone bundling for the pragmatists.
14 May
With the current recession, it’s good to see the few telcos here have taken actions by offering phone bundling (buying a new phone bundled with a talk plan) to consumers. Phone bundling packages have long been offered in countries like Great Britain and Singapore but never took place in Malaysia. Not until the arrival of high-end phones such as blackberries and iphones that is. These phones are extremely expensive if purchased on their own and it’s no wonder that telcos like Maxis and Celcom are offering these phones in their phone bundling package to appeal more to cost-conscious consumers.
But there’s a little problem. When it comes to mobile phones, many of us are not trend followers and would prefer to use something uncomplicated, practical, user-friendly, maybe a little easy on the eye and most importantly, easy on the pocket. We are not into blackberries and iphones (or as i like to call it, iphonies) because they’re so goddamn expensive although their functionality is comparable if not worse to many other cheaper phones. Although acquired through phone bundling, at the end of the day you’re still paying premium for a high-end phone and a not so great phone plan. Yes, you are really just paying for their advertisements and marketing campaigns.
So why don’t we just pay for that cheaper phone? Well, these relatively cheaper phones are still unfortunately, not THAT cheap. A decent phone model would have cost anywhere between RM500 – RM1000, still quite a big sum to a lot of people. In a rush to offer high-end phones to the public, some telcos have alienated the rest of the unassuming public. And this is where Digi comes into the picture.
They are now offering more reasonable handphone subsidies, offering customers postpaid plans with the price of a handset going for as low as RM0.99 (24 month contract). There are 4 models to choose from, comprising the popular 3G/HSDPA variants from Motorola (VE538), Samsung (F480), Sony Ericcson (W760i) and LG (KF750).
The new bundled plans by Digi comprise of lower advance payment (RM50-RM250) and lower priced but with comparable functionality 3G phones ranging from RM0.99-RM1,499. Maxis’ iphone on the other hand requires upfront payment of between RM400-RM2000 and on top of that you’re also paying between RM250-RM2290 for the phone depending on the plan and contract period selected.
Need more convincing? Digi’s DG150 (RM150 commitment fee) plan provides 1,500 minutes of talktime while a subscriber on Maxis’ iPhone iValue2 plan (RM155 commitment fee) gets 667 mins applicable for domestic calls only. Existing subscribers of Maxis are allowed to retain their current voice plans but would need to fork out RM2,540 for an 8GB iPhone while the with Digi you only pay between RM599-RM1859 for the phone only.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not really keen on paying so much for a phone that can’t MMS, can’t SMS forwarding, can’t edit documents, can’t change battery!!!!, can’t record voice, can’t replace media card, can’t voice dial and can’t be used as a broadband modem. Besides, there’s no technical support, service, repair or upgrade for the phone that should come along with it which are definitely going to be coming out of your own pocket in the future. I could pay a whole lot less for a smudgy mirror.
All I’m hoping is that Digi start bundling some Nokia phones and I’ll be happy.
Tags: digi, digi phone bundling, iphonies, iphony, LG KF750, Motorola VE538, Samsung F480, Sony Ericcson W760i
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quite true lor.
Sigh. As a foreigner there is nothing for me, even if I need a internet connection I have to deposit thousand, if i wanna buy a car i need a guarantor etc etc, and the list goes on. Last year i bought a SE P1i (and i had to pay in cash and full) and within 2 months it was taken out of my pouch in lrt.
Come v3.0, the iPhone should be able to cover almost all of your requirements. Else just jailbreak it and it can do all the above except changing the battery i guess
DiGi has the best radio ads. I love their two currently running ads on Hitz.FM. This one (where a sales guy goes into a hard sell pitch) and the other one about low call rates (before the recession: you hang up, no you hang up). LOL!
JonyBr tell me about it, it’s ridiculous. Everything also need guarantor or local partner or huge deposit.
bla bla blarrr blacckkk berrry!
The packages offered by the local telcos is a sham!! Singtel offers Iphone only at SG$50, with a 2 year plan. I used Maxis for 8 year and paid heavily for all my phones, no bundling. And now, after 1 year in SG, i have 2 HTC phones that are prebundled, and both prices combined are even cheaper than 1 HTC phone in MY. If you wanna get a phone, better get it down here, even the no-contract phones are cheaper than the contract ones in MY. Plus, after few months, the phone prices drops considerably, still a great buy. Don’t get them at Sim Lim or Mustafa though, still expensive.
someone told me that there is no warranty if you purchase iphone. is it true? anyway i’m a loyal fan of Nokia phone too. Haih.
Iphone can forward sms, can record voice, can voice dail and can be used as a modem la. Somemore a very good phone to kill time. ok de…
may sound funny sometimes digi’s offer, thier share remain one of strongest in same industry. so maybe we dont represent the masses or at least contributor to their profit.