Why I think the MaxisONE Postpaid Plan ain’t worth it [Opinion]

Maxis revamped its MaxisONE postpaid plans last week, now with four different MaxisONE plans – MaxisONE plan 98, MaxisONE plan 128, MaxisONE plan 158 and MaxisONE plan 188.

In summary:

• MaxisONE plan 98- RM98/month, 1GB data, Unlimited Calls/SMS to all networks
• MaxisONE plan 128- RM128/month, 3GB data, Unlimited Calls/SMS to all networks
• MaxisONE plan 158- RM158/month, 5GB data, Unlimited Calls/SMS to all networks
• MaxisONE plan 188- RM188/month, 7GB+1GB data, Unlimited Calls/SMS to all networks

All plans comes with free Spotify Premium and RM20 discount on Maxis Home Fiber plan.

The Telco used to offer a much more affordable MaxisONE plans — MaxisONE plan lite (RM78/month, 1GB, unlimited calls within network) and MaxisONE plan Start (RM58/month, 100MB, unlimited calls within network) but looks like both plans have been discontinued.

Prices of consumer goods, heathcare and even smartphones are already rising due to the falling ringgit. Everything is getting more and more expensive and not to forget GST (Government Service Tax) that Malaysians need to pay. Yet this is the time Maxis decided to increase pricing of its postpaid plans.

Expensive and lousy network, these are the main reasons why I think the MaxisONE plan ain’t worth it:

Expensive MaxisONE plans

Let’s compare the top MaxisONE plan to U Mobile P70 postpaid plan. The reason why I picked U Mobile is because I think U Mobile postpaid plans brings more value for money.

1. U Mobile P70 at RM70/month for 7GB data vs MaxisONE plan 188 at RM188/month for 7GB data. (Note: MaxisONE plan 188 gives you additional 1GB per month for 6-months if you sign up before 30 November.)
2. U Mobile P70 + U Mobile P70 =14GB of data for life at RM140/month. Still cheaper than MaxisONE plan 188 (RM188/month). Or P70 x 3 for RM210/month and get 21GB of data!
3. Maxis gives you unlimited calls and SMS to all networks, U Mobile has 70 minutes of voice calls and no free SMS. However U Mobile voice call rate is the cheapest in the market at 10sen/min. (U Mobile SMS at 3sen on net and 8sen off net)

These days, people use more data than voice because there are now unlimited free Internet messaging plans out there especially for prepaid users. Note, Malaysia is a prepaid market. Data plans are also getting much cheaper thanks to competitions.

MaxisONE plan is relevant for those people who make A LOT of CALLS and with an average spending of RM150 per month, according to Maxis as of June. But in reality how many million Malaysians out there who would spend an average RM150 a month or RM188 for a plan that does not give you enough value for the price you are paying.

Expensive Data add-on @ RM30 per 1GB!

Maxis has been promoting its 4G LTE network for the past year. People tend to use more data when network is fast (example download more files, stream more Youtube, etc). What if, you need more than 7GB of data? With MaxisONE plan, it is going to cost you RM30 per 1GB for data add on.

If you are already paying so much, RM188/month for 7GB data, why can’t Maxis give you discount? Look at Maxis SurfMore 50 (RM50/month), data add-on is only RM15 for 1GB.

Perhaps Maxis is too greedy or maybe the product team has failed to do a good job?

RM30= 1GB
7GB= RM210 !

Lousy Maxis Network

The expensive MaxisONE plan should be justified with a premium, excellent network. Maxis talks great about its 4G LTE network (and I have no doubt that it is fast, for now) but a large number of its customers are still on the 3G network. As of June 2015, there are 9.1 million Maxis Internet users including 1.9 million 4G LTE users who would still rely on 3G network for voice calls.

Maxis 3G network is slow, has poor coverage & needs a better network team is what said in January this year, and this has not changed. I was at Nu Sentral mall yesterday afternoon and a friend of mine has full Maxis 3G signal with data on his smartphone but he can’t use the Internet. On Maxis Facebook page, there are still many complaints on slow Internet apart from coverage and voice call issues.

How can they shamelessly call it Malaysia’s Best Data Network?

In Summary:

• MaxisONE Plan is expensive and offers less value for $$
• Maxis Data add on plans are super expensive
• Maxis has a lousy, slow 3G network

The Maxis CEO, Morten Lundal has set a clear vision for Maxis and I truly believe that he could make it happen. However I doubt if his team shares the same vision. Regardless, I still look forward to seeing better Maxis postpaid plans and a much more improved network.

P.s: U Mobile’s 3G network coverage is not as good as Maxis, especially indoor, however when you are within coverage, U Mobile 3G is faster than Maxis 3G most of the time (in KL). I wanted to compare Digi SmartPlan 238 here but obviously Digi is way more expensive than Maxis. As for Celcom, I believe they have a better 3G network compared to Maxis. Personally, I use more data and make less calls these days.

Note: This is an opinion based article and it is the personal view of the writer. It does not necessarily represent the view of MalaysianWireless.