Finally Celcom has revealed its iPhone 6 & 6 Plus plan nearly 30 hours prior to official launch of iPhone 6 & 6 Plus in Malaysia. To refresh you, Maxis was the first telco revealed its plan followed by DiGi, and both of them are taking pre-order since 30th October. And a comparison post to compare DiGi vs Maxis was published few days ago.

As we promised, comparison for all 3 telcos (Celcom, DiGi & Maxis) is brought to you here. 🙂  However, you might curious why iPhone 6 Plus is not present in the comparison chart. Regardless iPhone 6 or 6 Plus being used for comparison, actually both results did not affect the general point of view, so for shorter post, I pick only iPhone 6 as example.

Since Celcom is the last mobile operator to reveal its iPhone 6/6 Plus offer, logically they should be the best offer telco, because they have extra time for their actuaries & marketing team to design a better strategy. But will Celcom really beat DiGi & Maxis? Let’s check the comparison chart below:

Compare the Introductory Plan of Celcom, DiGi & Maxis

Telco	Celcom	DiGi	Maxis
Plan	Prime	iDiGi 50	iValue Simple
Monthly Fee	RM 78	RM 50	RM 50
Bundle Usage
Calls to All Networks	266 units	50 minutes	200 minutes
SMS to Own Network		200 SMS	100 SMS
SMS to Other Networks		–
Mobile Internet	2.05 GB	2 GB	1 GB
Exceed Quota Charges
Call to Own Network	RM 0.15/minute	RM 0.15/minute	RM 0.12/minute
Call to Other Networks			RM 0.20/minute
SMS to Own Network	RM 0.15/SMS	RM 0.10/SMS	RM 0.05/SMS
SMS to Other Networks			RM 0.15/SMS
Exceed Quota	Block	Speed Throttle
12 Months Contract Total Cost*
16 GB	RM 2,814	RM 2,765	RM 2,849
64 GB	RM 3,154	RM 3,100	RM 3,179
128 GB	RM 3,494	RM 3,435	RM 3,519

*Exclude the advance deposit and stamp duty (RM10). Advance deposit was not included because it will be refund in your first month bill as well, so it would not affect the total cost.

Celcom vs DiGi vs Maxis

– DiGi has the lowest total 12 months owning cost, however it offer the least call minute and the sms only to its own network, which is not very attractive.

– If we excluded DiGi, and in this situation – Celcom vs Maxis, If your call destination across all networks, call > sms and rarely send out sms, then Celcom would be your best choice, provided coverage are almost similar. Besides that, Maxis only give 1 GB data, which might not sufficient in this new era.

– In overall, I’ll pick Celcom > DiGi > Maxis.

– However, in the following situation, DiGi > Celcom > Maxis:

• MNP to other telco, then MNP back to DiGi, enjoy 100 minutes and 100 SMS to all networks, sum up will get 150 minutes to all networks, which consider worth than the current iDiGi 50 for existing DiGi subscribers.

Compare the Most Expensive Plan of Celcom, DiGi & Maxis

Telco	Celcom	DiGi	Maxis
Plan	Elite	iDiGi 238	iValue 3
Monthly Fee	RM 238	RM 238	RM 250
Bundle Usage
Call to Own Networks	1,500 units	1,000 minutes	1,000 minutes
Call to Other Networks			1,500 minutes
SMS to Own Network		600 SMS	1,000 SMS
SMS to Other Networks			–
Mobile Internet	6.2 GB	5 GB	6 GB
Apps Data	–	3 GB	–
Wi-Fi Data	1 GB	–	–
Exceed Quota Charges
Call to All Networks	RM 0.10/minutes
SMS to All Networks	RM 0.10/SMS
Mobile Data	Block	Speed Throttle
24 Months Contract Total Cost*
16 GB	RM 6,130	RM 6,269	RM 6,659
64 GB	RM 6,480	RM 6,604	RM 6,999
128 GB	RM 6,810	RM 6,939	RM 7,329

*Exclude the advance deposit and stamp duty (RM10). Advance deposit was not included because it will be refund in your first month bill as well, so it would not affect the total cost.

Celcom vs DiGi vs Maxis

– Among them, Maxis has the most expensive iPhone 6 plan – iValue 3. If you’re really using that much (up to 2,500 minutes call + 1,000 SMS), then Maxis definitely is your idea telco, otherwise it will be the first telco I excluded from consideration.

– Compare Celcom vs DiGi, DiGi seems to be having more Data (8GB vs Celcom 6.2 GB), but out of that 8GB, 3GB was restricted to iTunes, FaceTime, iMessage, Facebook & Twitter. Will you use that much data?

– Although DiGi offer 1,600 unit (1,000 call + 600 SMS) compare to Celcom 1,500 unit, but with Celcom you can freely decide where you want to utilize your 1,500 units, to either call or sms or mms.

– In conclusion, I would say Celcom > DiGi > Maxis. And you?

– Please take note that Celcom Elite plan come with 4 GB Celcom First Wi-Fi, however, in Celcom iPhone 6/6 Plus packages, the Elite plan has only 1 GB First Wi-Fi. Somewhat disappointed…

Compare the Plan of Celcom, DiGi & Maxis that around RM 100

Telco	Celcom		DiGi	Maxis
Plan	Prime 98	Prime 128	iDiGi 108	iValue 1
Monthly Fee	RM 98	RM 128	RM 108	RM 100
Bundle Usage
Call to Own Network	266 units		300 minutes	1,000 minutes
Call to Other Networks				333 minutes
SMS to Own Network			300 SMS	1,000 SMS
SMS to Other Networks				–
Mobile Data	4.05 GB	6.05 GB	3 GB	2 GB
Apps Data	–	–	2 GB	–
Exceed Quota Charges
Call to All Networks	RM 0.15/minute
SMS to All Networks	RM 0.15/SMS		RM 0.10/SMS
Exceed Quota	Block		Speed Throttle
24 Months Contract Total Cost*
16 GB	RM 3,790	RM 4,290	RM 4,037	RM 3,959
64 GB	RM 4,140	RM 4,640	RM 4,372	RM 4,289
128 GB	RM 4,470	RM 4,970	RM 4,707	RM 4,629

*Exclude the advance deposit and stamp duty (RM10). Advance deposit was not included because it will be refund in your first month bill as well, so it would not affect the total cost.

Celcom vs DiGi vs Maxis

– In overall, Maxis give the least data allowance (only 2GB), which seems insufficient for most of the people nowaday (according to own experience and conversation with lowyat forumers), while Celcom charge higher sms rate after exceed bundle usage.

– If you use large amount of data but rarely make call or sms, then DiGi probably is your best solution, provided the coverage is fine for your frequent travel location. But if 5 GB isn’t satisfy your need, you can take advantage of Celcom 6.05 GB plan with additional RM 10.54 for 1 GB is considerably great deal.

– If you’re kind of sales person and require more talk time than data, Maxis would fit you the most.

Compare the Middle Range Plan of Celcom, DiGi & Maxis

Telco	Celcom	DiGi	Maxis
Plan	Premier	iDiGi 148	MaxisOne	iValue 2
Monthly Fee	RM 168	RM 148	RM 158	RM 155
Bundle Usage
Call to Own Network	666 units	600 minutes	Unlimited	1,000 minutes
Call to Other Networks				667 minutes
SMS to Own Network		600 SMS		1,000 SMS
SMS to Other Networks				–
Mobile Internet	6.1 GB	3 GB	3 GB	4 GB
Apps Data	–	3 GB	–	–
Exceed Quota Charges
Call to All Networks	RM 0.12/minute	RM 0.10/minute	Free	RM 0.12/minute
SMS to All Networks	RM 0.12/SMS	RM 0.10/SMS	MaxisOne	RM 0.10/SMS
Exceed Quota	Block	Speed Throttle
24 Months Contract Total Cost*
16 GB	RM 4,970	RM 4,733	RM 5,181	RM 4,949
64 GB	RM 5,300	RM 5,068	RM 5,521	RM 5,279
128 GB	RM 5,650	RM 5,403	RM 5,851	RM 5,609

*Exclude the advance deposit and stamp duty (RM10). Advance deposit was not included because it will be refund in your first month bill as well, so it would not affect the total cost.

Celcom vs DiGi vs Maxis

– Personally, I’ll drop DiGi according to my usage, because DiGi has restricted 3GB data into iTunes, FaceTime, iMessage, Facebook & Twitter, personally I don’t use that much in those apps.

– Compare Celcom vs Maxis, if you data hungry, Celcom, else Maxis. If you’re balance on that, probably you should consider Maxis, cause iValue 2 offer you in total of 1,667 minutes of calling (1,000 on-net & 667 off-net) and come with 4 GB data.

General

In general, Celcom give you most data, followed by DiGi, but DiGi has restricted your data usage into mobile data and apps data (iTunes, FaceTime, iMessage, Facebook & Twitter). DiGi is very clever, because most of the people didn’t use so much data in those apps.

Although some recommendation, guidance and comment on selecting the best value plan, but it actually largely depends on your actual usage and budget. Besides that, coverage and signal strength also another important factor that can influence your decision.

If you’ve any comments, please do not hesitate to ask or share with us. 🙂