tink, u r soooooooo correct!
no way better to put it : it's penny wise pound foolish kinda scenario
take the monthly payment u need to pay, x12 or 24 based on the contract, THEN plus sms price, now compare that to the $$ saved from the phone. izzit worth it?
u might argue about the free talk time in the ivalue package. if tat's the case, u still need to pay for the sms.
u might argue iData plan, but u pay ur monthly commitment, on top of that, plus rm30 for 250mb?? crap! dont forget to x 12 foir contract, and no savings on phone price (assuming rm30 data package)
i will still think prepaid is the way to go: no contract, 500mb free, active10 free (value packages need to pay rm8 to activate), sms almost same price to other operator (who can beat 1sen/sms to 10 maxis numbers?)

i posted in another thread. i am with maxis postpaid for 10 yrs+.
all it took for me to change to prepaid, AND MAINTAIN my number, is to sign a form over the counter.
wat top up? just activate Active365 package, pay rm30+ , pay another rm30 for top up, and u can forget about the validity period for the next 1 year!

beats the idata rm30/monthly anytime

PeeEl,

agree with u "The other thing is charges under pre-paid is higher than post-paid's.".
the thing is , i mostly sms and seldom call out. so prepaid will be the best for me, especially after i activate active10, 1sens/sms. no plan can beat tat. (unless free sms between family, tat is another plan, another calculation)

For those who call out alot, just go for iData plan, but rm50 extra everymonth for 500mb on top of ur value plan... i still consider not worth it la.

line tink, i always calculate the overall cost of ownership of the phone. for iData2, it will be 12xrm50 (assume 1 yr contract = RM600) while u only save rm400 for the phone. the value plan no need to calculate, coz u will also be paying tat everymonth if using another phone.