I made this spreadsheet out of curiosity when trying to compare rates from all telcos for Samsung Galaxy S3.

Thought you guys might want to know:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key...d=0&output=html

Edit: I added a new item New subscription per month after less proceeds, accidentaly removed it prior.
Edit2: Added a new note, how much you will pay depends on your existing plan
Edit3: Corrected inherited bug in Telco with cheapest contract due to previous edits.
Edit4: Anyone in the field of micro-economics can model this further to explain Consumer Equilibrium to maximize and maintain their Marginal Utility.
Edit5: Corrected an error spotted by randyhow, changed 24 months to 12 months for 12 months contract.
Edit6: Added numberings to segregate between selling the phone to subsidize the plan and knowing the actual cost of phone when subscribing.

TL;DR section
- Maxis is neither most expensive nor the cheapest, they probably got it right
- Digi contract gives you the cheapest cost of phone at the end of the contract
- Celcom could be the most expensive but they provide you with a shorter contract period
- The savings between all of these plans range from between RM100 all the way to RM400, which is just a savings of RM5 - RM20 per month (sell phone take plan)
- All in all, it really depends on your existing plan

How this spreadsheet works:
- This spreadsheet is trying to calculate what you are paying extra when you sign up a plan
- Current plan - New plan = Extra you pay every month
- Extra you pay every month + telco's subsidized phone cost = Actual phone cost



Summary
From here we can actually deduce that Maxis actually structured their plans directly comparable to Digi by giving the options of 24 & 12 months contract and to Celcom by giving the 18 months option. Vice versa you can say both Digi and Celcom are doing the opposite. This argument also hold true regardless of whoever came out with the contract first.

We can also see that Celcom's contract does not provide the benefits of economies of scale to users who subscribe to their longer 18 months plan comapred to their 12 months plan. As you can see, actual cost of phone actually becomes more expensive for 18 months 3GB plan vs 12 months 3GB plan and no change in terms of device cost when contract ends for the 18 months 1GB plan vs 12 months 1GB plan. So if you want out asap and not to be tied down, choosing a 12 month contract with Celcom seems to be the better option. As for Celcom, this means that contract structured this way actually makes jumping ship easier to their subscribers which is not the actual intention of tying up subscribers with contracts at all.

The opposite can be said for Digi where they provide the lowest for subscribers who choose to sign up with their highest data plan with longest 2 years tenure subscription.

What was interesting though is that Maxis never seem to appear anywhere as cheapest for all contract type be it 24, 18 or 12 months. They just seem to be in between of everything. I actually regard this to Celcom's plan that turn out to be expensive base on the assumed current plan. Had Celcom structured their plans to be more competitive, Maxis could have appeared at least once along one of those 3 type of contracts. Nevertheless, I think Maxis have positioned themselves well in this market (they know their strength and the value people are willing to pay for wider coverage - statement debatable) but the same must be said to Digi since in my opinion Digi is the one with the least popular when compare with the top three telco of Malaysia. Thus, coming out with an unbeatable contract to entice more subscribers to join them is the right strategy.

Then again, I think they are the most creative to make up for being the least popular due to coverage issue. Digiman ftw! Follow follow.....

From the post below on our saturated telco industry, it makes sense for telco to come out with plans to entice user to stay with them as long as possible. I am not sure what to say for those otherwise. Nevertheless, it is telco like Celcom providing contracts that is shorter for subscribers seems to give the best value albeit being the most expensive one out there. I suppose Celcom's strategy has weight too. In short, pay more and you end the contract fast. You can call this the quick exit strategy. Opting for short term revenue exit rather than a long term..... whatever it might be.

This post has been edited by j45on: Jun 2 2012, 01:18 PM

this. is. awesome.


although it further clarifies that their shitty deal is actually just you paying for the full price of the phone, instead of actually subsidy/discount taking place.

It also helps you to know if it is worth selling off the phone to subsidize yourself a better plan. Not to mention now you also know how much the phone cost to the people who sign up and then reselling the phone depending on the contract they have sign up (but you also need to know what's their existing plan to really know their actual cost of device)

This post has been edited by j45on: Jun 1 2012, 03:12 AM

damn i hate seeing spreadsheet. so sum it up. which telco provider has the cheapest price among all?

This post has been edited by jayqc: Jun 1 2012, 03:26 AM

Still typing my summary bro, in the mean time, up can read up while I continue typing.

By the way, to really know the best saving is to key in two things in the spreadsheet; your current data plan and (average) call & sms plan.

Then scroll all the way down for the summary savings.

This post has been edited by j45on: Jun 1 2012, 03:27 AM

okay. but i prefer to read the summary.

You can't compare unless you key in the data plan and (average) call & sms plan into spreadsheet.

The rest I already key in base on telco website.

tq ts. very informative.

You are welcome.

I just buy the phone.
Then I apply for postpaid sim card (I use internet a lot so I took internet plan)

If I feel like upgrading phone, no problem.

I admit I did over analyse this but it's always interesting to see how companies position their product especially in an already saturated environment like our telco industry.

From the spreadsheet we can see that the savings are only between RM100 to RM400 to an individual and amortized over 24 months it only brings about savings of RM5 to RM20 a month which is not much.

Then again, you can apply the same principle to other products with higher profit margin and quantity.

This post has been edited by j45on: Jun 1 2012, 03:44 AM

Wow, thank you for doing this hard work

How i wish you will posted it in my forum as well

I eat spreadsheet for a living.

Haha ok Thank you again

nice work there


will share this on S3 thread

This post has been edited by ZeneticX: Jun 1 2012, 04:35 AM

Can i use your spreadsheet for different phone model, say iPhone plan?

btw, which telco give good coverage in term of data usage?
btw, great info

Thanks.


Yes you can, just make sure you update the values for the cells highlighted in red. Appreciate if you can keep things in order and make it for public too.

Not sure bro, this one I think you mean need to do speedtest.net everywhere you go and compare all three telco to see if their 3G speed holds up and see which is most consistent. In my opinion depend on area too, some telco are better at urban, some sub-urban, some in the shopping area including the lift itself is good too!

Thanks!

fuiyo thumbs for ts