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

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

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

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.

You are welcome.

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

I eat spreadsheet for a living.

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!

I can usually only find comparison from other blog that doesn't really give you a true picture of how much you need to pay extra in order to come out with the true price of the phone at the end. What happen after that is people paying more for the phone instead of the savings they thought they had for signing up.

You will need to plot in your current plan in order to come out with the better picture. So far base on the default plan I have put in, Digi seems to be the cheapest at the end of the 2 years contract.

The same does not hold true depending on what contract suits you. Some people feel that it's worth it to pay more and get out of the plan asap. THen Celcom seems to be the best plan here.

Thanks for sharing.

The total price indicated does not exclude what subscribers currently already pay for their existing plan.

I think we will arrive to the same amount if you minus off the amount you currently pay per month for the period of the contract.

The savings only exist when you buy the phone for resell to subsidize you for the new plan without paying more than what you are paying compared to existing plan.

Ever wonder why you keep seeing people put WTS You take phone i take data in garage sale?

The same principle applies when people apply loan for house. Some people make use of this advantage by using the least capital to make the most profit.

Example, pay 10% deposit to buy a property assuming you know the price will rise and later on resell it for a profit without paying the full amount of the house to do the same business.

If that's stupid I don't know what works for you.

Telco rate for call and SMS are together, if you are not using a monthly commitment plan, then you use use your average. Same applies.

Corrected! Thanks for spotting the error!

To keep the calculation simple, I have to negate extra charges from over using the data plan from Maxis so they are comparable to Digi and Celcom.

If you are a person who subscript a lower data plan but tend to over use, I advice you to either plot in a higher data plan or put in a higher number of the monthly average charges for your data plan.

That would enable you to calculate base on that scenario.

Hi Yuki Ijuin, can you do it again? I just did some major update on the description to make the formula clearer.

This is exactly what I am trying to show.

The assumption is that you are paying extra because you want the phone, and in doing so the extra you pay will go into the actual cost of the phone which is not the subsidized phone cost.

This post has been edited by j45on: Jun 2 2012, 01:15 PM

Assuming my existing plan with Maxis of what I pay every month is as per the spreadsheet, I can actually see that I make the most saving from choosing the 24 month 3GB plan from Maxis. I save RRP RM2,199 - RM1,959 = RM240

You are welcome. It helps me to make better spreadsheet next time.

Haha, I actually wanted to add one more thing into the spreadsheet.

Invest a certain amount of cash into something else like 2 years Bank Deposit, buying Gold or Silver to negate the effect of having to pay extra for the phone.

Though the savings you make is only about RM100 throughout 2 years. The same theory can be applied into other things like how to pay less interest for your home loan, car and things like that.

In the long run when the investment matures or that the contract ends, you will find yourself reaping a lot of Durian for your self to continue the whole cycle again.

This post has been edited by j45on: Jun 2 2012, 01:38 PM