[This post isn't meant for anyone who's always on the hunt for new device every year, but for those who believe that any decent device nowadays can last you for 2 to 3 years. All you need to do to keep it alive is to change the battery after 2 years. I did this for iphone5, and I have never upgraded the phone. I also do not believe in contracts, so I bought the device outright.]

So I have been thinking (very hard) of changing phone after 2+ years, and ever since I saw apple with their so called "yearly upgrade" plan that's paid monthly (and not yearly, which is the trick here), so that they can keep you vendor+telco locked in. The whole point of such option, is so that you continue to pay a hefty amount year after year.

Then, while browsing maxis, I stumbled upon Maxis offering this way before apple did. I went ahead and compared this to a retail phone seller. Since I have bought from senheng before, I shall use them.

What "zerolution" gives you, is basically what every other handphone seller gives you in terms of monthly repayment.

zerolution on note 5 =

senheng =

zerolution after 24 months = 3312 (because of yearly upgrade and device protection)

Senheng after 24 months = 2699 (because there's 0% installment)

Wait, there's more. Zerolution as far as I can dig out the FAQ, it is stated there's no plan in it. You can only choose the ONE plan, minimum is 98/mth.

So lets add it up again.

zerolution 24 mth + plan 24 mth = 3312 + (98*24) = 5,664

senheng + plan = 2699 + (98*24) = 5051

After 2 years, lets assume we decided not to cave in to the upgrade bandwagon.

zerolution 24 mth + plan 36 mth + zerolution year 3 = 3312 + (98*36) + 1656 = 8,496

senheng + plan 36 mth = 2699 + (98*36) = 6,227

There you have it. You just saved 2,269 on the 3rd year.

Here's more ways to save money. Now that whatsapp has enabled calls for iphone (which previously only for android), you can basically ditch line calls. Why do you think maxis (and presumably other telco idk) have launched the "one plan" with free calls or sms? Because they are losing money and want to get people back to their 100+ per month plan (dohh).

So what I did was took out the old plan, and changed it to surfmore 50. Only important calls and places with bad 3g are being used on line calls. The rest = whatsapp.

Do the math again, and you can save 50+ more a month.

a good sharing by TS..

Don't think your maths is correct.

After year 2 you don't have to pay the monthly payment and upgrade fee anymore, and paying for device protection is also questionable. Hence it should be 3,312 + (98*36)+ 3,528 = 6,840.

It is also questionable whether you want to pay the upgrade fee and device protection if you don't intend to upgrade every year; if you intend to upgrade every 2 years (i.e. contract expiry), then there is no need to pay the RM30 and RM15.

So total should be (93*24) + (98*36) = 5,760.

Or you can look from another perspective. After year 1, you want to upgrade:

Total paid to Maxis = ([93+30+15]*24) + (98*12) = 1,656 + 1,176 = 2,832.

Senheng = Device RRP + plan - disposal = 2,699 + 1,176 - 1,300 (assume 50% recovery) = 2,575.

Buying device outright still comes out cheaper!

Hmm you are right. But the point of the zerolution plan is so that people are (inevitably) opt in for all those options.

Because, why would anyone choose zerolution if not for changing phone yearly and device protection?

If not mistaken, based on their FAQ, if customer don't opt in for yearly upgrade, they will have to complete the payment up to 24 months.

Round and round it goes, comes back to the question, why would anyone get zerolution? Hahah.

The more I think, the more kepala pening.

I prefer simple and straight forward, and not having to figure if i didn't do this and that, what would happen?

Plus, now that i look like advertising for senheng, but they always have nice offers for warranty. Check out that extra 1 year warranty.

For zerolution, its 15 a month, or what have you "upselling".

Offtopic : apple has retained the 16GB for current device so they can upsell the 64gb+ .. Maxis is doing the same shet now (or way before).

I pitty anyone who fall for all these gimmicks and had to crack their head. Sooo many questions just look at their FAQ is enough to flip the table.

Zerolution basically targeting ppl who can't/ doesn't want to pay upfront. And doesn't eat up your credit limit.

Dont get what u are trying to say.

When u sign up to zerolution , it is not compulsory for u to take the phone upgrade fee and the device protection.

So assuming u take note 5 , u pay rm93 a month + rm128 assuming u take that plan.

Thats RM221 a mth which is not too bad considering u dont need a CC to signup for this plan.

Non compulsory. But you will still need to finish the 24 month.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but only with the upgrade fee, you won't need to complete the 24 month. But, you do (eventually) get tied up to them forever.

Sure, no CC, but their eligibility requirements aren't that much better anyway.

Just call it a gimmick. No offence to maxis, but their plan always gets shot by other telcos. The term [suck blood] is not uncommon when we talk about maxis.

maybe you forgotten about company that allowed phone claims 150-300 per months.

basically they are paying nothing for phone + commitment upfront. each month just need to submit phone-bill with claims dept. you get both for free assume u still working next 2 years.

if device outright or 0% installment still have to pay with yr own pocket money

know few ppl doing it, since company subsidies their phone bill. basically their phone are free as long the company policy remain the same.

even they decide to leave the company 12 months later. the phone price they pay 93*12*gst (1182.96~) still way cheaper than outright or 0% installment. hope my boss not reading this

still within 150-300 range.

s6edge+ 111 + 98 + gst = 221.54~

note 5 93 + 98 + gst = 202.46~

lenovo vibe 35 + 98 + gst = 140.98~

I think Maxis CLEARLY labelled in the phone bill...how much is the plan and how much for the phone. Anyone on the Zerolution plan can confirm this ?

Most company only want the page 1 for claims. Where only current, total bill n last payment amount are shown.

Unless one can only claim for business calls..

I'm tempted to zerolution as i hv a monthly rm300 phone bills reimbursement limit.... currently 3 celcom lines total rm150 + 1maxis surfmore50.. thinking to upgrade that to zerolution. can buy for my Waifu...

as I oso hv rm2k yearly HP change reimbursement for myself...

This post has been edited by jonn zee: Oct 11 2015, 01:23 AM

I always believed no free lunch in the world.. exp Malaysia. they why telco tired u up for 24th mth n give u turtle speeds Internet. but better than buy the phone outright..

I sign up with celcom as under corporate plan. although I am bonded for 24 mth contact. but always can renew plan by 18th mth n get new phone without penalty.

Well .. This has nothing to do with the ragequit, but I just wanna bump this for no apararent reason. LOL.

Tho not exactly related, my calculation still stands, don't get fooled. Do your own math. My math might be wrong, but I like simple and straight forward thing. When there's a need to do math, it's really not worth it, to a consumer.

Oh and btw, I have since changed to umobile 3 months back. Every telco has their own weakness, for example Umobile didn't honor my request to only use e-billing, even though it's written in pen and paper when I port in. They claim that I need to call in to change the method of bill delivery, and I need to do that 30 days before. So i blindly got billed 5 bucks for 3 months, and the customer service keep repeating their company policy (even when I talk nicely to them, unlike my usual: CALL YOUR MANAGER COME) and told me there's no way to refund that money because I already receive the paper bill, this that, yada yada. And genting has the worst coverage ever.

Luckily my plan was only 28 bucks, so plus that 3 to 5 bucks, it's nothing. The cheapest I had on maxis was 50 bucks !

This is a lesson to all telcos that they need to step up their game. Cheap or Expensive still need to have top notch customer support.

This post has been edited by dtdw: Apr 7 2016, 10:20 PM

How frequent u go up Genting? twice a year for me ...so it's not a problem la..haha

You should include gst in your zerolution monthly calculation.

RM138 + RM98 = RM236, gst=RM14.16

Total/mth = RM250.16,

For 2 years, RM250.16 x 24 = RM6003.24 with gst.

great calculation, basically I dun trust their zerolution

Although I hate calculation, I still do it. Now presenting to you the T&C that nobody ever bothers to read. http://www.maxis.com.my/en/personal/suppor...-condition.html


Say whuuuut? 0 everything. ZERO. But read that T&C with this bolded text please. Now am confused.


And now check out their FAQ. I had to zoom it all the way down to capture it on my screen and still havent finish cover the whole thing. Why I said if you need to read the FAQ, that means it's not for you.

Get the device from senheng, get a no contract telco plan, problem solved.

This post has been edited by dtdw: Apr 8 2016, 06:54 PM

TLDR: Senheng is better than Maxis.