I am noobie at this, so I dont understand.

Why buy new phone, so expensive, when telco contract with free phone so cheap?

Even the not free phone can pay in installment and total still cheaper by 1k or more, if sign up contract for 2-3 years.

Is there something I dont know? Any telco tricks?

Because if u no need to spent the amount for the postpaid plan, the phone price is cheaper.

Example digi postpaid 80 for 24 months can get samsung a15 for free.

First year got rebate 10x12 so,
70 + 6% tax * 12 = 890.4
80 + 6% tax * 12 = 1017.76
Total 1908

If just use prepaid plan say digi 25 monthly, 25x24 is 600, no 6%, then buy phone outright can get 790, making the total 1390, a savings of 518.

can change plan or port to other telco anytime coz no contract.

Telco bundled phones are good for those who can claim phone allowance from their compamy.

The money have to come from somewhere
Postpaid plan with subsidiesd or free phones are usually overpriced to cover the cost of phone.

A typical prepaid phone goes for rm35 with plenty of data unlimited calls. No phone. Freedom to change network in case the network becomes lousy

A similar postpaid plan would cost rm200 if you want a subsidized phone and contract 3 years.
And you are stuck with the network. If you lose the phone you still need to pay for the overpriced network fee.

There are also stories that even after you pay for x years the phone still don't belong to you and force you to upgrade to next contract. You can't sell the phone or give to others. The phone is then locked

This post has been edited by lj0000: Jun 10 2024, 06:17 AM

Rates of data/call plans be it postpaids or prepaids have been dropping in the past say 2 years despite overall inflation.

Contracts with phones lock the seemingly high fixed data/call rates for the next 24-36 months whilst cheaper data/call rates Prepaids/Postpaids keeps propping up every now and then from various telcos.

This post has been edited by zeng: Jun 10 2024, 07:02 AM

I buy new phone for tax relief

I totally can't fully utilize the data of postpaid ..
No point ..
And for the phone that I want, the plan too high with too much data which wasteful ...

lari income tax

Free phone is good enough for certain usage, flagship phone definitely not free.
Say if you buy a Samsung Galaxy S24 ultra, direct RRP is Rm6299. Buy the same phone from Celcom Digi for 24 months contract, you have to pay Rm193 monthly for the phone, plus Rm120 minimum for the postpaid line. Multiply that by 24 months you will get the answer.
If I can afford, I would still buy the phone at RRP and put in a prepaid sim which maybe cost rm40 a month.

Because some people don't use much and don't want to be tied down to a contract.

Myself only buy phones without contract. Once a telco performance sucks, I merely MNP out.

Share apa sampah phone telco is offering for cheap

Mana ada free lunch...all are already counted in

Contract with telco for cheaper phone has it own risks.

Right now, my company pays for my telco bill. Imagine if I change to a different company which doesn't give such benefit. Or suddenly my company revises the policy on how much we can claim. Right now I took the max telco plan which I can claim (RM150) to get my phone (S24 Ultra) as cheap as I can (which comes to around just RM4k). To be frank, I seldom use data up to as much as I am provided (but I can go anywhere without having to ask for people's wifi password).

Who knows if HR ever going to revise its policy for cost cutting measures (and to reflect that nowadays telco plans are getting cheaper).

This post has been edited by Lahaha: Jun 10 2024, 11:37 AM

Coz lots of people got fiber at home so why need pay high price postpaid with huge data
Better buy prepaid n save that extra money to pay fibre