Posts Tagged ‘curve’

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Maxis Prepaid Blackberry Curve 8520 Big Year End Sale: Good Deal?

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

hotlink logoIf you’ve been interested to get a Blackberry Curve but held off until now because you wanted to see what was available from both Maxis and Celcom in terms of their offerings for a prepaid version of the entry level Blackberry, here’s Maxis’ latest offer, which I initially wrote about here.  It looks like competition in this area is rather fierce, although there are only two celcos involved in offering it.

maxis hotlink prepaid blackberry curve 8520 year end offer

So, the latest Maxis offer is this: pay RM 488 up front for a Blackberry Curve 8520 on a prepaid basis.  You are also required to pay RM 98 x 6 months in advance, for the prepaid monthly premium BIS (Blackberry Internet Service) charges.  Total commitment up front = RM 488 + (RM 98 x 6) = RM 1,076.  After the 6 months is up, you are free to choose from any of the 4 prepaid BIS packages offered by Maxis, or move over to Celcom who also offer prepaid BIS plans.  Or, sign up with DiGi on a postpaid corporate BES (Blackberry Enterprise Services) plan.  Your choice.

Contrast this to Celcom’s offer: RM 998 for the Curve 9520, plus a RM 50 compulsory top up for the prepaid XPax account.  6 months of Celcom’s premium service at RM 2.50 daily will cost (RM 2.5 x 30 days) x 6 months = RM 450.  Grand total = RM 998 + RM 450 = RM 1,448.  Significantly more expensive than Maxis’ offer.

Here are more reasons why the Maxis package is better:

  1. The RM 98 monthly charges includes WAP browsing, Celcom’s RM 2.50 daily package does not.  Browsing accidentally using WAP on your Curve 8520 on Celcom’s network will reduce your credit very quickly, as many unsuspecting users have discovered.
  2. The Maxis package includes a free RM 100 designer skin; Celcom’s offer only includes a cheap rubber/silicon protective case.

So, getting the Maxis package as it stands now is highly recommended.  It’ll save you a lot of money compared to the Celcom offer.  Ah, don’t we just love competition?  It’s unfortunate that I committed too early to the Celcom offer; this will teach me to exercise more patience!

So, what do you think?  Have you bought one?  Itching to try a Blackberry after hearing so many good things about it?  No better time to try, I say!

Here is the FAQ (frequently asked questions) for the RM 488 offer from Maxis:

FAQ ON PREPAID BLACKBERRY CURVE 8520 DEVICE (UPFRONT PAYMENT PROMOTION: 6 NOV UNTIL 31 DEC 2009 ONLY)

  1. When and how can I enjoy this promotion?

    This promotion is open to ALL Hotlink customers. Hotlink customers need to only visit any Maxis centre nationwide and sign up for the Blackberry Curve 8520 up front payment plan. This promotion is only valid from 6 Nov 2009 until 31 Dec 2009.

  2. What does the Prepaid Blackberry Curve 8520 up front payment promotion entails?

    This plan offers Hotlink customers an option to purchase the Blackberry Curve 8520 at only RM488 (versus retail price of RM1199) as long as the customer signs up for the BIS Premium package at RM98/month for 6 months in advance. This means customers have to pay RM488 + (RM98 x 6) = RM1076 in order to enjoy this promotion.

  3. Is there a contract that I have to sign up to enjoy this promotion?

    No, there is no contract that the customer is bounded to as this is an up front payment plan. If a customer decides to terminate his/her BIS plan earlier than the 6 months period that he/she has prepaid for, the customer is NOT entitled to any refund of the BIS subscription fee.

  4. What happens after the 6 months prepayment period?

    The customer’s BIS Premium plan will cease after the 6 months prepayment period and the customer MUST sign up for any of the available BIS plan at that point in time in order to continue enjoying BlackBerry services on his device. The customer can take up either BIS Messaging, BIS Social, BIS Weekly Premium or BIS Premium by typing *100#.

  5. Am I obligated to continue subscribing to the BIS services after the 6 months prepayment period?

    No, the customer is NOT obligated to continue subscribing to any BIS plan after the 6 months period.

  6. What happens if my prepaid account becomes inactive during the 6 months prepayment period?

    The customer will not be able to enjoy his/her Blackberry service. He/she needs to ensure that his Prepaid account is active during the 6 months prepayment period in order to enjoy BlackBerry services on his device.

  7. Can I buy more than 1 of this promotion plan?

    Yes the customer can as long as each plan is tied to a different Prepaid mobile number.

  8. I have purchased the Blackberry Curve 8520 under the 12 months Hotlink contract plan. Can I move to this plan?

    No, the customer cannot as he/she is bounded by the contract on the previous plan. He/she can take up this plan under a different Prepaid mobile number.

  9. Why is this plan cheaper than the 12 months Hotlink contract plan that was offered earlier?

Both the plans are different as they are catered to different types of customers. The earlier plan is a 12 months contract where the customer is not required to prepay his/her BIS plan upfront and he/she is given a choice to choose between the BIS Messaging, BIS Social or BIS Premium plan. This new plan is an up front payment plan where the customer needs to sign up for BIS Premium at RM98/month for 6 months in advance.

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Maxis Feels The (Celcom Blackberry) Heat

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

[UPDATE] Conclusions superseded by this post when new information became available. Click here.
maxis-logoAh, don’t we just love competition? If you recall, I was initially very interested in the Maxis’ prepaid Blackberry Curve 8520, the first in the industry, and perhaps amongst the first in Southeast Asia.   In fact, I’ve covered it rather extensively in this blog, if you care to search.

Then, along came Celcom who then threw a big spanner in the works by also announcing their version of the same thing.  Except that the Celcom offer, to me at least, sounded like a much better deal due to its open nature, and because it was a truly contract-less offer, unlike Maxis’.   And to top it all off, Celcom launched their packages and device earlier by throwing a party while as at the date of this post, Maxis offer is still pretty much vapourware.

So now, feeling the heat, Maxis has decided to strike back. Whether this is too late or not remains to be seen – I’ve seen a number of tweets online as well as forum postings from people who were simply too tired of the constantly moving goalposts of the Maxis offer that they’ve decided to just make life simpler and just get a Celcom device instead (I’m one of these people).

So, check out the year end sale details below on how Maxis has decided to strike back.  Their offer – pay RM 488 on a “prepaid” basis for a Blackberry Curve 8520, but you must sign up for at least 6 months for their RM98 monthly premium blackberry internet service plan.  I say “prepaid” using inverted commas because in one fell swoop, Maxis has turned the word “prepaid” into a contractual or pseudo postpaid service.  And this is even better than a postpaid service, because you need to pay for the service in advance, whereas for a postpaid service, you pay in arrears.  Maxis also does not have to worry about bad debts or late paying customers – because the customer has to pre-pay to enjoy the service!  Now, you tell me – what other business is better than this one, eh?  ;-)

There doesn’t seem to be any detailed terms and conditions for this RM 488 offer in their FAQ, so I can’t really tell you whether it’s a good deal or not.  One would probably need a fine toothcomb to go through the T&Cs to see whether it’s worthwhile or not.  Personally, if you ask me, it’s too much trouble to go through; and I say this because I hate contracts.  No matter how good a service is, if it comes with a contract, I rarely, if ever, recommend it to anyone.  Because if a service is *that* good, surely you don’t need contracts to tie people down?  Why not make it simple, let people purchase a device at a good price, and because you’re so confident your service is good enough vis-a-vis the competition, surely you will make money from the customer on a long term basis?  And this is why I recommend the Celcom package – buy the device at RM 998 + RM 50 compulsory top up, and get the device contract-free – use Celcom’s BIS service one month, switch to Maxis the next if you’re unhappy.  With Maxis’ package, you need to promise to use the service for 6 months continuously, even if the service sucks in order to get your rebates.  And oh, by the way, this RM 488 offer is only valid from 6th November to 31st December.  The dates on which Maxis is making these available is very confusing – the prepaid 8520s on other plans are available from 2nd November onwards, but the RM 488 is only available starting 3 days later.  Why not start on the same day?  The more I read about Maxis’ offers, the more confused I become – maybe it’s a deliberate strategy?  Or perhaps I’m just too dumb to understand the intricacies.

Over to Celcom for a counter-punch.  And if Celcom is daring and aggressive enough, why not come up with an even cheaper price for the 8520?  ;-)  And in case people are wondering, I’ve been using Celcom’s prepaid BIS since 11th October when I purchase the device, and am very happy with the service and coverage.  I’m using the RM 2.50 daily package and haven’t seen my credit disappear down the drain.  Just remember never to use the WAP browser if you don’t want to see that RM500 prepaid credit disappear!

[UPDATE] In case you missed the red text above, the conclusion/recommendation has changed, please click here for an updated post.  Thanks for the reminder to update this post, hkboey!

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Maxis Hotlink Moves The Goalposts Again For Its Blackberry Service

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

hotlink logoIn an (unsurprising) development, Maxis has again deferred the rollout/availability of its Hotlink prepaid Blackberry internet service (BIS) for the two cheapest packages – the Social and Messaging packages.  The two most expensive, all-you-can-eat plans, the Weekly Premium at RM 28/weekly, and the monthly premium, at RM 98/monthly, are already available.  Today saw the availability of the weekly premium plan, while the monthly premium had been available as of three weeks or so ago, when Maxis launched its Hotlink brand refresh.

And Maxis has finally seen fit to amend its Hotlink webpage to reflect this new development – see below.

maxis hotlink prepaid bis contract plans maxis hotlink prepaid bis non contract plans

The bad news – the cheapest monthly packages will now only be available from 1st December 2009 onwards – yikes, that’s a full month and a bit away from today!  I wonder what happened that Maxis has had to shelve the implementation of its prepaid BIS from 20th October to 1st December?  Something smells fishy somewhere.  And I think this prepaid blackberry plan must be the first in the world with a contract attached, which kind of makes the prepaid term, ah…irrelevant?  This is certainly going to confuse a lot of people.

When you press *100# on your Hotlink SIM now, you’ll see the following options:

Photo015

Also, Hotlink’s prepaid Blackberry Curve 8520 will be launching tomorrow evening at the Pavilion, and some people who pre-registered can apparently pick up their 8520s during tomorrow’s launch.  And more bad news – if you did not pre-register, you can only start to buy the 8520 from 2nd November 2009 onwards, nationwide.

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Maxis Teases: Get Your Blackberry Curve 8520 Before Everyone Else [UPDATED]

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

hotlink logoI say: No thanks.  I’ve already gotten mine almost two weeks ago.  As I said in this post, this time, it seems that Maxis has totally dropped the ball on this one.  They’ve allowed Celcom to capture some early adopters for the handset sales as well as prepaid blackberry internet services signups.  And based on my personal experience, I think the deal from Celcom is better.  I have also been using Celcom’s prepaid blackberry internet services (BIS), the more expensive one at RM 2.50 daily, for the past week and a half, and have had little problems with the service – push emails are working, web browsing is acceptable, and other internet services such as instant messaging as well as Twitter are all working fine.

maxis blackberry collection teaser

Overall, I’m a happy camper subscribing to Celcom’s services.  But the geek in me would probably try Maxis’ prepaid BIS just for the sake of research, although I don’t think I’ll use it for the long term as Maxis does not have an equivalent everything-you-can-eat package similar to Celcom’s package.  And here’s where the buyer really has to beware, or caveat emptor, as they say.  Maxis has four plans to choose from, and from the pricing, I would guess that the majority would go for the two cheapest packages – the “messaging” and “social” packages.  These two packages do not include browsing and probably only includes using software that is bundled on the phone and not third party applications that the user may wish to install.  If this is really the case, then a user with a lot of credit may find their credit dwindling down to zero if they use the device “incorrectly”.  ”Incorrectly” being defined as “not within Maxis’ definition of how the Blackberry should be used on their prepaid network”, that is!

As of the time of writing this post, Maxis’ prepaid BIS services for the social, messaging and weekly premium packages are still not up, although the Hotlink webpage promises that they will be available beginning 20th October.  Tsk tsk tsk, Maxis…also, the collection date for Maxis Hotlink’s Blackberry Curve 8520 begins on 30th October, and ends on 1st November, for those who pre-book and confirm their purchase.

Anyone still keen to get the Curve from Maxis Hotlink after all that’s happened?  ;-)

[UPDATE] And I’ve just been informed via Twitter that the Social, Messaging and Weekly Premium prepaid packages for the Blackberry will be available from 24th October onwards, via USSD (or pressing *100#, then “send”).  The introductory offer will be RM28 for the premium package (“normal price” is RM98/month) for one month, before the customer chooses which package to subscribe to after that.

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Confirmed: Celcom Blackberry Curve 8520 Deal Better Than Maxis

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

celcom xpax logoWow, it’s been a week full of Blackberry Curve 8520 and HTC HD2 and Touch2 news, eh?  So, let’s try to wrap up the week by confirming what many have suspected for some time now – that the Celcom deal for the prepaid Blackberry 8520 is a better one than the Maxis “deal”.  Celcom finally put up the confirmed pricing and packages on its XPax prepaid website right after the XBerry party last night, and here’s the gist of the deal:

  1. pay RM 998 and a mandatory RM 50 airtime top up (regardless of whether you already have an XPax SIM or not) for the 8520.
  2. the total price of RM 1,048 includes one free silicone cover, available in three colours – black, blue and pink (I think).
  3. no commitment, no need to wait for rebates, etc.

celcom xpax prepaid blackberry curve 8520

Obviously, if one turned up at the XBerry party yesterday evening, there was a better deal to be had but not everyone is in KL/PJ, I suppose.  Is this a good deal?  I guess if you abhor contracts, then yes.  It should also be noted that the Maxis pre-registration offer includes a free “skin”, supposedly worth RM 100, which is not present in the Celcom deal.  But the Celcom package includes a free silicone case, which is not present in the Maxis deal.

The other thing you may want to take note of is that the Celcom Blackberries, as usual, has got the Vodafone branding splashed all over the phone, so if you don’t mind doing some free advertising for Vodafone, then it’s acceptable.  Otherwise, you’ll have to go for the Maxis version, which presumably does not have the Vodafone logo plastered all over the phone.

IMG_0127 (Large) IMG_0128 (Large)

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