As we are getting close to the Galaxy Note 7’s August 19 launch date, Malaysia telcos are starting to take preorders for Samsung’s flagship, the Galaxy Note 7 brings over the great feature set of the Galaxy S7 and features an all new S-Pen that recognizes 4096 pressure level that makes taking notes and drawing sketches even better, the phone is also water resistant and comes with 64GB of onboard storage with Micro SD expansion. The Galaxy Note 7 retails at RM3,199 and Samsung is giving away a free standing Wireless Charger and a 10,200mAh USB Type-C powerbank for early birds. For your convenience, we have compiled and will elaborate the Galaxy Note 7 plans from Celcom, Digi, Maxis, U Mobile and Yes 4G.
Celcom
Celcom’s plan for the Galaxy Note 7 is fairly straightforward, the Galaxy Note 7 is available as low as RM2,140 if you are on the flagship FIRST Platinum plan that costs RM150/month, the plan will offer 18GB of data with unlimited free calls and SMS to all networks. The FIRST Blue and Gold postpaid plans are also eligible to purchase the device for a subsidized price as well, but for all postpaid plans, you will be tied to a 24-month contract with Celcom and require to pay an upfront payment of RM300 if you are signing up the service for the first time. For early termination, FIRST Blue and Gold customers are required to pay RM500 and FIRST Platinum customers will pay a whooping RM1000 penalty fee.
Last but not the least, Celcom is giving away a Powerbank, Wireless Charger Stand and Travel Charging Adapter to pre-order customers.
The Good: Straightforward and easy to understand
The Not so Good: Phone subsidised price isn’t low when compared to the rest, no financing option available.
Digi
Digi offers two type of Postpaid plans, which you could either opt for more calls and internet depending on your usage. The Galaxy Note can be yours at RM1210 if you are on Digi’s most expensive Postpaid 238 plan, however if you are not an existing user or just recently port over to the telco, you will be required to pay a rather high advance payment fee, but fret not as it will be credited back to your billing account in subsequent months. If high data volume and expensive plans don’t suit you, Digi also offers the Galaxy Note 7 to the Postpaid 68 plan, which you will still get a farily huge amount of subsidized discount at RM2,150 . Furthermore, Digi offers a 24-month 0% interest easy payment plan for the Galaxy Note 7 if you are cash strapped, a 24-month contract will be in place if you intend to get the Galaxy Note 7 from Digi.
Digi is also giving away a free Powerbank, Wireless Charging Stand and Travel Charging Adapter.
The Good: Good selection of Postpaid plans and flexible financing options, good discount off phone’s original pricing.
The Not so Good: High advance payment fee for new registrations
Maxis
Maxis offers two ways of purchasing the Galaxy Note 7 with a subsidised price, which one of it being its Zerolution plan, it requries no upfront payment and contract tie-ups, on top of that you can also join the Zerolution Upgrade Program for RM30/month to upgrade to a new phone for free after 12 months, it even has an optional Zerolution SafeDevice insurance to protect the phone from certain accidental damages, as you will be required to return the phone in good condition to Maxis for a new smartphone. Therefore, users will pay RM101/month over a 24-month period for the Galaxy Note 7, this comes up to a total amount of RM2424 and is still a very good deal considering that you do not need to pay an advance fee and tied to a contract.
On the other hand, Maxis also offers the conventional 24-month contract plan for the Galaxy Note 7, users will need to subscribe to either the MaxisONE 128, 158 or 188 plans and will be able to purchase the phone as low as RM1,299, a device advance fee of RM512 is applicable to all MaxisONE plans and will be credited back to the billing account in subsequent months.
Maxis is giving a free Powerbank and Wireless Charger Stand to those who pre-ordered the phone, no extra travel charging adapter.
The Good: Zerolution is straightforward, good discount on phone for 24-month contract plans
The Not-so-Good: Zerolution only available to existing and eligible customers, device upgrade plan not cost effective if not utilized after a year and requires the current phone to be returned for upgrade.
U Mobile
For those of you who subscribed to U Mobile’s Hero Postpaid plans for the generous amount of data, you’ll be disappointed to know that U Mobile only offers the Galaxy Note 7 on its Ultimate Device plans, you still get to purchase the phone from as low as RM1,699 and a monthly commitment fee of RM60/month, you will be tied to a 24-month contract. Even though the Ultimate Device plans may not have that much of data, you still get to enjoy a dedicated amount of data for video streaming services with Video-Onz, in this case the UD130 plan offers unlimited data for video streaming.
The Good: Affordable monthly plans
The Not so Good: No freebies for preorders, Ultimate Device plans don’t offer as much data compared to other telcos and its own Hero Postpaid plan
Yes 4G
The country’s first telco to offer VoLTE is offering the Note 7 on its Postpaid 88 and 128 plans, over a 24-month contract you can get the phone from as low as RM1508.49 while you will be required to pay an upfront fee for the plan, which will be credited back to your billing account over subsequent months. While Yes 4G may offer the best all rounder value among others, the telco’s 4G LTE network coverage is still rather limited at this point of time with no 3G and 2G support should you be in a no coverage area, which is why you should really consider the contract tenure for the telco’s current state.
The Good: Decent monthly postpaid plans and phone subsidised price
The Not so Good: No freebies, 24 month contract not feasible for subpar network coverage
Conclusion
Celcom, Digi and Maxis offer a pretty decent subsidised price for the Galaxy Note 7 and they all have advantages in each of their respective postpaid plans with lots of data quota and unlimited calls. On the other hand, U Mobile and Yes 4G subscribers are still getting a decent discount off the Galaxy Note 7’s retail price, but you may want to consider their network coverage areas since you’ll need to be with them for the next 24-months. What are your thoughts? Share with us in the comments down below.
