After giving away free movie tickets and petrol, Celcom and Xpax Prepaid has unveiled its latest giveaway for this month. For the next 29 days, they are giving away millions of ringgit worth of KFC and Starbucks vouchers to its loyal subscribers.

The redemption is the same as before. For Xpax, just top up a monthly internet plan (NET30, NET40, NET60, NET88) from as little as RM30 and you’ll receive a gift code voucher that allows you to receive a RM20 voucher for either KFC or Starbucks. For Celcom FIRST postpaid, you’re eligible if you’re a new sign up or if you subscribe to a monthly internet plan. Alternatively you are also qualified to receive the gift code voucher if you top up more quota via Max Up.

Getting the gift code is just the first step as you would need to redeem the actual KFC/Starbucks voucher at your nearest participating Blue Cube outlet. If you’ve accidentally deleted the gift code, you can request it again by sending “MYCODE” to 28882. Take note that the promotion starts today but redemption starts from tomorrow 16th February until 15th March 2016.

For more info and to find out the list of Blue Cube outlets, you can visit both Celcom and Xpax promo pages.

Apart from Maxis, Celcom is also offering the Galaxy S7 edge on contract. With pre-orders have started in Malaysia today, the blue telco will be accepting bookings beginning this Thursday, 10 March. To make it more enticing, Celcom will be giving those that book a chance to walk away with the Galaxy S7 edge for free.

At the moment, they have yet to reveal their bundling offers but it is likely to be tied with their new Celcom FIRST Gold postpaid plan that offers 10GB of mobile data with unlimited calls and SMS. Another possibility is that Celcom could be offering the Galaxy S7 edge on NewPhone, a direct competitor to Maxis Zerolution.

If Celcom is offering the latest Samsung flagship on their FIRST Gold plan, this could be the lowest cost for bundled subscription. At RM80/month, it comes out to just RM8 per GB which is cheaper than other postpaid plans out there. Stay tuned to us, as we will compare all Malaysian telco deals for the Galaxy S7 edge soon. The Galaxy S7 edge will be launched officially in Malaysia on 18th March with a retail price of RM3,099.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge will launch in Malaysia next week and Celcom will be offering it on their new FIRST postpaid plans. Priced outright at RM3,099, the Galaxy S7 edge can be yours with either 12-month or 24-month contract. Want a different way of owning a phone? The Galaxy S7 edge is also available with their NewPhone program from as low as RM145/month.

On Celcom, the Galaxy S7 edge can be purchased with their Celcom FIRST Blue plan at RM45/month or Celcom FIRST Gold at RM80/month. Strangely there’s only a single 24 month option for FIRST Blue (4GB data), while FIRST GOLD (10GB data) is tied only with a shorter 12 month contract. The Galaxy S7 edge bundled price are as follows:

Celcom FIRST Blue (24 months) – RM2,448
Celcom FIRST Gold (12 months) – RM2,689

During sign up, they require an upfront payment of RM150 for FIRST Blue and RM80 for FIRST Gold, which will be rebated back to your account.

Want to buy a Galaxy S7 edge today and switch to a newer model when it comes out? You can also opt for Celcom NewPhone where it is offered at RM145/month (without device protection) or RM175/month (with device protection), not including the monthly postpaid subscription. The monthly installment seems to be more expensive than Maxis’s Galaxy S7 edge Zerolution offer. However, NewPhone’s cost of ownership should be much lower since Celcom’s postpaid plans have lower monthly subscription fees and you get more data for your buck.

You can pre-book your Galaxy S7 edge from Celcom with no booking fees and you may collect it at a participating Blue Cube near you. Limited units are available and you also stand a chance to win one for free. Note that pre-booking is applicable to those wanting to sign up on FIRST Gold and NewPhone.

For more information, head over to Celcom’s Galaxy S7 edge page.

Starting today, Celcom customers from both postpaid and Xpax prepaid can start enjoying unlimited movies and TV series on iflix. Similar to Digi, the iflix free subscription is valid for 2 months and customers can start watching without the need of signing in.

Once the 2 months free iflix offer is over, Celcom Postpaid and Xpax customers may continue at RM9/month. The subscription is charged directly to their postpaid bill or deduct directly from the prepaid credit. This direct billing feature allows anyone to subscribe without the need of credit or debit cards.

A regular iflix subscription costs RM10/month but if you sign for a year, it will cost RM96 which is about RM8/month. In case you missed it, TM is also offering free iflix for a full year to all residential TM Unifi subscribers. Just connect your device onto your home’s WiFi and start watching without logging in.

For more info, you can head over here.

Towards the end of 2015, our Malaysian telcos have been fighting over who has the widest 4G coverage. If you think about it, it is like having a bunch of guys boasting about their own manhood. Everyone claims to have the longest but nobody can actually verify it.

According to OpenSignal’s latest data updated on 11 March 2016, Digi currently has the widest coverage in Malaysia. So looks like it’s a win for team yellow as it claims to currently cover 72% population with 4G LTE.

But is this really true?

When you view the OpenSource website, you should see a map which plots the coverage areas of the telcos around you. To get a nationwide sample, you can key in Malaysia from the search bar.

Malaysia Mobile Overall – 2G/3G/4G

If you enable all 2G, 3G and 4G, Digi is ranked #1, followed by U Mobile, Maxis and Celcom. If you look at speed alone, U Mobile does seem to offer the fastest speeds here which goes in line with its “fastest mobile network” title from Speedtest.net.

Malaysia – 2G only

You probably thought Celcom would have the widest 2G network in the country but it isn’t, according to OpenSignal. When we toggle the map to 2G only, U Mobile suddenly ranks #1 while Maxis takes last position at #4. The funny thing is that U Mobile doesn’t even own a 2G network. For areas that are out of U Mobile’s coverage, it relies on Maxis 2G and 3G networks as part of their RAN sharing agreement.

Malaysia – 4G only

For 4G only, Digi is ranked first, followed by Celcom then U Mobile and Maxis. U Mobile which doesn’t even cover East Malaysia is ranked higher than Maxis for coverage. Very odd indeed.

So what does this tell us? Looking at the above, it seems that OpenSignal may not be entirely accurate for Malaysia at the time being. It collects mobile quality data from their OpenSignal app that’s available for Android and iOS. Even OpenSignal themselves urge you to install the app in order to improve the maps. Think about how many Malaysians have installed the app? Most of you would have use Speedtest.net instead.

When OpenSignal published its State of LTE report, it was derived from a sample size of 325,221 users. Out of those numbers, we won’t know how many of them are from Malaysia.

Having crowd source data is good but the report is only going to be as good as the sample size itself. So if you want to contribute to better stats on network quality, perhaps it is time to give OpenSignal a try. This could work if OpenSignal becomes as popular as crowdsourcing GPS app Waze in Malaysia.

We’ve said it a number of times before, all that widest coverage claims doesn’t matter to consumers when there are still areas with blackspots and poor mobile internet connectivity. What do you think? You can view the OpenSignal rankings for Malaysia over here.

Thanks @_ravind for the tip!

Postpaid plans in Malaysia are getting cheaper with competitive telcos dishing out more data for your money. Apart from cost, another crucial factor to consider is network quality. What’s the point of getting loads of data on the cheap if you can’t use it when you needed it the most?

4G LTE was introduced in Malaysia back in 2013 and currently we have 4 major LTE telcos – Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile. To find out which network is best, OpenSignal has just published a State of Mobile Networks report specifically for Malaysia. The findings were derived from a data sample size of close to 40 million that were contributed by 21,109 OpenSignal app users in Malaysia between 1 December 2015 to 29 February 2016.

According to OpenSignal, Maxis gets their top pick for having the best 4G coverage and best speed in Malaysia. From their report over a 3 month period, Maxis users are connected to 4G LTE 70% of the time. Since Maxis customers are having 4G more frequently, this also brings up the overall network speed to first place with an average of 5.20Mbps. For 4G specifically, Maxis delivers an average speed of 13Mbps.

Out of the 4 telcos, Celcom is ranked the worst due to lower network speeds and higher latency on both 3G and 4G. They noted that Celcom’s performance was better around the Klang Valley area. When compared to the global average, Malaysia’s 4G LTE speed is quite close to the standard average of 13.5Mbps.

Network Coverage

To measure 4G coverage, OpenSignal uses the time coverage methodology which calculates the proportion of time a user is connected on 4G. This gives a better measurement especially when you could be getting just 3G indoors while being in a 4G covered area.

As seen on the chart above, Maxis leads at first place at 69.98% followed by Digi at 57.60%. Celcom takes third place at 52.94%, while U Mobile is last at 44.23%. U Mobile obviously takes a beating here as it relies on Maxis for 2G/3G coverage where their network is not available.

Speeds

When looking at speed, U Mobile is the fastest in both 3G and 4G specifically. However, it takes 2nd place overall as most of it users are connected to 3G most of the time. Despite that, it is worth noting that U Mobile is faster overall than Digi and Celcom which has more 4G LTE sites in comparison. Celcom, unfortunately, ranks the slowest among the four in any given scenario.

Latency

Maxis and U Mobile are the top picks for 3G with a latency of less than 105ms. Meanwhile for 4G, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile have a 3-way draw with less than 56ms. The lower the latency indicates a more responsive network and unfortunately, Celcom trails behind for both 3G and 4G segments.

To conclude, OpenSignal’s latest report ranks Maxis as the better network for overall 4G LTE availability, speeds and latency. This is contrary to what we’ve seen on their website earlier on.

For this year, we can expect our telcos to push for more 4G coverage aggressively particularly Maxis and Digi. Both telcos will be refarming their 2G 1800MHz spectrum for 4G use. On top of that, both are also pushing for more LTE-A sites which provide even faster speeds with carrier aggregation.

If OpenSignal’s report is an accurate indicator, Celcom has a lot of room to improve. With its value-for-money FIRST postpaid plans, the blue telco has the pulling power to draw other subscribers to their fold. To expand and to upgrade a 4G network is a costly affair. There are concerns whether affordable plans with loads of data can sustain telcos in the long run. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can check out our postpaid comparison post.

For further reading, you can check out the full OpenSignal report.

[ SOURCE, VIA ]

This post is brought to you by FIRST by Celcom.

This weekend, Celcom is offering you the chance to pick up smartphones, tablets and other goodies at their very first Blue Cube Day at Sunway Pyramid.

Running from 25 to 27 March, you can snag up to 70% discount on selected devices when you sign for the FiRST Gold post-paid plan. It comes with no contract and 10GB internet (5GB all-day and 5GB weekend internet) plus 5GB complimentary WiFiplus, unlimited calls and SMS to all networks for just RM 80 a month.

Among the devices you can snag are from Apple, Samsung, Blackberry, Oppo, and Xiaomi. You can view the full list of devices after the break.

Also, customers have a chance to win prizes during the sale, some of which are tickets to Dato’ Siti and friends concert; with the first ten customers to purchase a device with FiRST Gold can pick up a powerbank for just RM 1.

If that doesn’t strike your fancy, you can also trade in your current devices for trade in values of up to RM 2,800. So make sure you head over to Blue Cube@Sunway Pyramid this weekend to grab these exciting deals.

Blackberry Bold 9900
Blackberry Classic
Blackberry Priv
Blackberry Z10 LTE
Blackberry Z30
Huawei Mate 8 32GB
Huawei-e355 Portawifi
Huawei-e392 LTE USB dongle
Huawei-e5330 3G Mifi
Huawei-e8231 Portawifi
iPad mini 3 16GB
iPhone 6 16GB
iPhone 6 64GB
iPhone 6 128GB
iPhone 6 Plus 16GB
iPhone 6s 16GB
iPhone 6s 64GB
iPhone 6s 128GB
iPhone 6s Plus 16GB
iPhone 6s Plus 64GB
iPhone 6s Plus 128GB
Nokia C3
Nokia Lumia 1020
OPPO Find 7
Samsung Galaxy 2 10.1
Samsung Galaxy 2 7.0
Samsung Galaxy Grand
Samsung Galaxy J5
Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Samsung Galaxy S3
Samsung Galaxy S3 mini
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 lite
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 v
Samsung Galaxy Y
Sony Xperia E
Xiaomi Mi Note
Xiaomi Redmi 1s

The most powerful 4-inch smartphone will be available soon on our big 4 telcos in Malaysia. Celcom’s website has started teasing the iPhone SE, while Digi takes a step further with its registration of interest exercise.

For Celcom, there’s no info at the moment and we are wondering if they are extending its FIRST postpaid plans that will end on 31st March. Over at team yellow, we expect Digi to bundle the iPhone SE with their latest postpaid plans that offer more data plus the ability to rollover unused quota to the following month. If you’re interested in getting the iPhone SE on Digi, you can fill up the registration form here.

To recap, the iPhone SE is basically an updated iPhone 5S with iPhone 6s internals. While it maintains the same 4″ Retina display, the iPhone SE gets a faster A9 processor and a better 12MP camera with dual-tone LED flash as the iPhone 6s.

In terms of pricing, the iPhone SE is expected to be priced under RM2,000 based on its Singapore price tag of S$658 (about RM1,932) for the 16GB model. For those holding on to their iPhone 5/5s, the iPhone SE could be a viable upgrade for you.

Related iPhone SE Posts
3 reasons why the iPhone SE is a big deal
iPhone SE is Apple’s most brilliant dumb idea yet
iPhone SE: The most powerful 4 inch phone ever
iPhone SE is potentially faster than the iPhone 6s
iPhone SE is coming soon on Maxis
U Mobile starts registration of interest for the iPhone SE

This post is brought to you by FIRST by Celcom – Unarguably the greatest postpaid plan in 2016

Your smartphone is only as great as your mobile network. If you want to talk and text all you want, and get to surf non-stop without worrying about hitting your internet quota, there’s only one plan for you.

The newly refreshed FIRST™ Gold by Celcom is simply the best postpaid plan in Malaysia. There’s no other plan that gives you unlimited calls, sms and this much of internet for less than RM100/month. Unconvinced? Read on for 6 reasons why.

1. 10GB of data each month

Why settle for 3GB or 5GB of data, when you can go for 10GB of data each month. FIRST™ Gold by Celcom gives you 5GB per month for all day use and you’ll get another 5GB extra just for the weekends.

If that’s not enough, Celcom is also giving additional 5GB of Celcom WiFiPlus at no extra cost.

2. Talk and Text to your friends non-stop at no extra charge

In this day and age, you shouldn’t worry about how much it will cost for you to contact someone. Whether it is for family, loved ones or business calls, you can talk for hours without extra charges with its unlimited calls and text all-in to all networks.

Note that this does not include calls and SMS to special numbers, roaming calls and IDD.

3. Unlimited Music Streaming

Enjoy music non-stop with no subscription fees and data charges with Yonder Music. Exclusive only to Celcom customers, Yonder Music gives you access to millions of songs without interruption of ads.

4. No wastage. Carry Forward Unused Internet

Didn’t use much data this month? Don’t let it go to waste as FIRST™ Gold by Celcom lets you carry forward up to 5GB to the following month.

5. Get a new phone and change it every year

Want to buy the latest smartphones but don’t want to be stuck with it for 2 years? Owning a smartphone has never been easier with NewPhone and you can change to the latest models before anyone else. Unlike the competition that requires you to wait for 12 months, NewPhone™ allows you to change to the latest model at any time.

6. Undisputed No. 1 4G LTE in Celcom Territory

What good is an affordable plan if you can’t get reliable coverage nationwide? With Celcom, you’re on the best 4G LTE network with 10X faster speeds in Celcom Territory. They have also bagged several accolades including Frost & Sullivan Awards.

Good things won’t last forever. There’s nothing else that packs so much value for only RM80 each month. If you’re interested in signing up with Celcom FIRST Gold, you have until 31st March 2016 to register. To get started, visit your nearest Blue Cube or Celcom Xclusive stores, or you can head over to Celcom’s FIRST Gold product page for more info.

For a long time now, the 4G operator scene in Malaysia has been dominated by four companies — Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile. However, at the end of last year, we reported that there would be a new player entering the scene in 2016 and it seems this could be it.

We received an email invitation from Packet One Networks (P1) regarding a “P1 secret” that was due to be unveiled on the 13th of April 2016. Now, what could it possibly be?  Well, from the looks of things, it certainly seems like they’re going to officially announce their mobile 4G service.

Since Telekom Malaysia‘s acquisition of P1 in 2014, TM has worked towards developing P1 into their mobile arm and mobility centre, initially eyeing a 2015 launch of their mobile services. That initial plan didn’t come to fruition but it looks like their revised schedule of a 2016 entry will.

TM has said that their overall LTE network rollout, the core of which is being managed by P1, was proceeding as planned so being able to meet their revised target of a 2016 launch may not come as such a surprise.

This isn’t TM’s first foray into LTE technology as they launched their very own 4G broadband-only service TMgo back in 2015 which runs on 850MHz. TMgo was designed to replace TM’s older Wireless Streamyx on CDMA.

What does TM’s entry into the 4G operator industry mean for us as consumers? Well, many good things we hope.

More competition is always welcomed because it keeps the other telcos on their toes. A firm monopoly on any industry hurts us, the consumers, the most because it means that we’re at the mercy of whoever holds all the cards in that particular industry.

Competition, on the other hand, means that these companies have to keep their plans competitive and try to undercut or trump the competition to attract consumers. A good example of this can be seen in the recent price war.

With TM’s entry, things will surely get more interesting for the current four-way horse race as TM will be bringing in all their expertise and experience that they’ve accrued over the years to shake up the scene. How effective will they be as a telco? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out.

What do you guys think of TM entering the 4G LTE game?

UPDATE: Celcom Home Broadband is now official. Available for FIRST Gold customers in the Klang Valley only.

The fixed fibre broadband scene is heating up as Celcom joins the race with their Home Broadband service offering speeds of up to 10Mbps.

According to Lowyat.net, the telco’s new plan would be called the Celcom Home Broadband and will offer speeds of 10Mbps for RM145/month (excl GST). If you’re a Celcom FIRST Gold subscriber, you will receive a 50% discount for the first six months of your Home Broadband subscription. That means you pay RM72.50/month (excl GST) for the first six months. Lowyat.net also claims that this plan is targetted towards Celcom subscribers, but made no mention on whether non-Celcom subscribers are eligible.

For calls, the Celcom Home Broadband will charge users 8sen/min to all networks, while IDD calls will follow Celcom Postpaid’s IDD rates and will be charged in 30-second blocks. The following table provides a detailed breakdown of the plan:

Lowyat.net’s information came from an anonymous source, so we thought we’d call Celcom up and see if we could verify it. According to the Celcom customer service representative, the telco did indeed “launch” their plan today which lends credence to Lowyat.net’s source.

The customer service rep confirms all the plan details in the table above and that it is indeed available from today onwards, however, he did not have any information regarding the coverage area. That said, he did inform us that users who wished to sign up or find out if their area was covered could simply visit a Celcom Blue Cube for more information.

We have a hunch that Celcom’s fibre service will be using TM‘s High-Speed Broadband infrastructure (like Maxis Fibre) due to an earlier agreement between the parties. This means if your area is covered by UniFi, you will likely be able to get Celcom Home Broadband too.

Although today was supposed to be the launch, there is still no information about this plan on the Celcom website. The Celcom customer service rep ensures that you will be able to get more information on their website soon.

It is worth noting that this isn’t Celcom’s first stab at a fibre broadband as they did have a First Home broadband plan back in 2012.

It’s decent, but nothing to shout about

Looking at the plan, we’re not terribly impressed by it. It’s fine if you’re a light user that only wants to spend the bare minimum on fibre Internet connectivity, but if you’re a moderate or heavy user, you’re better off topping up a little extra for about two or three times faster speeds on UniFi or Maxis Fibre.

You could also add RM4 more and get TIME‘s 100Mbps plan — if you can find yourself within their coverage area, but that’s only slightly less difficult than finding a unicorn.

The way we see it, the most attractive thing about this plan is the fact that you can get 50% off for the first six months if you’re a Celcom FIRST Gold plan subscriber. Besides that, you’re probably better off with one of the new plans from the other fibre providers.

Want more information on the new fibre plans from TIME, TM and Maxis? Check out our fibre comparison. Want a laugh? Check this out.

Do let us know what you think of Celcom’s new fibre plan in the comments below.

UPDATED: Celcom Home Broadband ad from TheStar.

[SOURCE]

Maxis has finally responded to the recent postpaid price war by upgrading all MaxisONE plans with up to 9GB of extra data. These new upgraded plans will be rolled out to all new and existing subscribers by the end of this month. While waiting for that to kick in, Maxis is giving 3GB extra data next week to all MaxisONE plan customers.

So how does Maxis’ postpaid offering compare against the rest? It’s time for another round of postpaid comparison.

Maxis

In our previous comparison, Maxis looked pretty costly with a paltry 1GB of data for its base RM98 plan. Now they have bumped up their data allocation from 1GB to 5GB, 3GB to 8GB, 5GB to 12GB and 7GB to 16GB. The monthly subscription fee remains unchanged except for East Malaysia, where they are offering RM30 off each month and they are offering unlimited data usage between 1AM to 7AM daily.

Celcom, Digi and U Mobile
For Celcom, they have extended its FIRST postpaid offering until 31st May. To recap, FIRST Blue at RM45/month comes with 4GB of data (2GB all time + 2GB weekend), 50 minutes of calls and 50 SMS. For heavy duty users, FIRST Gold offers 10GB of data (5GB all time + 5GB weekend) plus unlimited calls and SMS for RM80/month.

Digi on the other hand revamped its postpaid offering last month with more data and internet rollover. As a limited time promo, they are allocating more data for its higher “More Internet” plans and a RM20/month discount for its “More Talk” options of RM98 and above. Hitting the sweet spot for Digi is probably their Postpaid 98 (More Voice), as it offers 7GB of data and unlimited calls at RM78/month.

Over at team orange, U Mobile has recently boosted its P70 Hero Postpaid plan with a whopping 15GB data for RM70/month. This plan also comes with unlimited voice calls. Note that the extra 8GB is given as a promo until 30th June 2016. So how does it all stack up? Click on our comparison table below for a clearer view.

Postpaid Plans under RM100

Postpaid Plans above RM100

Conclusion
It is commendable for Maxis to bump up more data for their plans but the pricing is still on the high side when compared to its competitors. If you’re looking solely at cost per GB, Celcom’s FIRST Gold is likely your top pick as it offers 10GB of data at RM80/month in addition to its unlimited calls and SMS. Both U Mobile and Digi are quite generous as well by offering more than 5GB of data for RM70 and under. If you can’t finish your data quota, Celcom and Digi lets you carry forward unused data (up to a certain limit) to the following month.

Beyond the cost of data, calls and SMS, there are other factors to consider such as network quality and customer service. Each telco will perform differently depending on location, so it is best to pick one that has optimal coverage for both home and work. You can use OpenSignal to get a rough idea of which network performs better in your area. After all, what’s the use of getting lots of data if you can’t use them?

For those that travel, another factor to consider is their international roaming packages. Most telcos these days do have daily roaming plans but they could vary in terms of price and countries supported. Most recently U Mobile has started offering RM10/day data roam for selected countries while Maxis has thrown additional unlimited calls and SMS with MaxisONE World.

Looking for a newer alternative? Webe is launching next week. If their purported unlimited plan is real, this could be the best postpaid ever.

This post is brought to you by FIRST by Celcom – Unarguably the greatest postpaid plan in 2016

FIRST Gold by Celcom, the most talked about plan in 2016 has been extended until 31 May 2016. If you want to talk, text and surf to your heart’s content, this is definitely the plan for you.

In case you missed it, the FIRST Gold plan offers a whopping 10GB of mobile data for only RM80/month. No other postpaid plan comes close in giving you this much of internet each month. Plus, you can depend on their extensive nationwide coverage with 10X faster speeds in Celcom Territory.

By default, FIRST Gold gives you 5GB of mobile data and they are making your weekends better with additional 5GB. If you can’t finish your mobile data, not to worry as FIRST Gold lets you carry forward up to 5GB of data to the following month. All calls and SMS are unlimited so you can keep in touch with your loved ones without worrying about extra bill charges.

Need more entertainment? All FIRST Gold customers get a 12-month unlimited access to Yonder Music that comes with free unlimited streaming. On top of that, Celcom is also giving you 2 months free iflix subscription with unlimited TV shows and movies on-demand.

If you love getting the latest smartphones like the Galaxy S7 edge, owning one is made easier with Celcom’s NewPhone. Not only it lets you buy a phone with easy monthly instalments, but you can also swap to the latest model every 12 months without the hassles of trade-ins and contract renewals.

To get started, visit your nearest Blue Cube or Celcom Xclusive stores. For more info, head over here.

Celcom has hopped on the bandwagon of international roaming plans with the introduction of their latest WONDEROAM plan. Under WONDEROAM, users get to choose from a range of daily and weekly roaming plans.

WONDEROAM comes in three forms — the WONDEROAM 1 DAY SOCIAL RM10, WONDEROAM 1 DAY INTERNET RM38 and WONDEROAM 1 WEEK RM138.

WONDEROAM 1 DAY SOCIAL is pretty self-explanatory as it gives users 1GB of quota per day for Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp along with 50MB of high-speed internet and 50MB of basic internet for RM10/day.

Unfortunately for postpaid subscribers, this plan is only available for XPAX prepaid users. To subscribe simply key in *118# then navigate to Wonderoam > Wonderoam 1 Day Social RM 10 > Subscribe.

On the other hand, the WONDEROAM 1 DAY plan is available for both postpaid and prepaid customers. It gives users quota allocations ranging from 50MB onwards (depending on country) for RM38/day. Postpaid subscribers will automatically be charged upon using the Internet service while connected to preferred networks when roaming while prepaid subscribers will have their credit balance deducted upon purchase via the *118# USSD.

The big benefit of this WONDEROAM daily plan is that there will be no bill shock as Celcom doesn’t offer any pay-per-use plans with it. Additionally, you won’t be able to connect to data if you’re not connected to one of Celcom’s preferred roaming partners. What’s more, if you have finished your internet quota, you can still surf but at throttled speeds.

Celcom also offers a WONDEROAM 1 WEEK that’s available exclusively for Celcom FIRST Gold and the new FIRST Platinum subscribers. This plan will cost RM138/week and will give subscribers unlimited calls, unlimited SMS and 3GB of internet. If you finish your allocated 3GB of quota, data connection stops and you will have to resubscribe for another 3GB of data. Calls and SMS remain unlimited though.

Celcom boasts that with WONDEROAM 1 DAY RM38, you can take advantage of their extensive roaming network that extends to 165 countries (which Celcom claims is the most of any local telco). They also say that there will be at least two roaming partners in each country which should mean much better accessibility.

Unfortunately, WONDEROAM 1 DAY SOCIAL RM10 and WONDEROAM 1 WEEK RM138 are only available in 10 selected countries: Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Cambodia, Laos and Macau.

Another tidbit Celcom revealed during the WONDEROAM launch is that they will be rolling out a brand new plan to add to their FIRST line of postpaid plans — the FIRST Platinum. According to Celcom, details on this new plan will be revealed tomorrow (15 April).

Teased awhile back as the plan for the “heavy user” Celcom has been talking about launching the FIRST Platinum plan to complement the “light” FIRST BLUE and “moderate” FIRST Gold plans for some time now.

This post is brought to you by FIRST by Celcom – Unarguably the greatest postpaid plan in 2016

The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge has finally arrived and it is an incredible device. You get the best camera on a smartphone with a 12MP Dual Pixel Camera mated with a fast f/1.7 lens. The build is elegant with premium glass and metal, and it stands out with that beautiful dual curve display.

When getting a smartphone, you need a plan that puts you FIRST. The latest FIRST Gold and FIRST Blue by Celcom are the most talked about postpaid plans right now, with the best deals and value in town.

If you’ve always wanted to own the latest smartphones, you can buy the Galaxy S7 edge today and change it at any time. Read on to find out why the Galaxy S7 edge is best experienced with FIRST by Celcom.

More Data for Less

For only RM80 per month, FIRST Gold gives you 10GB of data for all your web, social and chatting needs. This is unarguably the plan with the most internet for your money. You get 5GB for all day use plus 5GB extra just for the weekends.

Live life unlimited

No need to worry about surprising phone bills with unlimited calls and SMS all day long. If you love music, experience unlimited music streaming with Yonder Music that’s free exclusively for Celcom FIRST customers.

No more wastage

Can’t finish your internet quota? Don’t let it go to waste with FIRST’s Carry Forward feature. You can bring forward up to 5GB of unfinished internet quota to the following month.

NewPhone everytime

Enjoy the flexibility of switching phones every 12 months for free with affordable monthly instalments on NewPhone with FIRST. With device protection, you can rest easy knowing that your device is covered against damage or theft. If you can’t wait for 12 months, you can switch phones earlier with a nominal fee.

The undisputed No.1 Network

With FIRST, you get the widest coverage in the country with speeds up to 10x faster, powered by Celcom 4G LTE.

With the RM80/month FIRST Gold plan, you can own the Galaxy S7 edge at RM2,689 on a 12-month contract. Alternatively, it can be yours on NewPhone at RM175/month with the added device protection. So what you’re waiting for? Take home a Galaxy S7 edge with FIRST by Celcom.

Teased earlier, Celcom was set to announce their largest plan ever tomorrow. However, thanks to leaked snapshots of what looks like a pre-launch briefing, we now have an early look at Celcom’s FIRST Platinum plan and it’s pretty massive.

At the launch event of Celcom’s Wonderoam international roaming plans earlier today, we tried to push them for some information about the plan, but they wouldn’t budge.

Unfortunately for them, it looks like their dealers weren’t so reluctant to divulge information as pictures of what looks like briefing slides were posted on, not one but two, Facebook pages.

Sticking to Celcom’s hierarchy of colours, the Celcom FIRST Platinum is supposedly designed for the “heavy user” and as a result, it offers a combined data quota of 18GB/month. The caveat is, like the other plans in Celcom’s FIRST roster, the monthly data quota is split between two buckets.

This means you get 9GB of data that can be used anytime while the remaining 9GB is spread out over the weekends. If the current FIRST postpaid plans are anything to go off, this should mean that you will get 2.25GB/weekend. Celcom also allows you to carry forward unused quota up to 9GB to the next month.

You also get unlimited calls and SMS plus 9GB of complimentary Celcom WiFi all for RM150/month. However, based on the slides, this price of RM150 is a promotional price that is will be available for users who subscribe from 15th of April to 31st of May 2016.

Besides the plan itself, Celcom is also throwing in 1-year free subscription to iflix, Yonder music and Zipit Chat. What’s more, you get access to a bunch of privileged services including personalised customer service, preferred number offerings, an extended credit limit and extended payment of 45 days. You also get exclusive access to Malaysia Airlines’ Golden Lounge.

What do you guys think of this plan? Let us know in the comments below.

[SOURCE, 2, VIA]

Looking for the ultimate plan from Celcom? The new FIRST by Platinum offers more internet and additional privileges compared to its current FIRST Gold plan. At RM150/month, it comes with a whopping 18GB of data along with unlimited voice calls and SMS. The Platinum plan matches its earlier appearance and this is Celcom’s most premium offering at the moment

Similar to its current FIRST Blue and FIRST Gold, the 18GB mobile data quota is split between 2 segments. It gets 9GB that you can use all the time and another 9GB that’s reserved specifically for the weekends. That means you get to enjoy 2.25GB of dedicated data quota each weekend. In addition, they are giving 9GB of complimentary WiFiPlus, which is useful if you can find one in the first place. If you can’t finish your mobile data, you get to carry forward up to 9GB (from 9GB all day quota) to the following month.

In case 18GB isn’t enough, you can Max Up 1GB at RM20. If you do spend RM225 and above, Celcom will grant you 1GB of extra data and 2GB if you spend RM500 and above. Note that roaming charges don’t count for this usage accumulation. Since domestic calls and SMS are already unlimited, the only possible way is probably through making more IDD calls.

As a FIRST Platinum member, Celcom is also offering free 1-year iflix and 1 year of Zip-it-chat service, along with unlimited access to Yonder Music.

Perhaps the biggest highlight is the exclusive access to Malaysia Airlines’ Golden Lounge where you can dine and relax before departing from KLIA. Once you’ve subscribed to FIRST Platinum, you can redeem your access here. You would need to redeem the Golden Lounge voucher, which is valid for 7 days for 1 person, to enjoy all complimentary facilities in the Business Class section of the Golden Lounge at KLIA. According to the FAQ, every Platinum customer gets to enjoy 1 access and it is available on a first come first serve basis (First 1,000).

For international travelers, Celcom’s Wonderoam offers a worry free experience with a RM38 daily plan for data only and a RM138 weekly plan that comes with 3GB data, unlimited calls and SMS. On Celcom, they boast 165 supported countries (for daily plan) with access to 2 partner telcos for greater accessibility. To prevent crazy expensive data roaming charges, your mobile data will be disabled if your phone connects to the wrong telco partner overseas.

For more information, head over to Celcom’s FIRST Platinum page.

Following Maxis’ move to upgrade their MaxisONE and SurfMore 50 plans with more quota, the competition continues to shake things up. Celcom has announced an even higher postpaid plan with larger quota while Digi has introduced a new plan (sort of) with more data for the weekends. Not to be left out, U Mobile has also extended its P70 Hero postpaid’s extra 8GB promo until the end of 2016.

So how do the new plans stack up? Read on for our full comparison.

Celcom FIRST Platinum
Just to recap, the new FIRST Platinum at RM150/month offers 18GB of data which is split with 9GB for all time use and 9GB for the weekends. It also gets unlimited calls and SMS, along with additional perks including 1 year iflix subscription and a one-time access to Malaysia Airlines Golden Lounge. Like the rest of its FIRST postpaid offering, you can also carry forward unused data up to 9GB to the following month.

Digi Postpaid 80
For Digi, the new Postpaid 80 appears to be a direct hit on Celcom’s FIRST Gold postpaid plans that offers 10GB of data at RM80/month. Unlike Celcom’s 50-50 split, the Digi plan offers 7GB for all time use and 3GB for the weekends. On the plus side, Digi does not segregate your weekend data further so you are free to use the full 3GB quota on a single weekend. Essentially, the Postpaid 80 plan is the same old Postpaid 78 (More Voice & SMS) with the RM2 for 3GB weekend data add-on. Calls are also unlimited while SMS is unlimited only to 3 numbers on Digi.

For a detailed postpaid comparison against other telcos, check out the tables below. We’ve also added Maxis SurfMore50 and MaxisGO plans into the mix.

Postpaid Plans below RM100

Postpaid Plans above RM100

To entice new postpaid subscribers, Celcom is giving away a Perodua Axia Special Edition every 2 weeks. There are 6 cars in total and the car giveaway is running from 15th April until 15th July 2016. Apart from the cars, there are daily prizes to win as well.

The promotion is open only to new Malaysian subscribers on Celcom FIRST Gold (RM80/month) and Celcom FIRST Platinum (RM150/month) that offers a total of 10GB and 18GB data respectively. Unfortunately existing Celcom FIRST customers are not eligible for this giveaway. If you’re porting in from another telco, you are also entitled to participate when you sign up for the postpaid plans mentioned above.

Winners will be picked at random and you will be required to answer a few questions correctly. If you’ve gotten all of them correct, you will be declared the winner. For more info, head over to Celcom’s Perodua Axia giveaway page.

In a media event this morning, Celcom has reemphasised their most premium postpaid yet with its new FIRST Platinum plan. This is the highest tier in the FIRST postpaid family, offering the most amount of data with unlimited calls and SMS at RM150/month.

To recap, FIRST Platinum comes bundled with 18GB of mobile data with 9GB for all time use and another 9GB allocated just for the weekends. For the weekend data, it is split with 2.25GB for every weekend in a month. If you can’t finish it, FIRST Platinum allows you to carry forward up to 9GB (from your all time quota) to the following month.

As an added bonus, all FIRST Platinum customers will get unlimited entertainment with free 12-month access for Yonder Music and iflix. For secure communication, ZipitChat is also offered for free for 1 year. Similar to FIRST Gold, the FIRST Platinum plan is offered for a limited time until 31 May 2016.

As Celcom’s most premium customer, you’ll get a dedicated priority customer service hotline at 1881 along with a selection of preferred mobile numbers to choose from. Topping the experience off is an exclusive access to Malaysia Airlines Golden Lounge, but do note that this is limited to the first 1,000 new subscribers with a one-time entry only.

If you’re a frequent traveller, FIRST Platinum gives you unparalleled roaming access with WONDEROAM. Their international roaming list supports 165 countries with 2 telco partners in each market. The data roaming plans start from RM38/day or RM138/week which includes unlimited calls and SMS.

To entice those who are still clinging to other telcos, Celcom is giving away a Perodua Axia every 2 weeks. This is open to all new subscribers including port-ins, and the giveaway is running until mid July 2016.

For connectivity in the home, Celcom is also extending its Home Fibre Broadband offering to FIRST Platinum customers. As revealed earlier, Celcom is offering 10Mbps Fibre Broadband at RM145/month for selected areas in the Klang Valley. As a Celcom FIRST Gold/Platinum customer, you can enjoy 50% off on monthly subscriptions for the first 6 months, bringing down the monthly fee to just RM72.50/month (before GST). The plan is tied with a 24-month contract and it has a free router bundled in. You can make calls with it at RM0.08 per minute and we are told that a fixed phone is not included. They probably thought it was pointless since you can enjoy unlimited calls on your mobile postpaid plan.

For more info, head over to Celcom’s FIRST Platinum page.