We Got Three People To Test Maxis' Claims That They Won't Have Bill Shocks Ever Again
We've heard plenty of horror stories of phone bills amounting to thousands of ringgit although they used minimal data. Maxis proudly announced that their customers will no longer have bill shocks ever again. Really?
By Darian Goh — 25 May 2015, 06:07 PM
Malaysian telco Maxis has been promoting their new campaign "Zero Bill-Shock". The campaign boldly claims that customers will not experience bill shocks anymore.
The new ‘Zero Bill Shock’ claim is based on 5 distinct promises covering different elements of postpaid charging including Pay-Per-Use (PPU) data charges, calls & SMS rates and even roaming.
NEVER WORRY ABOUT DATA OOPS MOMENTS – For those who aren't on a data plan, data oops moments are unavoidable - like when you click on a link or launch an app by accident. For data oops moments like these, the first 250kb of accidental PPU data every month is now free.
NEVER WORRY ABOUT DATA CHARGES WITHOUT WARNING – For those without monthly internet passes, Maxis will SMS alert users BEFORE they even charge and they will SMS you again for every RM10 of data usage.
NEVER WORRY ABOUT DATA ROAMING BILL SHOCK – Maxis promises you will never exceed RM38/day in data roaming charges in over 106 countries. Even if you’re visiting a new country, you won’t even need to remember the preferred roaming operator in each country because Maxis now automatically selects the right network for you.
NEVER WORRY ABOUT CHARGES TO ANY LOCAL NUMBER – With the MaxisONE plan it no longer matters what numbers you call – whether you are calling fixed lines or mobile lines, making short calls or long calls, peak or non-peak. Your domestic call and SMS charges will always be zero.
EVEN WITHOUT A DATA PLAN, YOUR PAY-PER-USE DATA WILL NEVER EXCEED RM50 – Maxis doesn’t believe in the industry practice of penalising PPU data usage by charging the equivalent of RM10,000 per 1 GB. Which is why Maxis is the only telco that now caps PPU data charges at RM50/month.
liveatpc.com
In the past, there were numerous stories and accounts posted in the telco's forums that they were being overcharged by Maxis without any warning
So to really test this claim out, we gave an air stewardess, a college student, and a gamer each a Maxis number for a week to test this claim. Here's what they told us:
To ensure that the test was as real as possible, we gave each person a Maxis SIM card. They were asked to use their phones as per normal for a duration of a week. They were tasked to take a screenshot every time IF they received data usage notifications from Maxis. Eunice was on the Maxis ONE Plan while Ronn and Ashley were on the Maxis TalkMore plan.
The Maxis ONE Plan starts from RM128 which gives you 2GB worth of Internet, free calls, and texts to Maxis and Hotlink numbers. Roaming starts at RM38 per day. For Maxis TalkMore 48 plan, the rates start at RM48 with 400 minutes of talk time and 200 SMS. Once the quota has been used up, it's pay-as-you-go.
1. Eunice, 23, an air stewardess, travels in and out of the country a lot. "I usually use data roaming a lot and make calls in between when transiting outside of Malaysia".
"When I was transiting in Indonesia, I was notified to switch to a network partner to enjoy the data roaming benefits."
"Every time I hit my limit, Maxis notified me through SMS and asked whether I wanted to top up. I was also notified how much data I used and the amount remaining".
"All in all, I knew whether I was data roaming or not and was notified duly through SMS. My bill was within means although I wished they didn't have to charge that much for an itemised bill"
2. Ronn, who works in a tech company, plays games on his phone quite often. "I am quite a data hog since I play everything from Clash Of Clans to FIFA 15".
"I heard plenty of horror stories before. Although I never experienced it personally, I know that bill shocks are real"
"I hardly make calls but I game a lot. So it's a nice surprise when I was alerted that I exceeded my data limit. The data blocks are pretty smart too to make sure that no one gets surprised".
"I was on the TalkMore48 plan which would have been great for a frequent caller but not that ideal for a heavy data user like me. I'm sure Maxis has plans that cater towards data users too".
3. Ashley, 20, is a college student. "I Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Tweet, and WhatsApp constantly. In just a day I already hit my data limit" she said sheepishly.
"Besides using my social media apps, I frequently make calls to my friends and family"
Ashley's bill revealed that she made almost 2 hours worth of calls which amounted to RM16.54.
"Throughout the week, I reloaded my data cap a total of 5 times as my apps quickly gobbled up the data"
"I am a Maxis subscriber prior to the test. Before the campaign, there were notifications here and there but not as thorough as this"
According to the phone bill, Maxis waived off the voice calls but in just a short period of time, Ashley's bill reached RM117
The test was started on 28 March 2015 and ended a week after. No prior calls or data usage was used before the said date.
1. Maxis users are now notified and no longer left in the dark about unintentional data charges
All our subject testers agreed that they were notified by Maxis through text when they hit their data limit and were prompted whether they would like to top up for additional data. For Eunice, she was reminded to switch to another network operator that is Maxis' partner for data roaming.
2. It's better to get on a data plan rather than a call plan
With the shift towards social media apps to connect with one another, the dependance of SMS and calls have decreased while the demand for data connectivity has increased. Therefore it makes more sense to get on a data plan so that you'll get more value. Both Ronn and Ashley were on the TalkMore plan and would have gotten more on the Maxis ONE Plan.