After much anticipation, Maxis has released its service plans for the HTC Flyer. Earlier Maxis announced that the Flyer can be had with contract for just RM199. While many were hoping for a really good deal with a minimum upfront payment, this proved to not be the case.

It turns out that the RM199 value promoted by Maxis is taking into account the savings from rebates you get across the 24 months contract duration when you subscribe to the full Maxis Ultimate Solid plan at RM248/month (RM152 after rebate). The device however must be purchased at full price at a very steep RM2,499

And actually the plans Maxis just released with the HTC Flyer are not exclusive to the device. There are actually new plans called the Maxis Ultimate plans. There are three new plans in all with additional services that offers “unlimited” access to specific sites like YouTube and Facebook.

Head on over the jump as we break it all down for you.

Maxis Ultimate Plans
The Maxis Ultimate plans offer data quotas like any mobile data plan but on top of you that it offers added value with unlimited access to selected web content. In this case you get unlimited access to YouTube, Facebook, unlimited song and MTV downloads via the Maxis OneMusic service and unlimited access to Maxis WiFi hotspots.

There are three Maxis Ultimate plans to choose from. There’s the Ultimate Solid with 16GB data quota per month for RM248/month, the Ultimate Pro with 12GB data quota per month for RM188/month and the Ultimate Plus with 8GB data quota per month for RM128/month. All the Maxis Ultimate plans offer the same unlimited access to Facebook, Maxis OneMusic and Maxis WiFi hotspot but only the Maxis Ultimate Solid plan offer unlimited access to YouTube.

This unlimited access allows subscribers to continue surfing the mentioned site and services unhindered even after the data usage quota has been reached. Though we have to point out that there is no clarification as to whether “unlimited access” entails content uploads as well as we’re pretty sure you would upload pictures on Facebook often as well. So are uploads to these sites unlimited as well? We’re still waiting for a response from Maxis.

Also, the Maxis WiFi hotspot access is free for the first three months only. At RM3/months, we feel that the service should be offered for free considering subscribers are paying premium money for the Maxis Ultimate plans. And another thing, we have no information on the location of the Maxis WiFi hotspots are the coverage page is still not working.

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Additional Services
Along with the new Ultimate plans, Maxis introduced subscription plans for selected sites and services online. For those who are on other Maxis plans, users can subscribe to unlimited access to the following services:

• Unlimited access to YouTube videos at RM50/month
• Unlimited access to Facebook at RM10/month
• Unlimited song and MTV to Maxis OneMusic service at RM8/month
• Unlimited access to Maxis WiFi hotspots at RM3/month

Naturally, existing Maxis subscribers should be able to subscribe to these services but we can’t find any information on the Maxis website to support this. Calls made to Maxis customer service proved fruitless as well. We’ve tweeted @MaxisListens and are now awaiting for a response from them.

Also, as we previously point out, we’re not sure if unlimited access extends to uploads as well.

How much do you pay upfront
If you subscribe to the Maxis Ultimate Plus plan there is a RM100 activation fee. This fee is waived for Ultimate Pro and Ultimate Solid. The amount does not go back to your account.

If you subscribe to Ultimate Pro there is an advance payment of RM200. For Ultimate Solid, you will need to pay RM250 up front. These amounts will be rebated back to your first month bill. Advanced payment is waived for Maxis Ultimate Plus.

These upfront payments are on top of the RRP of the device.

Devices
The following devices are offered with the Maxis Ultimate plans

• HTC Flyer — RRP RM2,499
• Motorola Xoom 3G — RRP RM2,599 (availability soon)
• HP ProBook 4430S with Maxis HSDPA modem — RM1,988

Maxis offers 0% Easy payment scheme via credit card with 12 and 24 months installment via Maybank, HSBC, Public Bank, Citibank and CIMB.

You can purchase these devices without subscribing to the Ultimate. You can pair any of the mentioned device with any of the Ultimate plans but the full RM96 monthly rebate on the Ultimate Solid plan is only offered when you purchase the HTC Flyer.

It looks like Maxis might be bundling the iPad 2 with its Ultimate plans.

Another interesting point. As the list suggests, the Motorola Xoom 3G is coming to Malaysia though there’s not indication on when exactly

Calls and SMS
You can use the Maxis Ultimate SIM card to make phone calls and send SMS. Rates are as follows:

Call Rates:
On-net & Off-net: 20sen/min
International: As per current postpaid rate

SMS Rates:
On-net & Off-net: 0.16sen/sms
International: As per current postpaid rate

This is subjected to the device capability as well.

What we think
We don’t see the need to subscribe to another service plan specifically for your tablet device because it is very likely that you won’t be using your tablet as your primary device. Tablets are design as a “second screen” anyway so you won’t be using that much data on it.

Besides it is also very likely that when you’re using your tablet, you will be in the vicinity of the many free WiFi hotspots that’s abundant at virtually any makan places and shopping malls in the country.

If it was us, we’d make the most out of whatever existing mobile data service that we have. Virtually all smartphones today can be used as WiFi hotspots, so when the need arise just piggy back your tablet on your phone’s connection. This is a very good solution for casual mobile surfers.

If you want to preserve the battery life of your phone. You can consider a MiFi with a subscription to a cheaper mobile plan.

The point here is that we encourage you make the most out of your data quota. In all honestly not everyone needs and use 6GB or 12GB worth mobile data in a month, not on a tablet device at least. We’re hardcore mobile warriors and the most mobile data we use in a month is around 6GB. On average its closer to 2GB or 3GB and if you carefully track your data usage you’d see that your mobile data usage would be around the same.

That’s not saying these new Ultimate plans are bad. The right user will find great value in the data quota and unlimited access to sites like YouTube and FB. But to us these plans are rather expensive for just data usage on a single device. We’d stick with our MiFi and a modest 3GB data quota for mobile use.

	HTC, Maxis, Mobile Devices, Players on the Field
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