Close up on DG Smart Plan from DiGi

DiGi has just revamped its DG Smart Plan with its RM68/month commitment postpaid plan. Previously “DG Smart Plan” was a time limited Blackberry plan that offers the Blackberry Curve 8520 for RM549. Now DiGi has expanded the offering with more devices which include the most welcomed Android powered HTC Legend and Blackberry Bold 9700.

How Smart is DG Smart Plan?
So far most data centric users would sign up existing postpaid plan with a bolt-on monthly data package. This is what we call Postpaid First, Data Second approach.

Thanks to online social networking such as Twitter and Facebook, more users are jumping on the mobile data bandwagon. What’s more interesting to note is that people are starting to communicate over mobile Internet either via Blackberry messaging or IMs such as Ping and Whatsapp.

So the folks at DiGi must have taken note of this trend and decided to challenge the norm by doing a Data First, Postpaid Second approach. Make no mistake, DG Smart Plan is NOT a bolt-on Data Plan. It is actually a RM68/month postpaid plan that gives you Unlimited Data (subject to 3GB of FUP) and normal postpaid usage such as voice calls, SMS and MMS being charged on top of the monthly fee based on Pay As You Use basis.

DG Smart Plan mobile rates are charged as follows to all networks:

• 15 sen/min for voice calls
• 10 sen/SMS
• 20 sen/MMS

For heavy mobile users, DG Smart Plan offers discount on the data plan depending on your usage.

If your usage hit RM100 and above, DiGi will rebate 25% (RM17) from your monthly RM68 fee. For usage of RM200 and above,  DiGi will rebate 100%. That’s free data for you!

Another thing worth mentioning is that DiGi also offers unlimited data roaming at RM36/day at selected countries if you need data overseas.

DG Smart Plan Devices
3 Phones are on offer with discounts up to 50%. The price of the phone as follows according to contract period.

Smart Details that are left out
There are some important details that isn’t published on DG Smart Plan site at time of posting which was only posted on their Facebook page.

A upfront payment is required for purchase of the devices which will be used to offset your monthly usage later.

• RM500 upfront for 24 months contract
• RM300 upfront of 12 months contract
• RM100 upfront for no contract

At time of registration, you would need to pay an advance one month payment of RM68/month as well. This simply means if you plan to get a device over 24 months, be prepared to fork an extra RM568 on top of the device cost.

DiGi offers EPP option for iPhone purchases in their iWant plans so we don’t understand why they don’t offer an EPP payment option for the devices in the DG Smart Plan.

Another weird thing, why longer contract duration require more upfront? We think it should be the other way around to encourage people to sign up for the longer contracts. Why do it this way DiGi?

Worth moving to the Smart Plan?
If you’re a heavy data user who surfs the Internet more than making calls or SMS on your mobile, then this could be the best plan to go with. What’s more enticing is the fact that DiGi subsidises the phone heavily up to 50% with HTC Legend going for only RM999, making it the best Android deal to date. As usual, we would suggest studying your bill to see if you do indeed surf more than you call before making the commitment.

Check out the DG Smart Plan page here and also the FAQ on their Facebook page.