If you want to get the Galaxy S8, here’s a telco you should avoid

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ had went on sale in Malaysia earlier this month. Some may prefer to buy it outright while others would opt for a telco device contract for substantial savings.

If you’re thinking of getting one from a telco, this is probably the least appealing of them all.

TM’s mobility arm, webe, has recently started to offer the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ on their network. While they are late to the party, webe believes it has the best pairing with its own screen protection combo.

Unlike Samsung’s own protection program which lets you replace the screen once, webe’s Smartphone Screen Warranty Care lets you claim for a screen replacement twice during its 1 year protection period. That’s appealing for those with really clumsy hands and they are also giving free 30 days unlimited access to HyppTV Everywhere app with every purchase. And… that’s pretty much it.

For webe, they are offering devices without contract so you’ll need to pay the full retail price which is RM3,299 for the Galaxy S8 and RM3,699 for the Galaxy S8+. During sign up, you are also required to pay an extra RM106 as upfront payment since you’re signing up for a webemobile postpaid plan. This gives you unlimited calls, SMS and data for RM79/month.

There’s also something else to take note. If you refer to their FAQ, webe’s screen protection offer is only valid if your webe line is still active and it’s not in suspension or terminated. So this means, you’ll need to stick with webe for at least a full year to be entitled to this screen protection program. So in summary, you’re paying more than retail price and you’re somewhat stuck to a contract. It just doesn’t make sense.

This isn’t the first time webe has done devices and they are much better than this. As a comparison, they are currently offering the Huawei P10 Plus with 10 months free webemobile subscription while the Huawei MediaPad M3 tablet gets 12-months free webebroadband. That’s about RM708-790 worth of savings which is worthwhile if you’re going to stay with a telco. If webe can’t provide any subsidies for the Galaxy S8, why bother? You can learn more over at webe’s Galaxy S8 page.

For existing Galaxy S8/S8+ owners, Samsung is currently doing a promotion for its Samsung Screen Protection and Samsung Protection Plus plan. The screen protection which costs RM149 is now going for RM88 while the protection plus option that comes with an extended warranty is going for RM188 instead of its usual RM248 price. Take note that you’ll need to pay a RM100 service fee if you need to replace the screen. For more info, you can visit here.