Whether you still need Astro in Kuching comes down to sport and vernacular channels, not price. Astro’s published entry packs start at RM39.99 a month (Astro’s published price as of October 2026), which is close to what one Netflix plan costs, so streaming no longer wins on money alone. If your evenings are Netflix and YouTube, stream over your fibre and skip the contract. If you follow the EPL or want Malay, Chinese or Indian channels running for the grandparents, Astro still earns its keep.
Every price below comes from Astro’s, NJOI’s and Netflix’s own pages, checked in October 2026, not from a bill of mine. Packages get reshuffled, so treat the numbers as a snapshot and confirm them at sign-up.
TL;DR
- Astro’s published packs run RM39.99 to RM159.99 a month, on 12-month or 24-month contracts. NJOI has no contract, but you pay RM275 to RM330 for the box plus RM50 or RM85 for installation.
- Netflix alone is RM19.90 to RM69.90 a month in Malaysia, so two or three subscriptions add up to roughly what an Astro pack costs.
- Astro’s Sports Pack is RM69.99 a month and bundles beIN SPORTS CONNECT, which is where the real gap between Astro and streaming sits.
- Satellite signal can drop in heavy rain, and Kuching gets about 247 rainy days a year.
- Astro’s Plug & Play install needs no dish but runs over your home wifi, so a patchy connection moves the problem rather than solving it.
- Astro’s published hotline and WhatsApp number is +603 9543 3838.
Is Astro still worth it in 2026?
It depends on whether live sport or vernacular channels are non-negotiable in your house. If nobody watches live football, boxing or the language channels Astro bundles in, streaming replaces it, and the saving is smaller than it used to be: Astro’s cheapest published pack is RM39.99 a month, and Netflix’s Standard plan alone is RM55.90.
My guess is that the household most likely to keep Astro has an older relative who has watched the same Cantonese or Malay channel for twenty years and has no interest in learning a streaming interface. That is my reading of who benefits, not a count of anyone’s habits, and it is a real reason to keep the contract.
What does an Astro package actually cost?
Astro’s published prices as of October 2026, from its TV packs page:
| Pack | Price per month | Contract | What the page lists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astro X3 Entertainment 12 Pack | RM39.99 (listed as reduced from RM59.99) | 12 months | 72 channels, 2 screens (max 1 Smart TV), no box installation |
| Astro X3 Sports 12 Pack | RM69.99 (reduced from RM89.99) | 12 months | 85+ channels, 2 screens (max 1 Smart TV), Sun NXT Lite and beIN SPORTS CONNECT, no box installation |
| Astro One Entertainment Pack | RM49.99 | 24 months | 103 channels, box included, 3 screens |
| Astro One Sports Pack | RM69.99 (reduced from RM99.99) | 24 months | 115+ channels, 3 screens, Sun NXT Lite, beIN SPORTS CONNECT and Astro GO, box included |
| Astro One Epic Pack | RM159.99 (reduced from RM199.99) | 24 months | 135+ channels, Ultra box, 5 screens, streaming apps included |
The “reduced from” figures are Astro’s own, so the lower number is a promotional price and may not last. The sports packs also name the Sports Pack on its sign-up page as including Astro GO, beIN SPORTS CONNECT and Sun NXT Lite.
On boxes, Astro’s box page lists the Ultra Box and the Ulti Box as “Free* with Plug and Play”, with terms and conditions applying. The Ultra Box needs 30Mbps broadband for 4K and the Ulti Box needs 10Mbps for HD. The page says “No satellite dish, no problem. Just connect to your home wifi to start.” Astro’s pack pages offer two installation methods, Plug & Play (self-setup) and Standard (professional installation), and the main packs page does not list a Standard installation fee. The TV packs page does say Astro One packs need installation, while X3 packs need only an app download. Press coverage of the Astro One promotion put the Standard installation fee at RM50 for new customers and RM49 for existing ones, with Plug & Play at no extra cost, while Astro’s own Ulti Box installation support page mentions an RM99 fee for new customers on packs above RM100 a month. So expect somewhere between RM50 and RM99, and ask for the exact amount in writing before you agree.
The practical catch is the contract: 12 or 24 months is a commitment whether or not the football season turns out to matter to you. The same Astro support page says its offers carry a 24-month contract with a pro-rated early termination fee of RM600, so leaving early is not free. I found no published booking-to-install lead time for Sarawak, so ask when you book.
For condos, ask building management before you pick Standard, since the rules on what may be mounted on a roof or balcony are the building’s own. Plug & Play avoids the question because there is no dish.
What is NJOI and is it actually free?
NJOI is Astro’s subscription-free satellite service. Its homepage describes “free access to popular cable networks with no recurring subscription fees or contractual obligations”, and quotes 52 free channels, while its packs page says “56 FREE tv and radio channels” for the standard box without a dish. Call it 52 to 56, so more than 50.
“Free” covers the channels, not the hardware. NJOI’s sign-up page lists a standard box without a dish at RM275, a box with a satellite dish at RM330, and two standard installation options at RM50 or RM85 (NJOI’s published prices as of October 2026).
Extra channels are prepaid packs. The packs page lists the Family Pack (53 channels) from RM9.90, the Sports Mega Pack (21 channels) from RM16.20 and the Family + Sports Combo (67 channels) from RM64.80, while the homepage quotes the Family Pack at RM28 (excluding SST) and says packs start from RM1 a day. The packs page does not state durations, so call the Family Pack RM9.90 to RM28 depending on how long you buy it for, and read the duration on the pack before paying.
The catch is the line-up. NJOI’s free channels do not include the premium sport or the full drama and movie tiers of a paid Astro pack, so if EPL is the reason you are considering satellite TV at all, the free tier will not get you there.
How do you actually watch live football in Malaysia?
On Astro, the route is a sports pack. Astro’s corporate announcement (11 December 2024) says it renewed the Premier League and Emirates FA Cup rights for the 2025/26 to 2027/28 seasons, with all 380 Premier League matches a season, and names Astro One’s Sports Pack as the main way to watch. The Sports Pack page also lists beIN SPORTS CONNECT, which Astro’s apps page describes as “FREE for all customers with Sports subscription”. The pack costs RM69.99 a month on a 24-month contract, and the 12-month X3 Sports pack is also RM69.99 (Astro’s published price as of October 2026) but streams on 2 screens only.
The announcement also lists Astro’s own streaming service, Sooka (Sports & Entertainment plan onwards), as a way to watch every match, so there is a streaming route, but it is Astro’s and I have not checked its price. Astro’s pages do not say which packs beyond the One Sports Pack carry every match, so check that for the X3 Sports pack before you sign.
If sport decides it for you, the rights run to the end of the 2027/28 season, so a 24-month contract sits inside that window.
Astro vs streaming: what’s the real comparison?
| Astro (paid pack) | NJOI | Streaming | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | RM39.99 to RM159.99 | Free channels; packs from RM9.90 | Netflix RM19.90 to RM69.90 per plan |
| Upfront cost | Box free with Plug & Play (T&C apply) | RM275 to RM330 box, RM50 or RM85 install | None |
| Contract | 12 or 24 months | None | Cancel anytime |
| Live sport | Sports packs from RM69.99 | Sports Mega pack from RM16.20 | Astro’s own Sooka carries the EPL; most other services do not |
| Depends on | Home wifi (Plug & Play) or satellite | Satellite | Your home broadband |
Netflix prices are from its Malaysia plan page: Mobile RM19.90, Basic RM33.90, Standard RM55.90, Premium RM69.90. A second service sits on top of that. Disney+ Malaysia went to RM29.90 a month for Basic and RM49.90 for Premium on 18 December 2025, per press coverage of the price change, so Netflix plus Disney+ comes to RM49.80 to RM119.80 a month depending on the plans. Add a third service and the combined bill can reach the same range as an Astro pack. The saving from dropping Astro is real mostly for a household that needs one service, not four.
The table only holds if your broadband is solid. A Plug & Play box or a streaming setup on a flaky connection trades one point of failure for another. Either way the TV bill is one line in what a couple actually spends per month in Kuching, so it is worth pricing against the rest of the budget before you sign.
Does Astro’s satellite signal really drop in the rain?
It can, and it is the one downside I will not soften. Dish-based satellite TV is generally prone to signal loss in very heavy rain, and the usual remedy is to wait for the downpour to pass. I could not find Astro or NJOI wording on this, so treat it as general satellite behaviour rather than an Astro guarantee. That applies to NJOI and to any Astro install that uses a dish, not to Plug & Play, which runs over your wifi.
Kuching is a bad place for that. The climate table on Wikipedia’s Kuching page, compiled from NOAA and other 1991 to 2020 normals, gives about 4,200 mm of rain and an average of 247 rainy days a year. An older 1970 to 2000 normals set puts it at about 4,155 mm, with January the wettest month at around 700 mm, so call it roughly 4,150 to 4,200 mm. Afternoon downpours between November and February are the normal case, not the exception.
How do you contact Astro customer service?
Astro’s support page says to “Call us or WhatsApp ‘Hi’ to +603 9543 3838”. I did not see operating hours or a live chat option listed; account management goes through the My Astro app. A contact form sits at astro.com.my/support/feedback-form. NJOI has its own line on its help page: +603 9543 8100, or njoi@astro.com.my.
I would go through those official pages rather than a number from a forum or a message, since the official pages are the quickest check that you have the right line.
Where this actually lands for most households
Broadband comes first. If you are setting up a Kuching home from scratch, get it in before you decide anything about TV. Once that is solid, ask one question: does anyone in the house need live sport or language channels badly enough to sign 12 to 24 months at RM39.99 to RM69.99 a month? If not, streaming costs about the same or less, cancels anytime and has no dish. If yes, a sports pack carries the full Premier League slate, so long as you are on wifi or the sky is clear.