No sooner did Reliance Jio entered the market, it became an alarming eye opener for its competitors in the telecom sector. The big guns like Airtel, Idea and Vodafone had no other option but to come up with new attractive schemes in order to compensate with the hole in their pockets given by Jio. Along with the free voice call and sms provisions , it is the revised 3G/4G data benefits that seem to hold the centre stage now. After the announcement of new Reliance Jio prime membership which offers 1GB/day 4G data at just about Rs. 10 per day, Airtel, Idea and Vodafone have also brought in their budget plan for unlimited data, voice calls etc. So here’s an insight through all these plans with a comparison for you all to decide which best suits you.
Tariff rates and Data provided:
Lets start with basic tariff of these plans and amount of data that is offered,
Reliance Jio: Jio gives 1GB data per day for its prime customers, there is a membership fee of Rs. 99 which is to be paid only once for a year and there after a Rs. 303 recharge per month for prepaid customers which will give you 28GB (1GB/day) for 28 days and for postpaid users the data provided is 30GB for a billing cycle. The Rs. 303 rental still is less than all the other plan available, It roughly comes out to Rs. 10 per day, not a bad deal.
Airtel: Airtel brings up a Rs. 345 plan which gives you 28GB for 28 days but the catch here is you get to use only 500MB data during the day and remaining 500MB data could be used during night hours i.e from 12 am to 6 am.
Vodafone: Vodafone provides 28 GB data for Rs. 346. Similar to that of Reliance Jio, Vodafone also offers 1GB per day but unlike Jio, post 1GB usage will be chargeable.
Idea: Idea offer 14GB data at Rs. 348 which is half the amount of data offered by the rest. There is limit of 500MB per day and the tariff plan may not be available for every user. This plan is offered by idea to selected users via call or sms and is not an open retail plan however, one could check his eligibility through their My Idea app.
Additional tariff plans for extended amount of data:
Reliance Jio: Along with the Rs. 303 plan there’s also a Rs. 499 prime plan for those who desire more data. This plan provides 2GB data per day i.e 56GB data for 28 days where as, 60GB monthly data for postpaid users.
Airtel: Airtel has an additional plan of Rs. 549. It provides the same amount of data as that of Rs. 345 plan but frees you from the time bound limitations. 1GB data can be used as and when you wish per day.
Vodafone and idea: They haven’t yet announced of any additional plans.
Voice Call details:
Reliance Jio: Unlimited free voice calls.
Airtel: Airtel gives 1200 minutes of voice call free, post 1200 minutes will be charged 30p per minute. Also calling 100 different users a week will cost you 30p per minute for rest of the validity.
Vodafone and idea: Unlimited voice calls, same as Reliance Jio.
Limitations:
Reliance Jio: There are not much limitation in the Reliance Jio prime membership plan. The usage of data is unlimited, only the speed reduces to 128 KB/sec after 1GB usage of the day.
Airtel: Airtel has put the T&C tag to both, use of internet data and voice calling. As we mentioned earlier, out of the 1GB daily data only 500MB is useable in the day and rest has to be use during 12am to 6am. Along with this, the voice calls are also limited to 1200 minutes.
Vodafone: Apart from the post data charges fact there are no limitations as such. Vodafone is pretty transparent in what is being said to offer.
Idea: The plan is not available for every user. You need to have a 4G handset but not a 4G enabled sim card. This not an open retail plan, it will be offered to you by idea executives only. However you can check if you are eligible or not with help of my idea app.
So this was all about the new data and voice plans of major network providers, hope this will be helpful in deciding what suits you the best.