Editor Reliance Jio has unveiled new data plans for customers on prepaid and postpaid connections. Here’s a detailed comparison of Reliance Jio’s new Dhan Dhana Dhan plans, with Airtel’s 4G prepaid, postpaid data offerings, and which are the best pick for users.
Reliance Jio has unveiled new data plans for customers on prepaid and postpaid connections, increasing the validity of these recharges, and offering a lot more data per recharge. Now in the past, every time Jio has launched new plans and offers, rivals like Airtel have tried to match up with their own unlimited data offerings. Here’s a look at the current Reliance Jio prepaid and postpaid plans, and what Airtel is currently offering.
Reliance Jio new prepaid, postpaid plans: Rs 349, Rs 399
Reliance Jio’s two new prepaid and postpaid plans start at a price of Rs 349 and Rs 399. The advantage with Reliance Jio is that voice calls, SMS (up to 100 per day) are all free. On other networks, you might still have to get a talktime recharge, if you are unable to find the right plan. The other important thing with Jio’s new plans: the validity is longer, compared to other networks where most have 28 day validity. So essentially one recharge will last more than a month.
Taking a closer at the new plans, Rs 349 recharge comes with 20 GB 4G data in total, and this will be valid for 56 days. Jio has not put a daily FUP on this, though if you cross 20 GB on this plan, the speed drops to 128 kbps. The other plan from Jio is priced at Rs 399, but with a validity of 84 days which is nearly three months. The plan offers 1 GB data per day, so you get 84 GB data for the Rs 399. However, the 1 GB FUP means the day you cross the 1 GB data limit, your speed will be reset to 128 kbps.
Jio has also increased the validity of the Rs 309 recharge, which is now at 56 days (nearly two months), and will offer 1 GB data per day with the same FUP conditions. The Rs 509 plan offers 2 GB data, now gets 56 days validity as well, so you’re getting 112 GB data with a recharge of Rs 509.
In the postpaid scheme, Reliance Jio has added the Rs 349 and Rs 399 plan as well. The only difference here is that the plans comes with two months (60 days) and three months (90 days) validity, though the data offered is the same: 20 GB and 1 GB per day respectively. For postpaid users then, Rs 399 is offering 90GB of data for the entire period. Jio has also increased validity period for other plans, thus effectively offering a lot more data.
Remember with Reliance Jio you have to pay Rs 99 for the Jio Prime membership to be eligible for these plans. Jio’s data plans make sense if you had not got the Rs 303 or Rs 309 recharge till now, and want three months of extra data. For those who consume daily more than 1GB of data, keep in mind there’s an FUP.
Airtel prepaid, postpaid offers
Airtel has had some offers running for quite sometime, though you might not always see these listed every time you get an online recharge. Airtel’s offers and recharges will have slight differences in pricing, depending on the circle. Also Airtel has several layers of offers, for new 4G handsets, for new prepaid subscribers, etc. We explain some of the Airtel offers, which are still mentioned on the terms and conditions section of the Airtel website.
Airtel has a special prepaid offer for those with new 4G handset users. Airtel’s terms and conditions say these plans are for “Airtel Pre-paid subscribers in India whose 4G Handset (IMEI) latched for the first time on Airtel Network.” There are four recharges mentioned in this section: Rs 399, Rs 244, Rs 349 and Rs 149. Here’s a close look at these plans.
Now, the Rs 399 (MRP can differ according to circle) comes with unlimited local, STD Calls and 1 GB data per day. The validity is seventy days, which is still less than Jio’s, but not a bad deal at all. For those not on a 4G SIM, the recharge has similar call benefits, but only 250MB data on offer.
Next Airtel has a Rs 244 with unlimited local calling, free STD Airtel mobile calls, and 1 GB data per day. Again, this is only for 4G SIM users on 4G smartphones, and for 3G/2G users the data is reduced to 50MB. The plan has a 70 day validity as well.
Airtel also has a Rs 349 plan with unlimited local and STD Calls and 1 GB data per day for 28 days. Again for 3G/2G users, the benefit is reduced to 50 MB. Finally, there’s a Rs 149 plan with 2 GB data, unlimited voice calls for a period of 28 days. For 3G users, the data benefit on this is 50 MB.
So if you just bought a new 4G smartphone, and are an Airtel prepaid user, the Rs 399 and Rs 244 recharge might appeal to you, considering they come with 70 days of validity. Then Airtel also has 4G offers for its new prepaid subscriber base, who are getting a 4G SIM. Two plans mentioned under this section are Rs 293 and Rs 449.
The Rs 293 plan has an 84 day validity similar to Jio’s new plans. This comes with unlimited local, STD calls for Airtel to Airtel, and 1 GB data per day. For a non 4G handsets, the validity is reduced to 35 days, and the data limit is 2 GB in total. The Rs 449 also comes with 84 days validity, and unlimited local/STD calls, along with 1 GB data per day. Once again for non-4G smartphones, the data falls to 2 GB for a total validity of 35 days. So Airtel also has plans with 84 day validity with 1 GB data per day.
There are also two other plans under Airtel’s First Recharge offer, though both of these have 28 day validity. The Rs 149 plan gives a total of 2 GB data, unlimited local calling, STD calls from Airtel to Airtel. Non 4G users get 1 GB of data. Finally, there’s a Rs 349 plan with 28 day validity, 1GB data per day, and unlimited local, STD calls, but all of this is limited to 4G smartphone users.
Airtel is also giving 4G smartphone users free data up to Rs 9000 (Airtel says Rs 9,000 is the average cost of 36 GB of 4G data in India), which offers 3 GB of extra data for 12 months. Users have to go to the My Airtel app to claim this offer. The 3 GB data can be claimed up to a maximum of 13 times, and the offer will be valid till December 31, 2017. Airtel is also letting postpaid users carry over data to the next month, and accumulate up to 200 GB of data on their account.
