Affordable Data Plans From Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Compared

Here’s a comparison of data plans from Airtel, Vodafone and Jio that are priced at Rs 199.

Vodafone Idea, Airtel and Reliance Jio are locked in a battle of competitive plans. 

(Photo: iStock)

Few weeks back we listed out various long-terms prepaid plans from telecom operators in India which has been of huge interest among consumers.

Now, we’re going to look at prepaid plans in the affordable segment, costing below Rs 200 and available with a validity of one month only. These aren’t heavily promoted by the telcos, who after all want users to spend money on longer duration plans.

Having said that, with the average revenue per user (ARPU) in India currently at less than Rs 140 per user, clearly there are lot of people who find this to be the sweet spot for spending on data plans.

Here’s a look at what the top three telecom players are offering with their respective data plans worth Rs 199, out of which Jio’s plan costs Rs 198.

Correction: Reliance Jio’s plan costs Rs 198

The Better Prepaid Plan

As you can see from the above table, Jio takes the cake with its Rs 198 data plan, by offering 500MB data per day more than its rivals. This translates into over 56GB of 4G data available to users, and once you’ve consumed the daily quota, the speed trickles down to 64kbps.

Talking about other details of the plans, you get 100 free SMS per day, and unlimited voice calls that have become free ever since the market was disrupted by Jio in 2016. Having said that, Vodafone is still the exception here, as it is only offering free voice calls for 250 minutes per day.

Having said that, you must know that Jio’s data is confined to 4G, while Airtel and Vodafone Idea give you the option to use it for 3G or 4G data, depending on the available network in the region. 

Unlike the plans with longer validity (as much as three months), users in this segment are deprived of further discounts but the amount of data offered remains similar to costlier plans.

Worth Going for Affordable Plan?

It’s clear that spending less for data pack will get you 28 days of validity at best. You can still avail up to 2GB data per day, with most telcos giving you free voice calls as well.

But for a second, if you compare it with the Rs 399 plan (deduct Rs 50 for the discount vouchers, if any), the plan effectively works out to around Rs 116 per month.

So, even if spending Rs 399 tends to be heavier on pockets, we’d still recommend you to look at spending extra 100 bucks and going for the three month plans, with more data and validity on offer.