Premium Postpaid Plans: Overview & Comparison
By choosing postpaid plans, you won’t have to worry about running out of talk time during an emergency or forgetting to recharge your phone periodically. Moreover, with postpaid plans, you can ensure you always stay within the budget as you won’t have to pay any excess fee or money besides your monthly plan rate.
Due to the increasing popularity of postpaid plans, the top telecommunication providers in India; Airtel, Jio, Vodafone and BSNL provide premium plans with special benefits for customers opting for postpaid plans. However, before choosing the right premium postpaid plan, consider comparing all the benefits to ensure you’re making the right choice.
Overview of Top Mobile Network Operators
While there are many benefits of buying a postpaid SIM, however, you won’t be able to leverage these benefits if you choose the wrong network provider. Hence, to help you make an informed decision, we have provided a detailed overview of the major telecom operators, along with their plans.
Airtel Platinum
Airtel has three membership tiers: Silver, Gold, and Platinum. All postpaid customers on Rs 499 and higher plans are designated as Platinum under the Airtel Thanks program and get a variety of exclusive benefits, including a customized Platinum UI on the Airtel Thanks app.
For certain individuals, the most appealing feature of Platinum membership is the ‘priority service,’ which essentially ensures that your questions and inquiries will be addressed first. It could be anything to do with Airtel’s network, internet speed, or pretty much anything else, if you have a problem with your network, Airtel executives will address it on priority.
So, if you have a packed schedule and don’t want to make several phone calls or wait for your problems to be answered, Airtel’s Platinum plan is the right one for you. Mentioned below are the plans available to Airtel Platinum customers:
Price | Data | Callings | SMS | Benefits |
---|---|---|---|---|
₹399 | 40 GB with data rollover | Unlimited | 100 | Airtel XStream Subscription |
₹499 | 75 GB with data rollover | Unlimited | 100 | Airtel XStream Subscription, Amazon Prime Subscription, Hostar+Disney VIP Subscription |
₹749 | 125 GB with data rollover | Unlimited | 100 | Airtel XStream Subscription, Amazon Prime Subscription, Hostar+Disney VIP Subscription |
₹999 | 150 GB with data rollover | Unlimited | 100 | Airtel XStream Subscription, Amazon Prime Subscription, Hostar+Disney VIP Subscription |
₹1599 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 100 | Airtel XStream Subscription, Amazon Prime Subscription, Hostar+Disney VIP Subscription |
Vodafone Red X
Vodafone has announced a Rs 999 per month premium RedX offer for its customers. The provider has increased the plan’s price by Rs 100. It now costs Rs 1,099 a month, for the same benefits.
It’s important to note that Vodafone is the only network provider that charges an exit fee of INR 3,000, which will be levied when a customer decides to switch providers or change to another plan within 6 months of signing up. Mentioned below are the details of Vodafone’s RedX plan:
Price | Data | Callings | SMS | Benefits |
---|---|---|---|---|
₹1,099 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 100 | Vi™ movies & TV, Amazon Prime Subscription, Hostar+Disney VIP Subscription and Netflix |
Jio Plus
Reliance Jio launched the JioPostpaid Plus scheme to provide its customers with improved access, entertainment, and experience. The company has also launched incentives for postpaid subscribers from other telcos who choose to port to Jio connections to bring over their credit cap to the Jio network with free home delivery of new SIM cards for its Plus customers.
Jio is now providing free Jio applications with 650+ live TV channels, multimedia content, 5 billion songs, and 300+ newspapers. The new JioPostpaid Plus plans also include a family package for the whole family for Rs 250 per connection, data rollover up to 500GB, and international Wifi calling.
Mentioned below are the various plans you can avail to become a JioPostpaid Plus member:
Price | Data | Callings | SMS | Benefits |
---|---|---|---|---|
₹399 | 75 GB with 200GB data rollover | Unlimited | Unlimited | Jio App Subscription, Amazon Prime Subscription, Hostar+Disney VIP Subscription and Netflix. |
₹599 | 100 GB with 200GB data rollover | Unlimited | Unlimited | Jio App Subscription, Amazon Prime Subscription, Hostar+Disney VIP Subscription and Netflix. |
₹799 | 150 GB with 200GB data rollover | Unlimited | Unlimited | Jio App Subscription, Amazon Prime Subscription, Hostar+Disney VIP Subscription and Netflix. |
₹999 | 200 GB with 500GB data rollover | Unlimited | Unlimited | Jio App Subscription, Amazon Prime Subscription, Hostar+Disney VIP Subscription and Netflix. |
₹1499 | 300 GB with 500GB data rollover | Unlimited | Unlimited | Jio App Subscription, Amazon Prime Subscription, Hostar+Disney VIP Subscription and Netflix. |
BSNL
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is one of India’s major telecom service providers. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) recently launched new Postpaid Mobile Plans beginning at Rs 199/- with a slew of appealing features including free family add-on connections, unlimited calling, data, and SMS benefits, and data rollover. Three new postpaid mobile plans have been launched by the PSU, priced at Rs 199, Rs 798, and Rs 999.
The new plan provides free voice calling to landline phones, all BSNL mobile numbers, and other operators’ mobile numbers via GSM postpaid mobile services, with no call forwarding activation fee.
Mentioned below is a culmination of all BSNL postpaid plans that you can avail to benefit from its offerings.
Price | Data | Callings | SMS | Benefits |
---|---|---|---|---|
₹199 | 25 GB(Data rollover upto 75 GB allowed) | Unlimited | 100 SMS per day | NA |
₹399 | 70 GB(Data rollover upto 210 GB allowed) | Unlimited | 100 SMS per day | NA |
₹525 | 85 GB(Data rollover upto 255 GB allowed) | Unlimited | 100 SMS per day | One additional Family SIM with Unlimited Voice facility with no free data/SMS. |
₹798 | 50 GB(Data rollover upto 150 GB allowed) | Unlimited | 100 SMS per day | 2 Family connections with Unlimited voice facility, 50GB data & 100SMS/day with each Family connection separately. |
₹999 | 75 GB(Data rollover upto 225 GB allowed) | Unlimited | 100 SMS per day | 3 Family connections with Unlimited voice facility, 75GB data & 100SMS/day with each Family connection separately. |
₹1525 | Unlimited without speed restriction | Unlimited | 100 SMS per day | NA |
Premium Postpaid Plans Comparison: Airtel Vs Vodafone Vs Jio Vs BSNL
Now that you have an understanding about the company and the premium plans that they offer, let’s go one step further. When it comes to choosing the right postpaid provider, it’s imperative to compare factors that go beyond pricing and budget. For example, we’ve listed some of the other factors you should consider below:
Network Coverage
While there’s no doubt that network coverage depends on multiple uncontrollable factors, like location, device compatibility, etc., we have used an OpenSignal report to make an overall comparison of the network coverage offered by these four providers.
According to Opensignal’s new survey, Bharti Airtel remains the favorite operator for consumers when it comes to viewing videos or making calls on apps like WhatsApp, though Reliance Jio continues to lead in 4G coverage and availability.
Airtel is the fastest in terms of download speed, while Vodafone Idea is the fastest in terms of upload speed. In terms of video, users said Airtel had a ‘good’ experience, while Vi and Jio had to settle for a ‘fair’ ranking. BSNL was given a ‘poor’ rating.
With a score of 75.5 out of 100, Airtel also topped the list in terms of voice app experience. With a score of 10.4 mbps, Airtel held the top spot in download speed experience for the sixth time in a row.
Airtel users’ average download speeds increased by 0.3 mbps to 10.4 mbps, while Jio users’ average download speeds fell by 0.4 mbps to below 7 mbps. In comparison to the previous update, BSNL’s download speed experience score dropped by 0.2 mbps to 2.7 mbps.
Additional Benefits
With the increasing level of competition, every network provider is trying to increase their yearly customer acquisition by offering more features at lower costs. As premium plans are the ultimate way to ensure a customer stays loyal to service providers, these companies often go all out in these plans and offer multiple benefits to their customers.
These additional benefits range from subscriptions to OTT platforms to providing free international calling and even airport lounge services. We’ve listed the additional benefits offered by each operator for you to make an informed decision.
1. Airtel Platinum
Airtel Platinum customers get personalized platinum interfaces on the Airtel Thanks app. Second, all platinum customers get a one-year free Amazon Prime membership! As a result, you can watch any of the new movies and shows without having to pay a monthly fee.
You’ll also get a free Airtel TV Premium subscription as part of your platinum membership, giving you access to exclusive and paid content from channels like ZEE5, HOOQ, and Eros Now. Furthermore, Airtel platinum membership includes a free Wynk Music subscription, which allows users to browse and stream millions of songs through the Wynk Music app.
To summarize, the latest priority service and current incentives for platinum customers demonstrate Airtel’s willingness to invest in improving the customer experience. So, if you’re tired of waiting in life, upgrade to Airtel Platinum and take advantage of the extra benefits!
2. Vodafone Red X
The plan’s first advantage is that it provides customers with premium broadband connectivity, including over 50% higher internet rates and improved call connectivity. It includes a yearly access to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Zee5, and Vodafone Play, among other video streaming services.
Vodafone also provides free lounge service to Red customers, which is limited to one per quarter and available at all domestic and international airports. Customers also get seven days of unrestricted international roaming and limitless data and messaging on international trips. Users can pay 50 paise a minute for ISD calls to the United States and Canada.
Customers who book a hotel, museum or attraction tickets will get a 10% cashback under this package. Vodafone has also teamed up with Samsung to provide exclusive offers on select Samsung phones via the company’s website.
3. Jio Plus
As part of its premium plan, Reliance Jio offers subscriptions to OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+Hotstar VIP subscription to its Plus customers. The telecom giant also offers Jio Prime benefits, which includes JioTV for live TV channels, JioSaavn to access songs and JioCinema for 10,000+ movies.
Despite this, Jio also offers family plans to its Plus customers, wherein you need to pay for only one connection and your entire family can use it. Moreover, as a Jio Plus customer, you can even leverage from low-cost international and roaming calls.
Jio Plus is also India’s first voice and data service plan that provides in-flight connectivity. Lastly, to ensure you have a seamless experience with Jio, the telecom operator allows its Plus customers to retain their existing number while switching to Jio’s postpaid connection. As an added benefit, Reliance Jio offers free home delivery for new SIM cards!
4. BSNL
While BSNL doesn’t offer any separate ‘premium’ plans, they do offer a host of benefits to postpaid customers. As a BSNL postpaid customer, you can avail unlimited voice Local/STD calls and national roaming calling.
Moreover, this government-owned network provider also offers unlimited data, with highspeeds that are reduced to 80 KBPS after 3GB/daily. You can also benefit from the free PRBT subscription that provides you with unlimited song change options. Lastly, as a BSNL postpaid customer, you can enjoy a free subscription to EROS Now.