What is Roll Over Data & Which ISPs Provide It In India?
Need more data but can’t afford expensive plans with unlimited data? Data rollover could be a good option for you! In this guide, we’ll go over what rollover data is, how it benefits you, and which companies offer rollover data in India. Read on for this and more!
What is Roll Over Data?
Data rollover refers to the transfer of unused data from your phone plan from one month to another. With data rollover, you are able to move any unused data from this month’s phone plan to the upcoming month’s phone plan resulting in extra data for the next month. Rollover data tends to be a cheaper option than paying for a higher data plan or paying penalties for going over your data allotment for the month.
Why is it called data rollover?
It’s called data rollover because, in essence, the data “rolls” over or carries over from one month to the next.
What is the benefit of data rollover?
The benefit of data rollover is that it allows you to plan ahead and not lose money. If you know your mobile usage patterns and suspect you’ll be using a lot of data next month, you can plan ahead and use less data the month before to ensure you’ll have enough the next month.
How long does rollover data last?
Typically with data rollover plans, the rollover data is only applied to the next month and cleared afterwards. For example, you could use January data in February, and February Data in March. However, any extra January data does not roll over to March. It gets cleared after a month. Therefore, you cannot accumulate rollover data over several months.
Do all companies offer data rollover?
Not all companies offer data rollover. On networks without data rollover, you will lose any unused data on your phone plan at the end of the month.
This means you might waste money by paying for data that you don’t end up using. If your internet usage fluctuates from month to month, having a plan with data rollover can be an advantage and could save you money.
How Does Data Rollover Work?
Data rollover is typically only available with certain phone plans. In other words, data rollover is an added feature to a phone plan.
If you are interested in data rollover, you will need to look for a phone plan that offers this feature.
As mentioned before, data only carries over for one month, meaning that you cannot accumulate data over long periods of time.
Most phone plans also place a limit on how much data you are able to carry over. For example, if you travel abroad and use no data that month, typically you will not be allowed to carry over all of your unused data from the previous month.
How much data can you roll over?Each plan and provider has different data rollover limits. However, the limit usually ranges from 200GB to 500GB of rollover data per month.
Which Providers Offer Data Rollover In India?
While data rollover appears to be a universally desirable feature, it is not available from all major carriers. Data rollover is available from the companies listed below in some way or another.
- Here’s a list of the main companies that offer rollover data in India:
- Airtel
- Vodafone
- Jio
Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel (Airtel), India’s leading telecommunications service company, recently launched a “Data Rollover” option for its clients. All leftover monthly data would be carried over and added to the following billing cycle’s data benefit, improving the business model for consumers even more.
Airtel’s data rollover service is available to its prepaid, postpaid customers, as well as Airtel broadband customers.
Signing up for an Airtel data rollover plan means you must abide by the following terms and conditions:
- The rollover data offer only applies to the basic plan data allowance. Unused data from smart bytes, pre-on-post data packs, daily data packages, and other data packs will not be reimbursed.
- The Airtel data rollover offer can’t be utilized in combination with any other Airtel promotions.
- Airtel data rollover amounts are not transferable. You cannot exchange or redeem your rollover data for an equivalent monetary amount or another form.
- The collected data is only valid as long as the user stays on the current plan.
- The airtel rollover deal is only valid if all of your bills are paid on time. Even if the outstanding sum is paid, the collected data will not be restored to the user once it has been lost.
- Business or enterprise plans are not eligible for this offer data rollover from Airtel.
- Airtel has the right to postpone, terminate, alter, or discontinue the offer or any feature of it at any moment, with or without notification, for just any reason, involving, but just not restricted to, acts of God, unforeseen circumstances, technical problems, or just about any reason beyond Airtel’s immediate control. All parts of the offer will be invalid if Airtel terminates or cancels it.
- Airtel shall not be responsible to reimburse any subscriber for any postponement or termination as a result of this offer, whether directly or indirectly.
Vodafone Idea
Vi (Vodafone Idea) has implemented a Vodafone weekend data rollover mechanism for its users, allowing them to transfer over any unused data from the previous day to the weekend.
What is weekend data rollover?Weekend data rollover is similar to month-by-moth rollover data except it works on a weekly basis. Your data from the week rolls over to the weekend.
Previously, any unused data on a daily basis was squandered, but with the new Vi weekend data rollover system, users will be able to utilize all or a portion of the data that their plan covers on the weekend.
With Vi data rollover, any unused data from Monday 0000 to Friday 2400 hours will be added up and made accessible between Saturday 0000 and Sunday 2400 hours.
After 2400 hours on Sunday, any unused data will be lost.
Vi has been the only operator that presently provides such perks to its prepaid customers. Even when the rollover is only good for one week, it helps consumers get more worth out of their subscriptions.
To take advantage of Vi data rollover on your Vi prepaid lines, you must first recharge for at least Rs 249. The standard Rs 249 plan includes 1.5GB of data each day, and any unused daily data will be added to the extra 1.5GB of data every day throughout the course of the week.
Many of these plans, like the Vi hero unlimited plan, provide perks like Vi weekend data rollover, nighttime unlimited data, 2GB of backup data if you run out, unlimited calls and also free SMS.
However, cheaper plans such as the Rs 405 plan, do not provide data rollover due to its fixed 90GB data allocation.
If you decide not to opt for Vi weekend data rollover, you can find cheaper plans that include a binge all night offer. Adding Vi binge all night to your phone plan gets you unlimited data at night so you can binge your favourite series, surf the web, video call with friends, etc.
Reliance JIO
Reliance Jio is another phone provider that’s offering data rollover for customer.
They’ve recently introduced 5 new Jio postpaid data rollover phone plans which offer up to 500 GB of data/month. However, it’s only available through their postpaid (monthly subscription) plans.
The Jio data rollover plan is only available with Reliance’s new Postpaid Plus package, not with its previous prepaid plans.
These plans range from Rs 399 to Rs 1,499 each month and offer several perks like free OTT subscriptions, unlimited calls, international roaming, and more. As part of the package, you’ll also receive data rollover up to 500 GB.
Unused data is rolled over or moved forward to the following cycle when you utilize data rollover.
Therefore, if you have a data allocation of 2 GB for a particular billing period and only use around 1 GB of data throughout that period, the remaining 1 GB of data will be rolled over to your following month’s data allowance. With the rollover data, you’d get a total of 3 GB instead of the normal 2 GB.
The data rollover feature is not available on all plans offered by ISPs. So, make sure you choose the right plan if you want your data rolled over.
Should I Get Data Rollover?
Data rollover is a nice feature to have in case of an emergency or months where your data usage changes. However, it may not make sense to pay extra for a plan with data rollover unless you know you will use this feature.
Although data rollover is a nice option to have on your phone plan, it is only actually helpful for you if your data consumption patterns vary from month to month.
For instance, suppose you’ve spent a significant amount of time at home without using your phone’s cellular internet and then chose to go on a week-long camping vacation. If your cell plan includes data banking, you may have accumulated some additional data to use while camping, reducing the chance of exceeding your usual monthly data limit.
If you get near to or use up your monthly data allowance, data banking may not be as helpful for you because you won’t have much to roll off to the next month. Please remember that certain suppliers’ data banks include terms and conditions.