Q & A on Indian Mobile Telecom Operators & Plans

 Question 1:Why do the Indian telecom operators offer their services with 28 days validity, not 30 days? 

Answer 1: In one year 365 days. So 365/28=13.04 Recharges needed instead of 12 recharges.

The 28 days is not actually calendar days or real 24 hrs from the day date time of recharge till next day like hotel checkout, but till 23:59:59 hrs of same day is counted as one day so in reality it is only 27 days.

Only if one recharges @ 00:00 (Midnight) hrs of a day then it is 28 days, but who can do this regularly. In BSNL MTNL if one Recharges on Monday @ 0600 hrs then one calendar day ends on Tuesday 23:59:59 hrs. In Airtel Vodafone Idea(AVOID) it ends on Monday 23:59:59 hrs in Jio Tuesday 0600 hrs.

But AVOID allows users to C/F old unused data & T.V balance if recharged with new Combo on the last day of pack expiry. But in BSNL MTNL Data Expires on the last day with no C/F benefits but T.V balance stays in SIM. 

BSNL/MTNL Give 30 calendar days validity of Top Up, Data, STV so in reality it is 31 days.

To bring AVOID to ethics,like BSNL/MTNL, I recharge for Rs 35 Combo pack use data voice for 28 days get Incoming(IC) free for 7 days & on 8th day @ 00:00 hrs put ₹ 49 Combo Pack to restore O/G When no O/G, I use landline free calls. But even with I/C Voice Blocked I/C SMS & OTP's will come. I personally checked this.

So in AVOID, pack expiry + 7 clear days minimum margin then recharge is the best for fringe marginal users. This is adjusted gross days in Telecom Parlance like Adjusted Gross Revenues.

Updated:-20–03–2019 in Vodafone Delhi NCR.

If one had say ₹ 10 in SIM & put ₹ 35 Combo pack on 1st of Month 00:05 hrs (Say March) then ₹ 36(10+26) T.V & 100mb data was credited in sim. O/G Validity of voice data sms ended on 28th.

If on 16/03 one used only 50mb data & activated a 450mb data plan via USSD *444*27# from main balance then existing data of 50mb + 450mb were added & data validity only was extended by 28 days till 12/04 with OGS validity expiring on 28/03 & IC till 12/04 so that on 12/04 if one put another combo pack of Rs 35 one can C/F the old data T.V with new all added together with full service restored.

Like this people like me were utilising data without allowing it to lapse plus taking benefits of full 31 days or more recharge cycle !

On 20/03/2019 with the above reference, my experience was 238mb old data with OG Service Validity was expiring on 31/03/2019. At 0015 hrs of 20/03 I did the USSD of ₹ 27/450mb data from ₹ 39 main balance.

After this ₹ 12 main balance with OG Service Validity till 16/04/2019.238mb old Data Expires on 31/03/2019 & 450mb data kicks in from 01/04 till 16/04. My Vodafone app shows two concurrent data plans working one after another one expiring on 31/03 & another on 16/04.

But from 20/03 my daily data use is being reduced from new 450mb pack & not the old 238mb pack.

So Now in order to adjust telecom days to full 31 calendar days in a month one has to either finish data by the 28th day or recharge on 28th day with a combo pack to C/F old data added to fresh data ! So one is recharging every 27 days or losing C/F benefits !

The above Validity extension shows that one can restore OG service validity even by recharging with a ₹ 27/33 pure data pack from SIM Balance after adjusting 4 days from OGS Ends.

Example 2-In another Vodafone SIM whose IC stopped on 11/03 which had Rs 7.03 in Main Balance & 556mb Data Expiring on 23/03/2019 upon putting a Rs 35 Combo Pack on 20/03/2019 all was added and Full Service restored till 16/04/2019.

The above is to force people to opt for Unlimited ₹ 399/84 Days Combo Voice+ Data Packs or Quarterly ₹ 245 Combo packs. Such petty hassles are only for low end fringe marginal users like myself !

So no option left other than Combo pack of Rs 35 on 27 Days basis is the minimum required to have full service and C/F the benefits.

Updated:-06-Jan-2020.

W.e.f 03–12–2019 Monthly Minimum Recharge is ₹ 49/28 days in Airtel Vodafone Idea with ₹ 38 T.V+

So those who use only data can use ₹ 48/3 Gb/28 days pack to keep outgoing service validity (OGSV) plus use ₹ 50/100 pure voice top up which gives ₹ 39.45/81.75 Talk Value (Calls@2.50 ps/sec) as main balance with no expiry date.

On the last day of expiry of data pack again recharge with a fresh pack of ₹ 48 to C/Fwd old data added to new data & increase OGSV by 28 days.

Data & OGSV can be C/Fwd even by Recharging with a ₹ 49/28 days as above but ₹ 38 T.V 'll not be credited as main balance & 'll expire on the 28th day if not consumed. Once it is consumed & you have main balance also then talk time 'll reduce from main balance other wise put ₹ 50/100 pure voice top up.

Question:2 Why are Reliance Jio users not allowed to send SMS from the main balance without any other recharge plan?

Answer Since 2016 when Jio came, that is how it's plans have been designed to recover network investment costs & get upfront revenue from users, irrespective of their usage.

Without a basic minimum combo base plan of ₹ 49/14 days or ₹ 75/28 days on Jio Phone 1 & ₹ 149/24 days on a Touch Smartphone as on 04–06–2020, one cannot use, pure voice, SMS, top up, data recharge value of ₹ 10–100 for making calls sending SMS use data.

These 'll work only OTT with a combo base plan for sending International SMS,ISD calls or data pack activation, if one finishes their data Quota before midnight.

That is why Vodafone Idea & Airtel score better. Today my Vodafone 2G SIM 'd ₹ 31 main balance with OGSV ended on 18/05/2020.

As my SRCTZN father 'd to go out, instead of carrying & risking his touch primary Smartphone,outside, I restored my Vodafone 2G Feature Phone OGSV via ₹ 24 plan voucher for 14 days & asked him to carry it.

On the Go a Feature Phone is much easier to use handle than a touch Smartphone both for middle aged & SRCTZN's. The main purpose of staying connected with family via calls & SMS is achieved.

In Airtel Vodafone Idea monthly(28 days) minimum recharge to have OGSV is ₹ 48 via pure data pack or data talk value combo pack of ₹ 49. That is why fringe non serious mobile users like me are still using Airtel Vodafone Idea.

OGSV means Outgoing service validity.