A-VO-ID: Do a minimum RC of Rs.35 per 28days or No outgoing calls (Even with Main Balance!)

[nRiTeCh]

Sorry for bumping this thread, but Airtel has increased the minimum recharge to 155 from 99 for a couple of circles, rest of India to follow soon. Expect Jio and Voda to copy them as well.

Bad news if you keep more than 1 SIM active.
Good news if you're an investor in any of these 3 companies.

Airtel raises price of minimum monthly recharge plan by 57% to Rs 155 in 2 circles, pan-India roll-out expected

The company has stopped its minimum recharge plan of Rs 99, under which it offered 200 megabyte of data and calls at the rate of Rs 2.5 paise per second.

www.moneycontrol.com

Just now recharged my timepass standby airtel prepaid for 99 (Mumbai circle) Recharged after a good 102 days.

 

[Mr.J]

Also Jiofiber. Once it started, other companies started giving more speed for the same price. On the otherhand I can’t say that ‘unlimited’ 3300gb limit came bcz of jio or something else.

That happened before as well. Anyone who's had internet connection for 10 years or more can verify that.
I went from 128kbps to 8mbps in span of 5 years. Before Jio was even born.

 

[PradUp]

I'd have been at peace with 50rs recharge every 3 months for just talktime with "unlimited validity" instead now i have to recharge like a monthly subscription just to keep my SIM alive and i have to pay for data i don't need.

I wish these companies would make a cheap 400-500rs plan with validity for an year just for calls with 0 data. Don't get me wrong, i get that data has gone cheaper but why can't the same happen for calls and validity. Nowadays many households have unlimited wifi making these data packs useless.

That is a valid point, but for general use case current plans are pretty good but I would also prefer a monthly data limit instead of daily data limit.

As tier-1 and tier-2 cities were getting saturated, telecos were expanding in tier-3 town and beyond for revenue. It was may not have been fast but it was much better than what we have on our place. What Jio has done is to obliterate the market and left us with no options.

How did jio obliterate market, by offering much better plans than their competitors?

Now even if mobile data goes back to being hell (and it most certainly will as Jio's infrastructure starts aging) we will have no options to switch to or bargain with.

Any source on jio's aging infra? They did buy a lot of spectrum in the recent 5g auction, plus they also have pan India 700mhz spectrum too so I do hope they deliver for everybody's sake.

What we're getting even now? Prices were coming down even without Jio. If you don't believe me then you can google yourself and compare prices from 2017 to prices from 2010-2012.

No they did not, not until after Jio's launch. The second link is from nov 2017, those plans were launched after jio's launch in mid 2017. Here are airtel's postpaid plans at the end of 2016, just before jio's launch: https://indianexpress.com/article/t...th-unlimited-calling-start-at-rs-549-4438180/

So, for 549rs here's what you got:
Aug,2012: 2GB data and 549min calling
Dec,2016: 1GB data and unlimited calling
Nov,2017(after jio launch): 20GB data and unlimited calling

I'm sure you have your reasons to dislike jio, but the numbers are before you, just imagine for a second going back to 1GB of data per month for that much money.

 

[Kaleen Bhaiya]

Probably get a 2gb data per month instead of per day for 250-300rs.

Slowly but surely, we are reaching there if economic prudence is given a thought. Lot's of money has been invested and the required returns warrant that this price rise will gradually reach there. Petrol, diesel, ATF, LPG have reached there, why not data rates.
Nobody's questioning the role played by Jio is ensuring access to mobile data to the masses. It's the modus operandi and hand in glove treatment given out by the govt has raised more questions than answers on the viability of such tactics.

If access was the goal then why preference to a single entity. Let there be competition and users decide what's best for them.

 

[rockstah]

That is a valid point, but for general use case current plans are pretty good but I would also prefer a monthly data limit instead of daily data limit.

There's some plans like that, in Airtel there's 455rs plan with unlimited calls, 6gb data for 84 days validity. In today's market I'd be happy if they stop increasing prices at will

 

[Mr.J]

How did jio obliterate market, by offering much better plans than their competitors?

I have linked what's predatory pricing is in my most. Shouldn't be too hard to understand how selling service for loss would kill the competition.

Any source on jio's aging infra? They did buy a lot of spectrum in the recent 5g auction, plus they also have pan India 700mhz spectrum too so I do hope they deliver for everybody's sake.

Source for what? All hardware ages and needs maintenance. Airtel and Vodafone (and other defunct operators) have been around since 2G era or before. They needed to maintain, replace, and upgrade the hardware as time went on. Same thing will happen to Jio.

No they did not, not until after Jio's launch. The second link is from nov 2017, those plans were launched after jio's launch in mid 2017. Here are airtel's postpaid plans at the end of 2016, just before jio's launch: https://indianexpress.com/article/t...th-unlimited-calling-start-at-rs-549-4438180/

So, for 549rs here's what you got:
Aug,2012: 2GB data and 549min calling
Dec,2016: 1GB data and unlimited calling
Nov,2017(after jio launch): 20GB data and unlimited calling

I'm sure you have your reasons to dislike jio, but the numbers are before you, just imagine for a second going back to 1GB of data per month for that much money.

Did you miss out on reduction in calling rate as well?

And here's what Jio's entry did to Airtel: https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...d-4q-profit-falls-78/articleshow/63898251.cms
Similarly other operators facing losses and closed shop. This is what I mean market was obliterated. Jio was allowed to give service free of cost, for six months (right in the middle of demonetization if you don't remember) and that dried up revenue for other operators.

Jio isn't a charity business, now that market is in their grip, they'll raise prices. Along with Airtel and Vodafone. At least before it was possible to initiate number porting process and bargain with telcos for lower priced plans. I have bargained that way earlier. Now they're not even bothering to do that. Where will you go anyway?

 

[PradUp]

Where will you go anyway?

Nowhere, I'm happy with jio and I will continue to use it. I hope you also find an operator that fulfills your need.

 

[sauravghosh]

Predatory pricing: positive. Capturing the market with the monopolistic intention: positive. But Jio literally changed internet in India overnight. They start offering free 4G service (something which I personally didn't utilise for even a single month, but should have and save a lot), and within weeks all ISPs can upgrade their measly 2 Mbps plans to 40/50 mbps, for the exact same price. So what have they been doing since before Jio came? Huh? For a decade (2000-2010) we paid 1000/month for 256-512 kbps, then for the next decade (till Jio revolution in 2016) we paid 1000 for 2 Mbps, with FUP. Then comes Jio, bam, 50 Mbps. So before Jio, 64 kbps to 2/4 Mbps in 20 years; after Jio, 50 Mbps in mere weeks. Yeah...

Never used mobile data much, so no comments. But we all remember 250 rs for 1 GB monthly data

Just to be clear, the name Ambani or Adani disgusts me, in case someone starts assuming stuffs.