The Ridiculous Airtel Broadband Plans

[Sushubh]

i try to keep a buffer for the last day. and with few hours remaining, i just turn on the torrent on a large torrent to finish up the remaining bandwidth in time. it is pretty clear that airtel reports wrong consumption. and there is no point in arguing about it. i am dealing with it the best i can. have no desire to pay for smartbytes. i prefer to pay for the largest sensible plan and stick with that. i am tempted to switch to the 8mbps 175GB plan because taking this plan is cheaper than buying 25GB of bandwidth through smartbytes. but then, i can live with 150GB with some budget days in fact, till a couple of months ago, i was using just around 60-70GB per month. i had no desire to go anywhere near the limits. but the launch of smartbytes told me i ought to squeeze the last bytes out of the bandwidth i was already paying for.

 

[balajik]

Airtel always shows more than what we actually consume. But, it's marginal at most times. But, 5GB is a relatively big chunk. This incident happened when only 2 days were left in the billing cycle. Luckily, I had a few gigs left. I don't usually finish up my high speed quota till the evening of the last day in the billing cycle.I got a spreadsheet again and it only has Rapid plus 10 (Rs. 1500), Rapid plus 30 (Rs.1800), Rapid plus 75(Rs. 2150) and Rapid plus 150(Rs.2550) plans. There is no mention of Rapid 175. The corresponding 4 mbps plans costs Rs. 1200, Rs. 1500, Rs. 1800 and Rs. 2250 respectively. There seems to be 2 type of plans with similar details. One is called FCV which I gather is free call value and the other is called COB. Any idea what COB stands for?So, I'm on Turbo 150 which now costs me Rs. 2250 and the Rapid 150 costs Rs. 2550. I am not sure I want to pay Rs. 300 more for the same 150GB but Rapid plan seem to have a FCV of Rs. 500. I think I'll switch only if I'm offered Rapid 175 in Chennai.

 

[Sushubh]

how old is that spreadsheet? i believe these new plans were just recently decided. though you do have most of them in your copy.

 

[balajik]

The spreadsheet was sent to me yesterday and again today.

uberjon from Chennai mentioned in the https://broadband.forum/airtel-broadband/80968-anyone-here-8-16mbps-faster/ thread that he's also on Rapid 150.

@intractive: If you only got switched to Rapid 175 today, can you go to http://www.airtel.in/smartbyte-s/page.html and see what your high speed date limit is and let us know. Did you get any email after the plan switch? Any full plan details?

 

[Sushubh]

i thought plan change on airtel only happened at the next billing cycle? and you have to apply for a change around 3-5 days before the start of the new billing cycle? that's what i had to go through. i applied for a plan change just 2 days before my cycle was due. and airtel forced me to wait a complete month to get the plan change.

 

[intractve]

So, I'm on Turbo 150 which now costs me Rs. 2250 and the Rapid 150 costs Rs. 2550. I am not sure I want to pay Rs. 300 more for the same 150GB but Rapid plan seem to have a FCV of Rs. 500. I think I'll switch only if I'm offered Rapid 175 in Chennai.

Turbo 150 is only Rs.2099 in Chennai, this is what I am on. I think you are on some older plan. Rapid 175 is offered. I just signed up. You have to ask for it. If the CS rep doesn't know hang up and try again. That's what I did.
They will not reveal this plan because (like chromaniac said) it's cheaper than buying smartbytes.

 

[intractve]

i thought plan change on airtel only happened at the next billing cycle?

and you have to apply for a change around 3-5 days before the start of the new billing cycle?

that's what i had to go through. i applied for a plan change just 2 days before my cycle was due. and airtel forced me to wait a complete month to get the plan change.

They offer immediate changes now, 7 days max. And they pro-rata everything.

The spreadsheet was sent to me yesterday and again today.

uberjon from Chennai mentioned in the https://broadband.forum/airtel-broadband/80968-anyone-here-8-16mbps-faster/ thread that he's also on Rapid 150.

@intractive: If you only got switched to Rapid 175 today, can you go to airtel and see what your high speed date limit is and let us know. Did you get any email after the plan switch? Any full plan details?

My plan isn't in effect yet. I signed up today and I got a reference number for signing up. I will post that once everything is set up, Also you are paying too much for Turbo 150 (if you are in chennai) I'm paying 2099

 

[kattuviriyan]

You can change plan anytime. They charge you based on pro rata basis. I have done it several times.

 

[Sushubh]

that was how it used to be. they changed that policy a while ago. and they now require you to wait till the next billing cycle. at least around here.

 

[balajik]

Yes. That's what was told to me when I switched to Turbo 150 last year.