Discussion What was your recharge pre 2016?

[iDJ]

This is a hot topic discussed among my friends because of recent hike in mobile recharges. I am curious to know what was your recharge. My provider was Vodafone. I use to recharge ₹14 for 200 mb data a week. Than recharged Top Up of ₹10 everyday and got the night unlimited 2G pack worth ₹8 every night to download content and watch next day. For calling ₹10 was enough for month. Preferred texting on WhatsApp, Kik and Hike anyway over calling. Spent basically ₹400 - ₹500 a month. Before that recharged ₹149 for unlimited 2G data, Yes, that was a thing on with 2 GB FUP on Vodafone. After that speed was reduced where only Opera and UC Browser worked. Spent around ₹20 for calling.

 

[Naimish555]

When i had Airtel Sim Card during 2014 Era..

Airtel was gives me every month special offers regards my Nokia phone...

₹44 - 500 MB 2G Data..

Task -
Download 128 Kbps MP3 Latest Bollywood Songs, Surfing Google little bit,
Cricket Score for m.cricbuzz.com
Facebook mobile..

How many of remember "UC Browser"
(Downloading with this browser was like tracer bullet)

It was feels like nostalgia..

 

[Ashok Varma]

I have ported to BSNL in around 2012-13 due to Airtel's super premium 3G data rates, recharges every month with Rs.252/- for 2GB 3g data and Rs.110/- topup talk time balance.

 

[Ashish_91]

Didn't remember plan but it's for call n sms purpose only as at home i had airtel broadband so used net from wifi till 2016

 

[maniotf]

NOSTALGIA TRIGGERED

Values may be slightly incorrect. But these were family/relatives recharge patterns:

• Airtel - 333 Full talk time (FTT). This was Lifetime validity SIM
• BSNL - 333 FTT. Network was good till 2012 only
• Vodafone - 349 postpaid - 1 GB Data (3G/2G)
• Vodafone - 111 FTT
• MTS, Reliance CDMA (RCOM), TATA INDICOM were in different league. MTS was cheaper.

• Student offers in KA circle: (Extra charges for data packs, STVs, Roaming etc.)
• Airtel - ₹100 SIM - 50p/min A2A, ₹1/min A2O + 100 SMS/day
• Vodafone - ₹150 SIM - 30p/min V2V, 60p/min V2O + 150 SMS/day
• AIRCEL, TATA DOCOMO, Virgin Mobile, T24, Reliance GSM had more or less similar rates (TD was charging paise/second pulse)
• Uninor was known for 20p/min based on Cell tower location/ off-peak hour discounts

Such 'segmented' offers were too good to be true, and they was real. There were quite a few comments doing the rounds in few telecom forums, saying, "Aise offers baaki states mein kyu nahi hai? Telecom operators ka sasural Karnataka mein hai kya?"
(Translation: Why no such offers in other states? Whether telcos' in-laws were residing in Karnataka? ) Thanks for the refresher. Good old days!

 

[kanagadeepan]

I got Jio SIM from 2014 end itself. Before that, I was using Airtel Corporate Postpaid connections, with all numbers except me n family members using "RainMaker 199 Plan". It has CUG calls FREE, 300 SMS FREE, 800 minutes Local calls FREE. My family members are using Rs349 CUG plan, which is again same like the prev plan, but with 1GB of 3G data additional. They have UL WiFi in Home, ADSL 8Mbps plan for around Rs2000 per month, so 1GB was enough to use outside home.

I was personally using "Solitaire 1599" Plan, where 10,000 minutes of all calls (CUG/Local/STD/Roaming) FREE, 3000 SMS FREE (Roaming SMS chargeable - Stupid + Greedy Airtel), 8GB of 3G data FREE, all for Rs1599 + 18% STax. This was the only plan with FREE roaming calls in Airtel at that time.

The secondary number, I used was BSNL Prepaid, frankly I don't remember the plan. It was some 365 days valid plan, calls / SMS charged from TT Bal, (which I used to maintain high, for ISD purposes) and do only FULL TalkTime recharges for top ups.

So, yes JIO has done a revolution in Telecom for sure. Earlier I used to spend Rs2500+ per month, for my personal numbers alone. Now I am spending Rs2500+ per month, for all mine + family + staff numbers as a whole.

The Problem now, is rich people are getting more benefits than earlier and paying much less even now. Poor people are denied basic services for cheap Now. Middle class people are totally crushed. Earlier Poor people can maintain their number for at the max Rs150 (Min being Rs99 for incoming).

 

[Zuke]

I was using BSNL 3G at that time with Rs. 561 plan. I don't remember the validity, but I suppose it was for 3 months, though I had to recharge it twice every three months.

I got it after waiting for a long time when they finally made it available for my Samsung phone (shortly they made it available for everyone). The speed was quite sad (80-120 kB/sec), but at least I didn't have to care about data usage, so I was really happy.

At the time of Jio's launch, only BSNL had 3G in my city. Airtel and Idea started their 3G/4G after a year or so - but got usable signal only in 2020-21 in my area.