
India loves smartphones. This is evident from the fact that there were around 468 million smartphone users in the country in 2017 and this is expected to surge to almost 860 million by 2022, according to a joint study by ASSOCHAM and PwC. Moreover, data consumption in India is expected to skyrocket from 3.5GB per person per month in 2017 to 17.5GB in 2022. With the growing number of smartphone users and the need for data, a plethora of options are available for prepaid and postpaid new connections.With so many options, it’s quite natural to be confused about which one to choose and which of these will give you the best value for money. So, here’s what you should know before making the choice.
Things to Consider Before Taking a New Postpaid Connection
Before you take a new postpaid connection, here are a few things to keep in mind.
Usage
Does your work or social life require you to be on calls for most part of the day? Do you use a lot of data for coordinating with colleagues or for entertainment while on the go? If so, a postpaid connection is the way to go, as these plans are typically more affordable for high usage.Many new postpaid connections offer free calls and bundle data plans.
Ease of Use
A postpaid plan does not require you to continuously monitor your usage and keep recharging your phone when the balance runs out. Imagine being out on a business trip when suddenly you lose connection to the internet because your balance has run out. This will never happen with a postpaid option. Even if your date of bill payment has crossed, most service providers will offer you buffer time.You can be worry free and continue with your calls and browsing without any interruptions.
Automated Bill Payment
If you are a super busy person who doesn’t want to bother with going online to recharge the connection every month or every few months, it’s best to opt for postpaid. This also gives you the flexibility to automate your phone bill payments.
Additional Benefits
There may be a number of additional benefits with a new postpaid connection, making it even more attractive. These could be unlimited data and calls, premium access to music apps and so on. For instance, Airtel’s postpaid plans offer data rollover, which allows you to carry forwardunused data to the next billing cycle and accumulate up to 200GB of data. You also get freesubscription toWynkMusicand gain access to almost 3 million songs. Moreover, you get to enjoy Live TV, which has a wide selection of popular shows and movies. If that wasn’t enough, these new postpaid connections come with Airtel Secure, which is a protection plan for yoursmartphone against physical damage and malware.
Roaming Feature
Many new postpaid connections allow you the roaming feature. This means you can travel to anywhere in the country and still be connected. You don’t need to inform your service provider that you will be traveling or where you intend to go. Your phone’s GPS will track where you are and the roaming facility will be triggered. It is, however, a great idea to have clarity on roaming charges. If you travel extensively, it’s best to choose a plan that has negligible or no additional roaming charges.
International Calls
Do you need to make a lot of calls to clients abroad? Or maybe you have a close family member living in another country whom you’d like to talk to regularly. A postpaid connection lets you make international calls and you do not need to buy specific plans, which may be inconvenient and costly.
Detailed Billing
Postpaid bills come with details of all the calls you made and how much data was used. This way you can keep track of your usage.
Impact on Your Cash Flow
With prepaid plans, you will need to make the payment in advance. With postpaid, you pay only after you use the service.
Of course, there are several benefits of prepaid plans as well. For instance, you can change your plan very frequently. This may be helpful if your usage varies a lot between months. Moreover, since you’re making the payment in advance, there are no surprises in the billing. If you have limited usage, you can find some really low-cost packs.
Needless to mention that a new postpaid connection may offer you many more benefits than a prepaid plan. You can choose from various options available. Airtel has the bestselling postpaid plans starting from Rs 499, which includes three months of free Netflix connection, one year of free Amazon Prime connection, unlimited local and STD calls with roaming, a pack of100 SMSs and internet connections with data rollover feature.