Tuesday 14 March 2017

Airtel's gift of 30GB: Here is a trick to get free data if you haven't been offered it

Airtel on Monday came out with a gift for its post-paid users. Part of the company's promised "surprise offer", this "gift" from Airtel gives post-paid users up to 30GB free 4G data for three months. This means the lucky post-paid users will 30GB data, which they can use for 3 months. Of this data, 10GB will be available to users each month.

Given that it is for three months only, it is clear to see that the Airtel "gift" is the company's attempt to keep its post-paid users from switching to Jio and its Prime subscription, which gives users 28GB data per month at a tariff of Rs 303. The Jio Prime, for now is only available until March 31, and it seems that for now Airtel hopes to keep its post-paid users happy with free data.

But as it happens with Airtel, its offers and plans continue to be (still) confusing. The 30GB data is actually "up to 30GB". This means not all post-paid Airtel users will get the full 30GB dole. Some will get less, depending on (probably) what plan they have and how much they use Airtel data. At the same time, there are also reports that some Airtel post-paid users aren't even getting this offer on their My Airtel app.

In case you are fall into the category of users, who haven't got Airtel's "up to 30GB" post-paid offer, here is what you need to do (India Today Tech has confirmed with Airtel that this trick works).

-- First of all, you need to have the My Airtel app installed on your phone. It should also have details of your current post-paid plan.

-- Check the app whether you have got the surprise offer or not.

-- If you have got it, just go ahead and claim the free data.

-- If you haven't got it, open your messaging app and send a message "surprise" (without quotes) to 121.

-- You will soon get the offer in My Airtel app. Go ahead and then subscribe to it.

-- It is important to note that this "surprise offer", according to Airtel, is available to ALL individual post-paid users. It's only the amount of data that is offered is different.

No confusion, please
Although, it is a nice gesture from Airtel, it is still disheartening to see that the company continues to use smoke and mirror tactics for whatever it offers to its consumers. Ideally, whatever the surprise offers, they should be offered to all users in similar way. There should be no system of "up to" which creates confusion regarding the available data and there should be a way to ensure that users get it irrespective of whether they send the message to 121 or not.

Unfortunately, transparency with consumers is not exactly a strong point of the Indian telecom players. They usually thrive on keeping things opaque. They offer different data plans to different consumers, treat some consumers differently while provide some other consumers special offers. Most of the special packs etc aren't even acknowledged and noticed on the official websites of these companies. But let's hope that now with the competition intensifying, especially after the announcement of Jio Prime, there will be more user-friendly policies and plans from telecom companies.
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