BSNL on Thursday announced a new monthly pack for its users. This packs gives users 56 GB of bundled data, along with "unlimited calls" at Rs 339. Come to think of, this is an offer better than what Airtel, Jio and Vodafone are offering to their consumers. While the offer seems amazing, and it might as well be for some users, it still comes with its own set of 'ifs and buts' that you should know.
In fact it has 2 big problems. And we are going to detail both of them. The first problem has to do with the "unlimited". The second is more of a fundamental problem with BSNL.
Most other telecom operators have announced unlimited packs in the past weeks that are priced below Rs 350 and give you up to 1GB of data every day. There is the Jio offer for Rs 303 that also gets you unlimited calls and messages, and so does the Idea, Vodafone and Airtel offers at Rs 345, Rs 346 and Rs 349 respectively. Users also get free incoming and outgoing in all domestic networks.
The call problem
But BSNL's offer is different. BSNL's Rs 339 offer gets you unlimited calls as well, but only when you call at another BSNL number. Assuming all of your friends and relatives use the state-run BSNL service, there are still a lot of colleagues, long-distance acquaintances, friends of your children and your irritating neighbour that you might need to call sometimes who are on other network.
Not to mention ordering food, cab hailing, Dry-cleaning updates and long service centre/customer care calls that you might need to make. BSNL wants you to pay for them separately. Actually, BSNL will offer 25 minutes of call time everyday for free when you make calls to some other network. But after the 25 minutes are up, the charges are steep. Users will then be charged 25 paisa per minute.
The network problem
The other issue is more to do with BSNL and not really with this specific plan. The BSNL network (all your friends and relatives would know) is not best known for wireless internet. It may run just fine in Delhi NCR or Chandigarh, but that is not the case in other parts of India. In many cases, only 2G works or even the 3G works at a poor speed.
Unlike other telecom companies the BSNL offer only gives 3G network and not 4G. But even 3G on BSNL network doesn't have a great reputation. So, if your connection would run on 2G most of the time, how in this godawful mode would you be able to finish up that 56GBs or even 28GB for that matter.
So it might be a nice offer, nothing like what others are offering. But the conditions (of both the offer and the network) may probably never allow you to utilize it to its full potential. You may rather decide living with your Rs 109 or Rs 155 pack or whatever pack you right now deem fit and save you some money.
Having said that, the offer does bring to table some new things that other telecom operators can learn from. Like, you can buy the pack for Rs 339 without any special membership, as required in your Jio connection, to avail 2GB data and unlimited calls to BSNL network.
More importantly, it's an official announcement that doesn't leave users clueless. All BSNL consumers -- and not just few privileged ones who get the message or notification of the same or use postpaid with particular monthly bill amount -- can subscribe to the offer. On the other hand with Airtel and Vodafone offers not all consumers are treated equally.
In fact it has 2 big problems. And we are going to detail both of them. The first problem has to do with the "unlimited". The second is more of a fundamental problem with BSNL.
Most other telecom operators have announced unlimited packs in the past weeks that are priced below Rs 350 and give you up to 1GB of data every day. There is the Jio offer for Rs 303 that also gets you unlimited calls and messages, and so does the Idea, Vodafone and Airtel offers at Rs 345, Rs 346 and Rs 349 respectively. Users also get free incoming and outgoing in all domestic networks.
The call problem
But BSNL's offer is different. BSNL's Rs 339 offer gets you unlimited calls as well, but only when you call at another BSNL number. Assuming all of your friends and relatives use the state-run BSNL service, there are still a lot of colleagues, long-distance acquaintances, friends of your children and your irritating neighbour that you might need to call sometimes who are on other network.
Not to mention ordering food, cab hailing, Dry-cleaning updates and long service centre/customer care calls that you might need to make. BSNL wants you to pay for them separately. Actually, BSNL will offer 25 minutes of call time everyday for free when you make calls to some other network. But after the 25 minutes are up, the charges are steep. Users will then be charged 25 paisa per minute.
The network problem
The other issue is more to do with BSNL and not really with this specific plan. The BSNL network (all your friends and relatives would know) is not best known for wireless internet. It may run just fine in Delhi NCR or Chandigarh, but that is not the case in other parts of India. In many cases, only 2G works or even the 3G works at a poor speed.
Unlike other telecom companies the BSNL offer only gives 3G network and not 4G. But even 3G on BSNL network doesn't have a great reputation. So, if your connection would run on 2G most of the time, how in this godawful mode would you be able to finish up that 56GBs or even 28GB for that matter.
So it might be a nice offer, nothing like what others are offering. But the conditions (of both the offer and the network) may probably never allow you to utilize it to its full potential. You may rather decide living with your Rs 109 or Rs 155 pack or whatever pack you right now deem fit and save you some money.
Having said that, the offer does bring to table some new things that other telecom operators can learn from. Like, you can buy the pack for Rs 339 without any special membership, as required in your Jio connection, to avail 2GB data and unlimited calls to BSNL network.
More importantly, it's an official announcement that doesn't leave users clueless. All BSNL consumers -- and not just few privileged ones who get the message or notification of the same or use postpaid with particular monthly bill amount -- can subscribe to the offer. On the other hand with Airtel and Vodafone offers not all consumers are treated equally.
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