“My prepaid mobile connection bill is rising and rising”, complained my colleague, Iti, at the lunch table. “Why don’t you switch to postpaid connection, I use prepaid connection and it is value for money”, replied Raj, another colleague and we had a discussion on . This article is a result of the discussion and research and answers questions on what is prepaid connection, what is postpaid connection, Which is popular – prepaid or postpaid, Comparison of Prepaid vs Postpaid Mobile connection, When does having prepaid mobile connection makes sense, When does postpaid mobile connection makes sense, How to reduce your expenditure on prepaid plans, how to Switch from prepaid to postpaid or post paid to prepaid.

What is prepaid mobile connection?

A prepaid mobile connection is one for which you first pay ie prepay for the mobile services (calling, texting, browsing) and then use till the amount you paid for is exhausted. Once you exhaust your limit then you cannot use the mobile services further. You then need to prepay again.

You can buy only the talk time or host of other services involving internet pack, minutes, SMS, calls. Example of  prepaid connection from Airtel:

• Buying an Airtel Rs 200 full talktime will allow you to make calls for Rs 200 , all your money goes into getting talking minutes.
• Buying an Airtel  3G Data Benefits for Rs 9 validity 1 days will allow you data browing upto 25MB for 1 day.
• Buying an Airtel Rs 396 plan will give you 500 minutes of talking time, 1000 SMS Airto Airtel both National and Local. 3GB of Data 3G/2G for 30 days.

What is postpaid mobile connection?

The postpaid mobile connection is one for which user  first uses services of mobile network and then pays according to their use of mobile services at the end of their billing cycle. Typically, the customer’s contract specifies a limit of minutes, text messages etc., and the customer will be billed at a flat rate for any usage equal to or less than that limit. Any usage above that limit incurs extra charge.s

An example of postpaid plan : Vodaphone’s Talk STD 299 at 50P  is Monthly Rental 299,Activation Fee 99, Security Deposit 200, Free Local & STD for 299 Minutes and Usage charges after exhausting 299 minutes are Vodafone to Local Vodafone 50 p/min, Vodafone to Other Mobile (Local) 50 p/min,Vodafone to STD phones 50 p/min, Local SMS charges Re 1/SMS, Data 2G charges 4P /10KB

After 2015 Spectrum Auction, which companies are providing mobile services in which places in India is covered in Pan India 2015 spectrum holding data sheet

Compare Prepaid vs Postpaid Mobile connection

The comparison between Prepaid and Postpaid is given below:

Prepaid	Postpaid
Pre-paid customers make payment in advance before using the service	Post-paid customers use services throughout of the month and receives the bill at the end of the month.
One has to worry about remaining balance	One doesn’t have to worry about the remaining balance because postpaid offers unlimited credit.
One has to recharge when the balance becomes low	No tension of recharge
Call logs are only on your mobile	You can recover all your call logs by requesting for the Call Detail Records (CDRs), which include all the data regarding the calling number, dialed number, the date and time of the call, its duration and call type (MOC, i.e. Mobile Originated Call or MTC, i.e. Mobile Terminated Call).
The freedom to recharge when and how much	There is a monthly fixed rental and one has to pay at end of the billing cycle

Which is popular – prepaid or  postpaid?

More than three-quarters of the world’s mobile connections are still pre-paid.

A majority of mobile phone users in developed countries like US, UK and Australia post paid plans rather than prepaid services. For ex in US  a customer can buy a handset  from the mobile service provider which  involves either a monthly instalment or a lump sum discounted down payment over and above the monthly plan charges. In countries like India and China, most smartphone and feature phone users prefer prepaid mobile services over postpaid connections.  Indian mobile operators have begun to woo consumers with top of the line smartphones like Apple’s iPhone by giving contract based connections.  Market research has indicated that sub Rs. 10,000 low cost android devices continue to account for a majority of smartphone sales in India.

When does having  prepaid mobile connection makes sense?

For people who have very low mobile phone usage, the prepaid connection is a clear winner.

Mobile users who are on a tight budget will definitely prefer prepaid over postpaid connection as there is no monthly rental. The simple flexibility of ‘recharging only when you want and what you can afford’ lures mobile users who don’t wish to spend a lot of money on mobile phone service.

Additionally, users today also have access to many different ways to recharge including via online portals or net banking.

Another advantage of using prepaid mobile services is the fact that sim cards can be bought over the counter from many shops.

When does postpaid mobile connection makes sense?

For people who have a medium to high mobile phone usage, a postpaid connection definitely seems to be the way to go. For example one uses mobile phone for about 30 minutes of outgoing calls daily, If it is done on a regular prepaid connection at either 50p per minute or 1p per second, it would cost somewhere in the range of Rs. 450 to Rs. 540 per month. On the other hand, if  one uses  Rs. 399 monthly postpaid connection from Air, you would have already been provided with 800 minutes of free local talktime. That’s already 200 minutes or more than 3 hours of talktime on top of your daily 30 minute doze of outgoing chit chat on your mobile phone.

Postpaid users also have the choice of getting their own numbers. Additionally and unlike prepaid, outgoing won’t be barred once you reach a certain amount.

How to reduce your expenditure on prepaid plans?

If you have abnormally high usage of particular services like SMS, internet usage, STD calls, International calls/SMS or continuous calls to just one number, then you should look for offers like  SMS pack, Data pack, Group Pack etc. Some of the packs are given below . Remember All packs have a fixed validity.  To recharge, you can either goto a local mobile shop or get  top up vouchers. You can also topup from the mobile operator’s website using your credit card or go to websites like freecharge or paytm

• Full talk time: All recharges and mobile plans are subject to government taxes. For example Rs 100 charge will get you talk time worth Rs 84. The rest is all taxes . There are full talk time topups also available. In this you get full money in your phone.
• Local Calling Packs: Buying thus pack that will make your outgoing local calls cheap. For example, 1 paisa per second OR 50 paisa per minute. Normally the charge is 1Rupee per minute. So with the local pack, your local calls get cheaper.
• Outstation Calling Pack:  It will make your outstation calls cheaper just like the local calling pack.
• Roaming Pack:  In India each states issue a separate license to mobile operators and the cost of the license is different for each state. This means that there is a different calling rate for each state. The moment you step out of the state from where you bought the connection, you are technically on roaming services. The cost of roaming is higher. Even the incoming calls that are free in the state that you connection belongs to, start getting charged. In order to avoid the extra cost of receiving and making calls while on roaming, you need to buy a roaming pack.
• Data Packs: There are many kinds ex 2G data packs, 3G data packs, 4G data packs. Depending upon the speed and the data usage you can choose the appropriate plan.

An example of the sample plan is given below, you can check out for Full talktime plans, 2G Data plan, 3G Data plan, Roaming, Top Up plans etc.

Switch from prepaid to postpaid or post paid to prepaid

Do also explore switch from prepaid to postpaid or postpaid to prepaid. You can check out suggested plans at your mobile service provider website or explore options like  switchme.in or mobile tariffs on compareindia.ibnlive.com

Note your number does not change when you move from prepaid to postpaid connection. If you are not happy with the switch you can change back again after some time for example for Airtel you need to use postpaid connection for at least 3 months.

Steps to switch from prepaid to post paid  or post paid to prepaid connection of same airtel service provider.

Approach customer care center with Documents : Submit your address proof, identity proof and photo in the customer care center after which they will give you a migration form to fill. Now you need to choose a postpaid plan of your choice. The security deposit you are liable to pay depends on the plan you choose. Usually a new SIM is handed to you.

Verification : The service provider will conduct a verification. They sent a person at home to confirm your address and identity.

Activation of new SIM : Activation of the new SIM card may take up to 48-72 hours, after which, your migration will be complete. Your old SIM will stop working, then you need to put in your new SIM,call the given number to activate and after some time (30 mins) your new connection will be on.

Interested readers can read Nielsen survey – Mobile Youth Around the World (2010), Nielsen Research: Mobile consumer report 2013

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• What is Mobile Banking?
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• Financial Apps for India
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The world has become a giant, globally connected village where everyone is connected (throughFacebook, WhatsApp) and all the information is just a click away. Mobile has now become a necessary, one doesn’t leave the house without mobile (for some it’s the last thing they see before going to sleep and first thing after getting up). As we use mobile more and more, we need to think about how much are we spending on the mobile connections and if it’s possible to bring the cost of using the mobile down. Do you track the cost you incur on your mobile connection? How did you decide the mobile connection plan? Did you change your plan from prepaid to postpaid or from postpaid to prepaid? Was it worth it? Did you face any problem?