Lifetime validity offers galore

[Sanay 0]

Airtel has launched today the most revolutionary offer in mobile sector.

Recharge with 999 and get 28 years validity with Rs.25- talktime

Edited December 23, 2005 by Sanay

[Shiva Bandaru 0]

Shocking News ! where you get info.

[Arun 795]

28 years ?????????? any official announcement on the net available ?

[SexyGurl 0]

Why 28 years ???

Couldn't it have been 1000 years?

(..... Like Hitlers's Third Reich was supposed to last 1000 years. It's another matter it lasted only 12 years - 1933-1945)

[Sanay 0]

Its been officialy launched in Gujarat. May be someone can inquire in other states and post responses.

[anujit 0]

Its true - http://www.airtel.in/lifeprepaid.htm

But take a look at the T&C

Terms and Conditions

* MRP: Rs. 999

* Talk time: Rs. 25

* Tariff: All Local calls: 1.99 Rs / min, All STD calls: 2.99 Rs. / min.

* Lifetime Incoming after recharging once with Rs. 999 Recharge coupon

* Validity for Lifetime is subject to change in regulatory or license conditions in the future.

* Connection will be permanently deactivated if either of the following events i.e no incoming / outgoing / recharge happens for any continuous period of 6 months. wonder if this means I have to use the phone or that I have to recharge the phone every 6 months!

* On all subsequent recharge, Full Talk time, (excluding Taxes) will be applicable on all paper Recharge coupons and selective denominations of Easy charge

* This Voucher cannot be coupled with any other Promotional scheme / Tariff packs

* Consumer will loose the existing benefits of Free Airtime / Free SMS etc (e.g. Nokia Bundle etc) after recharging with this coupon.

Edited December 23, 2005 by anujit

[amitbt22 2]

Only for incoming it is great but covrage of airtel is very bad atleast in our circle

[deadman 0]

Airtel has launched today the most revolutionary offer in mobile sector.

Recharge with 999 and get 28 years validity with Rs.25- talktime

Dam good deal even seen before (Unlimited incoming 28 years!!!! , what most people want it)

"Connection will be permanently deactivated if either of the following events i.e no incoming / outgoing / recharge happens for any continuous period of 6 months"

Is that mean that we have to recharge every 6 month?

[SexyGurl 0]

As I said before .... Airtel is fast becoming like Hutch (..... Hidden Charges, arbitrary fees, unreasonable conditions etc.)

I think anyone picking up this plan is just wasting Rs. 999/- + plus all / any advantages they had under "previous SCHEMES !!!".

Personally, I didn't even take Rs. 995 1 yr free with Rs. 300 talktime from Reliance ... because I believe in less than 3-4 months, incoming rental will go away for everybody.

We'll only be paying for talktime .... (like TATA is already doing).

So, it's a waste of big money to "buy" free incoming "rentals" ... even if you don't buy this .... you'll get it, in 3-4 months.

[amitbt22 2]

Then wat will happen to their infrastructure

[amitstg 0]

As I said before .... Airtel is fast becoming like Hutch (..... Hidden Charges, arbitrary fees, unreasonable conditions etc.)

I think anyone picking up this plan is just wasting Rs. 999/- + plus all / any advantages they had under "previous SCHEMES !!!".

Personally, I didn't even take Rs. 995 1 yr free with Rs. 300 talktime from Reliance ... because I believe in less than 3-4 months, incoming rental will go away for everybody.

We'll only be paying for talktime .... (like TATA is already doing).

So, it's a waste of big money to "buy" free incoming "rentals" ... even if you don't buy this .... you'll get it, in 3-4 months.

ya its hopefully true that all operators will soon end the concept of incoming validity, all the prepaid a/c will end the validity concept, charge and talk will be the naya funda.

(@sexygurl : i think all operators are following ur policy of ending validity concept, once u desired in this forum)

[SexyGurl 0]

Then wat will happen to their infrastructure

The infrastructure is "really" used when someone calls.

Whenever a person is talking over cellphone, a part of the spectrum is used by him/her (under one of the schemes of spectrum sharing -- technically speaking, multiplexing).

If you are not talking, (even if the cellphone is switched ON), there is NO load on the infrastucture.

By simple economics, we should PAY for what we USE.

And someone USING IT MORE, must PAY MORE.

Consider the case, that I use Reliance's 149 voucher ... do not call AT ALL, and it so happens, I do not receive any call AT ALL. So, I am NOT using the Infrastructure AT ALL, but still paying 149.

Offcourse, pricing is determined by market dynamics (not by ECONOMIC USAGE OF AN ASSET, alone).

I agree, I DERIVE value by having the ABILITY to receive calls .... for which I am ok to pay.

But now (.... or soon enough, in the coming months), market dyanmics seems to be getting more in line with the Economic Usage - based pricing.

So, just for receiving calls, I just need to invest in the Handset (which is offcourse a cost to me). But beyond that, CPP (i.e. CALLING PARTY PAYS) applies.

If someone calls me, he also pays for the cost of infrastructure "used" in completing the call at my end.

(.... it's actually happening already. If someone from BSNL calls me, BSNL pays Reliance 30 paise ... and collects it from it's own subscriber).

Off course, whenever I CALL somebody, I will need to pay for not only the infrastrucutre being used to connect my own phone, but also the infra being used to connect the phone of the person, I called.

Market Dynamics is fast falling in line with allocating the costs, as per Economic Usage.

Calling Party Pays rules ..... (in full sense).

Edited December 23, 2005 by SexyGurl

[raccoon 53]

There is one more significant issue here - the phone number! If we have a regime where it costs nothing to keep a phone number alive, then lots of people are going to keep those numbers indefinitely ...even when they dont really need them! And most likely many numbers wont be used for incoming either. Like spectrum, telephone numbers are also a resource which is limited. So one can imagine the impact on that...

[KingofKalyan 0]

Hi Guy's !

Cannot believe It, That currently going on war between Telecom Companies, Airtel Can take this step also..

Guy's Cheer up

Dhirubhai's B'day is near, Reliance may get inspired with this and come up with Validity till Punar Janam

Just joking

But I believe Reliance Would definately come up with something .....

Edited December 24, 2005 by Arun

[Sanay 0]

Idea has also launced similar scheme wef 2day

[KingofKalyan 0]

Oh Wow thats great, so one by one every one wants to jump into this..

ADA we are waiting to c when are u going to Jump ......

YA HOOOOOOOOOO !!

Come on ADA... Come on !

Sanjay Can we have some more details on IDEA's scheme here ...

[Ramchi 0]

I feel this is one of the greatest schemes even if others follow suit later! TATA indeed opened up the Pandora box !!! Good for the customers; though I feel the call rates may go up if we do not have to pay monthly rental or monthly recharge. This would encourage many postpaid customers to move towards this option. But for those who have GPRS connections thru postpaid connections, I am not sure how they can make use of this?

For me this would really help as I use Airtel connection just for incoming purpose plus minimum outgoing and I keep paying Rs 350 just to keep this connection alive; though I hardly use the complete talk time offered every time I recharge with Rs 350 card.

This would really help me to recharge only when it is necessary, otherwise, do not worry about losing the validity. If Airtel offers this plus free Zonal Roaming (South) then people would never change their numbers frequently causing lots of headaches to the providers and causing inconveniences to themselves..

[kesav 127]

In this offer I would like to know whether incoming would be free while roaming.

[KingofKalyan 0]

Kesav, Im not sure. ....but logicaly speaking I dont think that incoming would be free in roaming...

[Greens 21]

TATA started it, Reliance followed suit, Airtel made it the ultimate.

But i think except CDMA, GSM infrastructure can't handle the load when there is more usage. Already the signs are here especially in TN, where aircel had lots of unlimited schemes and due to their poor infrastructure, hevy congestion.

For example an airtel user with unlimited talktime can to the person having unlimited incoming, (no interconnect charges), which will result in nill return monetarlily and heavy load on spectrum.

So we have to wait and see, how long this offer is going to continue.

[KingofKalyan 0]

TATA started it, Reliance followed suit, Airtel made it the ultimate.

But i think except CDMA, GSM infrastructure can't handle the load when there is more usage. Already the signs are here especially in TN, where aircel had lots of unlimited schemes and due to their poor infrastructure, hevy congestion.

For example an airtel user with unlimited talktime can to the person having unlimited incoming, (no interconnect charges), which will result in nill return monetarlily and heavy load on spectrum.

So we have to wait and see, how long this offer is going to continue.

No idea about it,

Might be till 31st of dec or 1 st week of Jan 06

[Ramchi 0]

Kesav,

Even in TATA indicom raoming is not free. Incoming calls will be charged based on the roaming rates. Thats why I have made my wish list as Zonal Roaming. This way people will be encouraged to talk even if they are on the move. Especially for those people in metros when they just go out of the city it becomes roaming!

[city02 63]

Cannot believe It, That currently going on war between Telecom Companies, Airtel Can take this step also..

Dhirubhai's B'day is near, Reliance may get inspired with this and come up with Validity till Punar Janam

Just joking

But I believe Reliance Would definately come up with something .....

I agree, RIC will have to come up with a prepaid offer matching airtel's 999 for 25 years

i would have actually be ready to pay Rs 1/day for unlimited incoming (rs 365/year)

since i was any way paying 150/month for my driver's phone...

so by slashing prices airtel will be incurring a 'notional loss' for many customers of about rs. 8 k for the lifetime validity (89% below what i'm willing to pay)!

still not quite sure how they will make any money so some may go bust in 1-2 years.

this is truly hyper-competition in prices/rentals!

if only duties/taxes on cars could come down to 50% but that's another debate.

[amitbt22 2]

Adc would be their gain i.e. 30p /min from d other operators .

[Rohit Rocker 0]

TATA --> Do saal tak chal chala chal

AIRTEL--> 28 Saal tak chal chala chal

Maybe Reliance is going to launch something better.

Well, i am an existing Aritel user and i am going to shift to this plan.