Airtel 300GB data for 360 days plan makes sense. Here's why

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Ever since Jio entered the telecom sector with their disruptive plans, free calls and cheap data rates, legacy players like Airtel and Vodafone have been scrambling to compete with its offerings. In a bid to take on Reliance Jio, Airtel has introduced a plan under which prepaid customers can avail unlimited local/STD calls, 300GB of 4G data and more for 360 days.

The new plan offers unlimited local and STD calls (for non-commercial use), free outgoing national roaming, 100 SMS per day and 300GB data for Rs 3,999. The plan is valid for 360 days. However, Airtel has also recently updated it Rs 349 plan to offer more data at the same price. Under this plan, prepaid users can get 1.5GB data per day, unlimited local and STD calls and 3000 SMS in total.

In a bid to take on Reliance Jio, Airtel has introduced a plan under which customers can avail unlimited calls, 300GB of 4G data and more for 360 days

So why should someone opt for the Rs 3,999 plan over this one? First of all, the yearly plan seem like a great hassle-free option for those who do not want to be bothered with constant recharges and low balance reminders. While Rs 3,999 does seem quite steep, especially considering hoe it needs to paid in one go, it does make a lot of sense economically as well.

Let's do the math here - If you opt for the Rs 349 plan - you will end up paying Rs 4,387 rupees over the course of one year (according to the plan's 28 day validity). Which automatically translates to a saving of roughly Rs 500 if you opt for the yearly Rs 3,999 plan.

For Rs 4,387 you will get 540GB of data and similar voice/data benefits - 1.5GB of data per data for the course of 360 days. While the amount of data on offer is more than 300GB, there are a few caveats. Thanks to the fair use policy, you cannot consume more than 1.5GB of data per day. While the yearly plan offers 300GB of 4G data, it can be used as per your discretion - you download a 4GB movie one day and just browse the web sparsely the other.

The yearly plan seems like a great hassle-free option for those who do not want to be bothered with constant recharges

Free calls under the Rs 349 plan are also limited to 250 minutes per day or 1000 minutes per week to prevent misuse. There are a few caveats to the yearly plan as well. First of all, you are locking your money for a year - which is an unattractive option for many. Secondly, Airtel might introduce more attractive and lucrative plans over the course of the next few months - and you will be powerless to avail their benefits as you are tied in to a year-long plan.

Airtel also has a few other attractive plans in its kitty. The Rs 1,999 plan offers unlimited local and STD calls, free outgoing national roaming, 100 SMS per day and 125GB of data per day for 180 days. There is also a Rs 999 plan that offers the same voice and SMS benefits but only 60GB of 4G data. This plan is valid for 90 days.

Airtel has also launched another lucrative pack for prepaid customers which offers 70GB of 4G data, unlimited local and STD calls and unlimited outgoing calls on national roaming for Rs 448. This plan has a validity of 28 days.