Not very, but some essential differences do exist between the two. We enumerate on these.
Though you would think that most mobile phone users in the country have postpaid phone connections, a large number of people are content with their prepaid plans. Today, prepaid plans from leading providers like Airtel have very little difference from postpaid plans. Airtel’s plans offer 1.4 GB data per day, 100 SMs daily, and super-fast connectivity, among other features. You also get unlimited calling, which is a staple feature of postpaid plans.
And yet, there are fundamental differences between the two types of connections.
So how different is a prepaid plan from a postpaid one?
* When do you pay for it? As the name suggests, the prepaid plan is paid for before you start using the connection. Whereas, a postpaid plan is more like a ‘contract’ between yourself and the service provider, where you agree to use the data and services you consume through the month and pay for them later. There may be a ‘late payment’ fee if you settle your postpaid bill after the due date.
* There is pack validity for prepaid connections: The prepaid phone plan is valid for a certain number of days only, irrespective of your usage and data consumption. Your pack might run out before its validity is up if you consume the talk time before the pack expires. This is different from the postpaid system, where you are cumulatively billed for your consumption on the billing date.
* You must recharge your prepaid connection: If you use up all the talk time on your prepaid plan, then your connection might get temporarily disconnected. You must then do the online easy mobile recharge to keep the connection active. The easy recharge entails paying for a new pack – if you do online easy mobile recharge with Airtel, you get the choice to get another prepaid plan or take an easy recharge for a lower amount of money. This is a different feature from postpaid, where there is no pack validity dependant on talk time. Your connection is not suspended for overshooting the data limit, either – but your surfing speed may drop if you don’t buy add-on data till your billing date (when all data limits are restored again).
How to get a prepaid connection?
You can buy a new prepaid plan directly from the mobile service provider of your choice. If you are buying from Airtel, you can initiate the purchase online from the website or using the myAirtel app. Once you fill out the application form and submit your documents for KYC, the connection is activated immediately.
You can switch from your current prepaid provider to Airtel quite easily, by opting for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) facility. The number porting and cancellation of services with the earlier provider takes just a few days. Once the porting is complete, you can insert the Airtel prepaid SIM card and start using the connection. Airtel’s easy recharge options also make it convenient to keep the connection going uninterrupted.
