How to Save Money on Your Mobile Phone Bills in India

We use our mobile phone and spend a lot of money monthly on various plans. Whether your SIM is prepaid or post paid, whether it uses 2G or 3G, all you want is, to save money on your monthly bills.
Hence, we created this article for mobile users in India. If you are smart enough and you implement tips and plans given below then definitely you could save thousands of rupees every year.

Most Frugal Plan

The first thing to decide is choosing a right kind of plan. A single right plan could save hundreds of rupees every month.
You have to choose a plan that is according to your need. For example, Vodafone has a post paid plan Talk STD 299 at Rs .50, Rs 299 a month as rental, and the plan allows you to make calls for Rs .50 per minute. It is very frugal and you can talk more.

For prepaid users, the Vodafone’s Bonus Card 140, Rs 140 per month allows you 300 minutes of STD calls but valid for only 15 days.
Therefore, you have to decide according to your need. You choose a STD plan because you talk more with people living outside your city, if you talk more with people living within the city then choose a plan that has low call rate on Local calls.

Choosing Between Pre Paid and Post Paid

What you want to choose a pre paid SIM or a post paid one?
If you need to talk over 1 to 2 hours daily then a post paid plan is really good. Yes, you have to pay rental but after that you can talk as much as you like without paying much.
For example, your rental could be up to Rs 900/- but if you talk over an hour everyday then your bill for the entire month would be like Rs 1100/- to Rs 1200/-. But if you were to talk for an hour on pre paid plan then your monthly bill would more than Rs 3000/-.
Hence, if you have to talk longer then postpaid is best.
However, if you talk less like 5 to 10 minutes in a day then postpaid is worthless because there is no need to pay rental. In that case prepaid is best for you.
So prepaid or postpaid you have to choose according to your need.

Per Second Billing and Free SMS

If your call is less than a minute, say 30 seconds to 40 seconds then you could choose plans that are best for you.
Vodafone, Airtel, Tata etc have such plans where you get concession if your time call is less than a minute.
Next is, SMS. If you text a lot to your friends and other family members, then choose a plan where SMSs is given free. There are plans where you get certain number of SMSs free daily and monthly. There are even many sites which you can use to send free SMS and a chance to earn some money.

Study Your Telephone Bills

Study your phone bills if you are using a post paid plans. If you are using a pre paid plan then always keep a track record of number of time you recharge or top up your phone.
If you think, special packages like night pack, SMS pack are really not required then get rid of them. You could choose some other plan also.

Avoid Roaming Charges

You could choose a plan or a service provider that either charges less on roaming or it charges not at all.
Hence, you must avoid roaming charges if you are travelling inside or outside India.

Go For Unlimited Plans

Unlimited plans are best if you talk more and use internet daily. You don’t have to worry about bill. Use unlimited plan if you have to talk daily on phone for hours and hours.
However, it could be expensive if you travel a lot because of roaming charges.

Off-Peak Calls

Some plan charge very less for calls made during off-peak hours.
For example, Aircel’s Rate Cutter Plan (Rs 39/-month) allows you to call other Aircel user for Re 1 for 30 minutes between 11pm to 7 am.

At Last Change Service Providers

Finally, I would suggest, you to change your service providers and keep on experimenting if you have to save money on your phone bills.
Try different plans from different service providers and stick to most frugal of them.
Therefore, you should choose a plan keep your need in mind. Every plan is created to cater one’s need.
Here are some of the cheapest and most frugal mobile phone plans from different service providers.

Service Providers	Plans	Calls	SMSs
Vodafone	Plan of Rs 72/-	Local Calls at 30p/Minute, STD Calls at 35p/Minute	SMS at Re 1/- for Local , 500MB of 2 GB Data Free for a Week
Airtel MNP	Plan of Rs 19/-	Local Calls for 30p/Minute, STC Calls for 40p/Minute	Local SMS at Re 1/-
TATA DOCOMO Lifetime Plan	Plan of Rs 99/- for Lifetime	Local and STD Calls both at 1 paisa/Second	Local SMS at Re 1/-
IDEA Cellular	Plan Valid for 180 Days	Local and National Calls at 1.2 paisa/Sec	Local SMS at Re 1/- and National SMS at Rs 1.50
AIRCEL Teen Pack	Plan Cost of Rs 45/-	Local and STD Calls as per Original Plan and for Life Time	Local SMS at 1 paisa/SMS
Airtel	Plan of Rs 69/- x	Local Calls at 30 paisa/Minute, STD Calls at 35 paisa/Minute	Local SMS at Re 1/-
BSNL Unlimited Plan	Plan Rs 33/- for 180 Days	Local Calls and National Calls at 1 paisa/Second	Local SMS at Rs .50/-
TATA DOCOMO	Plan of Rs 20/-	Local Calls and National Calls at 30 paisa/Minute	Local SMS at Re 1/-

Now we look at the Post-paid and Prepaid plan of VODAFONE

Post-paid

Monthly Plan (Rs 100/- to Rs 200/-)	Details
VF Talk 199 One Sec Plan	Rs 199/- (1 Month Rental)
Power to Choose 150	Rs 150/- (1 Month Rental)
Roaming Plan – RTP	Rs 149/- (1 Month Rental)
Roaming Plan – RTP FR	Rs 149/- (1 Month Rental)
Monthly Plan(Rs 200/- to Rs 300/-)	Details
Talk STD 299 at 50p	Rs 299/- (1 Month Rental)
VF Talk 299 One Sec Plan	Rs 299/- (1 Month Rental)
VF Ticket Plan	Rs 229/- (1 Month Rental)
VF Travel Plan	Rs 299/- (1 Month Rental)

Prepaid

Monthly Plan (Rs 100/- to Rs 200/-)	Details
Plan Voucher 14	Rs 14 (1.5 p/sec, Talktime: Rs 0/-, Activation Fees: Rs. 10)
Voucher 61,	Rs 61 (60 p/min, Talktime: Rs 0/-, Activation Fees: Rs. 10)
Plan Voucher 83	Rs 83 (1.6 p/sec, Talktime: Rs 0/-, Activation Fees: Rs. 10)
RTP – FR 202	Rs 202/- (1.5 p/sec, Talktime: Rs 0/-, Activation Fees: Rs. 10)

Similarly, you could visit plans from other service providers like Airtel, Tata DOCOMO, Aircel, Idea cellular and compare them with Vodafone.