New Airtel 3G plan lets you share data usage with 3 devices

Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of its new 3G plan, which it refers to as the ‘data share plan’. In an official statement, the company has shared that this new plan is India’s first 3G data share plan that allows customers to share unlimited data usage amongst two of their friends or family members or among 3 of his own devices. The company statement shares that the data plan can be shared only with customers on Airtel network within the same circle up to a cumulative usage of 5GB, post which customers can continue to access unlimited data at a speed of 80Kbps. To avail the Data Share Plan, users will have to SMS 3G to 121. Alternatively, they can log on to www.airtel.in/datashare. They can also SMS DATA SHARE ADD Mobile Number to 121. The Data Share Plan will cost users Rs 1,000 for a period of 30 days.  New 3G plan lets you share data with 3 devices! Airtel notes that as customers today access more than one device for data usage with the growing adoption of Internet, the plan will enable data sharing between prepaid and postpaid customers for the first time in the country. Airtel recently dished out a ‘Call-me-back’ service for its prepaid consumers, where a user can request their family and friends to call them back if they have a balance of less than Re 1. This feature is useful for users to stay connected to their family and friends, claims Airtel. Commenting on this feature, Airtel say the company is here to help its users with the Airtel 'Call-me-Back ' service. The Call-me-back SMS service will allow a prepaid user to get a call-back from another Airtel number (prepaid or postpaid) in case of insufficient balance.  To use this feature, a user just needs to send a toll-free SMS with the word CALL <space> <Airtel mobile number you want to speak to .> to 121. After sending the text message, one can expect a call from the Airtel number listed in the SMS. For example, 'Person A' having balance less than Re.1 can send a toll-free SMS to 121 writing CALL < Person B Airtel number >, and the 'Person B' will get an SMS from the number of  'Person A' saying: "Please call me back. Thank You." . Airtel claims that this service will ensure its Airtel customers are never out of touch with their family and friends. Airtel states that there is no charge to 'Person A' for this service, and the call-back by 'Person B' is as per the person B's plan rate. The customer who is calling back can be a prepaid or a postpaid user. Also, both the customers can be a local, STD number, or be in national roaming.   This service can be availed when the balance in the customer's prepaid account is below Re 1 – for up to 3 times in a day. This service by Airtel can be extremely useful if a person runs out of balance and is in a dangerous situation.  However, it appears that the big catch here is that the recipient needs to have an Airtel number, which may put a user in a spot of bother if the person they are trying to reach out to uses another carrier. No matter what, this move by Airtel is a welcome one and more carriers should adopt this feature to assist its consumers.