How to Activate ISD on Your Airtel Number

Looking for a way to activate ISD on your Airtel number? International Subscriber Dialling (better known as ISD) is what you need to speak with someone sitting abroad. Telecom operators have distinct charges for ISD calls that are significantly higher than the regular local and STD calls. However, Airtel and other telcos have some prepaid recharge packs and postpaid plans to offer discounts on their ISD calls or some free minutes to let you make international calls from your phone.

How to activate ISD on your Airtel number

The basic ISD service is activated by default on the Airtel network for all prepaid and postpaid connections. This means that you don't need to follow any steps to activate ISD on your Airtel number if you want to call someone abroad from your home network. A FAQ page provided by the telecom operator also mentions that the customers aren't provided with a way to deactivate the ISD service.

Since the basic service is activated by default, all you need to do is just prefix “+” to the phone number with the country code where you need to make an ISD call. The process is identical for both Airtel prepaid and postpaid connections. However, in case of the Airtel postpaid connection, if you want to call in a country that has a call charge above Rs. 15, you need to activate an advanced ISD service. This can be done by visiting a nearby Airtel store or through the customer care helpline, 121.

Airtel has different ISD call tariffs for both prepaid and postpaid customers. Also, the call rates vary on the basis of area code.

You can look at the different ISD call charges applicable to Airtel prepaid and postpaid connections from its website.

Prepaid customers on the Airtel network have an ISD recharge pack of Rs. 18 that cuts ISD call tariffs for 28 days. Similarly, there is a Rs. 1,599 postpaid plan that includes 200 ISD minutes alongside 200GB of high-speed data. Details about the country codes being covered in the special postpaid plan are available on the Airtel site.

Airtel postpaid customers can also go for a Rs. 50 “umbrella” add-on pack that will give a discount on ISD calls across 33 frequently called destinations. The plan is valid for an entire billing cycle and works for countries such as the US, UK, UAE, Afghanistan, Thailand, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Italy, Nepal, Singapore, and Sri Lanka, as well as select area codes of Australia and New Zealand. It, however, doesn't work if you are calling someone in countries including Canada and Switzerland.

The umbrella pack can easily be activated through the Airtel Thanks app, and it gets added to the customer's monthly bill.

Check out our Mobile Recharge Plans page to find out the best-suited plan for your mobile operator.

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