Jio Postpaid vs Vodafone Red Plans: Tariffs and Benefits Compared

Ever since Reliance Jio made its debut in the Indian market about a couple of years back, the market completely changed in terms of 4G network coverage and cost effectiveness. Per GB data costs have gone from hundreds of rupees to just a few rupees thanks to the influx of seemingly endless daily data limits in today's offerings. However, most of the benefits offered by Jio and other telcos seem to be for the prepaid mobile market, especially because a huge majority of subscribers is a part of it. Vodafone recently updated its postpaid plans to complete with the likes of Reliance Jio. Let's take a look at what the two telecom operators have to offer in the form of Vodafone Red and Jio Postpaid plans.

Jio Postpaid plans

Prior to its refresh last month, Jio offered several plans under its postpaid suite. However, only the plan priced at Rs. 199 is being offered to the telecom giant's postpaid subscribers in India. This Jio plan is valid for a standard bill cycle, gives the user a total of 25GB 4G data, free unlimited voice calls, 100 SMS messages per day, and complimentary access to Jio's entire suite of apps. Users can avail additional data at Rs. 20 per GB for the next 500GB. This plan entails a security deposit of Rs. 250 which is 100 percent refundable, and Jio Prime membership worth Rs. 99.

Reliance Jio also offers a single global ISD postpaid plan that is priced at Rs. 501. Validity of the plan is 28 days and users get Rs. 551 worth of ISD talk time. The website lists calling rates for all ISD codes where calls can be made on Jio. As for international roaming, there are three postpaid plans - Rs. 575 for a 1-day validity, Rs. 2,875 for 7 days, and Rs. 5,751 for a period of 30 days. The first two Jio plans get 100 minutes of voice calling and 250MB high speed data per day, while the last one gives the subscriber 5GB data per day and a total of 1,500 minutes.

Jio's website currently lists certain other postpaid plan vouchers, however Gadgets 360 has learnt that subscribers cannot currently avail them.

Vodafone Red postpaid plans

Right off the bat, all Vodafone Red postpaid plans now offer free 12-month subscription to Amazon Prime, a yearly membership for Vodafone Play, and access to free vouchers every month. The most affordable plan, Red Entertainment, among Vodafone's Red suite of postpaid offerings is priced at Rs. 399. It offers postpaid users with total 3G/ 4G data benefits of 40GB (no daily limit), unlimited voice calls (local, STD, and roaming), and up to 200GB data rollover.

The next one called Vodafone Red - Entertainment+ is priced at Rs. 499 for a monthly cycle and offers up to 75GB 3G/ 4G data, data rollover of 200GB, and same benefits as the Rs. 399 plan. This plan, however, comes with an additional bundled mobile insurance for life that includes damage repair, antivirus, and extended warranty.

The third plan dubbed Vodafone Red - International R costs Rs. 1,299 for a standard billing cycle of 30 days. Under this plan, the postpaid users can avail up to 100GB of 3G/ 4G data with a rollover of up to 500GB. It also gets 100 free ISD minutes and a 2-month membership to the base plan of Netflix. Rest of the benefits remain same as the Rs. 499 Vodafone plan.

The second most expensive postpaid plan from Vodafone's Red offerings, Red - International L comes with a total of 200GB 3G/ 4G data, unlimited voice calls, 200 ISD minutes, and data rollover of 500GB. It has been priced at Rs. 1,999. Apart from the same benefits as the International R plan, this one gives the subscriber 3 months of free subscription to Netflix's library of movies, TV shows, and documentaries.

And, finally, the premium Vodafone Red - Signature postpaid plan priced at Rs. 2,999 offers 300GB of data and 12 months subscription to Netflix. Rest of the benefits compare with the ones offered in the International L plan.

Is the Reliance Jio effect spreading to postpaid connections in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.