Vodafone is trying their hand to make prepaid pricing model to work for postpaid. And thus, they launch a 1year rent scheme in Gujarat. Forget monthly rents as you’ll payRs. 799 as rent for one whole year. But there’s a flipside to it. Here is how:

• Monthly Rent: Nil
• CLIP charges: Rs.50
• Incoming calls are Free
• All local calls to cellphones: Re.1
• Local calls to Fixed Line: Rs.2
• STD calls: Rs.2.4
• Local SMS: Re.1
• National SMS: Rs.2

We say: The adage ‘you get what you pay for’ goes well for this plan. Vodafone cannot milk in the cash with the monthly rent so they jack up calling rates. We think it is justified too. However, with call charges stooping as low as 10paise, one rupee for a call seems expensive and so are call rates to landlines. Though you pay about Rs.66 as rent every month, you aren’t saving anything.

PS: Same Plan is also available at Rs.1099 for 2 Years.

Vodafone is sending out SMS to its postpaid customers luring them to use the Direct Debit facility. This facility would allow users to directly transfer the amount from the bank to pay their monthly dues. The benefit you get is a discount of Rs.50 on your bill for the first six months and less late payments, bad debts and peace of mind for Vodafone.

We try and get all the best plans to you, most of the “best” ones go under the corporate belt. Here is another great one being offered to Godrej employees. This one doesn’t have a name but anyway, here are the details:

• Monthly Rent: Rs.125
• Local calling to Vodafone: 10paise
• Local calls to other numbers: 30paise
• Local calling within group: Free
• Local SMS: 50paise
• 100 Local minutes to Vodafone numbers free
• 200 Local SMS free

We say: This plan is easy to get if you have someone woking for Godrej. As such you can get free calling if you manage to get the Plan for people you talk most often. The free calling and SMS is lower than expected, given the low rent. Calling to Vodafone numbers is extremely cheap and adds to the plan’s strengths.

PS: If you work in a company and use a cool corporate plan then surely let us know. Hit an e-mail to any of us. E-mail info here.

More abuse news for iPhone lovers as Vodafone released the plans which include voice as well as data. For a new postpaid user, there are three plan options - iPhone 499 (Rs. 499), iPhone 799 (Rs. 799) and iPhone 999 (Rs. 999). On the calling front, these plans will have free 199, 249 and 299 minutes (local & STD) respectively. All local calls go at 60 paise flat while STD at Re. 1. SMS charges are 1/2/5 (local/national/international). Heavy internet users will be disappointed because there is no unlimited data plan to go for. The free data usage per month for these plans is 50MB, 250MB and 600MB.

For existing Vodafone customers, you can add a data pack which has the options of Rs. 199 giving 50MB free, Rs. 499 (250MB) and Rs. 699 with 600MB.

Prepaid users need to buy a data bonus card which will cost Rs. 100 with no free usage. 5 paise per 10kb for additional data transfer.

Vodafone Plans

Source

The Bonus Cards from Vodafone helps to reduce your calling or SMS charges, provided you shell out a monthly amount for it. Here are the Cards offered by Vodafone.

1. Night Bonus Card - Rs.22 - Gets you 200 minutes of V2V calling between 11PM and 8AM
2. Local Vodafone Bonus Card - Rs.30 - Local calls to Vodafone @ 30paise
3. Local Calling Bonus Card - Rs.53 - Local calls to Mobile phones @ 50paise
4. Local + STD Bonus Card - Rs.31 - All Local and STD calls @ Re.1
5. Local + STD Bonus Card - Rs.75 - All Local calls to mobile phones @ 50paise and STD @ Re.1
6. SMS Bonus Card - Rs.48 - Local SMS @ 50paise

Note that all the above cards have a validity of a month. We would recommend people to think before they buy such cards. This could be done by simply calculating the amount that you would spend and comparing that with the benefit you get. Among the ones listed above, we think the Night Bonus Card, being the cheapest provides maximum benefit.

iPhone 3G hits India on this Friday and out of the two exclusive operators, Vodafone is the first one to reveal the prices. And the prices SUCK. If you have got enough money to burn then 8GB will cost you Rs. 31,000 and Rs. 36,100 for 16GB. This price does not include any data or voice plans and the contract details are still unconfirmed.

Airtel is yet to reveal the iPhone prices and we still reckon they’ll pwn Vodafone’s gameplan.

Vodafone Page

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We check out Vodafone’s high value plan from Andhra Pradesh. This particular plan stood out from the others with the highest amount of free calling and SMS. This one not only has free calling locally but also nationally. Let’s see what makes it so salient.

• Monthly Rental: Rs.3999
• All Local and STD Calls: Re.1
• All Local and National SMS: Re.1
• 4000 Local mins Free to any local phone
• 2000 STD mins Free to any phone
• 5000 SMS Local and National free
• National Roaming worth Rs.500 free
• International Roaming worth Rs.1000 free
• 100 mins free ISD calling to US, Canada, UK (Fixed line), Europe (Fixed line), Australia (Fixed line), New Zealand (Fixed line) and  South East Asia

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Vodafone wants the Punjab users to increase their local usage. And with this attempt, they are now selling a Bonus Card worth Rs. 39 which will allow the customer to enjoy local calling at 50 paise/minute flat.

30 days is the validity period of the card.

If by any chance you’re looking for a bride or a groom and happen to use a Vodafone connection then chances are that Vodafone will play a handy role of a matchmaking Pandit. Shaadi.com has been spreading its wings and has announced a strategic partnership with Vodafone to launch a matrimonial service. By calling or SMSing Shaadi to 57007 or even by clicking on shaadi.com link on Vodafone live! portal, the user will find his/her prospective matches in a snap. The price of the service is undisclosed but we reckon it to be free if people want to use it without paying for the premium rates.

‘Shaadi.com on Vodafone’ will enable Vodafone users to search and view profile details of other members without the need to log on to the Internet. Mobile phone users will be able to browse through profiles, express interest in members, accept/ decline interest sent to them by other members and send personalized messages to prospective matches.

We smell more trouble for Vodafone. It is being reported that the STD rates which were previously charged at Rs. 1.30/minute are now been charged at Rs. 1.50/minute. The hike doesn’t seem to be a major problem with the customers but it is in fact the discreet way which Vodafone adopted to change the rates is pissing off the customers.

We cannot confirm about the rest of India but prepaid users in Mumbai are facing this.

Vodafone