Airtel offers free data for Rs 1495, needs the money to buy a dictionary

How do we go about this? You buy a pack for Rs 1495 but what exactly do you get free? We reached out to Airtel for an explanation and turns out, the paltry 64Kbps speed you will get after exhausting your 30GB of LTE data is “free”. That’s like going to a five-star restaurant, paying for a meal and then seeking solace in the fact that the glass of water they served as you were welcomed into the posh establishment was “free”.

Dear Airtel, with all that revenue you generate, maybe buying a dictionary should be on your list of priorities because you do not know what the word FREE means. It would have made more sense if the deal was advertised as “Pay Rs. 1495 for 15 GB of 4G data and get additional 15GB free”, but no. It was more important to be slimy with words, in the hopes that you’d be able to fool a large base of your pre-paid customers. It would also be nice if you stopped assuming that your customers have the IQ of a rock, because over decades of misleading advertising, we have learned that nothing in life is free, especially when it is being offered by a big company like yours. Airtel’s so called “free data” offer for which you must pay Rs 1,495 for a validity of three months is only available to their pre-paid customers and is only active in the NCR circle. They plan to bring this “free data” offer to other circles in the coming days, in a bid to take on Reliance Jio.

While it may seem like Airtel has brought the “hammer down” on the Ambani brand, truth of the matter is that with Airtel, you end up paying more up-front. Reliance Jio’s plans are based on monthly payments while Airtel requires you to cough up three month’s rent before you get the pack activated. Sounds a little like trying to find a house for rent in Bangalore. Not to mention, Relaince Jio’s offering isn’t limited to a kind of customer and neither is it region locked. Airtel is only offering the “free data” to pre-paid customers, probably because post-paid guys don’t deserve anything good in life.

If you would still like to shell out Rs 1495 for “free data” you may do so by going to Airtel’s website or just calling customer service. We should warn you though, just don’t mention to the customer care representative that you’d like to switch to the “free data pack” for Rs. 1495 as you may warrant some unwelcome laughter.