Demystifying the 3G data plans

Recently, a Delhiite was invoiced with Rs. 1.6 lakhs for exceeding the 3G data plan limit. While the service provider is supposed to inform the customer periodically about the data consumption, the news of this delhites bill came as quite a shock to everybody - invariably raising several questions.

According to the site, 3gsimplified.com site, who published this story stated, "Overage data as you may be aware is charged heavily. How heavily you ask .. How about Rs. 0.3/20KB. Doesn't sound like much right. It ends up working out to a whopping Rs. 15,729 per GB. Yes Rs. 15,729!"

According to this report many 3G users were known to be receiving high bills. If you are new to the 3G world or are a existing users who wants to learn more about the 3G maze read more.

It is very simple to activate 3G services in your smartphone. You just need to send a SMS to your network provider and the services will get activated in your phone.

Every carrier charges different rates for their services, for instance, Airtel starts this service with Rs.30 paise/20KB. But after taking the tariff plan your payment structure gets changed. For instance, if you take the Airtel plan of Rs. 675 then you will get upto 1.25GB free download, and after exceeding this limit the company will charge you 1 paise per 100 KB or 10 paise per MB and 5 paise per second for video calls.

But still when the bill exceeds Rs. 2000 the downloading speed gets automatically drop down to 20KBPS. Company drop down the speed limit just to protect you from such hiked bills.

However there are instances when the system doesn't trigger this "saving" mechanism. Very few operators have what is called a "bill-shock protection plan".

This is very important specially as the operators change their data tariffs plans and usage terms on a whim - and users are left bearing the brunt, like in the above case.

While the operators we are sure, assist in providing with the desired information, 3G users need to constantly monitor their usage and keep a tab on their billing cycle, to avoid "bill shocks"