With Jio’s Happy New Year offer about to expire by the end of March, users who were used to the free data bounty on Jio were wondering if the company would either extend the offer or come up with alternate plans. While it was unlikely that Jio would have continued offering free data for another extended period, they did come up with another offer that is not free – but is still pretty compelling. Called the Jio Prime Membership offer, under this offer, all existing Jio customers (and the ones that sign up for the network until March 31, 2017) would have the option to voluntarily become a Jio Prime member by paying a one-time fee of Rs. 99.
Once the user becomes a Jio Prime member, they would have access to extremely affordable plans for one year – starting April 1, 2017. Apart from very attractive plans, these Prime members would also receive the entire bouquet of Jio apps for free for another year.
So, what are the Jio Prime Membership plans like?
Jio Prime Membership Plans Explained
Currently, the following plans are available under Jio Prime membership for prepaid customers
- Rs.49 – Validity – 3 days – 600MB data compared to 300MB on non Jio Prime plan of the same value
- Rs.96 – Validity – 7 days – 1GB data per day compared to 600MB on non Jio Prime plan of the same value
- Rs. 149 – Validity – 28 days – 2GB for 28 days compared to 1GB for 28 days on non Jio plan of the same value
- Rs.303 – Validity – 28 days – 1GB per day – 28GB in all for 28 days – compared to 2.5GB for 28 days on non Jio Prime plan of the same value
- Rs.499 – Validity – 28 days – 2GB per day – 56 GB in all for 28 days – compared to 5GB for 28 days on non Jio Prime plan of the same value
- Rs.999 – Validity- 60 days – 60GB for 60 days – No daily FUP – compared to 12.5GB for 60 days on non Jio Prime plan of the same value
- Rs.1,999 – Validity – 90 days – 125 GB for 90 days – No daily FUP – compared to 30GB for 30 days on non Jio Prime plan of the same value
- Rs.4,999 – Validity – 180 days – 350GB for 180 days – No daily FUP – compared to 100GB for 30 days on non Jio Prime plan of the same value
- Rs.9,999 – Validity – 360 days – 750GB for 360 days – No daily FUP – compared to 200 GB for 30 days on non Jio Prime plan of the same value
These are the plans under Jio Prime membership available for postpaid customers
- Rs. 303 per month – 1GB data per day for 30 days (total 30GB) compared to 2.5GB of data for 30 days on non Jio Prime plan of the same value
- Rs. 499 per month – 2GB of data per day for 30 days (total 60GB) compared to 5GB of data for 30 days on non Jio Prime plan of the same value
- Rs. 999 per month – 60GB of data without daily limit compared to 12.5GB for 30 days on non Jio Prime plan of the same value
So, as you can see, Jio Prime Membership for prepaid users include plans that start from Rs. 49 for three days – and goes up to the Rs.9,999 plan that has a 360-day validity. All these plans have much more data allowance when compared to their non-Prime counterparts. This is the same for postpaid users where plans start at Rs.303 per month.
To cite an example, with the non-Jio plan, a Rs.49 recharge for three days would give you 300MB of data. In comparison, the Jio Prime plan will offer you 600GB of data for the same period. To cite another case, let us take the example of the Rs.303 recharge that Mukesh Ambani talked about during the announcement of the Prime Membership Offer. With the standard, non Jio Prime recharge, Rs.303 will give you just 2.5GB of data for 30 days. With Jio Prime, however, you get 1GB of data per day for 28 days for the same amount. That is an effective FUP of 28GB for the entire month – albeit with a 1GB limit for each day.
In case the daily 1GB limit for the Rs.303 plan put you off, there is the Rs.499 recharge option with Jio Prime that doubles the daily FUP limit from 1GB to 2GB. This recharge is valid for 28 days and will give you 56GB of data allowance for the entire duration – something unheard of with mobile operators at this price. To compare, the same Rs.499 recharge without Jio Prime Membership will only give you 5GB of data for 30 days. In case you are a mobile data freak, the Rs.499 recharge is by far the most cost-effective of all the plans.
There are more expensive recharges too – the Rs.999 recharge, for example, has a 60-day validity with a FUP of 60GB (for two months) – without a daily cap. Then there is the Rs.1,999 recharge that has a 128GB FUP – for 90 days. The Rs.4,999 recharge gives you 350GB of 4G data for 180 days. The most expensive one-time recharge costs Rs.9,999 and has a 360-day validity with an FUP of 750GB. All recharges from Rs.999 and above do not have a daily cap (unless of course, you exhaust the entire FUP!)
In case you run out of your daily or monthly data allowance, you also have additional booster packs. The chart below lists all the plans available for prepaid and postpaid users.
Is there a FUP on voice calls?
One question that many people have asked is whether the Prime Membership Plans have a FUP for voice calls. There were several rumours that talked about a 1000 minute cap on voice calls. The talk was that once you crossed the 1,000-minute threshold, you’d need to recharge to make calls to other networks. The source of this rumour was a chart that was widely spread through social media channels. It turns out, the chart was an initial pre-announcement presentation meant only for insiders. The company never implemented the FUP limit on voice calls.
Should you opt in for Jio Prime?
Now for the biggest question. Should you sign up for the Jio Prime Membership? If you ask me, the answer would be a resounding yes. Even if you do not intend to use or simply do not need the the higher data allocation, the smallest plans under Prime are pretty cost effective compared to competition — and even their own non Jio Prime offerings.
But you need to note that Jio demands that you have to recharge with a minimum of Rs. 149 per month for you to remain a Jio Prime user. Also, note that Jio Prime users do not get any night free allowance. In case you wish to spend even less than Rs.149 a month (which would seem unlikely), there is no reason for you to not opt in for Jio Prime. The membership could also come in handy during times your main broadband connection goes kaput. In such a scenario, your Jio Prime membership could save you a lot of money on recharges.
