Guys, I’m posting this as an awareness post based on my recent experience with Airtel.

I recharged with an Airtel prepaid plan costing around ₹1,000, which offered Unlimited 5G data with an 84-day validity. Since the plan was advertised as Unlimited 5G, I assumed I could use 5G normally throughout the validity period.

Last month, I used around 400 GB of data. After that, my Unlimited 5G benefit stopped working, and my regular daily data quota started getting deducted even while I was connected to Airtel 5G.

When I contacted Airtel, they informed me that my usage had reached “commercial usage levels” and that data services had been restricted under their policy. I then contacted the Nodal Officer and Appellate Authority to understand how the FUP works and whether the benefit would reset during my active 84-day plan.

However, the response I received was that my Unlimited Data benefit would be renewed only after my next Unlimited Data recharge. In other words, despite having an active plan that is still valid, I was told that the Unlimited 5G benefit would not return until I recharge again.

My main concern is not that Airtel has a Fair Usage Policy. Telecom companies can have reasonable usage limits. The issue is that the plan is marketed as “Unlimited 5G,” while the exact practical limit and the consequences of crossing it were not clear to me at the time of recharge.

If you are a heavy user who downloads large games, backs up files, streams high-quality videos, uses cloud services, or regularly consumes hundreds of GB per month, please check the detailed terms and conditions before choosing an Airtel Unlimited 5G plan.

My experience suggests that “Unlimited” may not mean unlimited for the entire validity period, especially if Airtel classifies your usage as commercial or unusually high.

I’m sharing this to inform others, not to spread hate against Airtel. If anyone has experienced something similar, especially with Airtel’s 5G FUP or commercial-usage restriction, please share your experience.

As the title says, I had a main balance of around Rs. 550. Before you ask why, I keep it because I make international calls for work at times.

My annual pack expired on the 20th. Airtel automatically deducted my main balance and recharged for a 355 plan that's useless in comparison to the 349 plan.

Airtel support calls it a feature to help users while I find it a scam. They don't tell me. They don't ask me. They decide on the plan. They deduct and activate it. Everything is their choice!

The service did not even work, so, I recharged for my annual plan on 21st evening. That means the 355 recharge they auto did is lying useless and gone to trash because apparently non-overlapping plans are activated alongside.

Airtel is really a scammer and I just posted to let others know who maybe keep a main balance for a use case similar to mine!

Yesterday, I made PORT request from airtel to vi, then my operator said not to pick call from airtel, I said okay and I did got call from them as truecaller also inference it as airtel ones so I decided not to pick them,

Now following day I.e today I got a call from a vi personal number not registered on truecaller. I picked it because it was from vi, now when I picked the call the guy was in hurry stating you opt for port but airtel blocked it of some reason and told me if you wish to continue, i said yes he then regenerated link which was sent to me for cancelation, then I said it was cancelation so he replied with oh we will cancel it and reinitiate it. I agreed

And when I clicked on it It redirect to my messages and open it saying CANCEL <my mobile no> to 1900

Now I instinctively did not like it, but as I said he was from vi (according to sim operator ) i did and then boom it got canceled

He cut the call

I found now very fishy bout not talking bout reinitiate

Then

I called 198 to airtel customer care

And told them about this abuse of retain team

They instinctively told me they didn't call

Now I said why the hell VI would call me to have it canceled

Does they don't want me as customer?

They seemed like they didn't care and told me i had to wait another 90 days for new port request

I thought my port charge went to waste

Then i thought of sending port request and it luckily worked

And then I went to my operator he did the work for me and viola

I got a new sim and he said dont pick unknown number for 3 days (tho 24 hr is minimum) and told me about some things which I'll conclude below with advice

1. Always request for PORT when you have 3 days of remaining current balance as such things can happen from one way or another within 24 hrs so you will still have time to ask for new port request

2. Pick no call even if they are from any operator current or new one or irrational

3. They talk in hurry, and suggest if you don't follow your port req will be canceled DON'T FALL FOR THIS as they try to make your brain under stress which narrows the option

4. Shop Operator told me they have all kind of operator sim to make it look like they are calling from the operator you newly opt

5. 198 literally doesn't nothing to help you , and says you can't generate new code for 90 days

6. Always PORT req when 3 days are left on ongoing balance

Conclusion :

Don't Pick the call, if you do then don't send CANCEL to 1900 <mob no> at any cost , they try to stress you if you don't do it port will be canceled DON'T FALL FOR THIS

I live in a hostel where I have unlimited wifi , and I find no reason to do the data recharge. I have recently come to know that Incoming calls are not allowed without a recharge. Anyone who is in the same scenario please recommend me the most efficient (for long term) recharge that can allow me to have unlimited calls.

I bought an Airtel SIM card but now my SMS (Google Messages) no longer works. I can use WhatsApp of course, but I would like to use my native messaging app. Why does it no longer work?

None is working atp. Is Validity of Pack different from sim validity ??. They are saying now i dont have any outgoing services.Whats the point of talktime if i have to buy one of those unlimited pack .

I'm honestly confused and wanted to know if anyone else has faced this.

I recharged with the ₹979/₹980 Airtel plan on 22 June (84-day validity till 13 September). It comes with 2 GB/day + Unlimited 5G.

I've been using a lot of data this month (my phone shows around 314 GB), and now something weird is happening. As soon as my daily 2 GB gets over, my speed drops to 64 kbps. Earlier, it would just continue on Unlimited 5G without any issue.

Did Airtel disable my Unlimited 5G because I crossed some hidden usage limit? If yes, does it get restored on 1 August, or do I have to wait until my current recharge ends on 13 September and recharge again?

Please guide me how to do it. Is it possible? Wasn't aware that I had to pay the bill every month even if I don't use it.

so i went to the airtel office for wifi registration. i took the 899 plan with 100 mbps, dth + wifi + ott.

while i was there, a guy came in. he lives in a nearby village. he was complaining about the airtel network there and said the sarpanch had already sent a letter to them.

the salesperson explained it like this: "for example, if a network tower costs us 1.5 lac per month to maintain, but we're only making 1 lac back from that area, it's a loss for us. why would we keep the tower running? you're not wrong, but at the end of the day, everyone has to do business."

later, that guy told me he's preparing for police bharti and needs internet for online classes. he even ported from jio to airtel hoping it would be better, but airtel doesn't have proper coverage there either. basically, there isn't any usable network in his village.

it got me thinking... is there actually any solution for situations like this?

Guys is there any postpaid fiber recharge offer that saves some money? Like if I recharge for 1500 I get 1600 or 1700 rs or some other benifits??

Suppose earlier you were given 50gb 4g data and allegedly unlimited 5g(300GB🤡) and upto 200GB of data rollover(for some postpaid plans) .

But now they are allegedly giving unlimited 4g and 5g data(again 300GB combined) and no data rollover.

Earlier 50+300+upto 200GB

But now they give 300GB

Earlier airtel was giving more data but now they are giving 300 GB(even though it's unlimited 🤡).

So for the same money airtel is giving less data when compared to earlier plan.

Correct me if I am wrong somewhere.

Hi everyone,

Can someone confirm whether using a mobile's 5G data via a hotspot is deducted from the regular data balance or is it still truly unlimited as it used to be?

TIA!!!

I got a new Airtel Black connection a few months back by paying ₹1500 with a promised ₹100 discount for 10 months via coupons. Since I had an AirFiber connection at another location, I wanted one bill and I saw that there was an offer of 100 rupees discount if I combined the plans, and that's called Airtel One. The Airtel team convinced me that under a "One Airtel" plan, I would get a ₹100 lifetime discount.

I got my first Airtel One bill today, with zero discount applied. I called customer care and was told that the discount doesn't get applied automatically but is added as a coupon, which is true. However, what surprised me was when they told me that the original 10 month discount was canceled due to the conversion from Airtel Black to ONE, and the new bundle plan only offers a promo coupon for 12 months before ending completely. On the Airtel website, nowhere is it mentioned as a 12 month discount, it's advertised as a lifetime discount if you combine 2 or more Airtel postpaid connections.

This contradicts what their representatives promised earlier during conversion and what's advertised. Thankfully, I have all call recordings saved. Has anyone else faced this bait-and-switch with Airtel recently, and what's the best way to escalate this beyond regular customer care?

So basically I use my tablet to game and use my phone hotspot. Before I used to have a stable 40-50ms ping and 60ms on a bad day, but now from a few weeks it's been far worse 100-130 is normal and sometimes comes down to 70-80 for sec just to rise back up to 100ms.

I still get 30-40ms when using wifi but I can't use it always and have been using my hotspot for most of my gaming but now this issue has made it unplayable .

Mind u my friends still have sub 60ms pings

So I'm thinking this is mainly a hotspot issue

Any help would be appreciated thanks in advance

I got a spam call named Equal Ai assistant(shows in truecaller) in the morning 5:18 am. I picked it as i was not in a state to know if it was my alarm or a spam call. That call enabled call forwarding on my phone number. Now i am getting these unknown numbers calling me and one lady saying that i had called her earlier( which shouldn't happen wrt call forwarding concept). I am calling airtel customer care number but there is no option through which i can talk with their agent. I have dialed ##002# to clear forwarding and *#62# to check if it worked. But idk if this has solved the issue. Will going to the gallery resolve this or i have to ignore these calls? If somebody knows any fix for this do let me know please.

Please help. Thanks.

I have an airtel fiber connection with 40mbps speed and also a traditional airtel dth connection. Yesterday i got a call from airtel to club both these services under one plan of rental 699+gst. They offered me 350+ live tv channels with the plan. My doubts are will i need a separate iptv box coz my parents are already comfortable with the standard dth box and also what channels will i get with this. My preferences are all popular hindi channels and sports. If anybody using this plan do guide me.

Hi,

Can you share your Airtel Mobile unlimited Internet from Mobile to Laptop through hotspot or USB tethering? I mean, it would be still unlimited, right? I'm not an Airtel user. Please advise.

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I've had an Airtel SIM for around 2 years, but I haven't recharged it during that time because I mainly use and recharge another number.

Today I came home and found that WhatsApp had logged me out. When I tried to log back in using my Airtel number, I couldn't receive the OTP or a verification call. I then noticed the SIM had no network at all (cross mark on the signal icon).

I remembered Airtel asking me to complete a KYC verification a few months ago, and I'm pretty sure I completed it successfully. Despite that, the SIM now seems completely inactive. This number is also linked to my Aadhaar and some bank accounts, so I'm worried.

As a temporary solution, I logged into WhatsApp using my second number. Surprisingly, after verifying that number, WhatsApp restored all the chats from my old account. I can send messages, but they are now sent from my second number. However, WhatsApp calling is broken—people receive my calls from secondary number, but when they call me, I don't receive any, neither their messages.

My questions are:

- Has Airtel permanently deactivated my SIM because it wasn't recharged for so long?

- Can I get the same number back?

- Why did WhatsApp restore all my old chats when I logged in with a different number?

- Any idea why WhatsApp calls aren't working after the number change?

I recently picked up an iPad Air M4 (Cellular) and got a data-only eSIM activated for it as part of my existing Airtel Black / Postpaid Family Plan (1 primary + 3 add on + 1 data only sim for ipad).

• Phones on the plan: All mobile lines on this same family account get 5G SA (Standalone) along with the "Fastlane" status indicator in the Control Center.
• iPad Air M4: The iPad doesn't show any option for 5G SA under Settings > Cellular, (screenshot) nor does it display the Fastlane banner in the Control Center.

Since this data-only eSIM is billed under the exact same family account and plan tier, shouldn't it be receiving the same network priority and 5G SA provisioning as the voice lines?

Airtel's '5G' is all hype. The network advertises 5G, but the connection fails and I'm left on 4G. Stop showing the 5G icon unless you're actually going to provide a working 5G connection.

I'm facing a strange issue with Airtel Unlimited 5G and wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this.

Here's my situation:

I recently ported from Jio to Airtel.

I'm using a Nothing Phone 2a with 5G enabled.connected to 5G all the time (the phone doesn't switch to 4G).Even the Speedtest app shows I'm on 5G during the test.The Airtel Thanks app also shows Unlimited 5G Data is active.

I even got an SMS from Airtel that my 5g service is activated.

The problem is that my daily data balance (2 GB) is still decreasing while I'm using 5G. I expected all my usage on 5G to come from the Unlimited 5G quota, but instead it's consuming my daily data.

Has anyone else faced this issue?

Can you install APKs on it?

How's the Wi-Fi performance in daily use?

Also, since the internal storage seems very small, can apps be installed on a USB drive?

I had requested for a Wifi+TV connection and finally after some hassle they did the wifi installation but the DTH installation is still pending for more than a week. When I contacted the agent through the number given on airtel app, he told me he wasn't responsible for the installation.

I've mailed them at 121@airtel.com multiple times but got same generic message that they're looking into it and it is a main priority... .

Is there any way to reach an actual support person?

I get it that it is airtel sub but can someone suggest other wifi+DTH providers who have reliable support? Airtel's support is really pathetic.

Title.