Bharti Airtel is probably the most preferred telecom operator when it comes to International Roaming (IR) services. The telco has international roaming plans at a starting price of Rs 496 for prepaid customers. A lot of customers complain about unexpected charges on their mobile number when they travel to another country, and both prepaid and postpaid customers of telecom operators face this issue. To tackle this problem, Bharti Airtel introduced six ‘Customer Protection Policies.’ These policies include roam-without-fear, default off-mode, safe packs, data blocking and so on. Continue reading to know more about these policies in detail.
Bharti Airtel Roam-without-fear Policy for IR Users Detailed
Imagine this situation- you are travelling to another country and recharges an IR pack. For some reason, the pack wasn’t activated on time; In such a situation or in the event a customer does not activate any of the IR packs by travels to a pack-covered country with Airtel International Roaming service active and generates usage, then the telco’s ‘Roam-without-fear’ policy comes into the picture. Under this policy, Airtel protects the customer from excessive charges. The telco says the initial charging will happen as per the standard international roaming charges, and once the usage exceeds the one-day pack value (probably the base one-day pack) for that country, the telco will automatically apply one-day pack with all its benefits to protect the customer from any further charges for the day. And if the customer fails to activate the IR pack the next day, then the same principle applies again. This pack basically avoids excessive charges on the customer’s account. Airtel advises this option if the duration of the stay is very short.
Bharti Airtel Default Off-mode for IR Users Detailed
Another policy is default-off mode. As you might be aware of already, International Roaming (IR) service for all the Airtel prepaid and postpaid customers is disabled by default. Any customer who buys and international roaming pack would get the IR service enabled automatically. Besides, customers can also enable the IR service through Airtel Thanks app or by calling the customer centre.
Bharti Airtel Safe Packs for IR Users Detailed
Then we have the ‘Safe Packs’ for international roaming users. If a customer exhausts the data quota available in the chosen pack, then the data usage will be blocked immediately to avoid further charges. If the customer wishes to use data for the rest of the validity, data top-up packs can be purchased. International roaming charges are usually on the pricier side.
Bharti Airtel Data Blocking Policy for IR Users Detailed
Fourth on the list is the Data Blocking policy that is applicable in the countries where IR packs are unavailable. For countries where Airtel roaming packs are not available, the data services are blocked by default to avoid accidental charges. However, customers will be able to make calls and send SMS and will be charged for the same as per standard rates. As a pro-tip, Bharti Airtel advises its customers to track data, calling and SMS usage via the Airtel Thanks app. Data usage will be available on a real-time basis, whereas voice/SMS usage may have a delay of up to 24-48 hours. Also, the telco will send consumption alerts to the postpaid users and the same feature will be rolled out to prepaid users in the coming days.
