Buying IPhone from Airtel - A word of caution

Recently I bought an iPhone 3G from Airtel in Bangalore. The iPhone3G is simply superb - there are no two ways about it. There is nothing that comes close to it - not Nokia 5800, not any product from Blackberry or Samsung. I am really happy with the iPhone. For those looking for more information on the iPhone, look here:

Guide to the iPhone

However, unlike the iPhone, the experience of using Airtel as a service provider has been downright awful. The sales guy at the Airtel showroom at Cunningham Road in Bangalore was too happy to receive the money, but the moment the transaction was done, he would ask me to call 121 customer service from the store for any further questions!!

For example, when you buy the iPhone from Airtel, you are supposed to get a free 500MB/month data plan for 12 months. The service guy claimed to have activated that, but in truth, he did not. I figured this out when I started getting SMS messages every 10 mins with my pre-paid balance constantly decreasing. It turns out that the iPhone was using the GPRS service for some app or the other, and hence the constant charges to my account.

So after getting back home, I went to this website to deactivate the use of the cellphone network for data transfers. This installs a temporary profile on the iPhone that effectively disables the iPhone from using the cell network for data transfers. This is to protect myself from enormous bills from Airtel. Do read the other articles in the guide:

Cost of iPhone

You can always reactivate the iPhone to use the Airtel data network by tapping on Setting > General > Profile and deleting the profile that was installed temporarily.

And this is the word of caution for people buying the iPhone from Airtel: be 100% sure that the free data plan has been activated before you start using the iPhone for internet access. Otherwise, you will be shocked at the bill. At 30paise/50KB, it translates to Rs6/MB or Rs 6000/1GB. And doing 1GB per month is very easy with the iPhone.

Note that you can still access the internet from the iPhone via Wi-Fi at your home or office. It is best to use Wi-Fi because it is fast and there are no additional charges to use the wi-fi network.

I would also suggest that you change the Mail settings on the iPhone so that you check for mail manually. This will reduce your Airtel bandwidth usage when you activate the GPRS plan on the iPhone.

With these precautions in mind, you can enjoy the iPhone better.