Unlimited India Calling plans
Find and compare different Unlimited India calling plans.
Find useful information on India Calling Plans below
| Provider Name | Unlimited India Calling Plan | Charges (in dollars) |
Likely Cost for 1 year* | Contract | Other details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CordiaLD
|
CordiaIP Unlimited Global Plan - Mobile  |
Monthly: 19.95 One time: Nil (No activation charges) |
$240 | NA | Register your cell phone as an Authorized Number for Cordia's Global LD service Dial Cordia's access number, then dial the number you want to reach Pinless Dialing Access Numbers Call over 50 Global LD countries FREE Pinless dialing - No Pin numbers needed Add another Authorized Number at no additional charge |
| Lingo
|
Lingo Smart Talk |
Monthly: First month free $21.95/mo thereafter One time: Activation waived + Shipping waived + Equipment fee waived |
$242 | 1 year | A disconnect fee of $24.95 + rebate recovery fees upto $75 will apply for cancellation before the expiration of the one year agreement With the Lingo Smart Talk plan, you'll enjoy unlimited calling to over 35 countries** worldwide, including Australia, India, Mexico, UK and more... Requirements - 1-year agreement, High speed internet (cable or DSL) |
| Voize9
|
Voize9 Residential - Yearly Unlimited Plan |
Monthly: NA One time: $249.99 |
$250 | 1 year | Price valid only with the Yearly plan |
| 2Talk
|
2Talk PowerUp - Bring Your Own Device |
Monthly: 20.99 One time: NA |
$252 | 1 year | No phone adapter supplied, select and bring your own device including softphones, PBX or telephone adapters |
| Allvoi
|
Unlimited Worldwide Plan - Phone Adapter |
Monthly: 17.99 One time: Equipment (Phone Adapter) Cost: $24.99 Shipping cost: $12.95 |
$254 | Nil | Calls made by connecting Phone Adapter to current telephone & Internet connection New Number - yes 65 free international calling destinations |
| CordiaLD
|
CordiaIP Unlimited Global Plan - Internet |
Monthly: 19.95 One time: 49.9 ($39.95 activation fee, $9.95 U.S. Shipping & Handling charge) |
$270 | NA | Use existing broadband internet connection FREE USA telephone number included no matter where in the world you live More than 12 FREE features, including Call Waiting, Caller ID and Voice Mail Option to make phone calls through your personal computer (softphone) First month FREE! |
| Teleblend
|
Global Unlimited Plan |
Monthly: 24.99 One time: 39.9 (Activation Fee $29.95 plus $9.95 Shipping fee for New Device) |
$270 | 2 years | Unlimited local and long distance calling to anywhere in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico Unlimited calling to 47 countries including India, China, Mexico, Russia, and more First 4 months are FREE! Over 15 features such as CallerID, CallWaiting, VoiceMail and more |
| 2Talk
|
2Talk PowerUp |
Monthly: 23.99 One time: NA |
$288 | 1 year | Unlimited plan minutes including US and intl destinations, unlimited 2talk calling, 2talk features, keep your phone number, includes phone adapter, 30 day money back guarantee |
| Vonage Global
|
Vonage World Residential Plan |
Monthly: 14.99/month for 3 months 25.99 thereafter One time: $9.95 (shipping & handling) |
$289 | Nil | Unlimited local & long distance in the U.S., Canada, & Puerto Rico Includes calls to more than 60 other countriesaround the world including India Shipping fees apply No annual contract, No commitment |
| Unovon
|
Unovon Freedom Plan |
Monthly: One month service free 24.99 thereafter One time: 37.98 (Device charges $29.99, Shipping charges $7.99) |
$313 | 1 year | Call Anywhere, Anytime from Mobile or Home Phone Unlimited calling to 65+ Countries 30 day money back gaurantee |
| Voize9
|
Voize9 Residential - Half Yearly Unlimited Plan |
Monthly: NA One time: $179.99 ($134.99 Plan charge, $30 Set up fees plus $15 Installation & Shipping) |
$315 | 6 months | Price valid only with the half Yearly plan |
| Pidipompi
|
Unlimited plan |
Monthly: 19.99/month 6.99/month for recharge One time: Nil |
$324 | Nil | Register one US or Canada number FREE UNLIMITED calls to over 65 destination from U.S and Canada |
| Voize9
|
Voize9 Residential - Monthly Unlimited Plan |
Monthly: 24.99 One time: $45 ($30 Set up fees plus $15 Installation & Shipping) |
$345 | Nil | Disconnection fees - No |
| Broadvoice
|
BroadVoice Unlimited™ World PLUS |
Monthly: 24.95 One time: 44.9 ($29.95 One time Activation Fees, 14.95 Shipping/ Handling of Adapter) |
$345 | NA | US-based BroadVoice subscriber can dial 911 on their BroadVoice line and receive assistance 25 FREE Basic and Advanced Features Unlimited calling to 57 countries including calls to India and the United States |
| Digitz
|
Digitz Unlimited Plan |
Monthly: 29.99 for first six months,34.99 thereafter One time: Nil |
$415 | Nil | Unlimited calling to over 60 countries including India No equipment to buy No internet or WIFI to work No devices or activation required |
| GeoUnlimitedCalling
|
Geo India Personal |
Monthly: 39.95 One time: $20 (set up cost) |
$500 | Nil | Only 1 phone number allowed Unlimited calls to anywhere in India |
| Telcan
|
Unlimited India Calling Plan |
Monthly: 42.99( $38.99 +$4.00 taxes) One time: Nil No Activation fee No cancellation fee |
$516 | Nil | Allowed to register only one phone number Allowed to change register phone number once a month Local access number provided |
| GeoUnlimitedCalling
|
Geo India Family |
Monthly: 69.95 One time: $20 (set up cost) |
$860 | Nil | 2 phone numbers allowed Unlimited calls to anywhere in India |
Also find current deals on calling India plans and reviews of leading India calling providers.
Useful Information on Unlimited India Calling plan
-> What all points should I consider before purchasing an Unlimited India Calling plan?
-> What are the advantages and disadvantages of an Unlimited India Calling plan vs. A Pay As You Go plan?
-> What is the technology that enables Unlimited India Calls?
-> Does Skype offer any plan that includes unlimited calls to India?
-> Is unlimited India calling plan really unlimited?
-> What are the taxes that get charged on Unlimited India Calling Plans?
What all points should I consider before purchasing an Unlimited India Calling plan?
Different calling providers structure Unlimited India Calling Services differently. One should choose the right plan depending on one’s usage and requirement. Important things to consider before purchasing Unlimited India calling plan are:
- Months of Contract: In majority of cases, most providers would like you to sign a 1-2 year contract with them. Discontinuing the services in between may lead to additional charges in form of cancellation fees, disconnect fees, rebate recovery fees etc.
- Mode of connection: There are multiple ways by which you can call India like:
- Landline: Landlines are most likely to be VOIP (Voice over IP) phones, where it would be required to have a broadband internet connection at home with which you could connect phone adapter. In addition to landline, using your mobile phone to call through VOIP may lead to additional charges. Benefit of landline would include having a separate number to you and often it comes with offer to call host of countries like Pakistan, UK, Australia etc. free.
- Softphone: Softphone is software which resides on your computer. This would mean that you would have to use your computer to make calls to India. Each calling India provider would allow you to download their customized Softphone to call India. Softphone too rely on VOIP technology to call India. Softphone would be cheaper than landline because there would be no initial equipment charges to the consumer.
- Mobile: Some providers allow you to make unlimited calls to India with your cellphone. You would most likely be required to dial a particular access number before getting connected to India. These plans would be more convenient to some people with lot of traveling. Most of these plans also come free of any long term contract.
- Local/ long distance/ multiple countries: Some providers allow you to call India as well as local and long distance calls free. Households having separate long distance landlines would benefit by combining their India calling service and landline services there by reducing the total cost of calling services. Some providers allow you to call multiple countries like UK, Pakistan, Philippines etc. free from the same landline
- Monthly Charges: Some companies may be giving an initial discount on first few months of usage but it is important to know the recurring monthly charges before one decides on a particular calling provider
- One time charges: Equipment cost, registration charges, shipping and handling etc. are some of the charges companies apply during the initial sign up. These charges should not be ignored while calculating the total cost of usage
- Reviews: It is important to check the reviews of calling India providers to know voice quality, call drops etc. You can contribute by reviewing your existing Calling India provider here
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Unlimited India Calling plan vs. Pay As You Go plan?
| Unlimited India Calling Plans | Pas As You Go Plans | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | User can make unlimited calls | Users pay on per minute usage |
| Providers | Vonage, Allvoi, Lingo etc. | Relianceglobalcall, Airtelcallhome, Trueroots etc. |
| Advantages of Unlimitedd India Calling plan | ||
| Minutes | Depends on fair usage policy. Generally between 2500 to 5000 minutes per month | Pay per minute |
| Local & Long distance calls | Included | Not included |
| Other international destinations | Included | Not included |
| Disadvantages of Unlimitedd India Calling plan | ||
| Validity | One month fixed validity | Minutes are valid till used |
| Contract | Generally for one year | No contract |
| Setup requirement | Normally broadband connection & phone adopter | Nil. Can call from any landline/ mobile connection |
| Additional taxes | $6 - $10 | Generally no additional taxes |
| Bottom Line: Take it when | There is a high usage of local and India calling from home | There is low usage of calls to India from home |
What is the technology that enables Unlimited India Calls?
There are essentially two prominent technologies currently being in use for telecommunication.
- Traditional PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network):PSTN relies on creating infrastructure in the form of telephone lines, fiber optic cables, cellular links etc. and then transmitting voice in analog (originally) and these days almost completely in digital form.
- VOIP (Voice over IP):VOIP on the other hand uses Internet Protocol to enable voice communication. Companies like Skype and Vonage have made the usage of VOIP simple and cheap to the household consumer.
Usually VOIP usage is cheaper than PSTN as those networks and services that rely on PSTN usually pay in the form of minutes of services consumed where as those services that rely purely on VOIP rely just on the amount of data transferred. Most households these days usually have broadband connections at home and hence having VOIP enabled devices means less additional cost to them.
Most of the calling India providers like Allvoi, Vonage, Lingo uses VOIP to offer Unlimited India Calling Plans. When one makes a call to India, primarily VOIP (at call origination) and PSTN (at call ending) technologies get used.
Does Skype offer any plan that includes unlimited calls to India?
Skype has been the pioneer in bringing VOIP technology to consumers all over the globe. Going by the numbers on its website, it is responsible for 12% of global international calling minutes with its users making 3.1 billion minutes of calls to landlines and mobiles in the third quarter of 2009. It had recently introduced unlimited World plan that includes unlimited calls to over 40 destinations including United States, China, United Kingdom. Unfortunately, India is not included in this plan. This means that if one wants to use Skype to call India landline and mobile, one needs to buy the pay as you go plan for which one has to shell out 9.2cents per minute (10.6cents/minute including VAT). Hopefully Skype will introduce a plan that would give consumers the convenience to make unlimited calls to India through a Skype phone.
Is unlimited India calling plan really unlimited??
Subscribing to an unlimited India calling plan does not mean that one can make as many as calls to India in a month as one wants. It is important for users to look into the fine print of Unlimited India calling plans to actually know the limitation of its usage. Many calling service providers would put such clauses in their terms & conditions section as a ‘fair usage policy’. It essentially tries to ensure that users are making calls to India and elsewhere for personal use only and not for any business or other commercial purposes. We have looked into the fair usage policy of two leading providers -
Skype: Skype puts a restriction of a maximum 10,000 minutes per user per month. Also one cannot use it for more than 6 hours per day and no more than 50 different numbers in total can be called per day.
Vonage: Vonage does not specify exact minutes or number of different numbers one can call but it does provide a paragraph in section 5.4 of its Terms of service - Inconsistent with Normal Use. However going through different forums on similar topics, it appears Vonage users can not use more than 3000 minutes to call India and also one can not call more than 15 different numbers.
What are the taxes that get charges on Unlimited India Calling Plans?
Taking a monthly unlimited India calling plan would mean that one not only has to pay for the monthly subscription fees but also the taxes that goes to different agencies. On a whole, when you subscribe to a monthly unlimited India calling plan, your taxes in addition to the monthly subscription fees can range between $6 and up to a maximum of $10. Some of the major taxes/fees that are part of the Unlimited India Calling plan monthly bill are:
- Universal Service Fund (USF) fees: This was created by United States Federal Communications Commission in 1997 as per the telecommunications act of 1996. This fund is administered by Universal Service Administrative Company with the objective of increasing the footprint of advanced telecommunication services throughout the country; in a way subsidize telecommunication services to low income households, remotely located places, schools, libraries; and supporting other universal service programs.
- 911 Fees: Many Unlimited India Calling providers charge 911 service fees under different headings such as Emergency 911 Cost Recovery, E911 service fee, state e911 fee. Based on the research that we have done, this tax is levied by each state to help pay for services such as fire and rescue. This fee can vary depending on local government legislation.
- Regulatory fees: This fee is not mandated by the government but most of the Unlimited India calling providers charge under headings like Administrative, Regulatory, and Compliance Fee, Domestic regulatory recovery fees, international regulatory recovery fees etc.
