Alright, you have gone through different articles on this website which focuses on the tariff plans for postpaid connections offered by various operators.
Since we have five operators in the country and with the option of mobile number portability, customer now have a wide range of choice, and they can even shift operators to avail better tariff plans.
Since so many people have focused on the different tariff plans and analyzed them well, I decided on a different approach. My focus will be on how you can save money when paying the security deposit or number charges (special/golden number charges) for your postpaid connection.
Let’s first talk about the security deposit for postpaid connection and for the uninitiated who thought they simply go to a service provider and get a postpaid connection without having to pay anything, it is not that simple.
Every company requires a postpaid security deposit against your connection which can range from Rs. 500 – Rs. 1000 (minimum in which you will only get nationwide access, meaning no international calls). For activation of international calls, the security deposit ranges from Rs. 3,000/- to 5,000/- and for International Roaming, it can go as high as Rs. 15,000/- to 20,000/-.
There are several simple ways with which you can get a full waiver or a partial waiver for the deposit and thus save money:
1. If you use a credit card, have a good payment history and have a certain limit, cellular companies will give you a waiver for your deposit. You might have to activate the direct debit option in this case, which is also a convenience as the bill will be directly deducted from your credit card without you having to visit a franchise or office to pay your bill.
Check your operator for more options available for security deposit waiver.
2. For government employees as well as employees of multinationals, you can get a waiver of a certain percentage upon showing your salary slip.
3. Many operators have arrangement with different partners or promotions where you can get a postpaid connection without having to pay the deposit. An example is Bank Al Falah which is facilitating its account holders to get Warid postpaid connections without having to pay the deposit. Same is the case for Habib Bank customers for getting Ufone connections.
Another way of saving money is by not paying the charges for a number, a special number that you require.
Choice numbers (or let’s call them special numbers) are charged by various operators especially numbers having religious significance, repeating numbers or numbers in a specific order. For example, if you require a number with the digits 786, you might have to pay extra charges.
Again different companies run different promotions where you can get special number without having to pay any charges. This requires that the customer sign a commitment of sorts that they will not downgrade the package or port out the number. Go to service center, ask them for any deal available and sign-up the one which suits you most.
The point of this article is for you to buy smart and save money.
Different companies have different promotions which you should enquire about when getting a connection. Further more, knowing someone in the company can also be helpful since they can also get you a deposit waivers as well as special numbers without having to pay any extra money.
