Airtel 5G Plus live in 8 cities: How to activate

By Sanjana Shankar

Edited by Mudit Dube

Oct 12, 2022

01:28 pm

What's the story

Bharti Airtel's 5G service, dubbed Airtel 5G Plus, is now live in some cities across India. Currently, it is available in Delhi, Nagpur, Mumbai, Varanasi, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Bengaluru and Chennai. The company will complete the rollout of the 5G service across India by 2024. Users who own smartphones with 5G-support can access the network with their existing mobile plans for now.

Information

First, what do you get with Airtel 5G Plus?

Airtel promises 20-30 times faster download speed than the existing 4G network along with rapid call connections. The company assures smooth streaming of 4K resolution videos and a seamless gaming experience. Moreover, the service provider has adopted an eco-friendly approach with its "power reduction solution."

Support

Do you need a new 5G SIM?

Airtel users are not required to purchase a new SIM to use the 5G network. The availability of the service can be checked via the Airtel Thanks App. The telco is also alerting customers if their smartphone is 5G ready and the service is live in their region. Currently, Airtel's 5G Plus service is available on existing SIMs with the current data packs.

Data speed

What kind of speed will you get with Airtel 5G?

The highest download speed of 516.57 Mbps was recorded in Varanasi. Mumbai saw a speed of 271.07 Mbps, while Delhi logged 197.98 Mbps. In Kolkata, Airtel's 5G speed was 33.83 Mbps. The download speed depends on network strength, type of device, and number of active connections, among other factors. In general, 5G speeds can be up to 100 times faster than 4G.

Process

How to activate Airtel 5G Plus on your device?

Airtel users can activate the Airtel 5G Plus service by following these steps: Head to 'Settings' on your smartphone, tap 'Mobile Network' and select Airtel SIM. Then click on 'Preferred network type' and choose the 5G network option. Notably, Apple is testing 5G in India with the help of Airtel. A future iOS update should enable 5G connectivity on eligible iPhones in India.