[Durango Dude]

My son and I have visited the neighborhood Reliance digital Xpress total of 5 times with no luck, their Customer Care sucks, if this is any indication then I'd stay away from Reliance altogether! They say they are overwhelmed by the response, what did they expect?

[pedrolourenco]

I got a SIM 4 days ago. Still waiting for activation. Don't know how long it will take.

[murillo]

I am not looking for a Jio sim, and I read through this thread. These are my thoughts.

I feel Reliance, instead of taking the big-bang, all-in approach, should have followed a gradualistic approach. That is, they must start off small, build a solid base of loyal customers with positive word of mouth publicity, gradually scale up infrastructure, gain experience, eliminate weak spots, and then grow bigger and then aim for being the biggest. This approach has a favorable risk-reward ratio.

Now they have invested billions of debt into it and started fighting with other telcos. It seems Reliance had not learned any lessons from its earlier foray into B2C businesses such as telecom and retail. They should already know that consumer-facing business is a very different beast than a B2B oil refining business where your writ runs large. Here, consumer trust is of paramount importance.

Now that Jio is launched, they should eliminate shortage of sims, ensure real-time activation of sims, have a solid pan-India signal coverage, provide good call and voice quality as a basic, and last but not the least, provide exceptional customer service. Then they are really in business.

Anyway, telecom sector really needs a dose of new competition.

[Contrapunto]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

Several clarifications on OP

1. Voice calls will not be charged for data, even though they are VOLTE

Is this true? I was under the impression that voice calls will not be charged "on the basis of voice pulses" like other GSM/ CDMA carriers, but the data that a VoLTE call uses, will get "consumed" from the user's quota as part of regular data metering. It would be good to get clarity on this, though voice calls are probably getting less important in the overall scheme of things for most consumers.

On another note, I wonder if affordable, high quality "data only" subscriptions will drive up the adoption of "in-car" connectivity with head units connected directly to internet for streaming services, in-car wifi hotspots for passengers etc.

[MaheshY1]

Originally Posted by BlueEyes

So you get 4G or nothing.

Well said.

The good thing here is that all calls and messages are routed over the internet (VoIP). And I know a few people who would appreciate the convenience of using their home WiFi for making regular calls due to poor cellular coverage in their area.

This means you can control the call quality and signal strength by adding a broadband connection. You also don't have to wait for Airtel to take pity on your situation and install a PSTN in your area. If you have a good internet connection, you'll get good call quality regardless of whether you have Reliance Jio spread in your region or not.

I hate losing network while commuting. Not that it's completely off but the cell phone keeps juggling between 4G/3G and 2G to give me decent coverage. What happens is during this transition, there's a dark spot of no network and I'm unable to even make phone calls. So I have to remember to switch back to 2G for reliable call quality when I'm not using data and wait for it to connect to 4G when I have data usage planned.

Jio is a good solution to a problem I never raised.
And you can always use a hotspot (Voda/Airtel) to connect where Jio has patchy coverage.

[BlueEyes]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

Several clarifications on OP

1. Voice calls will not be charged for data, even though they are VOLTE

Well, you are statement is little confusing but I guess we both are saying same thing. NO charges whatsoever for calls you make within Jio or to any other GSM provider.

2. There is 3g/2g fallback on the 850Mhz spectrum. It is not 4g or nothing

I am no expert in mobile technology but I know for sure 800-850mhz doesn't necessarily mean it's 2G/3G. Although 1800mhz is the preferred spectrum world over for LTE. I have read from Jio officially and also from prominent tech portals over the internet that Jio would be either 4G or nothing. Over the period of time we will get to know the ground reality.

Originally Posted by Contrapunto

Is this true? I was under the impression that voice calls will not be charged "on the basis of voice pulses" like other GSM/ CDMA carriers, but the data that a VoLTE call uses, will get "consumed" from the user's quota as part of regular data metering. It would be good to get clarity on this, though voice calls are probably getting less important in the overall scheme of things for most consumers.

Voice calls are FREE and so are texts and national roaming. This is most likely to continue even after commercial launch on 1st Jan.


It's surprising to see reports of call drops and bad reception even within the city like Mumbai especially with current limited subscribers. Jio made a huge deposit of 6,500 crore deposit ahead of spectrum bidding next month. This huge sum has even surprised government officials.

Reliance Jio Infocom mis set to bid aggressively for spectrum in the forthcoming auction, upending expectations of rivals and raising the prospect of having to pay more than they had expected. Jio has filed the highest earnest money deposit (EMD) — around Rs 6,500 crore, almost the same as the combined deposits made by the top three telcos, an indication of the Mukesh Ambani-owned newcomer's aggressive intent in the spectrum sale slated to start October 1.

( ET )

So, it's clear that there is no dearth of money. Only problem seems to be with execution and I sincerely hope they iron out all shortcomings in next couple of months.

[S5157]

I got the Jiofi dongle from a reliance digital outlet in ernakulam around 4:00 PM on Sunday 18th September. They asked for Aadhar details and verified it using an online fingerprint scanner. The process took hardly 10 minutes and mentioned that activation takes 48 hours. However to my surprise the connection was activated by 7:00 PM on same day, that is within 3 hrs. I get around 3 MBPS speed in my area. The signal strength is not great but that is the case for all networks in my area as I live in a remote place covered on four sides by mountains. If it works as it does now, it is a good failover option for my BSNL landline broadband.

[coolvenk]

I got 2 Jio SIMs, a couple of weeks before launch.

Data has been fairly good; I am not a particularly fussy user. Also, I like that it doesn't switch between 4G and 3G and 2G like Airtel often does. It's LTE or bust, and most places have reasonable signal and LTE works.

Calls to Airtel, Vodafone, however, hardly ever get through. More recently, calls that did get through have also been dropping mid-conversation. Voice quality, especially to Jio is superlative; it uses HD voice.

As long as it is free, I am not complaining, but especially with the call drops with voice, I am not sure I would pay for this level of service.

[gauravdgr8]

Most of my friends got a Jio phone or a dongle or a Sim and get a max speed of 20Mbps, however mostly in the range of 5-7Mbps. However I am using an Airtel 4G. After Jio launch, they have simply upped their speed from 24Mbps to a cool ~40Mbps.

With the never ending queues and eternity wait to activate, it's best to wait and watch. Prices of Jio are misleading at this moment.

[centaur]

Guys just a question, incase someone can help understand. What if someone purchases a JIO sim, uses the free period and then stops using? Is it mandatory to keep using? I ask this because I feel majority of the people are in this group who might use the free part and then just throw it off. I know its Reliance and there will surely be something to stop this happening but still

[amansanc]

Originally Posted by centaur

Guys just a question, incase someone can help understand. What if someone purchases a JIO sim, uses the free period and then stops using? Is it mandatory to keep using? I ask this because I feel majority of the people are in this group who might use the free part and then just throw it off. I know its Reliance and there will surely be something to stop this happening but still

No, there is no mandatory period to use the sim post the free period. They obviously can't mkae anyone use their service if the person is not willing to use it. I am sure that majority of the connevtions will be off as soon as free usage ends and that should end low speed woes.
I have beeen using Jio since June. The speeds used to be awesome (25-45 mbps) until the free sim mania started. Post that, average speed dropped to around 10 mbps which was still great for me. Currently, there are 3 Jio sims at home and all working decently. One on JioFi device and two on mobile phones. However, I am more interested in their broadband plans as those are superb for cities which currently dont have fibre net internet providers.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by BlueEyes

Voice calls are FREE and so are texts and national roaming. This is most likely to continue even after commercial launch on 1st Jan.

I heard that the "free voice calls" might come to an end in December, apparently because other networks are complaining that it's causing too much load for them...?

This is just a rumour i heard. Donno how true it is...

[sanstorm]

Originally Posted by BlueEyes View Post
Voice calls are FREE and so are texts and national roaming. This is most likely to continue even after commercial launch on 1st Jan.

Another question I have on "free voice", would these voice calls limited by the data used (VoIP calls+Internet). If I am on plan with 4Gb data and using this free voice calls, will the voice traffic gets counted in the data ceiling/usage calculation?

Any views here and other catch on this plan to be aware of

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by redcruiser

Please let me know if any issues. On Aadhar based registrations they already activate your SIM in 30mins but they never bother you to intimate that they have already done it.

Tried the steps but nothing worked. Jio does not appear on the list of available networks. Tried reaching their helpline once but could not connect.

Anyway I am not too bothered. In it's current shape and form, Jio is not the answer to my problem of finding a good voice network. They need to resolve the interconnect issues.

[digitalnirvana]

Cannot multiquote from the app, but clarifying to all those who have asked questions

Voice is free. Irrespective of whether you use native VOLTE or Jio4GVoice. It does not deduct data balance from your plan or 4gb cap. Voice will remain free after commercial launch as well.

There is 2g fallback on 850Mhz which is the primary reason for shutting down the excellent rcom cdma service in the guise of porting everyone to 4g. In most cases you will not need it but there exists fallback.

Interconnect issues with airtel idea Vodafone will exist till commercial launch and POIs get allotted so unless your usage is J2J please do not port primary number yet.

Edit volte and voip are different, ref https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-VoIP-and-VoLTE