Telecom News
Reliance Jio – Everything You Wanted to Know
Jio, formerly known as Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, is a telecom subsidiary of the Reliance Industries Limited. It is a public company, which is currently unlisted for trading as the official services for the public hasn’t started yet. Originally slated to go live in 2015, is delayed until the third quarter of 2016. Currently, the services are in Beta and are available for the Jio partners and its employees only. Though, it was expanded to the relatives of the Reliance employees last year when Shah Rukh Khan was appointed as the brand ambassador at the grand function held by the RIL.
Important Update
Mukesh Ambani has now officially announced the Reliance Jio 4G Plans, along with Free All India voice calls & Roaming. The “JIO Welcome Offer” will be offering all the services for free till 31st December. Read More
Since, then, the service has come quite forward in terms of being in the news as even before its actual launch, there are now around 7 Lakh Jio subscribers. It is all thanks to that extended Beta launch and the availability of LYF smartphones. As Jio is giving a free SIM whoever with invite purchases an LYF handset. It is all under the employee referral program as whoever with valid invite can only purchase the smartphones.
Bharti Airtel – Everything You Wanted to Know
If you didn’t know, LYF is a smartphone brand of the Reliance Retail and should not be misunderstood as the Jio sub-brand. Reliance has been pushing Jio SIMs with LYF handsets, as these both brands have been getting a benefit of being in the same circle. The growth can be seen for subscribers as well as LYF smartphone sales too. The LYF brand recently became the fifth largest vendor of the smartphones in the country, ranking among the brands like Samsung, Micromax, Intex and Lenovo.
Jio has also been pushing its proprietary apps like Jio Play, Jio Beats, Jio On Demand, Jio Mags, Switch N Talk, Jio Chat, Jio XperessNews, Jio Drive and Jio Join on those LYF smartphone. These apps are also live on Google Play Store. Note these apps will only work on a Jio sim card, except for Jio chat. These users are also getting free 30GB of data cap up to three months which includes premium service for the above pre-installed applications.
Moreover, it is also reported that Jio users are among the highest (18GB per user/month) who are using data when compared to the national average of 150MB per user/month. It was when the subscriber count was around 0.5 Million. We have tested the indoor coverage speed of the Jio SIM earlier this month against the Airtel 4G.
Below we answer all your burning in the Frequently Asked Questions for the Reliance Jio 4G VoLTE Network.
Table of Contents
Frequencies
Department of Telecommunication, DoT, is the organization in India that handles the allocation of the frequency bands used for mobile telephony in the country. Every year the department hosts an auction to sell licenses for electromagnetic spectrum. According to the circle, i.e. region-wise, telecom operators can bid for the spectrum and thus eventually are allow operating in the circle if they won the auction.
Before Reliance took over of the company, what is called as the Infotel Broadband Services Limited, they had won the bid in all 22 zones in India in 4G broadband auction held in 2010. Later in 2014, now named as Jio, was the only company to have all-India 4G license in 14 circles in 1800 MHz frequency. They also own pan India license for 2300 MHz frequency, as well as 800 MHz in 10 circles. The spectrum is valid till 2035.
How to Get a Prepaid SIM Card
Reliance hasn’t announced the public launch of their service yet, but their SIM cards are already available to purchase on the market. But there’s a catch here. You would have to buy an LYF smartphone to get a Jio SIM card. Yes, just a getting an SIM card you’d have to spend as much as Rs 5K where you’ll be getting a 4G VoLTE enabled LYF handset with a Jio SIM card.
Though, there is one more hurdle you’ll go through, which is the biggest in this case. You should have an official invite code in your inbox to purchase the device, and it should be specifically for only you. It can be done by getting a referral from a Reliance employee. That is the only fair way.
Note that once you locate the nearest Reliance Digital/ DX Mini Store, make sure that you carry original copy of Address proof as well as proof of identity, as well as a passport size color photograph. It will all be required at the store when you go to purchase LYF smartphone. According to the document we earlier posted, you can expect the SIM to be activated within 24 hours once it’s tele-verified.
At first, you might think why you can’t just only purchase the SIM. Well, since, the Jio is still in its Beta launch, you’re attempting to use its services in Beta stage, and that comes at a cost. Moreover, the brand is offering up to 30GB of free data pack per month, as well as a number of other benefits including free voice calls, free access to eight premium services like Jio Play, JioOnDemand, Jio Beats, JioMags, JioNews, JioDrive and more. The company also promises coupons worth Rs 15,000 in JioMoney account. This all comes in company’s introductory offerings for first three months.
How to Get a Postpaid SIM Card
Currently, no concrete information available for this section. We will add once information available.
Availability (In Cities, Towns, Airports for Tourists)
As we have mentioned that Reliance overtook the IBSL, which has won broadband spectrum in all 22 zones in the country during 4G spectrum auction. Taking advantage of that, Jio has already announced quite a while ago that they will be offering broadband connection across 900 cities in the country. It is unknown that how many cities the telecom giant has covered yet, but it is quite impressive to see a company work at such big level to offer their services.
Initially, the company has started to offer its fiber optics based high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots in various cities as a test run. These services would be available through registration via your mobile number once you enter an OTP (One-Time Password) received on your mobile number. Though, note that the access is limited to 72 hours, after that you’ll have to reactivate and enter your mobile number again to receive fresh OTP.
It has been reported that cities like Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat, Indore and many more cities have already seen the setup of JioNet hotspot services. It can be found in specific locations in the city. If you reside in any of these above places, then can install the JioNet application on your Android smartphone and the app will notify you once it spotted any hotspot service nearby your device location. Though, mostly you should find the service around places listed below.
JioNet Availability in a City:
- Major Bus Stops
- Popular Religious Places
- Popular Commercial Places
- Popular Hangout Areas like famous markets in City.
- Important Government Public Offices like RTO, Development Authority, Municipal Corporation Office, Collectorate Office, etc.
- Recreational Places like Zoo and City Parks
- Elite Clubs like Gymkhana
How to Port your Mobile Number to Reliance Jio
Currently, no concrete information available for this section. We will add once information available.
How to Port your Mobile Number from Reliance Jio
Currently, no concrete information available for this section. We will add once information available.
Prepaid Voice Call Plans
Currently, no concrete information available for this section. We will add once information available.
Postpaid Voice Call Plans
Reliance hasn’t announced the pricing model for its Postpaid Plans, neither data nor voice calls. But as we exclusively reported this about earlier in June 2016, the company is planning to divide its pricing models according to Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Though, it is expected that Tier 2 and three might see same price point. At a monthly rental of Rs 1000, you might get all local calls free whereas, for Rs 2000, all calls might be free. Unfortunately, the limitations of these free calls, whether it is on the same network or would also be valid for different networks, can’t be anticipated yet. Talking about the voice call rates in Tier 2/3 cities, well, it won’t be much different than the current standard rates. For a local charge, it would be around Rs 0.3/min for local calls, while Rs 0.5/min for STD calls. Note the numbers you see below appeared on the IDFC report.
Tier 1 (Metros) | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | |
---|---|---|---|
Voice | All Local - Rs 1000/month All Calls - Rs 2000/month | Rs 0.3/min for Local Rs 0.5/min for STD | Rs 0.3/min for Local Rs 0.5/min for STD |
Table 1.1 Jio Postpaid Voice Call Plans
Prepaid Internet Data Plans & 2G, 3G, 4G/LTE
Currently, no concrete information available for this section. We will add once information available.
Postpaid Internet Data Plans & 2G, 3G, 4G/LTE
Jio would be only operating in 4G LTE network, which means calls as well as data; both would be done at high speed transfer rate. Coming to the postpaid plans for data. As it has been anticipated that Jio will offer its pricing in two models, where one part is all for Tier 1 cities, while second one is for Tier 2 and tier 3 cities. For Rs 1000 rental per month you might be getting 10GB free data cap, while the rate after that is said to be as low as 0.5p/ 10KB or 51p/MB. It would be much lower when compared to existing data rate of 4p/10KB offered by current telecom giants in the country. For Rs 2000, you might get a Mi-Fi device and premium access to bunch of Jio app services as we have discussed above, that is on top of the 20GB free data cap. We have arranged the information below in tabular form for you to understand easily.
Tier 1 (Metros) | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | |
---|---|---|---|
Data | 10GB for Rs 1000/month 20GB, Mi-Fi Device and Jio Apps Premium Subscription for Rs 2000/month | Rs 100/ GB Rs 250/3GB Rs 425/5GB | Rs 100/ GB Rs 250/3GB Rs 425/5GB |
Table 1.2 Postpaid Internet Data Plans
Data only SIM Cards
Currently, no concrete information available for this section. We will add once information available.
Activate Value Added Services
Currently, no concrete information available for this section. We will add once information available.
MIFI (Mobile Hotspot) Facility & Features
Mi-Fi is a mobile hotspot device, which allows smartphone users to use an SIM card solely for internet usage. Like Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio is also planning to offer such device. In fact, earlier we have reported that JioFi, that’s what company is calling their Mi-Fi devices, was available for purchase to Jio employees at Rs 1,999. Note that there were two models spotted on company’s official website.
Out of two JioFi devices, only one is said to be supporting ten connected devices, while the second one will only allow up to five connections. They are said to last up to 5 hours on a single charge with their built-in battery packs. Moreover, if you didn’t know, you could also make voice and video calls using these devices. All you have to do is use JioJoin app on your smartphone, by using VoWiFi (Voice over Wi-Fi) technology.
Jio is said to offer Prepaid and Postpaid plans with these devices, but currently, only plans for prepaid is known. There are only two combo plans, one which allows data access, while another offer both data and voice call features. The prepaid plan JioFi Combo comes with 75GB of data for 90 days, while the HD Voice Combo comes with 4500 minutes of voice calls and 9000 SMS for 90 days additionally including the data pack on JioFi Combo.
APN Details
When a mobile device is making a data connection, it needs to go through APN, which Access Point Name. It is the gateway between GSM, GPRS, 3G, or 4G mobile network connection and public internet. APN configuration must be done on a mobile device in order to connect to the internet. It should be presented to the carrier as it will help in assigning the IP Address to the wireless device, which is your smartphone. Below you can see the APN details for Android and iOS devices.
For Android Smartphones
Follow the below instructions to set the APN for the Reliance Jio SIM on your Android smartphone.
- Launch the Settings app.
- In Wireless & Networks section find Mobile Networks/ Cellular Networks.
- In some handsets, you might have to go to More option, while some custom Android interface lists them above only.
- Now Select the Access Point Names, once you’re in Mobile Networks menu. If the device has a dual SIM support, then you’ll see settings for each slot differentiated in a tabbed manner.
- Select the SIM Slot with Jio SIM on it.
- You should tap on APN menu. If you’re configuring it for the first time, then you would have to tap on ADD.
- Enter the details just like mentioned in the below table.
Name | Internet |
---|---|
APN | jionet |
Proxy | blank |
Username | blank |
Password | blank |
Server | blank |
MMSC | |
MMS Proxy | |
MMS Port | |
MCC | 405 |
MNC | 840 |
Authentication Type | not set |
APN Type | Internet + MMS |
APN Protocol | IPV4V6 |
APN enable/disable | blank |
Table 1.1 APN details for Android Smartphones
For iOS – iPhone, iPad
You’re reading this means you were probably searching APN Settings for your iOS device; iPhone or iPad or maybe both. Follow the below instructions to set the APN for Jio Sim card on your iOS device.
- Launch the Settings, then head over to the General Option, further tap on the Network.
- Under the Network Settings, you have to select Cellular Data Network.
- You should see an ADD option there, tapping on that will allow you to add APN details.
- Note that Username and Password fields are to be left empty. Your device is ready.