Reliance Jio offers unlimited free calls and 4G LTE data till December 2016. I have recently got the Jio sim card, of course to get free 4G internet ???? .
Speed
This Economic times article says Jio offers 17.34 Mbit/s down speed.
But I get about 4 – 7 Mbps download speed on average when in full range. Speed measured with fast.com
I was very happy about this until I searched the internet for 4G LTE speeds.
| LTE | |
|---|---|
| Peak download | 100 Mbit/s |
| Peak upload | 50 Mbit/s |
Stolen from – Wikipedia.org
OK there is nothing here to be unhappy about, everybody knows that’s not going to happen. But let’s look at the average speeds in other countries.
| UK | 16 – 25 Mbit/s |
| USA | 9 – 16 Mbit/s |
Stolen from – Opensignal.com
Hmmm… ????
Maybe Opensignal results from india would also show similar results and the speed may vary in different parts of India.
So the question is am I happy with the speeds that I get?
A – I am, very much.
Why Jio calls are free?
The answer is they are not. Jio offers unlimited calls for a fixed charge and does not charge you by duration of the call like other providers.
For example if we look at their 149 plan, it offers 400 MB of 4G data and unlimited Local/STD calls for a period of 28 days from charging.
After 28 days if you do not recharge, the calls are no more free.
But when compared to other providers who charge separately and too much for data, calls and sms, the Jio offer looks pretty good.
How does Jio calls work?
Jio uses VoLTE standard for making calls. Unlike other providers Jio only has 4G LTE networks plus their wifi network as given in their website.
So calls pass through the LTE network following a protocol known as VoLTE (Voice over LTE). But other providers use 2G network with GSM protocol to make voice calls.
Essentially the voice is broken down and send as data packets.
Any LTE enabled phone can can make voice calls with Jio. But the phone must have the necessary software that supports the VoLTE protocol. Your phone may already have this or you can get it from doing an OS upgrade.
Jio provides the Jio voice app for phones that do not support VoLTE.
Does Reliance sent our personal data to ad networks?
Anonymous India Claims That Reliance Jio Is Sharing Call Data With Advertisers.
The above article says that Anonymous India, a hacker group claimed Jio apps are sending user call data to servers in US and Singapore and also to an ad network.
The group has also made more claims and Reliance has answered the concerns.
Anonymous post – Told truth with facts about Reliance Jio Chat app, targeted by Reliance Media Director.
Reliance reply – A statement by Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.
Any provider can view or sell user data unless it is encrypted at a higher level because it just passes through their gateways. But it would be illegal to do so without mentioning it in their terms and conditions.
But the privacy policy in Jio website says
Improving your experience while using our services by presenting advertising, products and offers tailored to you;
And in the collection of information section it says
Usage logs/Server logs/Cookies which may contain details of your personal or sensitive personal information.
Conclusion : Hmmm… ????
Unlimited at night
No, Jio does not offer unlimited internet through out the night. It’s just from 2 am to 5 am. We get unlimited internet for 3 hours a day, but at that part of the day when we least need it. Thank you Mr. Ambani ????.
Rates
And finally Jio offers its services at the cheapest rates India has ever seen. So what are you waiting for go get it, at least when everything is free. Prove your Indian-ness ???? .