advertisement
It’s been nearly a month since Reliance Jio launched its services, enough time to analyse and review the user experience, and that’s what I’ve done here, with some help from my colleagues at BloombergQuint.
Now, before I start with this review, here are a few things to keep in mind.
Firstly, BloombergQuint purchased the JioFi 2 Wi-Fi hub and LYF Flame 1 phone at a Reliance Digital store in central Mumbai in late August. It took nearly a week to activate the JioFi device and a little over three weeks to activate the smartphone.
Why the delay? Well, apparently the company was taking longer than usual to conduct the ‘know your customer’ (KYC) process, that’s what the store staff had to say.
One telecom services dealer told BloombergQuint that this was a classic demand-supply problem – that the number of tokens dealers could activate was measly when compared to the tokens dished out at that dealership. After receiving a SIM card, a customer needs to complete a verification process via SMS.
Some customers attributed the delay to strict verification standards adopted by Reliance. They claimed that several personal documents submitted by them were rejected by the company for not being recent enough.
Now onto the review... like every other story, there’s good news and bad news. Let’s begin with the bad news?
Also Read: Reliance Jio 4G: Everything You Need To Know
It’s no secret that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio has been at war with the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which essentially means incumbent operators like Vodafone and Airtel, over points-of-interconnect (PoI).
Jio alleges that incumbent telecom companies are not allowing internet telephony calls to their networks by denying the requisite interconnection.
Jio claims that’s why calls from its network to other carriers and vice versa are not getting completed.
When it comes to the Jio service, a lot has been said about rampant call drops and failed connections, but here’s the good news – Jio 4G certainly lives up to its promise of offering lightning fast speeds, especially outdoors.
If you’re using the Jio service, you can definitely enjoy your favourite songs, shows and movies whilst travelling.
Also, you could use both the LYF smarthphone and the JioFi device as a WiFi hotspot and ensure all your fellow travellers enjoy the same connectivity.
Although high speeds were recorded in a number of tests, in some spots, primarily indoors, I did get some dismal results.
JioFI: It has a 2300 milliampere hour (mAh) battery that the company claims will last just 6 hours, when charged to the fullest. However, from our combined user experience it got us through most of the day on a single charge with average usage.
LYF: While the pocket router’s battery life was a standout, the LYF smartphone’s 2000 mAh battery is nothing to write home about. It cannot cope with the drain caused by 4G data usage, and so it needs to be charged more than a couple of times every day if you are using this as your only phone.
For the purpose of this review, I stuck with Reliance devices, and did not test the Jio SIM on a other handsets (iPhones, Samsungs etc).
Also, the cheapest LYF phone costs Rs 2999, but when the BloombergQuint team went to purchase it in August, it was out of stock. Instead, we purchased the cheapest LYF device available on that day - LYF Flame 1 (LS 4503), which cost us Rs 4,199.
With the speeds and functionality that it offers, the JioFi router seems to be a steal at Rs 2000. It is cheaper than installing a WiFi router at your home and is also incredibly compact and useful on the go.
Add to that Jio’s preview offer of free services till the end of the year and you’ve effectively recovered the cost of the router in that time period. Once the preview offer ends, you can choose from several plans based on validity and your data usage.
The LYF smartphone is a whole different story. Prices as low as Rs 3000 might sound attractive to some, but the phone performs dismally on several counts – battery, display, multitasking.
Others might justifiably argue that at such a low price point, Reliance has packed in a lot of features.
But if you’re willing to shell out some more money, do remember there’s no dearth of affordable and functional 4G enabled smartphones in the market!
Now, along with all the freebies that Reliance is offering, it’s also promising zero roaming charges throughout India, which sounds great on paper. But this can only be experienced once the company resolves all existing interconnect issues with rival operators
But content really seems to be king for Jio considering what’s on offer in the form of Jio Music, Jio TV and Jio Cinema.
Well, the verdict is pretty simple. If you’re looking for great 4G speeds at competitive prices, then Reliance Jio offers you just that. But, if you’re planning to switch from your existing operator and like most normal people, you want to make voice calls from your smartphone, then you’re better off waiting and watching how the battle between Jio and the incumbent operators pans out.
(This article has been published in arrangement with BloombergQuint.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)