What if we told you that in the near future, your home broadband will let you answer a video call from the TV or a smartphone? That’s exactly what Reliance Jio wants to pull off with its Jio GigaFiber broadband service.
This, and also the promise of creating a wholesome smart solution ecosystem that ranges from internet-enabled television to smart switches. But how will all this work out?
At the Indian Mobile Congress, Jio gave us a glimpse of its latest technology.
The internet at every registered household will be powered by the router (see image below). This device supports multiple LAN ports, including one port for the phone cable and can connect up to 20 devices with Wi-Fi internet simultaneously.
The router then gets connected to another device that acts as an internet-enabled set top box. With this device, you’ll be able to turn any regular TV into a smart TV, similar to how the Amazon Fire Stick or the Google Chromecast works.
The set top box also gets a remote with voice command built into it. All this is yet to hit the market and Jio, as always, has offered no inkling on when the latest technology will be launched.
But one of the Jio members at the booth mentioned that the tests of Jio GigaFiber have reached the beta stage, ie Jio employees and friends are trying it out, so hopefully by Q1 2019 we’ll be hearing more.
But what the broadband does even better is connect one call that can be picked up from the television or smartphone (for video call) or even the landline (for audio call). This three-way connectivity will be possible because Jio’s broadband makes it happen and after trying it out at the demo zone, we’d say it works alright.
The other part of the smart home solution for Jio will be its repertoire of sensors that can be embedded on switches, to lights and even set up a routine command to start all the things one uses as part of the morning drill.
Jio is sourcing sensors for most of the appliances used at home. From connecting it to a security camera, to pairing it with Amazon’s Echo or Google Home, all is possible. They even had a battery-operated switch can be used to turn off light on the go, not even required to fix them on the walls.
All of these sensors rely on a single hub unit that can be controlled via an app on a mobile or tablet. This again is connected to Jio’s broadband and will be available sometime soon.
There’s a lot of stuff going on at Jio and we barely got a glimpse of what’s cooking in its labs back in Navi Mumbai but consumers can surely feel excited for what’s to come in the next couple of years.
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