Jio Brings Happy New Year Offer, Free Services til 31st March 2017

As Jio promised to extend its free offerings to the subscribers til 31st March 2017, we are now getting texts from Jio regarding that too.

MyJio app also started showing migration notice: 

5 Roadblocks for Jio to Win over Incumbents

Jio, the digital platform from the house of Reliance Industries has shaken the Indian telecom and digital scenario in a way which nobody can ignore. India’s business tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s ambitious greenfield telecom project Jio is being targeted as a digital platform over Jio’s own LTE network expanding over 2300MHz, 1800MHz and 850MHz.

However Jio’s datagiri sees roadblocks in many ways, so that the company has to extend its unlimited offerings for another 3 months til 31st of March, 2017.

Voice Network Yet to be Stable

Unlike existing players who depend on 2G/3G networks for voice calls Jio offers voice over LTE network. Though technically Jio’s VoLTE is better than traditional voice network there are many glitches which are experienced by subscribers of Jio. Jio did a great job to open up the interconnectivity between other operators after a fight but that’s not enough.

For example I often can’t make calls when data connectivity is on, I need to switch off data before making the call. Sometimes there is no sound during a call.

Being voice is the major applications on a telecom network, nobody would make Jio as their primary connection, rather use others who have stable voice network.

2020 September Update: Jio now has very stable IP based VoLTE services. 

Coverage Issues

Jio on its first go, have covered almost 70-80% of areas but in many places it has no network. During my travel to Harit, 30km away from Kolkata there is no Jio network. Similar to this Bakkhali, a popular beach in West Bengal has no Jio 4G coverage.

However this is the initial days of Jio and they will definitely iron out coverage issues.

2020 September Update: Jio now has widest 4G coverage. Thanks to Jio's LTE800 the indoor coverage is also best among 4G operators. 

Technical Help is Almost Nil

Apart from Reliance Digital Stores and toll free helplines Jio subscribers have nowhere to go to seek help. But I often faced the situation where Digital guys could not solve the problems.

Jio need to take care of it, very seriously. They should use the social media to tackle issues of subscribers like Airtel, Vodafone and others as they use Twitter to reach customers and solve their problems.

2020 September Update: Jio ironed out most technical glitches in a way, that you don't need the help 95% of times. 

Competition from Others

Thankfully launch of Jio brings super affordable data & voice services from almost all operators. Airtel, Vodafone & Idea has responded accordingly and the game is not won by Jio. Price game is yet to work for Jio and Jio remains to be the second SIM on our daily usage.

If you follow Airtel’s latest traffic revision, they are offering unlimited calls & 1GB data at Rs 350 approx. and 4GB data at Rs 250. So in total for Rs 600 you are getting offers similar to Jio on a stable (if not superior) network.

2020 September Update: Competition is there, market is consolidated heavily - the active operators are now Jio, Airtel, Vi and BSNL-MTNL. Tariff revision happened, and Jio is no more cheapest operator. More or less every operator offer the same. Phone calls are virtually free thanks to unlimited calling + calling over apps, if you spend Rs 5-6 per day. 

Slow Data Network

Lastly we must talk about Jio’s slower data services on its legacy LTE network. As Jio’s services are free, nobody is nagging regarding it. But it’s an important issue that Jio must resolve before subscribers start paying for it. Right now on my personal experience Airtel & Vodafone’s 3G & 4G services are better in terms of speed and stability.

2020 September Update: In my experience Airtel still offers most robust 4G network, but inside a house Jio is better - based in Barrackpore. But whenever I go to Kolkata metropolitan area, the signals of all operators seem to be same. 


Many may think that I am too much negative and getting harsh on this new baby of Indian telecom, for them I had something to say: this new boy has country's richest dad, so don't spoil him.

The article was first published on Telecomtalk.info on 21st Dec, 2016.

Indian Rail's UTS App for Suburban Ticket Booking

Indian Rail has introduced a new app - UTS for suburabn ticket booking. I found it immensely helpful.

However few days back I found that I could not log in to buy a ticket. Instead I am getting this message:

Please Login using registered Handset or give Handset Change Request from website www.utsonmobile.indianrail.gov.in

Though I did not change my mobile, the error occured. The issue is solved after logging in to that mentioned website and requesting handset change option.

But there is a catch, the process did not work on mobile, I had to open that link on laptop and log in to do so. 

[Press Release] Now Donate Digitally with FreeCharge

Akshaya Patra, MagicBus tie-up with FreeCharge in the Season of Joy

Donors and NGOs go cashless to continue their support

National, December 02, 2016:  It is the season to share the joy and spread some smiles. It is also the time when the cold weather in parts of the country makes life harder for the under-privileged. The demonetization move has suddenly impacted the ability of NGOs to receive contributions from willing donors. 

In such times, FreeCharge, India’s fastest growing digital payments platform, is doing its bit to help create digital donations bridges through its app. In a recently launched feature, it now has a “Donate” button on its app, through which FreeCharge users can make instant donations to leading NGOs in the country. The Akshaya Patra Foundation; Magic Bus India Foundation; GiveIndia powered - Maitri India, Foundation for Mother and Child Health, Abhoy Mission; other NGOs and Nizamuddin Dargah are already live on FreeCharge. Many more NGOs catering to the causes such as children’s education, mother and child care, care for the elderly will get added over the next few weeks.

Commenting on FreeCharge’s donations category, Mr. Govind Rajan, CEO, FreeCharge said, “Our users had reached out to us expressing their desire to be able to donate through FreeCharge. Volunteers in our product and technology team worked to roll out this feature quickly. Use of digital wallets for nonprofit contributions is a great idea that helps users stay connected with the causes they care for, in a seamless manner. In the past few days, hundreds of users have connected with us requesting to add NGOs of their choice and we are in the process of making that happen.”