Reliance Jio seems to be the buzz word in India off late, and quite rightfully so. The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited subsidiary has much-ambitious plans to offer up to 80 per cent of Indians high-speed mobile Internet as well as voice services in the days to come. It hasn't exactly given out a launch date yet, but the company will likely roll out its 4G services sometime in the second half of this year. Previous reports hinted at an August timeframe. It is now being speculated that Jio 4G will go live in October. But that will happen when it will happen. The company's much-talked about Preview (or beta) offer seems to have already ignited a war (of data and voice) of sorts in the Indian telecom sector before the actual roll-out. Every big company ranging from Airtel to Idea is lining up to offer 'free' services to make their subscribers stick, and woo new subscribers along the way.
The Reliance Jio 4G services (beta) were initially available to Jio's partners and employees, only. These services have been available for them to use since December last year. The beta offer essentially includes unlimited access to Jio's Digital Life - HD voice call, HD video call, apps, data and SMS - for three months. Once Jio's partners and employees surpass the three-month limit, they are required to go online and recharge their subscription to extend the scheme for another three months.
The availability - of Reliance Jio 4G Preview scheme -- has eventually been extended to the general public. Clearly, the company wants as many people as possible to get a sneak-peak into its services, before the actual launch. This would give them some idea of what's in store, and perhaps make an informed choice later when the services are officially rolled out.
Getting a hold of the Reliance Jio 4G Preview offer for the regular (and the uninitiated) folk is a little tricky though. It isn't as easy as going into a Reliance Digital or Digital Xpress Mini Store and asking for a Jio SIM in exchange for a photo ID. There's more to it than meets the eye.
Getting a Reliance Jio 4G SIM isn't easy, but it's worth it
1. The easy way out
Buying a Lyf smartphone is the easiest method to get a Jio SIM, for free. Every Reliance Lyf smartphone comes pre-bundled with a SIM card that is pre-activated with Jio's 4G Preview offer. Simply buy the phone, and you're good to go. Problem is, almost all of the Lyf smartphones suck. Prices range from Rs 3,000 to around Rs 20,000. There have been some price cuts along the way, especially in the Rs 15,000-20,000 price bracket. Still, it's hard to recommend a Lyf smartphone over already existent smartphones. What if I want just the Jio SIM, and I want it easy? Well, I would go buy the cheapest option: Flame 3, Flame 4 or Flame 5. I am personally not recommending the phones to anyone, but if you mind all the hassle and technicalities of getting a Jio SIM, buying the Flame 3, Flame 4 or Flame 5 is the only (easy) way out there, for now.
2. One for the elite: Go get yourself a Samsung phone
Jio has tied up with Samsung to offer its 4G Preview scheme on select handsets. These include the Samsung Galaxy A5 2015, Galaxy A7 2015, Galaxy A8, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy Note 5 Duos, Galaxy Note Edge, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, Galaxy S7, and the Galaxy S7 Edge. If you have any of these phones, well, consider yourself lucky.
I personally used a Samsung Galaxy S7 to get myself a Jio SIM. The first step is to get yourself the My Jio app from the Play Store. That's crucial. That's because it is the Mi Jio app that will help you generate a Preview code (a bar code) that's a pre-requisite to get a Jio SIM. On a phone that qualifies to get a free Jio SIM, the app gets straight to business. In fact, after generating the code it also gives you a list of Reliance Digital and Digital Xpress Mini Stores in your area. Once you have the code, you'll have to visit the Reliance store to get the SIM. Make sure you carry two recent passport-sized photographs along with a valid photo (and address) ID, for instance your Aadhaar Card (original and a photo-copy), to the store. Also, make sure you're carrying the phone with you since they ask you to show it to them before going any further. Rest of the process is similar to how you get any other SIM card in the market.
Points to remember:
Previously, you could manage to get a Jio SIM for free using any 4G LTE-capable smartphone. This was because the My Jio app had a bug that allowed for it to generate a Preview code on any smartphone. With the code at hand and some fancy verbal skills, you could manage to talk the Reliance store people into giving you a SIM. Not anymore though. The My Jio app has been updated, and the bug has been fixed. Only select (Samsung) phones can now generate the Preview code, meaning not everyone qualifies to get the free Jio SIM. Also, they have been probably asked to check whether you have the 'select' phone with you before handing you the SIM.
-- The same phone cannot be used to get two SIM cards. Once I got a SIM, I factory reset my phone and logged in with a different Google ID. I installed the My Jio app again, and it would still show that my phone had already been used to activate the Jio Preview scheme. This could mean that the My Jio app may secretly be recording the phone's IMEI number upon activation. Privacy, anyone?
-- The My Jio app has under it as many as 11 additional apps. While three or four of these will have to be downloaded and installed by default to activate your SIM, folks back at the Reliance Store would ask you to install them all. One of them even told me that if I uninstall any of the apps, my Preview scheme would stop working. That's not the case though. Still, some of these apps like Jio Play, Jio Beats and Jio Express are handy. Might as well make a folder and place them all inside together to avoid confusion. They don't take up much space either. Since, the offer is still in beta, it's better to play safe and keep all the apps at hand, at least for three months.
-- There have been some reports that the offer is also applicable on some new iPhone models like the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and the iPhone SE. But it hasn't been officially confirmed yet.
SIM activation is fast and easy
The Reliance Store people would tell you that it takes up to 24 hours for the SIM to be activated. But, it doesn't. It takes even less. An hour or so at the max. They will ask you to provide a secondary mobile number that would be used to send the verification message. I received mine in about an hour's time. Once you get the message, simply insert your SIM card (inside the 'select' phone and not any other phone) and call 1977 to activate it. The tele-prompter will ask you to dial the last four digits of the ID proof that you provided at the time of verification. That's it. The SIM will be activated and will be good to go.
Points to remember:
-- Do not use any other phone to activate the Jio SIM. I tried and it did not work. Once it has been activated, the SIM can be taken out and used in any other 4G LTE phone and it will work just fine. Make sure your phone is also VoLTE-ready because if it isn't call-quality would differ drastically.
-- Initially, when I put in the activated SIM inside a different 4G phone, voice-calling and incoming calls wouldn't work. But, they started working after some time. Clearly, patience is the key here. The 'other' phone did however have access to 4G Internet right from the word go.
The curious case of 'only' 2GB free Internet
Once the SIM has been activated, the first thing to do is to open the My Jio app. The app would log you in automatically using the activated SIM credentials, but you can also choose to manually change your ID and password. I did not. The app has a hamburger menu. In it there are various subheads. One of them is called My Plans. If your SIM has been activated correctly, you'll see a total of three plans in ascending order. The first one is called your Current Plan that has a Base Plan Offering for VoLTE plus WiFi. Second is a free recharge voucher (FRC) that holds 2GB of 4G Internet data, 100 SMSs and 100 minutes of voice and video calling. Under that is the most important one of them all: Jio Preview offer for Partner (in this case the Samsung phone).
Honestly, I was a little sceptical about the whole 2GB free data thing. I was kind of alarmed as well. Anyone would, since it appeared that I wasn't getting 'unlimited' Internet and everything. The obvious next step would be to reach out to the Reliance Digital store (or call centre) from where I got the SIM. Sadly, they weren't the best help in such a situation. They kept asking me if I had installed all the Jio apps, and if I had I would get unlimited data. No one told me that that's how the whole My Plan chart looks like. And that, having the Jio Preview offer for Partner mention in the end means, the SIM is working just fine. Anyhow, I decided to consume all my 2GB 'free' data as quickly as possible. Thankfully, that wasn't the end of it.
Points to remember:
--You actually get 'unlimited' of everything at high-speed if you manage to get your Jio SIM activated. No holds barred.
Living a dream, the 4G dream
India is marred by shoddy Internet connectivity. The Reliance Jio 4G Preview (for three months) seems to be the only glimmer of hope for the country, in the current circumstances. I really don't know how things will pan out once these services go live. Note that nothing has been decided (and announced) yet: plans, tariffs, nothing. I really don't know if the Preview is just another marketing gimmick (like Ringing Bells' Freedom 251) to create hype, and make people interested. I really don't know, if Jio would change anything as far as India's connectivity woes are concerned. But what I do know is that the Jio 4G Preview offer is awesome. It's fast and reliable, in fact everything seems dream-like. I would say, the speed has hit a minor hit post the 2GB free data consumption, but it's still super-fast and super-reliable. I have been watching lots of Netflix and lots of YouTube, with no buffer at all. Meanwhile, VoLTE-calls are just super-incredible and super-crisp. There have been some odd call-drops here and there but I'd say that's the weather's fault rather than Jio's.
Overall, I am pretty impressed with Jio's Preview, hope it gets even better post the official release. Just to conclude, I advise everyone who can get their hands on Jio Preview, to actually get their hands on Jio Preview before the offer dies out. Remember, three months hence, you're allowed to take that SIM out and not use it any more.
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