Reliance Jio is facing the first set of hurdles before their 4G service is officially rolled out to consumers in India. Many people have complained that their SIM cards have not been activated even 2 to 3 weeks after registration.
Even before the official launch, there are currently more than 16 million users enjoying free internet as well as voice calls under the Jio Welcome offer.
The rush for SIM cards has been such that they are selling for Rs 200 to Rs 500 in various parts of the country.
It’s All About the Colour with Jio 4G
You might have come across two coloured packs of Reliance Jio 4G SIMs – blue and orange – and knowing the difference between the two variants can be extremely useful.
How Are They Different?
We at The Quint managed to buy six orange Jio 4G SIMs, all of which became activated within two hours. But those who got the blue SIMs complained of a slow activation process.
The orange SIM was designed to cater to the Jio Preview offer, available only to Jio employees at first, and then extended to bundled services with Lyf phone and the JioFi router.
The blue SIM was primarily supposed to be used for SIM process via eKYC, and was later used by Reliance Jio to meet the excessive demand for SIMs at Reliance Digital stores across India.
The demand has led to the overloading of servers with processing requests, leading to delays in activation of the SIM, much to the anger of many consumers.
After visiting multiple Reliance Digital stores across Delhi/NCR, we found that the majority of users with the blue Jio SIM were given no information about when their SIMs would be activated and when the system-generated mobile number would be passed on to them.
Which Colour to Buy?
It’s quite clear that you have a better chance of getting Jio activated with the orange SIM. You can get the SIM in 15 minutes by carrying your Aadhaar card and registering yourself with a biometric ID.
With the blue SIM, you are heavily reliant on how soon Jio gives you the mobile number for use.
It is worth noting that the service is no longer as reliable as it was during the launch of Jio Preview offer earlier this year.
Reports have also indicated that the speed of 4G internet has dramatically come down in the months following the launch.
It will be intriguing to see if Reliance Jio can work things out and get better in the coming months, or else, all the hype around Jio 4G will fade away in a flash.
Also Read: It’s Not Just You, Reliance Jio 4G Speeds Have Totally Gone Down
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