I recently started using JioFi device (bought for Rs. 2899 from Reliance Digital Mini)
It worked flawlessly for first week or so. But now it's showing symptoms of tiredness.
First Impression: Jio looks very promising. The fact that it is/will-be available across multiple bands is going to be a game changer.
I also liked that fact that someone finally thought to use Indian name for their brand. Well done!
Device:
Though the device is sleek and powerful, it looks very cheap and doesn't look worth the price. It's a different matter that it comes bundled with the "preview" offer which makes it more attractive.
Customer Care; The amusing thing about the customer care in India for any telecom operator is they are consistently poor. Jio is also not an exception.
Years ago, I used to be very angry on their dumb responses and talks, but now I have got used to it. There is no use shouting as in any case the chances are that you won't get any help beyond a certain point.
Performance: When on song, it really works well and most of the sites open in seconds. I also got over 20 Mbps speed consistently for the first week. It automatically selected Band 40 (I don't know whether it's good or bad, anyway)
Problems:
1. No Auto-Start: Since I permanently keep it switched-on, I don't use the battery. The problem is whenever there is a power outage even for a minute I need to "start" the device each time. Why can't we get something like an Auto-Start feature?
2. DNS: There is no way to change the DNS settings. Sorry you can't use Google's DNS or OpenDNS.
3. Firmware: In the JioFi control panel, there is an option to update the firmware where it asks for a file to be uploaded. But where do we get the file? Not even the customer care knows.
4. Some sites like icicidirect.com simply fail to open on JioFi (atleast the one that I am using). A friend however reported that he is able to open it with his JioFi device. After a couple of restarts, those sites, including icicidirect.com started working. Very strange.
5. Opera mini: I observed that typically in the evening and night, Opera Mini simply fails to load pages on Jio network. What could be the reason?
6. JioJoin App: The most promising app in the Jio fold.
But unfortunately, I have not been able to connect to JioJoin on my spare phone which is an imported, Verizon-locked CDMA phone. Ideally JioJoin should work on ALL android handsets. The only toast message I get is that the device is not allowed to use JioJoin. As expected, the customer care is unaware about it.
Anyway, all these niggles need to be addressed before Reliance Jio can boast about the Digital Life!
