Why JioPhone booking was suspended

The prebookings for most awaited 4G feature phone of India was suspended by Reliance Jio just within 24 hours of start. Earlier in the morning on 24th August, Jio sent messages to all those who had registered interest that the prebookings will start at 17:30 hrs on Thursday, the 24th of August 2017. However, due to huge visitor influx to the Jio servers, the official website and Jio app was crashed. Overnight, the server functioning resumed. On 25th August, many were able to book for JioPhones successfully.

Notice saying pre-bookings will be resumed later

If you are not one among the lucky people who successfully booked JioPhones, don't worry. Jio has promised that it will resume pre-bookings soon. We suggest you complete registering interest again so that Jio will inform you when it resumes prebookings. If you dont know how to register interest, please read our previous blog "How to register interest for JioPhone".

While investigating possible reasons for suspending pre-bookings, we got following feedback from various Jio retailers and few of its hard core fans.

1) Most are of the opinion that Jio suspended pre-bookings so that it could deliver all the pre-booked JioPhones without fail, i.e. Jio does not want to take orders more than it can deliver. It is one of the ethics of the company to stand on the promise it has made. One must admire the strategy of collecting only one third of the amount during pre-booking. Because, this will provide some liquidity to begin with, at the same time people will not be worried like in the case of Noida's Ringing Bell case.

2) Few others are of the opinion that Jio wants to correct its image, but upgrading its servers so that the issue of server crash does not repeat. It is believed that Jio has taken the dent seriously and as a matter of prestige.

3) In our view, we see it as a marketing strategy to keep the enthusiasm and curiosity of the people in pace. By this method, Jio is making people to stand on toes to get the prebookings.

4) Nobody expected Jio to close the prebooking so soon. There is a downside to this strategy. When Jio resumes pre-bookings some time later, even more people will rush to the website, putting much larger load on the server. Hope Jio will be ready to tackle this problem next time.

PROCEDURE TO PRE-BOOK JIO PHONE

The long wait is over now. Reliance Jio has officially started advance bookings for JioPhones. On contrary to previous rumours, one can book as many JioPhones as he wish. In this post, we will describe you the various options and steps in booking the JioPhones:

1) Through Jio's official website (www.jio.com):

Visit the official Jio website and click on the pre-book option in the homepage. Enter your 10 digit mobile number (any operator) and click on SUBMIT button. It will take you to a new screen where  you will have to add the pin code of place where delivery needs to be done. If you want to book more phones, add another mobile number and pin code. The amount to be paid for the pre-booking will be automatically updated at the bottom (For each phone, at the time of booking only 500 rupees has to be paid, remaining 1000 rupees will have to be paid during collecting delivery). After completing the payment, you will get a booking ID which will be messaged to all the mobiles listed during booking.
This booking ID will be required to collect the JioPhone in future, so store this ID.

Pre-booking screen in offical website of Reliance Jio

2) Through MyJio application:

Open the Myjio application, click on the pre-book options. Enter the details like mobile number and pin code of delivery address as explained in option#1 above. After successfully completing the payment, a booking ID will be sent to the mobile numbers for future reference.

3) Through Pre-book links sent by Reliance Jio:

This option will be available only if you have received a message or mail from Reliance Jio company about pre-booking availability. Click on the link provided in the message or mail which will lead you to the scree in first option detailed above.

It is recommended to pre-book quickly, because the delivery will be made based on first come, first serve basis.

Check Jiofi data balance through Myjio app

Among the various methods available to check Jiofi data balance, easy one is to login to Jio's official website www.jio.com and check the balance. We say this as easy because one can login and check the balance from any device available whether it be a desktop, laptop, note or a mobile. The procedure is detailed in our earlier post "Check Jiofi remaining data balance from any device".

In this post, we would like to share the procedure to check Jiofi balance data through Myjio application.

Many people do not know that 'Myjio' application can be installed and used in any smartphone including 2G/3G supporting phones. So please install Myjio application in any phone available with you. Also, keep ready your alternate number provided for the Jiofi SIM card when purchasing. An OTP will be sent during this process.

Read our previous post "How to change your alternate number for Jio SIM?" , in case your previously registered alternate number is not available anymore.

Let us start the step by step procedure:

STEP1: Open Myjio application and click on "Open" button.

STEP2: Now, click on 'Sign Up' button.

STEP3: Enter the number of Jiofi SIM and click on 'GENERATE OTP' button.

STEP4: A message will appear saying an OTP has been sent to the mobile number entered, but do not worry as the same OTP will be simultaneously sent to the alternate number as well. Click 'OK' button.

STEP5: A new screen will appear in which you will have to enter the details like the OTP sent, your email ID and you will need to set a password as per the guide provided at the bottom of the screen. In case, you did not recieve OTP due to network problems, click on 'RESEND OTP' button.
After entering all the details correctly, click on 'SIGN UP' button. That's it, now a new account for your Jiofi SIM will be created and you will be lead to a new welcome dashboard with your number displayed at the top.

STEP6: In the welcome dashboard of your Jiofi SIM account, click on the 'BALANCE' button.

STEP7: Once you click on the 'BALANCE' button, the amount of remaining data in your Jiofi SIM will be displayed along with many other useful features like recharging, usage data, profile data etc.

We hope this post will be helpful for you, please feel free to leave comment in case you have any further clarification.

HOW TO REGISTER INTEREST FOR JIOPHONE

In our earlier post "JioPhone - India Ka Smartphone", we explained about all the important features of upcoming JioPhone. In the same post, we also informed about the beta test launch on 15th August with selected customers and official start of bookings from 24th August.

On its official website www.jio.com, the company has provided with an option to register interest into the new JioPhone which is the world's cheapest 4G phone, where the company is providing the phone at an effective price of Zero rupees.

Below is the step by step procedure to register your interest into the JioPhone through its official website.

1) Open Reliance Jio’s official website (www.jio.com) and click on ‘keep me posted’.

Click on "Keep Me Posted" button

2) A pop-up ‘Register Interest’ will open where the user needs to share his details such as name, email, phone number. Click submit.

Fill in all details and accept the terms and conditions.

3) You should get a confirmatory screen with a thank you message.

Thank You confirmation indicates successful submission of interest.

The company is expecting a large number of orders and shipments are expected to start as early as the first week of September. While the JioPhone technically costs nothing, buyers will need to pay a refundable security deposit of Rs1,500 at the time of booking the phone. The security deposit is to ensure that no one misuses the offer and hoards phones. After 36 months, a Jio Phone user will be eligible for a full refund of the security deposit. There are specific tariff plans for the Jio Phone feature phone.

There is a recharge of Rs153 per month that provides unlimited calls and bundles unlimited internet use too—out of this, 500MB each day will be on 4G speeds, and any data usage beyond that will be available on reduced internet speed. The JioPhone can also be connected to any TV, including the old CRT TVs, for streaming TV shows and movies from Jio’s own streaming apps. This pack will cost Rs309 a month, and will bundle unlimited calls as well as 1GB data every day at 4G data speeds.

JIO + 6 MILLION NEW CUSTOMERS

As per the most recent figures released by TRAI ( Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), the market share of Reliance Jio has crawled up to 10.39 % with new additions of around 6 million customers in just 30 days (June-2017). Now the total subscriber base is 12.3 crore. With recent launch of Reliance Jio Phones, a much faster growth can be expected in subsequent months. The pre-bookings will start from 24th August, however the official website for Jio has already displayed a page for the interested public to submit interest into this new 4G phone which is being provided at an affordable price of zero Indian rupees. Please click our previous blog " JIOPHONE - INDIA KA SMARTPHONE" for more details.

The other major players like Bharti Airtel topped the market share table with 23.65 market share, followed by Vodafone at 17.86 per cent and Idea at 16.54 per cent. In the wireless category, Bharti Airtel added over 2 million customers in June, followed by BSNL and Vodafone, at nearly 1 million each.

As of 30th June, 2017, the private access service providers held 90.92 per cent market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 9.08 per cent.

The total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA & LTE) increased from 1,180.82 million at the end of May-17 to 1,186.84 million at the end of Jun-17, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.51%. The Wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 676.65 million at the end of May-17 to 680.66 million at the end of Jun-17, and wireless subscription in rural areas also increased from 504.18 million to 506.18 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscription were 0.59% and 0.40% respectively

The wireless tele-density (%) in India increased from 91.74 at the end of May-17 to 92.12 at the end of Jun-17. The Urban Wireless Tele-density increased from 167.24 at the end of May-17 to 167.97 at the end of Jun-17, and Rural Wireless Tele-density increased from 57.12 to 57.31 during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in total number of wireless subscribers was 57.35% and 42.65% respectively at the end of Jun-17.