Reliance Jio has officially rolled out the much-awaited VoWi-Fi service in India. Dubbed as Jio Wi-Fi Calling, it allows users to make video and voice call over any Wi-Fi network. Similar to Airtel Wi-Fi Calling, Jio Wi-Fi Calling will be extremely handy for users who are facing poor indoor connectivity. As always, Jio Wi-Fi Calling is a free service to the users and the best part is the support for more than 150 smartphones at the launch. Reliance Jio says the Wi-Fi Calling feature will be enabled across the country or pan-India between January 7 and January 16, 2020. Smartphones from various brands like Apple, Coolpad, Google, Infinix, itel, Lava, Mobiistar, Samsung, Tecno, Vivo and Xiaomi. Sadly, Samsung smartphones are not part of this list, though.
Jio Wi-Fi Calling Feature Announced: What Exactly is It?
Reliance Jio has managed to disrupt the Indian telecom industry with cheap data plans, LTE-only service and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service. However, Bharti Airtel managed to beat Jio by rolling out VoWi-Fi service faster than Reliance Jio. Nevertheless, Jio's rollout is a pan-India one, whereas Airtel is providing VoWi-Fi service in 14 circles for now.
Jio Wi-Fi Calling works on any Wi-Fi network, irrespective of which Internet Service Provider (ISP) you are using. Airtel Wi-Fi Calling is limited to Airtel Broadband for now. Also, with Jio Wi-Fi Calling, users can make both Voice over Wi-Fi and Video over Wi-Fi calls. But the Video over Wi-Fi calls will work only if the phone's dialer app supports it. Some smartphones already allowing users to make video calls with VoLTE service, so the Video over Wi-Fi also works pretty much similar to the same.
Reliance Jio also says the voice and video calls will seamlessly switch between VoLTE and Wi-Fi to provide a better experience. And yes, Jio Wi-Fi Calling comes at no additional cost.
Commenting at the launch of this service, Mr Akash Ambani, Director, Jio, said “At Jio, we are constantly innovating to enhance customer experience or solve their problems. At this juncture, when an average Jio consumer uses over 900 minutes of voice calls every month, and at a growing base of consumers, the launch of Jio Wi-Fi Calling will further enhance every Jio consumer’s voice-calling experience, which is already a benchmark for the industry with India’s-first all VoLTE network.”
Over the last few weeks, we have seen several smartphone users across the country spotting Jio Wi-Fi Calling on their compatible handset. And today, the company has announced the service officially, and the pan-India rollout has already begun.
Jio Wi-Fi Calling: Which Smartphones are Compatible?
So the major drawback for Airtel Wi-Fi Calling is the very limited compatible smartphone list. Earlier today, we reported that Airtel Wi-Fi Calling is now available on 40 smartphones, but Reliance Jio says its Wi-Fi Calling is already available on more than 150 smartphones. Apple smartphones like iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and all the iPhones released after iPhone 8 supports Jio Wi-Fi Calling.
Other smartphones from brands like Coolpad, Google, Infinix, itel, Lava, Mobiistar, Motorola and so on support Jio Wi-Fi Calling. We were unable to spot 150 smartphones on Jio's website, but the company may update the website in the coming days with the entire list of phones.
