Reliance has finally boarded EVDO Rev B bandwagon with Reliance Pro 3 plan. One step ahead of competitions, Reliance is offering 14.7Mbps speed on its RevB network. Currently Tata Photon Max offer up to 6.2Mbps and MTS Ultra up to 9.8Mbps on their Rev B EVDO networks. It should be noted that Reliance is running trials in Chennai since March- April 2014.
However it's now official Reliance Pro 3 Rev B EVDO service is currently available to its customers in Chennai and Bangalore - two metros where Rcom does not have its own 3G spectrum ( Remember like Airtel-Vodafone-Idea's ICRA for 3G, Rcom has its agreement with Tata Tele & Aircel but yet to roll out services in non-3G circles). Reliance has been aggressive with EVDO service recently with launching new plans and upgrading CDMA data plans to EVDO. As of now Rcom will expand its Pro 3 services in selected top metros & cities in non 3G circles in a phased manner.
Reliance Pro 3 Details
Reliance Pro 3 offers Rs 999 40GB and Rs 699 4GB under Turbo Unlimited postpaid plans and offers Rs 799 8GB (8-9 GB at 50p/MB & post 9 GB speed will be capped at 144Kbps) and Rs 499 4GB (4-5GB at 50p/MB & post 5GB speed will be capped at 144Kbps) under MAX+ limited plans. All India roaming is available on all plans over Rcom's existing powerful CDMA network.
At 14.7Mbps, Reliance EVDO service is now at par with 3G services which currently offer maximum speed of 21.1Mbps. Also EVDO can offer more than twice the coverage compared to 3G as it uses 800Mhz spectrum.
Benefits for EVDO Rev. B Users:
> High Data Rates - Downlink speed up to 14.7Mbps and Upload speed upto 5.4Mbps
> Very Low Average Latency - Increases connectivity between browser and web page server
> Data Traffic Regulation - Base Station Towers can handle more users along with exciting REV. A in particular Cell
> Advanced QoS - More packets can be transferred with in particular limit resulting increasing download speed by 2x
Benefits for Existing EVDO Rev. A Users:
> Improvement in Speed - Download and Upload Speeds on Rev A will increase by 20% to the present existing Speeds
> Better Latency - Increases Connectivity Between Browser and Web Page Server
> Enhanced Coverage - Users far away from BTS will have better connectivity
The device Rcom is selling for Reliance Pro 3 is actually ZTE AC2791 - same device is also offered by MTS Ultra. The dongle supports RevB only with backwardly compatible with RevA & 1x. It does not support any GSM network. However it includes a microSD card slot. Certainly the dongle is not the device of the moment as MTS has Wingle as well as WiFi enabled Power Bank and Tata launched WiFi enabled Max dongles.
Will Rcom launch a HSPA/RevB supported dongle or Wingle or smartphone soon?