In what may be shocking and unexpected revelation, new-comer Reliance Jio said to offer comparatively lower data speeds in India.
According to the tests conducted on TRAI’s MySpeed portal and Mobile App, Reliance Jio offers 4G speeds which are comparatively lower than most other major telecom operators in India. The newly launched telecom operator could offer just 6.2 Mbps on an average to its customers across India tailing behind the likes of Airtel, and even Vodafone.
The MySpeed portal ranks Airtel as the fastest with average speeds peaking at 11.4 Mbps. Even Vodafone managed to offer an average speed of 7.3 Mbps. Reliance Jio has however contested the speed results claiming that they do not provide a fair comparison. The operator also claimed that most of the results were calculated based on usage after the daily fair usage policy (FUP) limit.
Speaking about the findings, Jio, said, “With reference to statistics published on Trai’s analytics website, we have performed an internal analysis of the same. Based on this analysis, we believe that the comparison of Jio speeds with other operators has an inherent bias against Jio data usage.”
Update: Statement from Reliance Jio
“With reference to statistics published TRAI’s analytics website, we have performed an internal analysis of the same. Based on this analysis, we believe that the comparison of Jio speeds with other operators has an inherent bias against Jio data usage. The nature of this skew is explained below.
As you may be aware, under the Jio Welcome Offer, there is a daily fair usage policy (FUP) limit of 4GB data consumption per user. This limit has been setup with the express intention of preventing heavy data users from degrading the experience of other users.
Before this FUP limit is reached, Jio customers enjoy unmatched 4G LTE speeds on the Jio network. However, after the FUP usage limit is reached, speeds are reduced to 256kbps. Full 4G LTE speeds are once again restored once the next 24-hour period begins.
Historically, we have observed that a disproportionate number of speed tests are performed once the FUP comes into effect. This is so since most users don’t consider performing the test until they observe a deterioration of speed. Such users also tend to perform multiple tests until full speeds are restored.
Given that data usage under Jio Welcome Offer is completely free, a higher proportion of Jio users run up against the FUP limit. In comparison, not all non-Jio users have FUP based plans (rather their usage is completely stopped, and they are entirely prevented from performing the speed test), and even those who have FUP based plans face this situation only once a month. Further, such customers tend to recharge quickly and restore full speeds.
This difference in the offer structures, and associated customer behaviors, result in a large proportion of the speed tests being conducted on Jio network when the speeds are reduced via FUP to 256kbps. This has the effect of dragging the average far below the speeds experienced by Jio customers who are enjoying full 4G LTE speeds.
Having said that, we continuously measure the speeds experienced by Jio customers – adjusting for factors such as FUP, and are proactively working to improve service levels for all our customers.”
