Jio and free calls had almost become a synonym – no wonder which plan you chose, it was promised to be free, unlimited calls for all their customers.
When Mukesh Ambani, owner of Jio telecom emphatically declared that all voice calls on their network would be forever free, there was a wave of appreciation and awe for them.
But, it seems were slightly wrong.
In a shocking decision, Jio has decided to restrict free voice calls to just 300 minutes per day. The silver lining here is that, this restriction has been put in place for only few customers, who are ‘misusing’ the privilege of free calls.
But, we are writing this, we couldn’t find the exact clause or rule which can define what misuse actually is.. Is it 10 hours per day voice calls or more than that?
We investigate…
Sorry, But No More Unlimited Free Calls!
The issue was first reported by TelecomTalk.info, as a user named Akshay Dhir from Punjab informed them that Jio is limiting free calls to 300 minutes or 5 hours per day.
When their team contacted Jio’s ‘Priority Team’, they have confirmed this news.
Hence, after 300 minutes of voice calls, there would be charge for extra minutes, whose details we don’t have.
But, what prompted this severe action, which basically changes everything about Jio?
Jio Users Are Misusing Free Calls Offer?
As per information received from Jio Priority Team, some users are exploiting and misusing the free calls privilege, and making massive number of free calls.
In fact, if reports are to be believed, some are using this offer for commercial purposes which has irked Jio’s team.
Hence, this restriction has not been asked by TRAI or any other authority, but has been executed by Jio as per own will. And, also note here that this restriction has been placed only for few customers, who have been misusing this feature.
There is no way to know whether your number has been restricted or not.
Now, the big question: Will this change the market dynamics?
Not Only Jio But Other Telcos Are Also Restricting Free Calls
As we found that, it is not only Jio, which has put this restriction on the total number of free calls made in a day.
In January this year, both Airtel and Vodafone, two of the largest telecom service providers in India, had silently implemented 300 free voice calls / day rule for their customers.
Notably, this rule and restriction of 300 minutes of free calls has not been advertised in their campaigns, by neither Airtel, nor Vodafone.
Regarding Jio, we are really apprehensive, whether this restriction would be advertised in near future or not.
Now, as the interconnect usage charges have been reduced to a larger extent, this new restriction by Jio on free calls seems a bit out of place.
On the other hand, misuse of Jio’s free calls for commercial purposes and cold calling too seems ethically wrong.
It seems that the genuine, authentic users are left in the middle, confused and to some extent, feeling cheated as well.
What is your take on this issue? Have they done the right thing by following other telcos in restricting free usage of voice calls?
Do let us know by commenting right here!
It is not right for all users as it is truly much necessary for a huge amount of good jio users,for many users it is a crazy decision created by jio nd at same time a span of 5 hours is also not sufficient,if they have implemented it for only dishonest people then why all good customers will suffer such restrictions