Reliance Jio Wi-Fi calling launched in India: Here’s how it is different from Airtel Wi-Fi calling

Airtel’s Wi-Fi calling service earlier worked only in Delhi-NCR. But now it is available across 14 circles in India including Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Reliance Jio Wi-Fi calling will be available across India starting January 16. (Mint)

Reliance Jio on Wednesday announced the roll-out of its Jio Wi-Fi calling service in India. This service allows Jio users to make voice and video calls over a Wi-Fi network using their existing Jio phone number.

The roll-out of the service comes nearly a month after Bharti Airtel rolled out Airtel Wi-Fi calling service in select circles India. The company eventually expanded the reach of the service to a total of 14 circles across the country.

While both Airtel and Jio offer Wi-Fi calling services, there are some key differences between the two. Take a look:

-- When Airtel first rolled out the service back last month, it was available only in Delhi-NCR. The company gradually expanded the reach of the service to a total of 14 circles across the country. This includes -- Mumbai, Kolkata, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Kerala, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (West), Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh (East), Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.

Jio's Wi-Fi calling service, on the other hand, will be available across the country starting January 16, 2020.

-- Another point of difference between the two services is the list of supported smartphones. Airtel's Wi-Fi calling service is available on a limited number of devices. The list includes all iPhone models starting 6s and above ( iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Plus, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Plus), Redmi K20, Redmi K20 Pro, POCO F1, Samsung Galaxy J6, Samsung Galaxy A10s, Samsung Galaxy On6, Samsung Galaxy S10, Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S10e, Samsung Galaxy M20, OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro.

Jio Wi-Fi calling, on the other hand, is available on a total of 150 smartphones from brands like Apple, Coolpad, Google, Infinix, itel, Lava, Mobiistar, Motorola, Samsung, Techno, Vivo and Xiaomi.

This mix ensures that a diverse base of smartphone users, including the ones using budget smartphones from companies like Infinix and Lava, are able to use this service.

-- Lastly, when Jio rolled out its Wi-Fi calling service earlier this week, it included the functionality to make Wi-Fi using any network. However, Airtel's Wi-Fi calling was limited to Airtel Xstream Fiber home broadband service. However, according to new reports, the feature works across almost all broadband services and Wi-Fi hotspots now.

Now the similarities:

-- It's a device specific feature and hence it requires smartphone makers to release updates to their respective devices. Both the services require smartphone makers to release an update to make the feature available to their users.

-- Both, Jio Wi-Fi calling and Airtel Wi-Fi calling are free of cost. This means that users don't have to pay any additional charges to use this service.