Reliance Jio has brought about a few changes to its prepaid and postpaid plans. These have not only resulted in a slight increase in the tariffs, but also brought down the validity for most of the packs. But among the most noticeable changes is the new FUP speed, which is down from 128Kbps to a measly 64Kbps. In this day and age where smartphone users are constantly connected to the internet, and consuming multimedia content on the go, this is a largely regressive move by Reliance Jio.
When it launched last year, Reliance Jio was largely seen as the company that would free the masses from the proverbial shackles of incumbent telecom operators. It’s no secret the kind of changes the operator has brought to India’s telecom industry. Users were suddenly getting used to free voice calls, unlimited SMS messages, and high-speed 4G data without any limits. Even after the host of freebies came to an end, Jio’s tariffs continued to be much lower than its rivals, while speeds remained much higher. It is in this kind of scenario that Jio’s move to cap FUP speeds to 64Kbps comes as a huge surprise.
Living with 64Kbps is nigh impossible. With today’s apps as big and complex as they are, it is nearly impossible for any of them to open when Jio throttled the speeds. Try opening Facebook or even WhatsApp, and see if you are able to see posts or get any text messages at those speeds. 
Reliance Jio already gave rise to the trend of using two SIM cards – one as a primary driver, and a secondary Jio SIM for its unlimited data. But with this move, Jio could be responsible for another trend, having two sets of apps. During the day you would use standard apps like Facebook, Messenger or Skype. But once the data limit for the day is up, you might have to switch to Facebook Lite, Messenger Lite or Skype Lite for them to have any chance of opening. 
India is already way behind modern speed standards when you take into account a global perspective. An OpenSignal report from earlier this year puts India way behind the likes of South Korea, Singapore, Norway and Netherlands when it comes to LTE speeds. The average LTE speeds in India are around 5.1Mbps, which is slightly higher than the average 3G global speeds of around 4.4Mbps.
Can you imagine living with speeds that remind you of the days when dial-up modems were a thing? What do you think of Reliance Jio’s move. Let us know in our comments section below.