Reliance Communications, the telecom operator from the Anil Ambani group, is offering a whopping 72% discount on its 4G dongle to those upgrading from CDMA data cards.
The 4G data dongle has an MRP of Rs 3,199, but those who are upgrading from their existing CDMA card will get the new model for just Rs 899. This is substantially below the price of Rs 1,500 charged by Bharti Airtel and Rs 2,500 charged by Idea Cellular.
RCom’s new 4G Wipod is available at both its physical stores as well as online.
UPDATE: The offer is not available for all circles/subscribers. Many prepaid users are getting a price of Rs 2,600. (For that price, you can buy an unlocked model that can be used with any operator. You can also get cheaper dongles without Wifi and battery from sellers like Aliexpress and Ebay.)
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UPDATE 2 — If you are looking for Reliance Jio dongle, the price is Rs 1,999. They can be bought from Reliance Digital outlets in your city, or ordered from Reliance Digital online at the same price. If you buy it online, you need to get the SIM from a nearby mobile shop.
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The new device comes with a 2.3 Ah battery and supports 32 users at the same time.
Being on 4G, data speeds can go up to 100 Mbps depending on network conditions, while the earlier netconnect dongles could reach speeds of only about 3 Mbps for Rev A and a theoretical maximum of 14.7 Mbps for Rev B.
Practical speeds on Pro 3 devices rarely went above 5 Mbps.
The discount on the data card can be availed only for those who have upgraded their connection to 4G.
For new customers, the price is likely to be around Rs 2,000-2,500. Even the Pro 3 Wipods were being sold at around Rs 2,500 before the introduction of 4G.
In addition, with each upgrade, RCom customers also get free 4G data of 10 GB.
However, RCom’s offers pale in comparison to what Reliance Jio, controlled by Anil’s elder brother Mukesh, is offering.
Jio is offering unlimited 4G data and voice calls for a period of 90 days to anyone buying a LYF handset. LYF handsets are priced at Rs 5,200 and above. Jio, however, has not started selling its Mifi devices yet.