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Everyone knows that Jio provides Jio Fiber Gateway or router for high-speed Jio internet at home. But have you ever wondered, what is different in two types of gateway devices in circulation?

Earlier preview offer cost Rs 4500 as refundable security deposit with white Jio fiber gateway. Recently, Jio reduced the deposit to Rs 2500 and started providing the Black gateway device.

It was a welcome change since not everyone was able to spend 4500, even if it was refundable. Because of that only, many used to refrain from going for preview offer, despite enormous free data.

WHITE vs BLACK JIO FIBER GATEWAY

So what is different in these two gateway devices, apart from the usual color difference? When we are paying for something, we must know the pros and cons of it too. Since companies tend to supply inferior quality in the mass run. Trials are always good. Below is a video in the Hindi language with everything covered. For those who prefer the text version can proceed further.

Jio started with White Jio Fiber Gateway device, which was top-notch in quality, had premium looks and packed a good feature set. That’s why it had a higher deposit during trial runs. Jio didn’t want to have negative reviews with the trial segment and have as many positive recommendations as possible.

Now since the repo was built up, they slowly shifted to a lower value, inferior device, as it would serve their purpose. In 3 ways, the new black Jio home gateway is inferior to the old white gateway. To name, build quality, band support, port options, and components quality. We will discuss all in detail. But first, let’s scratch some basics to understand those.

5 GHz vs 2.4 GHz

5 GHz & 2.4 GHz are the two frequencies or bands at which most of the wireless devices work and have their data transfers. All of the device’s signals use these bands.

But both the bands are different for the benefits they offer. First, under ideal conditions, 2.4 GHz allows speeds up to 600 Mbps while 5 GHz allows speeds up to 1300 Mpbs. So in technical terms, 5 GHz has more bandwidth. But it’s not that simple, as maximum speed depends on the source as well as hardware capability of the connected device.

Second, 2.4 GHz has more range as compared to 5 GHz as it has longer waves which can easily penetrate walls and objects.

But the issue here is, 2.4 GHz is highly crowded in itself, as many devices use this band for their signals. Eg cordless phones, wireless mouse, keyboards, etc. So if you are having many wireless devices, there’s a possibility for network congestion which may lead to slow speeds, connectivity issues, etc.

So 5 GHz is less congested, supports better speeds but has less range, while 2.4 GHz is more congested, supports lesser speeds but has more range. Both bands have their own pros and cons.

Mbps vs MBps

This term confuses a lot of people since companies quote internet speeds in mega bits per sec (Mbps) or giga bits per sec (Gbps) while computer shows speed in mega bytes per second (MBps or MB/s). Jio Fiber plans start at 100 Mbps and go up to 1 Gbps. So it’s important to note this difference too.

Note the capital B here in MBps or GBps, which refers to bytes while small b in Mbps or Gbps refers to bits.

1 Byte = 8 Bits

So for calculation, whenever you see speeds like 100 Mbps, 1Gbps just divide it by 8 to get speed in Bytes.
100 Mbps = 100/8 MBps = 12.5 MB/s
1 Gbps = 1000 Mbps = 1000/8 MBps = 125 MB/s

So when we opt for 100 Mbps connection the speeds reported by the operating system or download speeds will be 12.5 MB/s.

BAND SUPPORT IN TWO OF JIO FIBER GATEWAY

So as now we know about both the bands, we can proceed with its implications in our context, white vs black router. White Jio Fiber Gateway is a dual-band router while the black one is a single-band router. This means that the white router supports both 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz bands, that too simultaneously under the same SSID. Black one supports only 2.4 GHz band.

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Having a dual-band router has its own benefits. Any connecting device has the freedom of choosing the band while connecting as per the strength of signal and speed, which is not the case with a single-band router.

PORT OPTIONS IN TWO OF JIO FIBER GATEWAY

Coming to the exteriors, apart from color and looks if we try to notice there’s a difference in port options. Both have every required port namely, power port, optical port, 3 RJ 45 Ethernet ports, 1 RJ 11 port, & USB port(s). There’s catch in the last port i.e. USB. Black one has a single USB port while the White one has double USB ports.

So, what does that mean at the user end? Having two USB ports on the router means that you can simultaneously have two pen drives or hard drives available over the home network for anyone to access. That’s an added benefit for the heavily networked place for file & media sharing.

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BUILD & COMPONENT QUALITY OF BOTH JIO FIBER GATEWAY

So it doesn’t end at port or bands. To cover the reduction of Rs 2000 must-have further compromises, which points towards quality also. Indeed, the black one is inferior as compared to white one wrt build quality too.

Also, its almost half the weight of the white one which may mean cheap quality material used in construction. It may also hint towards lesser components due to missing band and USB port.

Since i had my first connection i never faced any connectivity issue with the white Jio fiber gateway. But my 3rd connection with this new router will create issues every now and then. 4-5 complaints in just 4 months. Even Jio service technician says that the new router is creating lots of issues and we are regularly getting complaints.

Hopefully, Jio will handle this quality issue in the new router’s subsequent builds and provide a better experience in the future.

CONCLUSION

To reduce the initial upfront cost and make it accessible to most Indians, Jio compromised on a few parameters which may mean a lot to some. But this move will satisfy most of the customers as they don’t have to shell out too much to have a high-speed fiber connection.

For the issues part, Jio’s customer care is highly active and they resolved most of my issues in a few hours.

Both devices are capable of providing high-speed internet up to 1 Gbps. Though during preview offer, to limit the usage, white one had 100 Mbps while Black one had 50 Mbps. Still, both were able to easily play full HD content on TV via Fire TV stick without any buffering at all.

I hope that Jio will provide an option for customers to have the White Jio fiber gateway at additional cost. This way, those who prefer quality, looks and better features can opt for the white one. For now, White ones are not in circulation and are only available on special request via the upper channel.