Why I'll Never Rely on Jio International Roaming Again

I recently went on a family trip to the Philippines on one of the newly launched direct Air India flights.

Before the trip, I was genuinely excited to use Jio International Roaming. Jio has such massive coverage in India that I assumed the international experience would be just as smooth.

Because I was so confident, I recharged the ₹1,551 International Roaming pack on my dad’s number, my mom’s number, and my brother’s number.

The pack includes:

I also made sure International Roaming was enabled on all three numbers through the MyJio app before departure.

In total, I spent ₹4,653 on roaming packs before we even boarded the flight.

Thankfully, my own primary SIM was Airtel.

The SIM Wouldn’t Even Connect

The problems started the moment we landed.

The Jio SIMs simply would not latch onto a network. They kept searching endlessly.

After manually trying different operators, I eventually selected Smart, and only then did the SIM finally connect.

At that point, I thought the hard part was over.

I was wrong.

Calls Didn’t Work

My dad was visiting the Philippines for the first time, so having a working phone connection was important.

We tried making a call.

Nothing.

The calls simply wouldn’t go through.

Imagine landing in a foreign country with your parents and realizing they can’t even call you despite having active roaming packs.

The Plan Wasn’t Even Active

We got to the hotel and opened the MyJio app to see what was happening.

To my surprise, the roaming pack wasn’t even showing as active.

I contacted support, restarted phones, checked settings, and waited.

Eventually, the pack activated.

Finally.

At that point I thought everything would start working.

It didn’t.

Still No Calling

Even after the pack activated, voice calls continued to fail.

We tested repeatedly.

The only time calling seemed to work was when connected to Wi-Fi.

But if I’m connected to Wi-Fi, I can simply use WhatsApp Calling.

What’s the point of paying for International Roaming if basic voice calling only works when connected to hotel Wi-Fi?

And before anyone suggests it was a settings issue, I’m fairly technical. I spent a lot of time troubleshooting, trying different network selections, checking every setting, and testing every possible combination.

Nothing made it reliable.

We Ended Up Buying a Local SIM

In the end, we had to buy a local Smart SIM so my parents could make and receive calls reliably.

The local SIM worked.

The roaming pack didn’t.

The entire reason I spent ₹4,653 before the trip was so my family would have connectivity from the moment we landed.

Instead, we ended up purchasing local SIMs anyway.

Final Thoughts

This experience completely changed my perception of Jio International Roaming.

Despite purchasing the packs in advance, enabling roaming beforehand, troubleshooting extensively, and contacting support, the service simply wasn’t dependable when we needed it most.

Maybe it works well in other countries.

Maybe we were unlucky.

But when you’re travelling with family, “maybe” isn’t good enough.

For future international trips, I won’t be relying on Jio International Roaming as my only connectivity option.