Do you still miss the good old 90 s? The era of landlines, missed calls and blank calls (pleads guilty)? A lot of 90 s children will relate to this, remembering important phone numbers was very much routine for us. Then mobile phones invaded our lives, but still memorizing phone numbers was very much part of the tradition. In fact, my then girlfriend had put forth a memorize my phone number condition as part of knowing her clause. In an era of Truecaller and smartphones, I don t blame people for not remembering others phone numbers. Ideally, you should remember at least your phone number, shouldn t you? Well, turns out this is also becoming passe for some, especially Reliance Jio users. Also Read - Reliance Jio: How to set caller tune on your smartphone

Yesterday I was helping my colleague sign up with Reliance Jio s JioCinema app. When the app asked him to enter his phone number for registration, he replied, I don t remember the number, let me call you on your phone to see it. I was little appalled to see that a person doesn t remember his/her phone number. But then it struck me that it s the Jio SIM, which he must be using for free data and free calling, and most probably he might have used his older number to sign up with apps like Facebook or Zomato. ALSO READ: Reliance Jio integrates JioMoney mobile wallet to JioChat; here s how it works Also Read - Vodafone Idea now rebranded as Vi in India to take on Jio and Airtel

Just for fun, I asked my friends if they remember their Jio phone number by heart. Surprisingly, most of them don t, and not even care about it. Aditya Nath Jha, a technology blogger, told me, “The Jio SIM for many is still only free data and calls, we might have used it a lot but aren’t ready for the emotional investment required to switch operators just yet.”

Neha Singhal, QA Engineer in an MNC in Gurgaon, said, It s my secondary number and I use it for the data. I use it for voice calling too but I mostly do WhatsApp calls. Jio is free, so I don t have to worry much about data constraints but at the same time I don t trust it for voice calls.

“I can never remember my Reliance Jio number, because I don’t use it as a primary number. Even if I want to I can’t use it as a primary number, due to the inconsistency of the connectivity. Mostly my Reliance Jio SIM is now only lying in the secondary slot, and if at all I use it now, I use it for data, which is not particularly great either, explains Dhruv Khandelwal, a Delhi-based entrepreneur.

To follow up my apprehensions, I put up a poll on Twitter to get an idea about what others think about it. And unsurprisingly, majority are voting for not remembering the phone number. On Twitter, a few folks also seconded the notion.

neither have i. shitty number. :/ https://t.co/yRlMUuO3EF Nikhil Pahwa (@nixxin) February 10, 2017

@1987Kulbhushan most of us will throw the sim after 31st March, if they charge money Sourabha Shakya (@sourabha4u) February 10, 2017

I haven’t it’s only for free data, what about you? https://t.co/YOs6ULzuXg Ritesh Bendre (@GadgetFreak4U) February 10, 2017

@1987Kulbhushan nah Jio is only for freebies. Order of priority, office number, personal number and Jio Surbhi Chawla (@i_surbhichawla) February 10, 2017

But then there are fellows who have.

Yes. Comes handy when I hand it out to people I suspect of spamming. https://t.co/bnNaCa8B04 N (@coderzombie) February 10, 2017

Reliance Jio is growing at a phenomenal rate in India. Already, it is inching closer to 100 million subscribers after commercially launching in September. But a lot of growth for Jio is simply because of its free offers under schemes like Welcome Offer and Happy New Year. Besides RIM to RIM free calling offer back in the day, I don t recollect any such disruptive offers in the telecom space in a while.

Not stereotyping, but we Indians do have the tendency to get swayed by free even if the quality is not really up to the mark. Reliance Jio has similarly spoilt data hungry people with its free offers, which is still sort of unique in the market right now. Airtel and Vodafone have tried to compete, but don t really come close toJio s schemes. ALSO READ: Reliance Jio 4G has spoilt Indian users even before launch, but we are not complaining

That said, looking at how attached people are to their Jio connections, the company has lot more to do than tempt users with freebies. At some point it has to make some money, and free offers don t really promise customers loyalty. A lot of people are currently using it as their secondary SIM, and I am not really sure how many will continue to do so after the free services are over. As of now, we can just wait and watch how things turn out for Reliance Jio in the near future.

BONUS VIDEO: Jio Happy New Year Offer