How to book 'Free' Reliance Jio 4G mobile phone?

August 24 is just around the corner when Reliance will officially begin pre-bookings for its 'free' Jio 4G mobile phone. To many people's surprise, some offline retail stores in the Delhi-NCR region, however, have already opened the booking, ahead of the official date, reports NDTV.

According to the company, the smartphone will be available on the first-come-first-serve basis and the phone is expected to hit the market in the first week of September. Here's a small guide on how you can book the phone without much hassles and confusion.

1. Pre-booking available both online and offline: Reliance Jio's 'Rs 0' phone can be pre-booked at all Reliance Jio stores and at the company's authorized Jio stores across the country. It can also be pre-booked using the company's MyJio app. There's also an option to pre-book the device by sending an SMS. To pre-book JioPhone, you just have to send an SMS by typing in JP<>your area PIN code<>Jio Store code near your locality and send it to 7021170211.

2. Booking with Aadhaar number: To book JioPhone, you will need to submit a copy of your Aadhaar card with the authorized Jio retailer. You can get only one unit per Aadhaar number across the country. Though the effective price of the phone is Rs 0, you will have to pay a refundable security deposit of Rs 1500 when you finally go to pick up the phone.

3. Delivery date: At the Reliance AGM, Mukesh Ambani merely mentioned September as the month of delivery, without specifying any particular date. According to NDTV report, the JioPhone delivery date for those who place the order right now will be between September 1 and September 4. This date is, however, expected to swell up as the number of bookings increases over the coming weeks.