Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Join the 3G Revolution! Data Card Magic!!

Internet was introduced in India during the end of 1990's. By then we had Windows 95 / 98 with Pentium II / III  / Celeron processor and 16/32 MB RAM and 1/2 GB Hard Drive. Dishnet and Sify Provided Internet Dial-Up Services. It took even hours to get connected to the internet. There was separate charges for telephone and ISP. Since the cost is huge only few afford to have internet connection at home. Browsing centers were charge about 40 rupees per hour.
Now the situation has changed. Revolution in telecom industry changed everything. There are so many players like BSNL, Reliance, TATA, Aircel, Airtel, Idea, Uninor etc.
Personal Computer price has dropped dramatically. Now you can own Intel Atom processor Powered PC with 2 GB RAM, 500 GM Hard Drive, 15.5" TFT Monitor for as low as Rs. 13000.

Now come to the internet connection. For those living in cities have many options. BSNL, Airtel, Reliance and other players have infrastructure for landline based broadband internet. For example 2 MBPS unlimited connection is available at Rs. 2000 per month in Tirupur. For those living in rural and village areas options are limited. BSNL network is the only option for rural areas. With the advent of Wireless broadband the situation has changed. Wireless broadband was first offered on CDMA networks like Reliance. Reliance offers netconnect broadband. TATA Indicom offers Photon. MTS entered the market lately and acquired market in Tamilnadu and other states. For these connections you have to buy USB Data Cards which are network locked. That means you can use these device on their particular networks only. The situation changed with the  emergence of 3G data cards. Theoretically they offer upto 7.2 MBPS download speeds. My home is located in a remote area and i don't have many options for internet. So i wanted to try 3G cards. I use Aircel (Coimbatore). and have quiet good coverage in my area. I bought 3G card through ebay. Huawei E173 cost Rs. 1600 inclusive of shipping. After inserting the card autorun will install modem drivers and also Mobile partner software. You have to activate 3G plan. For example in Aircel send messsage 'START 3G' to 121. It will be activated in 1 or 2 hours. For me it was activated in 10 minutes. You can also use the card only with GPRS/EDGE connected. But this is very slow. Put your SIM card in the slot of 3G card. Insert it in the USB port and open the mobile partner software. If 3G is activated on the SIM it will show WCDMA AIRCEL on the lower left corner with signal strength. In profile name select Aircel (If you use Aircel SIM) and click connect. Now you are connected to the superfast 3G network. Now on the lower left you can see HSPA Aircel. Open your browser and start browsing. You can watch streaming videos, read mails, use social networks like facebook and download files, pictures, videos with the 3G speed. In my case i recharged only for 3 days Aircel Pocket internet for Rs. 14. Before activating 3G it worked in EDGE mode. I did not recharge for 3G. After activating 3G it worked at about 1.5 MBPS. At speedtest.net i get around 1.6 MBPS speed. You can take this data card in your pocket and use it anywhere in laptop / pc wherever 3G network is available!. So try this amazing piece of technological marvel.

Privacy Policy