Din

New website dedicated to BSNL ! I just completed it. Please have a look - http://bsnldatacard.com Before you press the 'report' or 'delete' button .. There are no banners, no google ads and no referral links. There is no commercial / business / personal interest behind this website. I found the BSNL data card to be useful and affordable, so thought I will help others by providing the details based on my experience. Please leave your comments/suugestions/criticism either here in the thread or in the website. Thank you all.

Thank you for your comments and sugestions friends @Shaikhsadik You are right, but when there is no other options (like broadband etc), this one is good as speed is ok kinda and rates are good too. Hope BSNL will launch EVDO soon. @Honest PCI-to-PCMCIA adpater - it may work, but that is not guranteed. From my experience, it didn't work, but thats not the final word and it may work. @commonman Sure, I will check it and will post details. @hetaldp Rs.250 is for unlimited internet (data plan). Rs.150 is voice (data plan) and it is not optional, and min voice rental is Rss.150. That is how the total comes to Rs.400. Also, if you prefer to use the data card on rental basis, it will be Rs.550 (Rs.150 as rental) total but it still worth if good coverage is there as Tata and Reliance charge Rs.1500+ tax for the same. @Honest No, that is the rate for the 144 kbps thing. EVDO is on the way, not launched yet. The rate for EVDO may not be the same. I will keep you updated if I get any more info.

Just started using TATA plug 2 surf Whiz (USB modem). Will post my experience soon.

But Airtel works on GPRS (and on EDGE when its available) rt ? So speed will be lower for sure isn't it ? Like30 - 40 kbps max I guess Tata being CDMA, may get upto 80 -100 kbps ? Just a guess, I am not using Tata.

OK, some more details. As per the commercial officer, I am the first customer to use this card in Kerala state ! This may not be true and I never meant to boast here. But it is not launched in most parts. In my case I was very lucky as the DGM here (Aleppy, Kerala) is a very nice person, a younge gentleman who is ready to experiment on things and very helpful. I could test the card before buying, could meet him in his office and could test it together. And the commercial officer here is also very professional, eventhough it was new to all in the commercial office, they really helped me. I got 2 cards, I took it in rental basis. One of the cards didn't work, so I went to commercial office again on saturday to change it, I got it replaced in no time. Card Details This is - Huawei data card - EC 321, I think tata has same (reliance just launched the same brnad). It is a PCMCIA card. Initial Charges Security dep - 1000 Activation - 250 Security deposit (voice - no STD) - 500 Advance rental for 3 months - 450 Service tax - 87.00 Total initial charge - 2287.00 Regarding speed again. If you have a BSNL CDMA (not the mobile one) tower near your area, you may get upto 100 kbps. But if your place is far away, it may go down to 80 or 60. Comparing other providers, BSNL rate is really good. For example, Reliance charge 1500+ tax for the same thing. And tata has no unlimited option ! They charge 1500+ tax with a data cap of 5 GB. If you do not have any other option (I mean broadband etc) and if you have a BSNL CDMA tower near your place, this is a pretty good option as it cost only 550 per month for unlimited internet. Regarding EVDO - as per the info form BSNL, they are in the process of installing it, not completed. The difference is, ICC will be available all over India (wherever CDMA coverage is there), but EVDO will be launched in selected cities / places only (may expand it later). Regarding roaming, sorry, I couldn't test it yet. Also it worked perfectly in laptop and in PC (I used a PCI to PCMCIA adpater).

Using Reliance data card for the last 2 years - getting speeds like 80 - 100 kbps Reliance / TATA / BSNL data card - speed mainly depends on the distance from tower. TATA has no unlimited plan, the highest one is Rs 1500 but 5 GB limit Reliance - Rs.1500 for unlimited BSNL - Rs. 550 for unlimited - but check for coverage

Hmm Does not sound as a good offer. We have to pay the rental in advance and the plan is same old one. Either 1 GB for Rs.650 or Rs.20 per hr (20 hrs - 400 Rs) Seems Reliance launched it to lure customers who are planning to buy BSNL data card - which will be Rs.250 (plus 150 rental) per month for UNLIMITED internet. Oh well, may be TATA wil lbring something like this but sure, there won't be any pleasant surprises

OK, I just came back from the DGM office and here is the update (hot update lol). Special note : The DGM was very nice, hes a young gentleman and spent a lot of time for me, we together tested it. It is a PCMCIA card, very similar to Reliance data card. The practical / theoretical max speed will be 115 kbps and not 144 - atleast with the card we tested . The speeds are good. Tested 3 times and was getting speeds like 89 / 95 / 100 and another thing I noticed is, download and upload speed are very close. Like when I tested using Reliance data card upload speed was always below download speed, like 80 and 48 like that. But for BSNL it was like 89 / 85 , 100 / 95 etc. again I couldn't test it for a long time, so it may vary. The charge will be Rs.250 for unlimited internet access, but the Officer was not sure whether we have to select any voice plan with that, mostly we will have to, so total may become Rs.400 per month. This is best suited for people like me (if it work perfect) as I am spending Rs.1500+tax per month for the same thing now (Reliance data card unlimited internet connection cost that much). Installation is not very easy, but not that difficult too. Just installing two softwares (one for the card and another for configuring the telephone number etc) and configuring. The card is issued only to the BSNL officials now and it is not avilable for the public now, but they will put press notes and it will be available for the public soon, mostly from next week itself I think. There is confusion with the roaming (by roaming I meant travelling inside a telepone circle, not using it in different states). The number is a WLL number, that is like a local telephone number and not a mobile number. So not sure whether it can be used out of that area (out of that particular STD code area) .However BSNL mentioned that there will not be roaming facility - for the time being. Reliance data card is connected with a mobile number, so we can use it anywhere in the state and Reliance card support roaming too, so we can use it anywhere in India (just comparing the two, but not much info from BSNL yet on this).

I am using the Reliance data card at present, with the unlimited internet option - Rs.1500 per month. I will be going to the BSNL DGM office tomorrow to see the BSNL ICC (similar to reliance data card) performance. I will test it and will post the experience tomorrow.

The problem I mentioned in my above post occurs in XP also ! I think it comes when FWP and Data card softwares are installed in same PC (not working both at a time, but installing both) Anyway started using the data card in PC using the PCMCIA adapter and it is working fine. No problms so far. Speed slightly higher than that of FWP but not much Meantime, anybody here use Reliance broadband ? Such a thing exist anywhere ? Or they are still in planning phase ? Just curious. (I saw the links in their site though)

Have a look - http://www.reliancecommunications.co.in/we...nectsearch1.jsp

As Reliance gives not just a wireless card but a voice + data card (you can make phone calls using that), that need an address proof, mostly copy of your passport will do, but check with some Reliance webworld. Check this - http://www.relianceinfo.com/webapp/Infocom...uctPersInfo.jsp Or email them, they may not sendyou reply instantly, but from my experience they reply for every email and they explain things in detail The wireless card (I think the cost is INR 4999 now), you have to buy, there is no prepaid option.

I had the same problm while testing ZTE card in Desktop (using PCI to PCMICA adapter). Tested in Win 2K and Win 98, it didn't work. Then I tried in Win XP and it worked. Did you try XP ?

OK, I got the adapter yesterday evening. First I tried it in Win 2K and it didn't work, I was getting Getting the error PCMCIA Application: Could not open COM port (Saw this thread while searching for it - http://www.rimweb.in/forums/index.php?showtopic=7258) Anyway tried in different machines (in 3 PCs, all win 2K, then in Win 98) but same result. Finally tried it in Win XP and it worked correctly. Getting same speed as I get in lappy and it seems to work for me Anyway will use it for some more days before I make decision

Thanks a lot for your suggestion. Yes, that is my idea too. If the data card work perfectly in the Pc usin the pci-to-pcmcia adapter, I will upgrade my data card plan from 650 to 1500. Then if it goes smoothly for some days, will retun the FWP I will get (hopefully) the adapter on wednesday or thursday. I will test it and will keep you updated. Diff subject : Meantime, when I applied fot FWP, I got connection in like 12 hrs ! Today I called em to chk whats the procedure to return the FWP. Guess what ? The guy in the webworld told me its a long procedure to return the phone and usually it will take more than 60 days, and can expect deposit refnd in 75 days !!!

U can use PCI to PCMCIA adapter - cost will be 1700. But the thing is I didn't try it !! I am going to try it and will let you know the results. I am usin FWP at home and ZTE card when I am on the move (in lappy). I am on the platinum plan (Rs 1500 - unlimited data transfer) for the FWP and Rs 650 plan (1 GB limit). I am planning to buy a PCI to PCMCIA adapter so that I can return the FWP to Reliance and continue using the ZTE card for PC and Laptop. . Has anyone tried ZTE Date card + PCI to PCMCIA adapter + Desktop ? Is there any problem usin it like 12-16 hrs a day ? I find ZTE card bit faster than FWP, thats another reason (main reason is I can save money as I need not use both) As they discountiued platinum plan for FWP, I am bit confused, I mean if I return the FWP to them and if the combination (ZTE Date card + PCI to PCMCIA adapter + Desktop) doens't work, then I will be in trouble, I mean I will not get FWP + platinum plan again

. ok , I could solve it by reinstalling win 98 . May not b the right way , but it worked . Didn't format , just installed over the existing OS . Now its workin perfectly . .

Yes , I agree with you . Pinging by lot people at a time will cause problem for server . They may consider it as an attack / way of hacking . Not legal / ethical . Deepu , your idea is great but as manivannan said , this involves ethical / legal issues .

I am facing similar problem . Couldn't install Rconnect for FWP (LG LSP-340E) in win 98SE ( same error as you got ) but worked in XP Did you check http://www.rimweb.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2241 ? I am going to try that tonight If you found any solutions , please post ok ? .

check http://speedtest.dslreports.com for exact speed of the internet connection . All please visit the link and please post your up / down speeds so that we can compare . Make sure you are not using internet other than the test while running it . I mean no chat / downloading while you test .