satyamsharma

Hello everyone! I have a LSP-340E LG FWP from Reliance and want to connect it to my PC to connect to the Internet using R-Connect ... please tell me what all hardware (like cable etc) and software (like drivers and R-Connect s/w etc) do I need to buy and install for this purpose ... As far as cable is concerned, are both USB and Serial available for LSP340E ... I would definitely prefer USB. Also let me know whether cheaper cables are available somewhere (like Lamington Road or eBay/Baazee) rather than unnecessarily having to buy stuff from Reliance ... TIA Satyam

TRAI recently made some announcement slashing international traffic tarriffs ... newspaper articles suggested that meant even Internet / Broadband rates charged by various providers could go down by as much as 70% ... does anybody know if R-Connect rates too could go down? [merging post]

I wonder why nobody hasn't talked about them - but shouldn't there be a system by which a customer can ask Reliance not to be disturbed by 3rd party advertisements that have become so irritatingly frequent and bothersome these days? Firstly there are the Reliance's ad messages itself ... almost two every week ... some scheme or discount or the other ... but now there are even ads from TV serials!!! - and that too from the number 1232 which clearly means somebody paid Reliance moolah to ensure they trouble and disturb us on their behalf ... not to mention last year's general elections when one would pick up the phone only to hear the prime minister's voice asking for votes ... this is a paid service, after all, and everybody pays *good* money and *hefty* bills to keep their connection alive ... why then should we be subjected to this kind of "official" spam???

Well, I'm not so sure about the "superiority" of CDMA compared to GSM ... if you mean to say that GPRS and EDGE are _different_ from GSM, then obviously GSM wouldn;t even be close to giving the kinds of services we get from Reliance's flavour of CDMA (1x), but that's because "GSM" as a "technology" refers only to the 2G level of that particular standards track - in that case, a comparison would only be fair between it and cdmaOne (the 2G level in the CDMA world) or AMPS (the CDMA-track analog 1G technology used more than a decade back) rather than CDMA1x or 1xEV which are 3G ... but then, GPRS (2.5G) and EDGE (perhaps 2.75G) are very much the _part_ of the "GSM standards and technology track" itself and I really feel there isn't much to choose between the CDMA and GSM "tracks" ... so it more or less degenerates the larger argument between the GSM and CDMA "technology tracks" into a pettier and smaller argument between particular levels of these standards tracks ... in any case if CDMA really had it such a hands-down "superiority" over GSM, after all these decades of intense rivalrly, why would GSM be introduced into the American market which has been CDMA all along (the GSM and CDMA battles is just one of those US vs Europe commercial rivalries in my opinion) ... and I'm not even sure any clear "winner" would ever emerge considering the many other such (US vs Europe) examples in history ... so IMO the end decision really just needs to be taken considering the particular strengths and weaknesses of the specific service providers in one country or the other and then make whether you wanna go with the specific GSM or CDMA service provider ... and as I meant from my post, I'm not so sure Reliance is doing justice to CDMA by giving the kinds of services it is dishing out in India, what with disabling features and what not ... Regarding Reliance diversifying, that's exactly what I meant ... that they just jumped onto this market just to diversify their business and make more money ... and not because they knew anything special about the kinds of technology and services that are in this industry ... I mean the technological incompetence of Reliance shows through so easily in their WebWorlds itself ... those people there know only how to collect bills and issue receipts ... and even Reliance's CC's tech ineptitude is obvious in the way they answered my query as to why 6225 doesn't support RWorld (the support guy said "We don't put RWorld on any handset that comes with radio") ... so what I'm saying is that to survive, merely diversifying won't do enough, you also need to learn something about the industry you're entering, especially if it's the tech industry. But coming back to the original topic of discussion, I did send a mail to the chairman's office regarding when Reliance plans to put Rworld / MMS on 6225 ... let's see what they say ..

I did get in touch with the people at the local WebWorld regarding this "castration" (for lack of a better word!) of the features and power of 6225 by Reliance, but, expectedly, they didn't have a clue about what I was talking about ... then I contacted *333 and the support guy (who was reasonably tech-oriented) did tell me that an application for MMS (click-and-send) for 6225, specifically, was being "thought about" but he had no information regarding when that might be available ... I also asked him what the ****ens could be the reason why Reliance chose not to put RWorld onto this handset and his reply was "there is no RWorld on any phone that comes with radio" ... again, there is no technical justification for this answer, but they just haven't done it ... and I in fact wonder if they ever will ... I guess the characteristic about Reliance that stands out for me (after almost 2 years as their customer) is their insensitive lack of appreciation for customers' problems and opinions ... I think I definitely agree with kshah where he says that their is a certain "arrogance" built into their style of functioning ... which was also typical in the way they handled the accusations (somewhat justified, in my view) of billing fraud by customers last year ... Regarding the eternal conflict between CDMA and GSM, both are good and just 2 (very very different) ways of doing the same thing ... I don't think there's anything secretive about CDMA technology as such, it is open-standards and very well documented and a world-wide forum of companies exists that takes care of the standards and technology development ... I guess the only thing about CDMA that makes it somewhat more centralized than GSM might be the lack of a SIM card that you can detach from an existing phone and attach to a new phone without bothering to even inform your provider and still maintaing the same connection / number / etc ... with CDMA, the identification lies in the handset (and corresponding records with the provider's database) itself and there is no SIM card which means we have to go through a "handset change card" kind of process if we want to upgrade the handset and so necessarily need to involve the provider ... But as far as the question about "which is better / more powerful / high speed / etc" goes, both are equal in my view - both have a technology and standards track ... both can support 3G services ... so, the only question that one needs to answer when choosing between the 2 when going for a mobile connection is this - "which among CDMA or GSM is supported better and has a faster network / better coverage in the area I live?" ... so you also need to factor in the services and support and commitment of the particular providers ... 2 years back I went for Reliance (CDMA) because - 1. They were cheaper upfront (I was naive and didn't factor in the hidden costs and 3-year funda) and more importantly, 2. They already had a good infrastructure laid as opposed to the GSM providers, who, at that time, didn't give those kind of services or speed or quality. But much water has flowed down the Ganges since then and Reliance needs to make itself more technologically adept and updated if it wants to survive with almost all the GSM providers also close to unleashing full 3G services in India ... because right Reliance are just a bunch of businessmen who only know how to refine oil and petroleum and only jumped onto the technology bandwagon just in time to cash-in on the boom in the Indian market ...

Good to see the interest! Well, I am an avowed Nokia fan alright - but this brand loyalty hasn't come for nothing. As kshah's rightly mentioned (I too have had some experience with LG's 6000), LG phones are definitely a pain to use ... but then, I did mention in the last para that at 9000 bucks the 6225 was definitely not worth it - no, the FM radio *definitely* does not make up for the way it has been stripped of its features ... though I do agree that it was puzzling why inspite of being introduced just last year Nokia did not put a 256K LCD on the 6225 ... :'( But the IR is a great feature IMO ... no more any need to "dictate" any number from your contact list to others ... you can just send it across as a business card through IR ... not to mention that it makes connecting and transferring with a PC quite convenient too ... (Yes, sas, you _can_ use the IR / DKU-5 to connect to a PC and transfer stuff / use as a modem) ... Though IR's biggest drawback is that it needs line-of-sight connectivity - you need to align the IR port on your mobile with that of the other guy's mobile or the PC to connect and transfer ... perhaps that's why Nokia's latest CDMA offering, the 6255, which is Bluetooth enabled, would be such a hot phone in my view ... (let's just hope Reliance doesn't render it impotent too!!!) ... Bluetooth is the ultimate cable-eliminating wireless short-range mobile-to-PC connectivity solution in my view ... wonder if there are any plans in the pipeline to introduce it in the Indian market - I did see some 6255-related posts here, but I'm skeptical whether 6255s not programmed by Reliance would ever work with their network (unless someone cracks their codes)! Cheers, S

Hey guys ... My first post here ... joined today looking for some info about the way Reliance is supporting the 6225 ... I just bought this shiny new great model (in my opinion) a couple of weeks back for 9K, and although at the time itself the dealer had told me that it doesn't come with RWorld, I didn't know that Reliance has made such a complete mess of the functionality and power given by this new model ... First off, the 6225 (in my view) is clearly the best phone among all of Reliance's offerings in the sub-10K range ... unlike some other erroneous postings on this site, it is very much Java-enabled, and also has a camera, FM radio and looks pretty sleek too. I use it regularly and heavily for accessing the internet using RConnect (like right now) and enjoy good speeds (100 kbps+) and reliability. And finally, being a Nokia adds even more to the charm. But what I was not prepared for was the extremely amateurish and poor way Reliance has supported this phone ... the manual proves that the phone comes *loaded* with functionality and power, all of which is totally laid to waste by the lack of good programming and service support for this phone by Reliance. 1. The phone comes with the provision of sending photo and audio MMS, but (for some reason, perhaps lack of programming knowledge or software or sheer frustrating negligence and sillyness) Reliance has disable Multimedia messages. Now who the hell would ever buy a camera phone if not for clicking-and-sending photo messages??? But although the phone supports it, Reliance has disabled MMSing because of which the camera functionality is laid to waste. 2. Java - The phone is Java-enabled, but again, Reliance (for some reason known only to them!) has disabled downloading new applications / games to this phone which means it's high memory and power is again laid to waste! 3. No RWorld - I see no good technical reason why RWorld cannot be loaded onto this handset. 6225 is very much Java-enabled. That fellow at the nearby WebWorld said that because the phone comes with FM Radio (like all other handsets with radio) Reliance has not installed RWorld on it. What a flimsy excuse for a clear blunder! BTW, as it turns out, the fact that Reliance hasn't loaded RWorld on the phone (why, oh WHY???) is also the reason why the handset can't be used to send MMS (again, the handset itself is technologically capable of it, but Reliance has disabled this feature!) 4. WAP browser - finally, this great feature is another functionality that the handset supports but Reliance has disabled it too. In hindsight, the phone is definitely not worth 9K ... it is (as I mentioned earlier) definitely the best offering in the sub-10K segment, but the way Reliance has disabled it's features and functionalities one after another (I really wonder why!), it has been rendered totally impotent and useless in my view.