anujit

Whats important to note all speculation aside is that Anil hasn't announced any policy for Infocomm as yet. Once that starts happening we'll know if we can buy EVDO handsets this year!

Whoever gave this award didn't log into R Surf!

Only time will tell. Its too early to say whether it will benefit the game or not.

Fundamental problems with Infocom - cheating - Rs 12,000 crore - totally unnecessary. Would have been much better off spending it on customer care and billing! And they have such a poor brand image (as a poor man's mobile!) - no wonder it has such low ARPUs! There has to be major changes in RIM for this to change. Of course dishonesty has been a trademark of RIL for quite a while now.

Hey thats true for any RIM phone with moderate use. I've had the same problem with Samsung phones (191 & 563)!

Perhaps you could move? But seriously I think the Thane area is well covered. Perhaps there is some shielding/interference around your house. Can you try the strength on the terrace etc. Also write to CC and let them know!

Where are you located?

Question really is whether we're going to see if there will be any changes in the way Infocomm is run. Whether they are going to lie/cheat/steal with the public and the govt. Or will it try to be more honest and up front in what they do and say!

I doubt if they're being funded by RIM. But Arun wants to play it safe and not get into any legal hassals or controversies. I don't agree with Arun on that front, but yes this forum shouldn't promote sharing of information that could end up being used for illegal purposes. Of course where to draw the line is anybodys guess as India doesn't have very clear cyber/right-to-information laws. Even so, saying that a question like this one can't be discussed here is pretty ridiculous. Specially since operators like BSNL DOES support this i.e. the customer can get his own CDMA phone and BSNL activates it for them! Of course before you do that you should clear all dues (including paying for the phone) with your current service provider).

Arun: Why can't we discuss this? Yes you can use any of these phones with a third party operator provided the operator supports 3rd party phones. If they do - you will have to take the phone to them so that they can configure it to their networks. Of course where firmware upgrades are required you will most likely be out of luck. Take for example the "customisation" done by LG/Samsung to load RWorld on your mobile... unless the third party operator can flash your phone and load in his applications you wont get those services.

I have applied for the freedom plan in the middle of my billing cycle. Didn't face any of these problems. The rate of Rs. 650 was apportioned over the actual time that I availed it for that month. Also I got a IVRS & SMS confirming this!

Amplifier: I think you're forgetting that EVDO will be a "premium" service, and that means $$$$$$ for RIM! It's just that the implementation cost vs. potential revenue threshold has to be reached before they arm twist the govt and get them to pass all the 3G laws. Or do it anyways and pay crores and crores of fines! Villages wont help boost their ARPUs it will only bring it down.... probably to sub Rs. 200 levels!

Yes you should be able to use it as a charger if it connects to your usb port. Word of advice though - random charging & discharging DOES affect your battery life - no matter what some people say about Lithium-ion batteries! What I do is dedicate one battery for my Samsung 563 for my internet needs and when I'm not on the internet I change over to my other and currently much more potent non-frequently charged/discharged battery!

Its just that your volume was set to "silent" mode. All you have to do is increase it.

Stupidist thing I've heard in years shah. Sorry but it is. And it sounds more like lowly call center gossip!

The CDMA phones are always locked with the service providers specs..... so while PCLink 2000/2003 will support everything from ringtones to wallpapers and the like as soon as you plug in the phone all the options will be disabled. I've seen that happen when I used a latin version of PC Link 2000 with my phone (Samsung 563)!

I've downloaded netpersec and use it currently. Its free.

It really depends on how quickly the govt. moves on this. And they're not moving. And how quickly RIM can get in cheap EVDO handsets (thats a tough ask), although the LG 7130 already supports EVDO - I don't think its done well at all.

What specific functionality does it offer over a normal mobile? Speeds the same. Cost of new mobile (including data services) < Rs. 3,000. Cost of data card (without any mobile facillity) Rs. 15,000!!! Why would anyone buy this? I doubt if the monthly rental plans are cheaper than mobiles to justify purchasing this.

Well I'm still getting ISD calls from fake RIM numbers!

Thanks Ashok, Mohan - program works great! Maybe you could sell it to RIM so that they can give us SMS facilities to other mobiles too (such as bsnl)!

Hi Ashok, Thats a fantastic project you got there! Hats of to you man! I tried to run SMS2RIM -- but it gave me an error - Run Time Error 339. Unable to register MSINET.OCX. How do I get this file? I'm on Win2k in my office.

Irrespective of how BSNL's service would be - and judging by their regular GSM service I imagine pretty lousy. They dont come close at theoritical speeds - 56kbps GPRS vs. 144 kbps CDMA. And for the most parts RIM users do get this speed - I know I get an avg of 130-135 kbps most days. But who would complain if the 1,500 was brought down to 500!

Even if there is a virus you will get the same amount of bandwidth... why would that reduce? Although the amount of "available bandwidth" and your throughput might decrease considerably. If you're using a good 3rd party tool to mesure bandwidth (i.e. the total amount of data incoming & outgoing from your computer) you have some other problems!

Tanveer: ya think! Its all about getting the cheapest stuff here. So its sub 3k phones to India only!