iWebLeaf Comes With Cheapest 3G Data Card At Rs. 1300

[Honest 836]

iWEBLEAF Comes With Cheapest 3G Data Card At Rs. 1300

While experts are saying there will not be any tariff war on 3G market in coming days, 3G device market is already heated up.

Latest and cheapest addition comes from iWEBLEAF, as they are selling 3G data card(USB modem) at an unbelievable price tag of Rs. 1300!

Compared to market’s average price of 3G data card Rs. 2500, iWEBLEAF’s 3G data card which comes at half of that certainly will draw attention and lure more users to try highspeed wireless internet services on 3G network.

Interestingly, this is not another piece of Made-in-China gadget, rather it is made by two engineer students of Bhubaneswar’s Biju Patnaik University of Technology, Chandrasekhar Panda and Saswat Swain.

iWEBLEAF 3G HSDPA Data Card can offer upto 7.2Mbps download speed (HSDPA) and 384kbps upload speed. It also supports 2G network – GPRS/EDGE. It comes with genuine IMEI number and a SIM card slot, to use with any GSM operator.

It also has a microSD card slot to double the device as 4GB pen drive. Currently it is supporting data/sms/call function with USB 2.0 interface and can be used on any Windows (200/XP/Vista/7) or Mac system. The device will autoinstall all required drivers and softwares, which includes a mobile TV application which offers 150+ channels, including three Odia channels, including the OTV, ETV and Naxatra TV free of cost without using any TV Tuner or any additional gadgets.

Not only that it can be used as WiFi Hotspot which can support upto 300 computer and 30 mobile phones at a time. All these come with warranty of 18 months.

Though the young innovator duo think that this cheap data cards with WiFi hotspot facility can bring a broadband revolution in villages, I personally feel without any affordable 3G data plan that can not be achieved.

It should be remembered that Reliance, latest 3G operator in town says there will not be any tariff war on 3G market.

One of the developer of the data card Mr. Saswat told that “We are really excited to bring this service for the common public but we need the intervention of the Government of Orissa, as this project will create direct as well as in direct employment opportunity in the state and towards research & development we need more focus and exposure. If the volume of this product is increased we can drastically reduce the product price to Rs. 900.”

These students have already wrote letters to the President of India, Prime Minister of India, Chief Minister of Orissa and also to the Department of Science of Technology, Orissa but unable to get any positive response from the state government.

Courtesy : Telecom Talk

[nellorian 23]

Where it is available please post

regards

Babulu

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

Whether the WiFi facility given by this device is just Peer2Peer Adhoc unsecured ones or password enabled???

[catch148 16]

pls update about the availability of this device

[rajanmehta 4,056]

I spoke to Mr. Chandrasekhar Panda who is one of the two innovator behind this product. Sharing here for everyone.

-The product is ready and they will be manufacturing it here in India. It is tested on many networks like Aircel, Tata Docomo and should be compatible with all networks. They are actually using it for a month now.

-Not yet available in retail market. They are in talks with Futuregroup and if it succeeds, the product will be available across the country at all Big Bazaar and Ezone. They are expecting the results in the next 10-15 days.

-They are not intending to sell it Online.

-The report on Telecomtalk is wrong regarding the upload speed of 384kbps. The device is actually giving upload speeds of upto 1.6 Mbps.

-The Wi-Fi Hotspot Function is Secured with WEP Encryption.

-The Call function can be used when you connect the modem to either a PC or Laptop with the help of Headphones. You can make and receive calls.

-In the 150 Channel TV Application, they have integrated channels which are having web streaming. Most of the Channels are Indian and includes even some pay channels.

-They are planning to increase the no. of channels to 300. The Application has a feature wherein the user himself can add a channel from a Webstream.

-While this device is for GSM, they are also developing a Product for CDMA 1x. The price range may be around Rs 500. They are not sure about EVDO support on this device but it may be incorporated.

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

UPDATE:-

The WiFi Hotspot provided by this USB Modem is WEP enabled... Just got the confirmed news from their team via TT... I suggested them to also bring PREMIUM HSPA+ 21.8Mbps USB modem with WiFi Hotspotting facility in near future...

[sumatrix 1]

Good initiative.If supported it can lead to nice results

[sougatadc 358]

Great innovation!

+1 for Kamal and Rajan for providing the details.

The innovators should consider its selling online for greater reach.

[commonman 228]

I spoke to Mr. Chandrasekhar Panda who is one of the two innovator behind this product. Sharing here for everyone.

Can you PM me the contact No. I might be able to provide them with some business.

[inception 75]

@rajanmehta iWEBLEAF sent Telecomtalk PR with specs, which says upload speed upto 384kbps!

[rajanmehta 4,056]

Hi Rudradeep. Are you the Same Rudradeep Biswas designated as Senior Writer for telecomtalk?

Mr. Chandrasekhar did not blame telecomtalk for 384kbps upload speed mention. He was saying some error in the document.

[inception 75]

yeah i am the same RDB

the post is updated after email conversation with Team iWEBLEAF. Please check now!

[city02 63]

perfect device for me - i had to buy a 2nd USB data stick since my wife did not like waiting for me to finish using the net

depending on the pricing by gsm operators it could reduce the extra rs. 650/month i'm paying to rcom for 1 gb

i think all usb should have wi-fi ability for shared connections from next year onwards

[Greatest 55]

Anyone bought this?? or is it launched??

[copperco2 24]

http://www.onlinetipsblog.com/iwebleaf-cheap-3g-data-card-modem/

pl. pay a closer look at the comment.

[Honest 836]

iWebleaf Refused Funding To Launch Low-Cost Laptop & Data Card

If you are shouting against Brain-Drain, time to shut up. A couple of months before we, at Telecomtalk shared a great story of innovation.

Two engineering students of Orissa made a 3G USB modem which can be sold at just Rs. 1300. Later these two young innovators also made up a laptop which costs just Rs. 5000.

They have a dream to make India more technically advanced, ray of technology will go to the remote parts of country with these ultra low cost devices. Following we posted about iWebleaf data card it got overwhelmed response.

We got thousands of mails asking where and when to get it! Today we got a sad mail from the team iWebleaf saying they are discarding their innovative projects as they do not get any fund from State Govt of Orissa or Central Govt.

They are promised a lot, but nothing comes in reality. Their products are underestimated as these are not made by some studens of IIT or any other reputed engineering colleges. Even showcasing their products on national TV channels like NDTV can not help them to get fundings.

iWebleaf could choose the commercial way and start selling this products which will definitely get them profits. But they like to serve our poor countrymen to offer technology at an affordable price. But all go in vain, the students are joining in multi-national IT companies very soon.

It should be noted our Human Resource Development Minister Mr. Kapil Sibbal showed a $35 tablet (developed by students and professors at India’s tech universities–including the IITs of Madras and Bombay.) in August, 2010 under Project Sakshat which never see light of existence. Some already said this $35 tablet has strong resemblance with some Chinese/Taiwanese tablets. Even HCL, India’s IT company said they had no association with this project. The tablet was due on Jaunary, 2011.

India already refused to offer MIT’s OLPC to students and Kapil Sibbal quoted that tablet as an answer to MIT’s $100 laptop. Indian government has its history of their false promises. Earlier in the beginning of 2009, Indian Government unveiled a $10 educational laptop which turned out to be a substandard flop receiving various negative views. All these can be filled up by the Rs. 5000 laptop by these two young innovators of Orissa. It seems Mr. Sibbal is too busy with his telecom workload!

Today we got a mail from them which says they are quitting from Rs. 5000 laptop & data card project at Odisha. We are posting the mail as it is:

Dear Sir/Mam,

Greetings of the day!!!

We both are very thankful for all your kind response regarding our new innovation. Hardly very few people appreciate for this kind of innovation nowadays. We have been working like hell since last year to bring out this concept into reality. The basic motto behind this product was to benefit the rural India(the common people) who are not able to afford too much to purchase a laptop for their child. This project could surely help increase the standard of primary education a lot. We have been running from pillar to post to convince the State Govt. people. We already met all the higher big bosses of Odisha Govt which includes Hob’ble IT Minister Shri Ramesh Chandra Majhi, IT Secy. Shri P.K. Jena,IAS & Chief Secy. Shri B.K. Patnaik,IAS. All the efforts are in vain as they are not responding in the right way and at right. All of them promised to help us a lot but when the output comes to reality is zero. Our very own CM, Shri Naveen Patnaik despite all sorts of hue & cry by our media persons & also lots of efforts from our own side didn’t even bother him to have a meeting with us. This is the story at our state level.

Now talking about the Central Govt people who are associated with these kind of projects raised a big question mark on the credibility of our project & also completely underestimated us saying that: “how come you people design this product if an IITian was unable to do” because we are from Odisha who is already treated as backward, poverty stricken & flood -stricken state.Its very natural to hear from them in this kind of way because, if our very own state Govt is unable to recognise & encourage us what else to expect from them.

Adding to the above things few MLA & Ministers from the state of Tamilnadu ,Haryana & Jharkhand approached us to initiate this project at there state but we feel that our state grown technology seems to be no use at our state then its hard to deploy such things in other state. As Odia people will not get any benefit of we will start this project in other state. So it’s better to shut down the process of INR 5000 laptop and Data Card.

We both are highly frustrated for what has been going on since last two months. Let me introduce something about our background; we both are from middle-class families & our company is a mere start-up having no such huge financial backup. We have been already offered jobs from MNCs [Tata Consultancy Services & Cognizant] .We have received a number of proposals from private parties regarding funding but if we proceed on that basis naturally the price of the laptop will shoot up & ultimately our motto won’t be satisfied. The configuration of the laptop which we have designed comes up with a price tag of around 17,000 INR for any other brand. So a private party who will be funding will naturally think of his profit & the price will naturally be hiked and our dream for INR.5000 laptop will remain as it is.

But, sadly speaking we are really frustrated & heartbroken seeing the scenario of our Government. here & there also. While this Govt. is busy with the Dal Scam & Mine scams as well as 2G scams.CWG Scam they have very few time left to have a focus on such a nice project like ours. So, finally Mr.Chandrasekhar Panda is leaving for Tata Consultancy Services tomorrow (i.e. 25th March 2011) itself & Mr Swain will be also leaving for Cognizant soon once he gets the confirmation date.

We heartily thank you all for your kind response without which we couldn’t have achieved even a single step of success. Wherever we may be, but we will never forget your dedicated hep & support in bringing us & our project into the limelight .We both are really helpless &hopeless, also sad to say that we cant wait anymore & we need to quit. So, all the public, media persons please forgive us if we have committed any sorts of mistake & most of all we couldn’t live up to your expectations. We hope now you all can clearly understand what was the real cause of quitting.

Hope that no one in Odisha will face the situation that we have faced.

Jay Jagannath

Thanks & Regards

Saswat Swain & Chandrasekhar Panda

iWEBLEAF Global Solutions

Thanks to RDB

Courtesy : Telecom Talk

[Greatest 55]

Another excellent innovation goes down the drain... This is India my friends...

[sougatadc 358]

^

Or was it going to be a failed essay like Simputer, the "Poor man's computer" that was launched in 2004 by Picopeta Simputers Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru with much fanfare and finally couldn't live upto the expectations and succumbed to much better hardware and software alternatives from the international giants?

[city02 63]

yeh hai asli 'incredible india'!

[ashoksoft 83]

It pains to see such entrepreneurship for prosperity going down the drain..

Deeply saddening. For all I know, the project will rise - being a part entrepreneur myself - It took me 8 years to work out a business plan (and work out the working capital i needed) - something which Sadikk had asked me to do ages ago... I have a real strong faith, that post a short stint, the two might be back with enough funding to start on their own

cheers

karki

[anandjm 3]

This may offend some people. But I have to be frank and honest here.

Just buying products from China and screen-printing their company's name on it does not make them designers/innovators of a product. At the very best they can be termed entrepreneurs. While they have managed to hoodwink the media, they could not do the same with the Govt. It has nothing to do with their being from a backward state. When it comes to manufacturing of hardware, India is not anywhere near the top. The closest it came to doing as far as I remember was BEL manufacturing motherboards for IBM/Cyrix x86 processors in Bangalore and a company called JVC manufacturing Harddisks in MEPZ, Chennai. They both stopped doing it. Currently in the IT/Electronics sector, mostly assembling work goes on. Even companies like Philips have cut down their manufacturing in India, and instead procuring the components from China.

The founders of iWebLeaf have got their two minutes of fame. Knowing they could not deliver, they closed down their shop.

One can get Chinese made tablets for around 6K in Ebay India. If you buying sufficient quantities you should be able to further reduce the price to 75% of it.

Edited May 5, 2011 by anandjm

[manishashar 6]

ILeaf topic had earlier come on RimWeb. I had searched for their phone numbers and had spoken with them. I had called regarding purchasing 3G Router if they had in stock. I was told that they were in discussion with Future Ventures Ltd.. FVL was helping them to Patent their 3G router as well market it thru BigBazaar. This was supposed to be completed by Feb-2011. They have not mentioned anything about their plans/terms with FVL. They have not mentioned why the arrangement with FVL was planned and stalled.

We have not heard anything after this.

While Tablet manufacturing could be a larger project, 3G router was not so large. Investment required for manufacturing that could have been obtained from any group of individual investors.

It is likely that being in Odhisa they may not have reach to possible individual investors. But if the 3G router project was promising in terms of volumes and margins, it could have been supported if appropriate channel was selected.

As a consumer, even if the 3G router is produced in small quantities and sold at still higher price than 1,300, I am sure many like me will still buy it.

If product is promising, why TCS would take them as normal coders rather than take them to manufacture the product that is already developed by them?

It seems, it was more of publicity rather than a concrete product.

Manish