India: USB 3G Modems

 India’s largest private mobile telecommunications service provider Bharti Airtel has taken a huge step by launching the first 3G USB modem for working professionals who travel a lot, as the use of such modems will help users to access high speed internet anywhere.

There are also usb 3g modems from Micromax. Various features and prices are listed below.

Airtel 3G USB Modem

FEATURES:

• Quad band
• UMTS/HSDPA 3.6 Mbps support
• EDGE/GPRS
• Plug & Play
• SMS facilities
• For Notebooks and PCs
• International Roaming

SPECIFICATIONS:

• GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• UMTS/HSDPA 3.6 Mbps
• USB Stick Form factor

REQUIREMENTS:

• Compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Mac (OS)

COST IN INDIA:

The above mentioned USB modem costs Rs. 3,799/- only.

Micromax 300G USB Modem

FEATURES:

• Quad band
• UMTS/HSDPA 3.6 Mbps
• EDGE/GPRS
• Plug & Play
• SMS facilities
• For Notebooks and PCs
• International Roaming

SPECIFICATIONS:

• GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• UMTS 2100 MHz
• USB 2.0 Full Speed

REQUIREMENTS:

• Compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista. Limited support for Mac and Linux OS.

COST IN INDIA

The above mentioned 3G USB modem costs Rs. 3,499/- only.

This is a post from Mobile Tips and Tricks

India: 3G coming soon to a tower near you

Mobile service providers -- Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone Essar, Tata Tele, Idea, STel and Aircel -- are getting ready to launch high-speed 3G services from next month.

Asked about the rolling out of 3G services, Sarma said, "I see no reason to believe that there would be any delay." 

BSNL & MTNL has got a long lead, but we all know what happened between the tortoise and the rabbit.Hope something interesting unfolds out of this =)

Indian 3G auction might spell disaster for consumers

The Indian Telecom operators hope their 3G networks will be up and running over the next six months, adding another feather in the hat to the world's second largest mobile phone network, which has some 650 million phone subscribers, adding over 20 million new users every month.

  When you access the Internet with a 3G-enabled device and SIM, the page-view will be near instant, meaning you can also watch TV, play online games, download videos and listen to streaming music on your 3G phone.

Until now the 3G rates by BSNL were cheaper than prevailing 2G rates making it a very consumer friendly service. But these rates might increase especially after the auction has resulted in a licence fee of over $5.5 billion for the government for the 71 slots available in 22 circles.

Depending on how much of download you intend to do, the service may cost anywhere upward of Rs 1,000 to Rs 4,000 per month, as per initial estimates available with telecom operators.

"The numbers are mind boggling and it is going to be a big challenge for operators to leverage high costs and still be able to offer the service at low cost," said Prasanto K Roy, chief editor with CyberMedia's, referring to the high fee for spectrum.

India Telecom situation is gonna get murky

Now might be about the worst time to be an executive at any of the Indian Telecommunication companies. You wouldn't know what to watch out for. On one hand the 3G results showed up and no one has a Pan India license, so if you're an avid traveler then you might have to keep a couple of sims in handy unless we see some tie ups coming. Then there's the MNP situation which is turning out to be quite a costly affair. The inaugural date of the service has seen multiple delays due to equipment shortage and difficulty to get them in as well as National Security problems being cited by the IT minister.

Circle wise winners of 3G spectrum:

• Delhi - Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance
• Mumbai - Reliance, Vodafone, Airtel
• Kolkata - Vodafone, Aircel, Reliance
• Andhra Pradesh - Airtel, Idea, Aircel
• Assam - Reliance, Airtel, Aircel
• Bihar - STel, Airtel, Reliance, Aircel
• Gujarat - Tata, Vodafone, Idea
• Haryana - Idea, Tata, Vodafone
• Himachal Pradesh - Airtel, STel, Idea, Reliance
• Jammu & Kashmir - Idea, Aircel, Reliance, Airtel
• Karnataka - Tata, Aircel, Airtel
• Kerala - Idea, Tata, Aircel
• Madhya Pradesh - Idea, Reliance, Tata
• Maharashtra - Tata, Idea, Vodafone
• North East - Aircel, Airtel, Reliance
• Orissa - STel, Aircel, Reliance
• Punjab - Idea, Reliance, Tata, Aircel
• Rajasthan - Reliance, Airtel, Tata
• Tamil Nadu - Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel
• Uttar Pradesh (E) - Aircel, Idea, Vodafone
• Uttar Pradesh (W) - Airtel, Idea, Tata
• West Bengal - Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone, Aircel

 list courtesy TechCauldron

As of now, most of the Indian telecom companies are swimming around in pools of debt and they're probably going to be staying that way thanks to policies made by IT minister A.Raja (his policies give Indians the lowest call rates in the world!). With May 31st being the last date for paying up the 3G fees, the companies better start working for more funds. Even if they do meet the licence fee deadline, actually setting up 3G in India is not going to be a cheap affair. The race to be the first private player to set up 3G is going to be fun to watch.

Mobile Number Portability has been promised to show up by July. One the service becomes active, competition among telecom companies is going to get pretty intense. The major initiative to enable MNP is to allow subscribers to move across service providers while retaining their number. Once the service is active, a new era of competition would arise with operators poaching hi-profile clients from rival companies. I bet it's gonna be entertaining =)

BSNLs 3G performance

 

Here is a review of the Indian Government carrier BSNLs 3G performance.

Though the service is very inconsistent, personally, its not a bad deal as the 3G tariff plans are very reasonable starting from around 275 rupee for 0.5 GB of free usage beyond which customers will be charged Rs. 1/- per MB. You could check here for complete BSNL 3G tariff plans.

3G in India by our very own BSNL

Everybody out there check out today's Back page of The Hindu
newspaper.. BSNL has announced it's 3G service in India with the full
package of video calls, online gaming, and wireless broadband. I'm so
happy !! :)
No word on the rates though - but i'll keep you all updated as soon as
i get anything about it.