Airtel Data Card

gautam

There are 2 options here

1. Wireless DATA card [ PCMCIA ]
OR
2. Mobile phone with GPRS activated

I think the wireless data card is much more effective as it is built for that purpose. Though the price is a major factor.

Airtel wireless DATA CARD [ prelocked with SIM ]
Initial device cost = 4000 [ approx ]
Unlimited plan = 1000 Rs
Coverage = major cities

Reliance wireles DATA CARD [ PRELOCKED CDMA thing ]
Initial device cost = 4k or 5k [ not sure but yeah m somewhere close ]
Unlimited plan = 1500 Rs
Coverage = A lot of cities & off beat areas

Mobile phone with GPRS
Initial device cost = Cost of a mobile phone supporting GPRS. The latest the better
Cable to connect phone with the computer
Unlimited plan = 250 Rs [ as per mac ]
Coverage = Depends on operator [ airtel/hutch/idea/reliance etc ]

@ MAC : You either have to go for wireless DATA CARD or buy a phone with a postpaid connection & get GPRS activiated on it.

If you are using a phone, the connection will last till the time you want to use it. Once you done clear all the bills & get the a/c closed or whatever.

If you are using the DATA CARD, again the connection will last till you want it. However the device would remain with you in case you wanna use it later on.

So first you need to decide if u need a DATA card OR a MOBILE phone which will depend upon the price factor mentioned above as well as depends on what speed do you want.

Cheers

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Mac Sami

The Airtel data card is the best option for us, cost is not such an issue.

I need to ensure that I tell my relatives in India to order the precise items needed, so I need to triple check that I need them to get:

An Airtel data card, prelocked with SIM on an unlimited tarriff.

Is that correct? And I can end this after 1 month, but keep the card?

pundabee

When we went to India we didn't bring a phone. We bought a Sony Ericsson k320i with Bluetooth for Rs. 5000; roughly the price of a data card. The advantage of using Bluetooth is that when in a location with poor reception (it will happen more often than people think), typically in a house, it is possible to place the phone outside the house and still use the computer indoors. Generally, people overestimate the reception quality of a data card. At one point, we were staying in a place where quite a few people had data cards. They all had to sit outside to get any reception (not always nice in the evening when in mosquito territory!). I just placed the phone in a safe location outside our room and stayed indoors accessing the Internet. Also, they didn't get connection speeds exceeding ours.

You should probably investigate whether or not a data card from the UK will work with Airtel's service.

Assuming that a data card bought in the UK will work with Airtel, I would do the following:

Tell an Indian relative to go to an Airtel office and get: A prepaid Airtel SIM with a GPRS unlimited Internet connection.

The SIM will be very cheap (price depending on the amount of talk time) and the Internet connection will, depending on the state where it is purchased, be between Rs. 250 and 350.

Obviously, this should be done as close as possible to your arrival to guarantee you a working Internet connection for a full month (the Internet connection will work all over India assuming that Airtel have masts in place). It takes 48 hours to activate the GPRS from the time of purchase.

This approach will definitely work if a Bluetooth/data phone is used.

A prepaid SIM works for a month. To extend its life you have to buy "validity". This is typically done when you recharge it with talktime, but since you are only staying for a month this won't be an issue for you (the monthly extra cost due to the endless revalidation is around Rs. 100). It is possible to buy lifetime validity for Rs. 1000 which we did because we know that we will be going back to India.

pundabee

There is something here:data card compatibility

gautam

Mac : Airtel has only 1 kind of data card so no hassels there. Data card from outside india may not work as the SIM is prelocked in the data card. Double check it as well

What about your laptop ? is it old /new ? have you checked if its compatible ??

pundabee

I don't know what you base this on ("prelocked in the data card"). Not only is this not the way data cards work (by definition SIM cards must be changeable), but according to the Airtel datacard FAQ:

"Q. I am already using Mobile Office on my handset. Do I need to buy another Sim card ?

A. No you don't require buying a separate Sim Card. However, we recommend that you buy a new Airtel Sim card as it would be convenient for you to keep the Sim Card inserted in the Airtel Data Card. In this case you can receive you phone calls on your existing number (in your handset) and you can surf the internet (through a different Sim Card) on the Airtel Data Card."

What is important is not the age of the computer but whether or not it has a PCMCIA slot. It is actually an old standard; some new laptops are made without a PCMCIA slot. It is unlikely that any laptop made within the last 5 years won't have one.

gautam

You are right pundabee, the SIM can be removed from the DATA card. Just checked the FAQ's

Thanks for the update

whiteb

So look, what sort of speed then can I expect if i was using this form of Internet in a place like Anand (Gujarat) ?

I am so used to 512 and 1.5mbit here in Australia, and I NEED some sort of broadband if I am to be able to work while in India. Other wise I will have to offload some of my work while I am away (and a portion of my income for the duration of my travel).

pundabee

Using the phone is like using a dial-up modem. So, downloads would be around 5 kB/sec. 512 and 1.5mb connections download at around 50 and 150 kB/sec respectively. You'll find it tediously slow.

whiteb

Ahhhhh crap..., and I guess 512 and 1.5 DSL will INSANELY expensive, and probably backhaul bottlenecked. Oh well.

pundabee

Just to summarise the speed thing.

There are three main ways of getting a mobile Internet connection:

GPRS (2.5G): 115kbps (theoretically twice as fast a dial-up)
EDGE (2.75G): 384kbps
UMTS (3G): 2000kbps (theoretically as fast as broadband)

GPRS is what you use when you dial up through a mobile phone or a datacard in most locations in India. Though it should be twice as fast as a dial-up connection it is, in practice, very similar in terms of speed. Also, there is, in some places, network congestion which may reduce speed further.

EDGE is available in some of the main Indian cities and is, when it works, significantly faster than GPRS. For EDGE to be accessed you need a tri-band phone or a datacard.

UMTS is the next big thing, which, in theory, should give you broadband speeds. It is already established in the UK. In order to use it you need a 3G labelled datacard. Should arrive in India soon.

whiteb

Right, so we should see 128kbit plans in about 10 years then

GoanCanuck

Don't forget EVDO which is popular in the US and Canada. Two companies in India are also going to be using it.

Mac Sami

Pundabee, many thanks for your reply - sorry for not getting back to you sooner.

My laptop does support PCMCIA, I am aware newer laptops only have the ExpressCard slot. I have been looking around and it seems the Airtel SIM card will work in most PCMCIA generic data cards (I think it would be safe to avoid data card provided by a specific network, as it may be locked, although this is unlikely).

If I sort all of that out before heading off, then all I need to do is get my relative in India to order the "prepaid Airtel SIM with a GPRS unlimited Internet connection", which will last for one month.

Many thanks for your help again; hopefully this has cleared things up for me and other people who are interested in this sort of thing!

I will let you know how I get on.

gamu

I think you should buy the Tata Indicom Datacard .It comes
with a sim card too .