Data Card War – BSNL Vs Tata Vs Airtel Vs Reliance
In India, 3G is buzzing everywhere
like Tata indicom photon 3G and Reliance Netconnect 3G, BSNL 3G.
What about the other data cards like: EVDO BSNL, Tata
Photon Plus etc. Let me take a
opportunity to present them before they wash off from market with the entrance
of 3G technology.
There are two types
of data card available in India:
- High speed data cards: All data card except 1x, which gives more speed
are high speed data card. These data card like bsnl
evdo data card 2.4 MBPS or reliance data card
3.5 MBPS comes under this category.
- Low speed data cards: All 1x data card which gives speed from 144 kbps
to 250 kbps are comes under low speed data cards.
Note: Many of the
below mentioned options must be verified in different areas, in your area the
results may differ.
Reliance NetConnect Plus:
Reliance is currently the best wireless connection
in India which can be used for both Reliance Data Card Netconnect
laptops and desktops and the monthly subscriptions start from just 400 Rs/month
unlimited plans for every month and currently a promotional offer is running
where in a free data card is offered. The download speeds are ranging from 15-25kbps when you opt in for unlimited data download package
which is the best download speed offered in India on wireless internet
connections.
Tariffs:
- Upto
800 Rs per month for 3 GB
- 1100 Rs for 10 GB
- 1500 for 15 GB
Advantages:
- Well Coverage
- National Roaming
Disadvantages:
Advertised 3.1 mbps on limited cities only (1.5 to 2 mbps practically) Other
places it’s only 144 Kbps(Basic CDMA 1X network).
Tata Indicom Photon:
Tata indicom broadband offers a internet compatible connection
for laptops and PC’s where in you can surf internet anywhere in India it
definitely depends on the area in which you live, If nothing else is available
and TATA indicom WLL phone
has good reception there is nothing wrong in selecting TATA Indicom’s
WLL service walky with
internet speeds up to 153 kbps though the practical speed is 20kbps only. The USB modem rental starts from 99Rs/month with time based and data based plans.
Tariff:
- Upto 1500 for 15 GB only 50 Paise
per mb beyond fair use limit.
Advantages:
- Better upload/download speeds.
- Works easily with Linux.
Disadvantages:
- Limited cities coverage
BSNL EVDO:
BSNL has burnt in the phone number and hence the EVDO
comes with a phone number on it. The user id is the phone number prefixed with
area code and password is typically the last 4 digits of the phone number. You
can take BSNL 2.4 mbps data cards on rent or you can by it
directly. BSNL’s GPRS / EDGE in postpaid is very cheap starting at Rs 150 with unlimited option of Rs
349. With its WLL data cards it offers
unlimited internet faster than dialup for just Rs 250 per month and this was
much better than I expected even in a rural area. But some part of
country it is not getting good responses. I think tower may be far from the
original location.
Tariff:
650 Rs month for unlimited plan
Advantages:
- Well connectivity
- Unlimited usage
- Attractive Tariff
Disadvantages:
Poor customer service
Airtel Data Card:
Airtel’s Wireless enables Internet, Email, and Office
applications with real-time secure VPN access to
corporate applications whilst on the move. Airtel Data Card is the superior PC
Data Card solution which delivers wireless internet capabilities to laptops and
notebooks, by providing EDGE and GPRS technologies in
a single PC Card package. That time it was on unlimited plans of 500 rs per month. But this data card was not working in
other states. Still it’ was very unsatisfied that time but you can check the
performance of data card in your region.
