Airtel GPRS - Information about my not so regular Internet connection.

I use a SAMSUNG SGH-C200N handset coupled with Airtel (a GSM Service Provider in Asia)

GPRS to connect to the internet.

Here is a review about my Internet Connection

- Points

> By default Windows always shows the connection speed to an outstanding 115.6 KBps. Although, from what I have seen via the connection status, when downloading files from a good server, the maximum speed that I get is around 5 Kbps. During the peak hours, the connection's speed deteriorates and the data transmission becomes intermittent. Every Page (except for good ol' Google) needs to be refreshed once or twice to be displayed properly.
> Quite often Airtel's server goes down for maintainence. (Atleast once weekly)
> Proxy server (Some sites won't allow me to access certain features because of Airtel using a proxy

Internet server)
> Pay whether you use the Internet or not

+ Points

> No Username/ Password (as in the case of BSNL dialups) required. That throws the question of getting my password hacked and used by someother person out of the window.
> Time to connect is very less, about 6-9 secs on an average
> Very Handy (Connect to your laptop, get into a car and surf the Internet Wirelessly)
> Extremely and I mean extremely cheap.
Comparisons

BSNL--> Charge per hour is around Rs. 15 ( ¢ 33.72)
RIM--> Rs. 20 per hour (¢ 44.96)
Hutch--> Rs. 50 per month ($ 1.1254) + Rs. 0.01 (¢ 2.25) per KB
Airtel--> Rs. 99 ($2.2257) per month
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Its been about 9 months now and on the whole I am quite satisfied with the experience.

On the basis of this review, would you choose this Internet Service for yourself?

 

 

 

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There are a few points which I hope you'll clarify for me - are you certain that your actual connection speed is 115kbps or are you going by what the windows DUN connection tooltip shows you when you hover the mouse over it. By default, it's usually the port speed that's displayed - the speed at which data is transferred between your modem (in this case your cell-phone) and the serial port of your computer. In order to display your true speed, enter the following string in your modem's extra settings field.

For Win XP:

1. In Control Panel, click PHONE & MODEM OPTIONS.
2. On the Modem tab, select your modem and click PROPERTIES
3. In the new box that opens up, selece the ADVANCED tab and enter the appropriate settings depending on your modems chipset (in your case, try each one to see which one works).
4. Click OK to all dialogs.

Chipset ==== Extra Settings
Motorola ==== atq=1\v=4
Rockwell PCI ==== at+mr=2
Other Rockwell ==== w2
USR ==== &a3
All ==== at&f1

Use an online speed testing site like BandwidthPlace or this one. That gives you a better idea of actual speeds, although with some compression algorithms, one can see an increase in the speed ratings.

Next point - you mention that you're getting only 5 kbps while downloading? That, my dear fellow, would be wholly unacceptable. That's even slower than WAP access unless.... unless you mean 5 KBps. See there's a difference between bits and bytes - 8 bits ( make one byte ( (but I'm sure you knew that ;-) )

Finally, do you use your Airtel connect while on the move or do you usually remain stationary while connecting? Is the performance of the connection dependent on the battery life of your phone? I mean, how long does your battery drain out when using your cell-phone as a modem?

I'd like to add to your tariffs table re: BPL Mobile in Mumbai - Although now taken over by Hutch, operations haven't been merged yet, so the old tariff still holds and it's a whopping Rs. 750.00 a month for unlimited downloads and unlimited time per month.

 

 

 

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I'm using Hutch GPRS through a Sony Ericsson s700i via bluetooth and the performance is pitiful. It's so bad that I've given up accesing the net through the handset and use my Reliance CDMA (114KBPS out of which I get about 90 KBPS and about 40 KBPS during peak hours). I'm on a fixed monthly plan with unlimited downloads, so with my usage, it works out quite well.

Keep the GPRS to check mails from my phone only in an emergency, since the speed is so terrible.

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I read in Samsung's documentation that by default windows always shows 115.2 KBps for a GPRS connection.Tried the extra initialization commands under Advanced Tab. None of them works. I mean a modem hardware error pops up.



The online tests showed the following results :-
Bandwidth Page - 29.2 Kbps
The other one showed an average speed of 32.6 KBps .
Wonder what caused the difference?



Regarding the B factor, ok that was a mistake.



No, I use my connection on the stationary. Earlier, when I didn't realize that the phone can be put into charge while connected to the PC, the battery got drained out after around 3 hrs. But now there's no such problem as the charger is connected throughout the time I am connected to the Internet and that's about for 12 hrs.



I am sure BPL gives a much better speed at that rate.

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bpl gprs sucks..
I use that.
Sometimes i do come on this site thru my bpl gprs and nokia6600 phone..
If the images are on then it takes ages to load the page..
So usually i keep no images option on..
I'll shift to airtel soon.. Probably next month

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Etisalat Monopoly in the gulf ROCKS ! lol





Call me a bummer, but with the rate my Service provider is going, a normal university student cant afford to use this service, well only if i was a sheikh's son ,, but then even if prices dropped, these guys still have a catch at every end.

Only one thing good i might say about these guys, is that they have a "fairly" good customer support. They send u an sms with the connection scrip and all u have to do is save it and u r up and running in no time.

Regards
Dhanesh.

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web acess through cell phones (airtel and reliance) is very costly .......airtel gives 400mb quota per month only at Rs 250/mo (which is not too high ) but for eccess use you have to pay 1.5Rs per mb which is too much also the speed is not so good .... so we (me and my friends) are going for BSNL DATAONE broadband connection it is cheaper , also there is a student plan which costs only Rs99/mo with unlimited bandwidth and good speed ..... going for it in the next semester.

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if i'm not wrong on airtel igprs there's a plan like 12rs/day whether you use it or not.. And for that there's no download limit..
But this is available only on post paid users..

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Well.. Airtel seems to have different plans for different areas. Regarding the 400 MB Download limit, well it sure sucks. Even the slowest Internet connection in the world(Which I presume mine is) would be able to download that much in a week and 1.5 Rs per MB is just plain looting.

The GPRS at my place doesn't have any restrictions when it comes to time usage. The major problem for the past 4 months was a seemingly dead connection during the peak hours (7 AM to 11 PM), which would take like 15 refreshes to open a page, except for Google's services off course. But Airtel seems to have sorted that out and has finally resumed its services during the peak hours to where it was-last year. 5KBps seemed like a dream offlate, but now its again become a reality.

Good Job Airtel!!!

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I have used an AirTel GPRS connection over a Nokia 6610i (Yeah, I know its old.)

And Here's a few things i noticed.

1. Edit Connection Properties and you can get the connection speed to be shown at a maximum of 460.8 kbps , which is complete hogwash, because GPRS has a maximum connection speed lower than that.
2. I used Airtel in Kerala (South India) and the tariff was good enough, atleast in this part of India.Rs.250/month ($6.xx) for unlimited time and data. Though like turbopowerdmaxsteel mentioned, the speeds were barely tolerable. max download speed being 5kBps.
3. The reliability was ...like 3 days a month you wont get good connection or speed. I can live with that.

Point is, who else here can? Do let me know.

PS: I'd like to ask turbopowerdmaxsteel where he lives in india where they charge just Rs.99/month. I'd simply love to have that plan. NO Minus Points in my list.

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