On March 3rd BSNL officially launched their 3G services here in Hyderabad. On March 9th i took hold of a BSNL 3G prepaid connection with 3G Promotional plan. Being a Mobile Internet user most of the times 3G was always a special interest to me, as it offers better internet speeds, better voice quality and the killer feature video calling. In this post i share my experience and understanding about the service, what exactly 3G means to a normal user and what you need to possess( w.r.t mobile device) to avail this service, lets roll on.
3G is not a technology its a Value Added Service(VAS), all what the providers get is the additional bandwidth to support High speed data which inturn optimises voice and video call quality. In India 3G operating frequencies are mainly in 2.1Ghz band(2100Mhz) for better understanding of operating frequencies read Mobile operating frequencies posted earlier. If you have a mobile which supports 3G you are all set to make use of the service.
How to choose a 3G mobile device: A mobile device should have a 3G radio built in to support 3G frequencies, yes its the hardware not software, this feature can't be added to a device through a firmware update or installing any application. So you walk into a mobile shop, buy a 3G device, insert a 3G SIM card and start making video call is that it, NO, make sure the 3G device you buy have a front facing camera which is must for Video calling. Prices of mobile phones with 3G have come down in the recent times so buying a 3G mobile device will not make your pockets empty.
What a normal user can get from it: The striking featue of 3G is the ability to make video call, you can see the face of the person whom you are calling to provided the user at the other end have a 3G device with a front facing camera. Let us talk about the reverse compatibility here will a 3G SIM card works on GSM too, Yes, if at times you dont get any signal around your area for a long time you can make calls via GSM, but only voice calls, for this you need to do a small setting change in the device go to your Network settings and make the Network Selection to GSM, this is how it looks
In Dual mode : The device automatically goes to 3G when there is no GSM signal and vice-versa.
In UMTS: The device will be in 3G only mode
In GSM: The device will be in GSM only mode.
In addition to video calling you also get internet access at better speeds, upto 2Mbps is what BSNL promises, you can be online while on a call in a 3G network with the existing 2.5g GPRS your Packet data connection is kept on hold during call and is active after your call is disconnected doesn't it reminds us of our dial-up internet modems what we were using in older days, thats also another reason why 3G is called Mobile broadband.
How to make full use of it: This is where the geeks try to make use of it to the fullest extent i dont want to make voice calls(network provider's) from my 3G connection instead i will make Internet VOIP calls from it, Yes all you need is an Instant messaging application like Nimbuzz , Fring , Palringo and a flat rate data plan from the provider. You can get good VOIP voice quality over 3G. At present BSNL doesn't give any great data plans what you get is a paltry 25Mb free which will go down in a jiffy browsing larger web pages. You can also make use of Skype to make cheap international calls over 3G connection some of the applications mentioned above also supports video calls.
With BSNL the only provider giving 3G services i would say they are not marketing it well, if they can give some good data plans and advertise things well sure they will remain Monopoly in 3G services also can make path for competition, when by the time the other private providers start rolling out 3G services they would be having strong and good customer base.
P.S. If you find any information mentioned above which needs correction feel free to comment, I am open to it.
