I had to choose and buy one portable Device for internet connectivity. Generally I buy all products after careful research on internet(mouthshut and similar other sites)+ friends comments+ other source whatever possible. But this time due to time constraint, I just randomly chosen Airtel and that is when AIRTEL INSPIRED ME TO WRITE THE FIRST REVIEW IN MOUTHSHUT -:)
I know, technologywise, speed we get in descneding order is as follow
EVDO(CDMA) >> 1xRTT(CDMA) >> EDGE(GSM) >> GPRS(GSM)
Tata has soft launched Photon service(on EVDO network) only in Chennai circle where they promise to give speed upto 2 MBPS, else all other(i.e. Airtel/Vodafone/Tata in other circle/Reliance) varies from 56 KBPS to 320 KBPS.
But Airtel showed me the deviation from technology promise and after I purchased the MicroMax USB Dongle priced 3.5K(I purchased on 31st Jan 2009) along with a deposit of 1K rupees, in my all most 1 month usage, I never found the spped reaching more than 40 KBPS.
May be the above statement gives a good impression of Airtel, so in reality and to reveal the ACTUAL TRUTH, the average speed I get is between 10-20 KBPS.
Someone in this form said correctly that it is better not to have a internet connection rather having a Airtel dongle tempting the person to surf internet with ultimate annoyance and frustration.
I never contacted customer care till now and do not see how cusotmer care can improve the situation unless and until the GPRS channel bandwidth.
Nevertheless, I would sincerely request all people that PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE a Airtel Dongle or Datacard.
Apart I would request people to share their view if anyone has used BSNL EVDO datacard/dongle.