Cheapest Internet Device – Free Internet via TATA CDMA phones ??

TATA indicom is a major CDMA operator of India offering really cheap handset along with their connection allowing people to become mobile.

One of the cheapest handset or mobile instrument they provide is Haier C2010 which retails at Rs. 700/- without any connection charge. Where as one may obtain one year of connection with Rs. 149. So handset + connection makes it Rs. 850/-, properbly the cheapest one available.

While playing with the handset I find the back port is very similar to USB (male) Mini-B Type. The one which I have in one of my external USB card readers and can be found in advance models such as Nokia 5200.

Just for curiosity of mine to play with hardwares, I thought, hmm.. Lets give the data connectivity of the handset (Haier C2010) a try. Officially the mobile DO NOT have any data services. Neither TATA web site nor the mobile handset manual have any information on the handsets data connectivity capabilities.

TATA as a service provider also doesnt have any tariff of DATA uses via this mobile.

How ever the biggest issue is, there any no driver available for this handset anywhere, neither any official data cable. So though odds are against any fruitful results but still I thought giving it a try.

Plugging in the device in PC / Notebook USB, immediately starts charging it, and Windows through up the new devices found dialog box.

Please remember, I didn’t have any standalone source of drivers with me for this handset, hence I connected my Broadband connection (ADSL BSNL) and asked windows to search for the device driver in Microsoft Windows hardware database by selecting the 1st option saying “Yes, this time only”.

Though it took a while for Windows to search for a driver but eventually after 3-4 mins or so, it did find a matching driver for the device and installed “BenQ USB Modem 3197″.

I knew from my previous experience with TATA, that their CDMA DATA enabled handsets dial #777 via the CDMA modem to get connected to the internet. Therefore, I created a new dial up connection via network connection setup of Windows XP and selected the available device “BenQ USB Modem 3197″ as the modem

I disconnected my ADSL connection, and used user ID Internet / password Internet to dial this new TATA connection via the BenQ USB modem 3197 and to my surprise, it did authenticate and got connected !!!!

But how’s the speed ??

That part is some what disappointing. I have tried DAP to test download speeds and its around about 3 or 3.5 kilo bytes / second meaning around 30 kbps of connection speed.

Certainly not good enough at this broadband edge however web surfing isnt performing that bad.. It feels the same as browsing via any GPRS connection which doesnt have EDGE support.

So overall the speed testing is any thing apart from success..

Hey How much is it costing ?

The Best thing about this testing is the pricing, as I already have written officially the mobile doesnt support any data connectivity hence no tariff plan for internet uses can be found.

Hence even after downloading few quite a few MBs and few hours of surfing I see the prepaid account is not been charged a single penny !!!

Out Come !!!

Certainly this is not a device which you should purchase for your internet need but those who already own it, do give this a try !! As you never know, TATA may have better network in your place and you may get better speeds and even if it doesnt, with present speed, though no downloading but it would offer you option for mobile surfing at free of cost with your notebook.

So folks do give this a try and let me know your own results.

P.S. There is no support for Windows Vista at-least !! This works with Windows XP x86 only as Vista x64 / x86 fails to find any matching driver in its update services.

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