I'm from Rajkot, Gujarat. When EVDO was launched here in Rajkot, I immediately when through online references(ofcourse not INDIAN), it showed that EVDO never gives 2.4 Mbps (as
marketed by BSNL) but can range from 300Kbps to 1 Mbps. So I won't say that I
wasn't aware of this glitch but I was ready to compromise that. After all you
would be getting atleast 300Kbps speed over an Unlimited Connection with full
mobility around the city for just 700 bucks per month. But I could never be
more WRONG. Following are the subtopics in which I've divided my reviews.
*Duration of Connection Setup
*It took 5 days for my connection to start against 3 days as told by the BSNL
personal (although I was given the modem the day I applied for connection). I
was told that technical executives will come at my location and check if my
connectivity is good and install the Modem on my system but nobody turned up. I
had to do it myself.
So I'ld give 2 / 5
Connectivity
BSNL EVDO uses Dial Up connection. So you need to use supplied Dialer
Application or manually create your own Dial Up Connection (I am using later
method) . The signal quality varies from location to location. In my house, I
get 3 points (checked using supplied application) in my bedroom while 4 points
while in another room (The one nearer towards the BSNL tower). Please
note that both rooms are on same floor and in line to the BSNL tower. The worst
part is, in day time, the EVDO signals would just stop. Something like power
failure. The signal LED would suddenly turn Orange (normally it should be Green &
Blinking Steadily) or remain Green and start blinking very fast which as per
the application means NO SIGNAL. This is really bad for games(read below).
Sometimes everything is fine but you won’t get authenticated. It will say that
remote computer is not responding at all(This happens atleast twice a week and
especially on holidays).
So I’ld give 2/5
Speed
The speed is okay. In day time, it would give you around 50-320kbps (download
speed of 6 KBps to 40 KBps) depending on time of day and holiday. At night it
would be around 160 kbps to 480 kbps (and if you are lucky, in some nights it
can reach upto 960 kbps). So on average you will get download speeds of 15KBps
during day time and upto 60 KBps in night time. EVDO is not good for upload.
It’s theoretical maximum upload speed is 153 kbps (~20 KBps) but you won’t get
that speed. It will be around 25 Kbps (~5 KBps) in day time and 100 Kbps (~12
KBps) in night time.
So I’ll give 3/5
So here are the suggestions for different type of people:
For Web Designers & Developers
I am a free lance web programmer and I keep on updating my own website and for
that I continuously need to use FTP. But FTP connectivity is like hell in BSNL
EVDO. Since last two days I am not able to connect to any FTP site on this damn
internet (although I’ve got review from people that it works fine for them).
And if you are lucky enough to have working FTP connection, its too slow to
upload the content to your site. You won’t believe me but it took 5 hours, yes
you heard it right, 5 hours to upload my 5 MB site. So, it’s not at all suggested
for people that need to deal with FTP and Uploading.
For Downloaders
BSNL EVDO uses Shared IP so if you are using public file hosting sites
like Rapidshare, it will constantly say that another user on the same IP is
currently downloading a file and you would never get a chance to download even
a single file. If you are using Bit Torrent users its even worse. Your
system would be inside a NAT Box. You won’t be able to receive connection from
peers and so it will take lot of time to build up good speed(once I got 100
Kilobytes per second) and just forget about seeding coz all connection attempts
by remote peers will be filtered by BSNL NAT Box/Firewall. Also, due to
huge difference between Upload Speed & Download Speed, your share ratio
will always remain too low (mine remains around 0.4). So you are likely to get **banned
by private trackers** if you don’t take care of this problem.
For MMO Gamers
People who are playing MMO RPG like Conquer Online or WoW where
latency is important, you seriously need to consider about this connection
before you buy. Here are the pings of yahoo servers on different locations...
[Indian Server]
Pinging gslb.fp.vip.in.g.internal.yahoo.com [202.86.7.62] with 32 bytes of
data:
Reply from 202.86.7.62: bytes=32 time=220ms TTL=48
Reply from 202.86.7.62: bytes=32 time=205ms TTL=48
Reply from 202.86.7.62: bytes=32 time=211ms TTL=48
Reply from 202.86.7.62: bytes=32 time=205ms TTL=48
Ping statistics for 202.86.7.62:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 205ms, Maximum = 220ms, Average = 210ms
[US Server]
Pinging https://yahoo-ht3.akadns.net [69.147.76.15] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 69.147.76.15: bytes=32 time=422ms TTL=43
Reply from 69.147.76.15: bytes=32 time=433ms TTL=43
Reply from 69.147.76.15: bytes=32 time=422ms TTL=43
Reply from 69.147.76.15: bytes=32 time=417ms TTL=43
Ping statistics for 69.147.76.15:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 417ms, Maximum = 433ms, Average = 423ms
[UK Server]
Pinging https://euro.yahoo-eu1.akadns.net [217.146.186.51] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 217.146.186.51: bytes=32 time=416ms TTL=47
Reply from 217.146.186.51: bytes=32 time=333ms TTL=47
Reply from 217.146.186.51: bytes=32 time=361ms TTL=47
Reply from 217.146.186.51: bytes=32 time=307ms TTL=47
Ping statistics for 217.146.186.51:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 307ms, Maximum = 416ms, Average = 354ms
Also, in day time – loss of signal is so frequent that I used to get DC like
hell and I stopped playing the MMO games. My honest suggestion is not to buy
this connection if you intend to go for MMO Gaming.
For Others
If you are not in the above categories, you are from group of people who don’t
mind few minutes(or sometimes few hours) of downtime or don’t need speed or
ftp. You just need an internet connection for chatting or emails and some
casual downloading. Or you don’t have any other choice (like outskirts of
cities where BSNL Broadband isn’t yet available). Then fine, go for it. But
don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.
Overalll: NOT RECOMMENDED
