How to activate 3G on Tata Docomo?

Tata Docomo is providing a free trial of 3G for 7 days to all its customers uptill 100mb usage. Here is how to get is activated on your phone:

• Make sure you have a 3G compatible phone.
• Goto the network menu on your phone and activate “Dual mode” or  ”UMTS” under Network Modes.
• Doing so you will be able to see the 3G or 3.5G sign near the signal bar of your phone within a few seconds. If you don’t see any such sign then it might that 3G is not available in your area.
• Next you have to send a sms by writing ACT3G to 53333. You may or may not receive any reply, most of us didn’t.
• You probably will be having the old Tata Docomo settings in your phone, if not then call the service number and request it. There are two settings delivered to your phone – “TATA DOCOMO INTERNET” & “TATA DOCOMO DIVE-IN”.
• You have to use the TATA DOCOMO INTERNET as your default setting for using the 3G service and you are now all set to go. Just start using make sure that your balance is not being reduced, if it is then you may not have configured 3G properly as per the above steps.
• Live TV is available at the Dive-In site.

Pro’s & Con’s

Pros:

• Nearly ~1.75mbps download speed.
• Working in all area’s of the cities where they have launched.
• Free usage uptill 100mb in the trial period.
• 2G vouchers can be purchased and used with 3G speeds under trial period. (You can get upto 6GB data for just Rs. 95, depending on your city.)

Cons:

• Low upload speed.
• You have to finish the free 100mb data within the promotional period.
• Currently there is no way to check how much bandwidth you have used. They are working on this.
• Tata is having no plans to launch Unlimited Tariff’s.
• TataDocomo’s twitter stream has a bunch of tweets indicating 3G is gonna be a premium service so do not expect low rates anytime this year. They don’t want torrent guys to flood out their networks.
• Tata’s Network Range is fair but many users are facing frequent disconnections while on voice calls.
• Video Calls are not working yet.

Overall Tata Docomo is offering a nice package but they surely have to improve their network over the time. 3G Download speed are good but uploading in some area’s are low. You can enjoy some free 3G bandwidth on your Tata Docomo number for now and hope that Tata launches some affordable plans. What are your views and how much speed are you getting, do share in comments below.

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Whenever you click on “Get verified” button, PayPal asks you to enter you credit card information. It is likely that not all everyone has credit cards as they are not so easy to obtain in India at this particular time. Or some users will not feel comfortable entering raw credit card numbers over the internet.

• To confirm a PayPal account an alternative way which usually go un-noticed is linking any Indian bank account.
• Simply login to your PayPal account click on “Add/Edit Bank Account” and fill in the bank details it requires. If you are unsure about any of the fields specified there, give a call to your Bank Branch and get it from them.
• When you are done with it, PayPal will soon transfer two very small amounts via NEFT to your account in next 2 working days.
• Next step is to enter the exact amount PayPal transferred to your Bank Account. Make sure you enter them exactly as they appear in your Bank Statement.
• And you’re done.

This not only verifies your Bank Account with PayPal but even your accounts limits get lifted as your PayPal account also gets verified without entering your credit card information. The good thing is if you have enabled for Internet Banking facility for your Bank Account. You can check the statements and verify instantly as the transfer is made.

According to Mr. K. Srinivas, Joint President-Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel:

We are massifying the broadband experience by enabling users to access higher speeds at affordable rates. Our data shows that more and more customers want higher speeds. Average usage per customer has also increased by 40 per cent.

Therefore, we are redefining broadband speeds in India by upgrading all our subscribers to 512 Kbps even as the telecom regulator defines broadband as 256 Kbps.

Airtel has also launched new 4Mbps unlimited plans ranging from 899 to 1799. The complete details of the new plans are given  in the table below:

Over the past six months, telecom players have got engaged in a battle for speed. Recently a Mumbai-based Internet Service Provider –Tikona launched a 2Mbps speed connection priced between Rs 299 and Rs 1,249 depending on the download usage. Tata Teleservices Maharashtra had introduced a 100 Mbps line in Mumbai, while State-owned BSNL is offering 24Mbps connection for Rs 9,999.

Links:

The Hindu Business Line, Theitechblog.

Valentine’s Day is also round the corner. This move proves to be fruitful for the fixed line customers of Airtel. So go ahead and enjoy endless conversations with your valentine’s or closed one’s on these Sunday’s.

However this limitation can be easily by-passed using a simple hack, well it cannot be called a hack even. All you have to do is un-install the current Local Version of Yahoo Messenger from your system and download the US version of Yahoo! Messenger. When you visit the Yahoo Messenger’s site, it automatically selects the local version to your country by scanning your IP address.

To bypass it you have to directly download the US version from Yahoo Server. We have provided the Direct Download link below. The step-by-step instructions for windows users are as follows:

1. Goto Start -> Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs.
2. Select the Yahoo Messenger from the list.
3. Click on Un-Install button.
4. Goto My Computer -> C: (or the drive in which windows is installed) - >Program Files.
5. Delete the Yahoo Folder if it still exist.
6. Now download the US version by the links provided below.
7. Install the downloaded file.
8. Run the newly installed Yahoo Messenger.
9. If you are still unable to see the Voice option, you must restart the system and then login again.
10. Enjoy.

Please Note: Un-installing Yahoo! Messenger will delete all your chat history. Also the local rooms and audibles of your country won’t be accessible in the US Version.

If it still not works for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users, you may also have to delete the following paths before installing the US version.

C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Local\Yahoo

C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\LocalLow\Yahoo

C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Roaming\Yahoo

Download Link for US Version of Yahoo Messenger

You can directly download 10.0.0.1102 US version by clicking here, or you may get the latest version from FileHippo.

Interesting part is Virgin Mobile uses the network of  Tata Teleservices and still being able to provide calling at such a low rate. So now you can imagine how telecom operators used to fool us with high charges an year back.

The group will start its services from southern region of India and other parts will be followed up till end of March 2010. Virgin Mobile will provide STD calling rates at 20p/min without any top-up packs, in order to capture the market space, however the other tariffs details are yet to be declared.

Not only this but they will also be offering itemised bills to all their customers at no extra charge. Also if the bill complaint is now answered with a span of 48 hours, the bill will become the liability of  Virgin Mobile. Now this generates a true win-win situation for the users.

The big players such as Airtel, Reliance are creating a no-match for the cheap rates provided by the new telecoms. Its interesting to see where this competition is going to end. ”India is the first country where Virgin Group will be offering both CDMA and GSM services” said Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group.

Number portability is also expected to launch by the same time i.e. March 2010 end, thus creating a new room for Virgin Group to grasp customers from other teleco’s.

How will you respond to this move – Stay with current 1p/sec plan (60p/min) or go with the new scheme as 20p/min?Leave your thoughts in comments.