May 02, 2013 02:15 AM
19637 Views
Location of usage; City of Bangalore (A-Circle); City of Bhubaneswar (C-Circle); District of Khurdah, Odisha
I have been a user of BSNL's 3G dongle as well as Aircel's 3G dongle. BSNL EVDO service is an unsung hero coming out of BSNL's stable. BSNL's EVDO service connection reliability is superb with no sudden disconnection and non-fluctuating upload and download speed.
I am able to get data speeds (UL & DL) at around the same speeds that I got on my Aircel 3G and BSNL 3G data connections and more importantly for a longer duration of time. I have so far not faced an abrupt data connection termination. The most appealing fact is that by paying 825 (750 for post-paid) per month, one gets 'Unlimited Data'.
The cherry is that the Unlimited Data is bereft of any fetters of differential speeds/Fair Usage Policy (as is the case in other EVDO/CDMA data service providers) and hence is truly Unlimited. Incredibly (by BSNL standards) the Customer Care has dedicated telephone numbers for any issues afflicting EVDO users and hence the call is answered by mid-level pucca trained executive of BSNL's Circle office who is able to resolve the issue at hand. One of my recharge was not reflected on my Dongle's inbox. On calling the dedicated number, the executive requested for 10 minutes to revert back to me.
Within the requested time period the executive called me back and politely informed me that the issue has been resolved and that the recharge had been credited to my account. I have used the service around my neck of the woods (Bangalore and Bhubaneswar) and there is hardly any fluctuation in speed or reliability in connection even if the number of bars is reduced (unlike in the case of certain 3G data service providers).
The flip side is probably that BSNL EVDO might be unavailable in certain areas, however, so far I have to admit in urban centres its signals and connection speeds are far better than 3G service providers. Other EVDO providers do claim (possibly true) that their speeds are tad faster than BSNL but I reiterate that for the price I personally sacrificed the small difference in speed for the truly Unlimited Data experience.
The other flip side is that, I personally felt that the advertisement wing of BSNL follows a step-motherly attitude towards BSNL EVDO since it is ever so concentrating upon BSNL 3G. They ought to showcase EVDO along-with 3G and WiMax.
Another flip side and will certainly a sore thumb is that since BSNL has a symbiotic relationship with a sister telecom company (MTNL), it is unavailable to provide EVDO coverage in MTNL's coverage areas which includes city of Mumbai and New Delhi. This is solely due to MTNL deciding not to become a part of the CDMA/EVDO data service provider bandwagon even though it provides 3G data services and has a CDMA network (Garuda) through Mobile devices and WLL devices.
Overall rating:
In terms of speed: Faster than 3G service providers but marginally slower than other EVDO service providers
In terms of reliability of connection speed: Far ahead of 3G service providers and as good, if not better than other EVDO service providers
In terms of affordability; Bang for the Buck! It takes the cherry anyday with truly unlimited plans
In terms of coverage: In Urban Areas it is excellent (better than 3G service providers), in Rural Areas too the coverage is good but probably BSNL 3G might edge it out in certain rural areas.
FYI- BSNL provides RUIM CDMA SIM cards whereby if you do not want to use a Teracom data card or a Micromax data card or a ZTE data card you can avail of the connection through any unlocked RUIM CDMA/EVDO data card and even a CDMA/EVDO Mifi data card. Personally I am using a Teracom BSNL co-branded EVDO card which is pretty decent and does its jobs.
