VodafoneIN 3G !! Yuck !!

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I would say overall, for voice and/or (mobile) internet vodafone is the best provider in the country. service is good and cost is also correspondingly high. For roaming internet though, i think reliance would be the best.

Roaming for me is just within blr, not going out of the city or don't have the need for that just yet. It's tricky enough for just the one city as it is.

For all other uses at a fixed location, some trial and error would show the best provider for that location and usage model.

yes, thats what you've done. And get this, your're getting it at a price cheaper and as reliably than what i paid in 2006 for the same over a wired connection at 256 kbs (!)

The connundrum for me is file transfer that is an order of magnitude heavier and uses the network longer is more reliable than light weight browsing. Its totally counter-intuitive. Just cannot get my head around it. This isn't something trivial like replacing your dodgy ISP's DNS servers with google's is it. This is the nature of the network.

If anything i'd have thought it would be the other way around given the nature of shared bandwidth etc. A friend of mine that works in Idea told me mobile internet can be used for donwloading, at the time i thought he was crazy, but it turns out he was right.

 

[NotMyRealName]

No it doesn't really work that way. The tcp/ip protocols specify many simultaneous connections, so when you open a web page, it loads the markup, multiple (large or small) images and other media. All these are individual connections per page element. All these connections load the already flaky wireless connection to a breakng point. Also consider the browser sending acknowledgement packets and re-requests for failed packets. With a file download, there is one single connection (or maybe a few more if multi-segmented downloading), and even with BT traffic, it's far more streamlined than browsing activity.In all my internet usage i've always noticed this to be true regardless of the connection, with broadband the problem seems to be solved because of the greater bandwidth, in reality the transfer simply comes through too quick for us to notice any inefficiency.

 

[etern4lflux]

I am a Vodafone Gujarat subscriber and use a prepaid connection in my data card. My 3g data pack works on 3g signals properly everywhere in India (that I've been to) except Bangalore (the place where I need to travel to the most). Everytime I am in BLR my data card works on EDGE networks - Vodafone stores in BLR couldn't help me out. It works on 3g only at the BLR airport where it shows Airtel HSDPA. Is there some special setting that needs to be done for 3g data packs in BLR?

Vodafone doesn't really have it's own 3g network in Bangalore. It relies on Airtel's 3g network. I've never used a data card, but if there is the option, try changing the networks settings to accept only 3g signal (you won't get it everywhere though). That's how I use it on my phone.

 

[blr_p]

No it doesn't really work that way. The tcp/ip protocols specify many simultaneous connections, so when you open a web page, it loads the markup, multiple (large or small) images and other media. All these are individual connections per page element. All these connections load the already flaky wireless connection to a breakng point. Also consider the browser sending acknowledgement packets and re-requests for failed packets. With a file download, there is one single connection (or maybe a few more if multi-segmented downloading), and even with BT traffic, it's far more streamlined than browsing activity. In all my internet usage i've always noticed this to be true regardless of the connection,

Right, once you establish a connection and hold onto the connection your ACKS get back to the server just fine on the already open channel. But when browsing once the server fulfills your request it cuts you off as it should. Then when you make a request a bit later regardless of whether its to the same server or another those connections have to be re-established again.

Its this restablishment that is not working well or taking too long to the point that it affects your browsing experience. In fact the first leg of the journey might be taking a lot longer than the return trip to the point where the server times you out.

If your characterisation is accurate then the solution is to figure out a way to keep your connection open just like with a download. I think using a a tunnel to a proxy just might accomplish that.

The tunnel keeps your connection to the proxy alive and you use the proxy to get a more reliable browsing experience. What you are doing here in effect is removing the mobile network from the equation

with broadband the problem seems to be solved because of the greater bandwidth, in reality the transfer simply comes through too quick for us to notice any inefficiency.

Yes, so let us know if tunnel + proxy improves your browsing experience with 2G.

 

[NotMyRealName]

If your characterisation is accurate then the solution is to figure out a way to keep your connection open just like with a download. I think using a a tunnel to a proxy just might accomplish that.

I've already tried something similar. Like having a download running while browsing. I think it's the heavy browsing activity that kills the connection. End result is that the download fails too. Also tried with a BT download going on. Same result. Bottom line is the bsnl thing is a crap connection. Note that this long discussion we're having is related to my bsnl experience. It may be different for other locations and other providers. For eg. my vodafone conn in the same location. I haven't tried the same kind of browsing activity on it, but i'm pretty sure it works much much better based on the mobile phone usage i mentioned earlier like viber etc.

 

[blr_p]

I've already tried something similar. Like having a download running while browsing. I think it's the heavy browsing activity that kills the connection. End result is that the download fails too. Also tried with a BT download going on. Same result.

That's not the same because you have a channel open for downloads and are making extra web requests on top. So the result you got is expected.

Whereas with a tunnel you send the requests inside the tunnel. The ISP only sees one connection and its already established to the proxy. Your requests are passed to the proxy which should preferably be on a wired connection which then returns your results back to you through the tunnel.

If you have shell account elsewere on a wired connection, with a good ping time then ssh will provide everything you need. This method is also used by people in countries to evade state censors. Though that bit isn't necessary for you, the functionality is the same. I bet this method will improve your browsing experience if you can get the necessary components. It will be slower as you have the round trip to the proxy added but the browsing should be more consistent.

Bottom line is the bsnl thing is a crap connection.

That's the thing, I think its actually a remarkably stable connection for wireless and comes at a competitive price provided you are not making many connections to the internet. Just one or two works pretty well as you've indicated with downloads. Just need some skillz to make it work right.

Note that this long discussion we're having is related to my bsnl experience. It may be different for other locations and other providers. For eg. my vodafone conn in the same location. I haven't tried the same kind of browsing activity on it, but i'm pretty sure it works much much better based on the mobile phone usage i mentioned earlier like viber etc.

Sure but if anyone else is also enduring the same then there is a way to get around it.

 

[NotMyRealName]

That's the thing, I think its actually a remarkably stable connection for wireless and comes at a competitive price provided you are not making many connections to the internet. Just one or two works pretty well as you've indicated with downloads. Just need some skillz to make it work right.

I mean that compared to other 2g connections which offer a pretty smooth browsing experience, the bsnl one is pretty lame. Only thing going for it is it's cheap. guess you get what you pay for. The only reason i'm sticking to this is because it gets my downloading done pretty reasonably.

I can't setup a vpn just yet, i'll be moving from here shortly anyway. so for now it gets the job done, albeit frustratingly.