Internet connection through GPRS

So, Mumbai have also come up to a standard where we can say that there is possibility of an “Always On” internet connection. Right now, I am at the airport waiting for my flight to the capital city of India, New Delhi and I am online using my Orange (Hutch in other parts of India) internet connection re-directing its connection from its GPRS connection through IrDA to my Thinkpad. The speed is rather good, gets connected at around 38.4 kbps and stays closely around 28 kbps after some usage. This is cool, I can be online, browse, check mails, and do a whole lotta things even while I am traveling or going to a different city as the connection works in other cities where their connection’s are covered.

An interesting fact is that, before I came to know of this service, I had got myself another mobile connection through Reliance using their mobile phone and a data cable that connects to the USB port of a computer. In both cases, their speed are similar and have very strikingly similar browsing speed experience. I have never tried downloading any larger file(s) yet, may be I will do that once I got to the city.

Ok, for aspiring individuals who wants to try this out and is in India, you may be surprised that both are rather affordable. Orange (hutch) give you unlimited access for Rs. 499 (a little above US$10, calculated at about US$1 = INR 46, am not very sure of today’s forex rate but should be close to 46.15 or so). Reliance on the other hand charges you Rs. 0.40 per minute of your usage. So, it now depends on which telephone connection you already have or how much of usage you are looking at.