Category Archives: ISPs and Telecom

Hathway Internet upgrade to 2Mbps

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After struggling on the 512Kbps plan, as I earlier posted 2 years back, I finally got a chance to jump directly to 2Mbps. (The struggling part was due to crappy 10GB fair usage policy per month)

Hathway Broadband has been somewhat good at uptime and speed, however what sucked the most was their Fair Usage Policy on ALL plans, ranging from 5 – 20GB per month, after which you are dropped to 256Kbps, which is unbearable, especially for YouTube. But just last month, they came out with a plethora of new plans, probably feeling the heat from other ISPs like MTNL, with minimum speed 600Kbps after FUP.

I applied for the Flash 2 Max plan yesterday, which came in effect from today, with a speed of 2Mbps until 48GB, for 3 months, at a price of Rs. 2405 (incl. taxes). However, as initially it seemed too good to be true for Hathway, it really wasn’t.. that good, as I later realized there was a catch. The 48GB advertised limit was actually 16GB per month, for 3 months, crossing which you are dropped to 600Kbps. Every month, the 16GB cap is reset and speed is restored back.

Review: Pages seem to load almost instantly. On YouTube, up to 720p quality, the playback is smooth.

Cheaper alternative to this plan is the Flash 2 Lite, 26GB for 3 months, in place of 48GB. So per month FUP is 9GB in that case. Priced at Rs. 1800 without taxes.

Higher alternative to this plan is the Flash 2 Ultra, with 70GB for 3 months, priced at Rs. 2800 without taxes. 

More plans: http://www.hathway.com/hathway-broadband/home-broadband.php

3G speed on 2G Airtel plan

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This is yet another reason to love Airtel! 3G was enabled on my phone ever since they were offering free trials in the month of Feb-March 2011. However for some reason, even though my Nokia N73 was 3G enabled, I still got slow EDGE speeds, not sure why.

After I got my Android phone, I experienced real 3G speeds of 3.5 Mbps, however the free 3G trial ended soon after a few days. Yet, when I set my phone to 3G mode post the trial, I get a constant speed of 500-800 Kbps, which is on my 2G Mobile Office plan priced at 98/month with a 2G free data usage limit.

image

On occasions, it has also gone up to 2mbps as you can notice in the screenshot. While this isn’t really 3G speed, however isn’t it awesome to get half to one or two megabits of bandwidth at the price of an EDGE connection?

The speed makes web browsing, downloading apps and files, as well as watching YouTube videos a cinch. They load in a jiffy and no buffering time as well.

Are you on Airtel too? Or another carrier? Do you get such amazing speeds as well? Do share.

EDIT: I see a lot of traffic coming onto this post through searching for how to get 3G speed on 2G Airtel. So even though I’m not sure of this method, you could try it.

  • You first need to have 3G network enabled on your number I suppose, so sms 3G to 121. You’ll have to subscribe to the 1 day plan for Rs. 8, just so you get 3G enabled.
  • Now as usual, activate your 2G plan of Rs. 98 for 2GB/month. This isn’t tested so please don’t blame me if it does not work. Set your phone to 3G and you might just get 3G speeds even on 2G plan, because 3G network might still be working.
  • I’ve read from another blog post, there’s another (tested and working) way to do this, by activating 100MB 2G plan for Rs. 10 after the 1 day 3G plan. The plan will keep getting renewed every 3 days and you shall be paying Rs. 100 for 1GB for a month, and get 3G speed. Although it seems costlier than Rs. 98/month for 2GB Mobile Office, but give it a shot if either one doesn’t work. At your own risk that is.
  • Please comment back if any of the method worked for you. Thanks.
UPDATE:
Here are Airtel’s official 3G plans. I suppose the first two are affordable if you aren’t going to make heavy usage of it. Free usage per monthly rentals are as follows:
200MB @ Rs. 100
500MB @ Rs. 200
1200MB @ Rs. 450
3p/10KB post the free usage. SMS ‘3G’ to 121 to activate. ‘3G USE’ to 121 to check usage.
(The above plans were told to me by the customer care guy. Airtel’s official site however differs: http://airtel.in/Airtel-3G/tariffs.html)


If you simply need 3G because EDGE is turning out tad slow for your daily surfing, app download and Whatsapping needs, try these packs out. And as I’ve confirmed, you are only charged for the number of days you use these plans. So if you deactivate 2G in the middle of your billing month, activate 3G for few days, return back to 2G, you won’t be charged entire monthly plan rentals for each of these activations. Not bad to try out the plans then.