Tag: bsnl

BSNL post paid GPRS,EDGE,3G raw configuration for bluetooth and serial modems

 

My post at https://sunish.net/2007/10/25/bsnl-gprs-configuration seems to be one of the most popular pages in spite of the fact that the site was not updated for a long long time.

The most important parameter to be set is the APN or Access Point Name.

The settings are as follows
APN           : bsnlnet
Username : Not Required
Password  : Not Required
Dial up number : *99#

If you are using the software provided by the phone manufacturer like nokia suite and if its updated it will automatically update the settings with the correct apn which is now bsnlnet and earlier was bsnlsouth for southern states.

On windows to connect to the internet using bluetooth or usb drivers has to be installed and configured. Once the drivers are installed, going to device manager(type devmgmt.msc and click OK at  the run prompt obtained by pressing Win+R )  will show the corresponding modem installed under modems, similar to Standard Modem over Bluetooth link shown in the screen shot below.

image

Click on Properties of the Modem, click on advanced tab.

image

Enter extra initialization settings as AT + CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”bsnlnet”

Click OK.

The above steps are required only if you get a PPP link error message with error code 734.

Now create a new dial up connection, on windows 7 open Networking and Sharing centre

  1. Click On Connect to the Internet and click next.
  2. Select Dialup in How do you want to connect and click next.
  3. Enter *99# as dialup number and leave username and password as blank.

Use this connection to connect to the internet. 

Time taken to download for various Broadband Speeds

A recent business proposal required me to calculate the time taken to download huge files. Being a BSNL Dataone user, I was comparing it with various plans including the Home unlimited plan for Rs.900.

1 MB = 1024 KB = 1024 * 1024 bytes

= 1048576 bytes

= 1048576*8 = 8388608 bits

Bandwidth in K bps (Kilo Bits Per Second) Speed in Kilobytes per Second Time taken to download a 1MB(1024Kilobyte) file
under ideal conditions in seconds
256 K bps = 256 * 1024 bps = 262144 bps 256/8 = 32 KB/S 8388608/262144 = 32
384 48 21.33
512 64 16
1024 (1Mbps) 128 8
2048 (2Mbps) 256 4
4096 (4Mbps) 512 2
8192 (8Mbps) 1024 1

BSNL offers 256Kbps guaranteed speed with a maximum of 2Mbps. So you can theoretically download a 1Mb file in …well under 4 seconds. So that’s under ideal conditions. I have seen download progresses for my 256Kbps connections at the range of 200KB/s. A lot depends on the server’s bandwidth too.
So how much does a 1GB file take to download with a 1 Mbps connection ? From the above table, 8 seconds for 1MB = 8 *1024 for 1GB = 8192 seconds = 136.53 minutes = approximately 2 and a half hours..

Update as on 14-3-08
I’m getting a download speed of 312Kb/s on my home 500 plan which means the speeds are crossing the 2Mbps speeds.

GPRS Activation and Deactivation procedure for BSNL Postpaid connections

Being one of the early adopters of GPRS in Kerala, I thought I knew what’s going on with BSNL GPRS. Time and again I was proved that my knowledge is limited. I wanted to change my GPRS Plan to Plan 199 and had thought that required a letter. I had suggested to BSNL employees and customer care how easy it would be if that was possible through SMS. In fact it was possible for Prepaid customers and I was told Postpaid users are less and the feature is likely not to be implemented. For me to give the letter to customer care I have to travel around 80 kms in total and wait for the activation. Now with my friend in BSNL office I was confident I could get it done fast. To my surprise I was told it can be done by sending an SMS.

So the procedure is as follows.

To deactivate BSNL GPRS on postpaid connection

Send an SMS to 53733 (3733 was the suggested number but with the new numbering an from the reply SMS no that I got it should be 53733) with the following message.

GPRSD

For activating Plan49 send GPRS49 and for Plan 199 send GPRS199 to 53733. You’ll get a reply SMS asking for confirmation to which you got to reply with GPRS49Y and GPRS199Y respectively. The activation seems to take more time than deactivation and it could take upto 24hours.

The important thing about the service was that it was notified by BSNL officially and it will probably work for only customers in the south zone.

A search with google lead to this doc http://www.ap.bsnl.co.in/mmsgprs/Portal%20link%20documents/Manual-Device+Settings.doc Why can’t they summarize the information and present it decently ? Looks like I got to do it, with all major mobile service providers, their data plans, APN names, activation and deactivation procedures etc would make good blog post.

BSNL GPRS configuration

 

Yesterday I happened to go to Calicut BSNL office. I had an issue with my mobile connection where call forwarding didn’t work. I tried changing the mobile and trying various options, but no luck. Called customer care and they asked to do the usual stuff, turn off the mobile, remove SIM, blah blah. Its really difficult to convey the message that you are technically competent and don’t want to try stupidities ordered by them.

The best part of yesterdays’ trip was that I had a friend, who solved my problem. He made a call and they admitted there was a problem with my no. and after 2 minutes, said it was solved and it just worked. While I was sitting at my friend’s office, I found somebody sitting behind me trying to get GPRS working. Being one of the first customers of BSNL’s GPRS I knew the solution, except for the fact the laptop to be configured was in Vista.

So here’s the important information that you need to know for configuring GPRS on laptop,desktop for BSNL post paid connection.

  1. Install and ensure the modem driver for your mobile is installed.
    (Once everything is done, you’ll find an additional COM port in ports of device manage and a mobile under modems)
  2. Create a dial up connection entry,
    Username : Mobilenumber (don’t put a 0 before the number)
    Password : Mobilenumber (don’t put a 0 before the number)
    Dialup Number: *99#
    UPDATE: No username or password required
    In the properties of the new connection entry, ensure that the modem selected is the newly created modem.
  3. (If you try to connect with these two steps, the connection will progress till authentication. After that you’ll get a PPP link error. The next step is important to prevent that)
  4. Go to device manager select modems, and right click for options of the mobile modem. Click on Advanced and add this to the extra initialization settings.
    AT+CGDCONT=,”IP”,”bsnlsouth”
    UPDATE: replace the above with AT+CGDCONT=,”IP”,”gprssouth.cellone.in”
    UPDATE:2013 replace the above with AT+CGDCONT=,”IP”,”bsnlnet”
    Click OK
  5. That’s it, now connect using the new connection and you should be able to browse the net and do whatever.

Side Note : BSNL officially has not acknowledged that it supports EDGE, but it supports EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE)) on select towers, mainly in big towns and cities. The speed is dependent on the network traffic and can have high speed, when the network is not busy. The problem is there’s no way in most mobiles to differentiate between normal GPRS (speed less than 44kbps) and EDGE (can be as high as 236Kbps).
Go in for the unlimited plan if

1) Your area has EDGE.
2) You are using Internet from a laptop or desktop.

Feel free to ask and comment on your success or failure with the above steps.

So easy to get BSNL dataone passwords/usernames

BSNL with its stupid scheme of having the first 3 letters of the username followed by 123. With my delphi skills and couple of hours I could harvest around 20 working passwords from just 4 or 5 google pages. Whose was the stupid idea I don’t know, but if u haven’t changed it yet, don’t delay any more. Most have not changed it as bsnl has configured ppoe on the modem and dialout is automatic. Most people have no clue on configuring the modem via telnet or browser.

Configuring BSNL Dataone Modem for simultaneous Internet Access on USB and Ethernet ports

I was digging around the net for a solution to have shared net access on my Haweui MT841 modem (ADSL Gateway). It has 4 ethernet ports (that can be used as a switch), 1 USB and WIFI (which apparantly requires a separate PCMCIA card to get it working). My laptop doesn’t have an ethernet interface (I know its high time to upgrade) but it has an USB interface and I wanted the ADSL modem to act as a switch and also wanted ICS. Microsoft ICS(Internet Connection Sharing) will not work as the ethernet interface of the PC is used to connect using bsnl broadband and the same interface is used by PPPoe (PPP over ethernet). I serached the forums of http://vinuthomas.com, and found about wireless configuration of MT841. With that info and after saving the present configuration, I deleted all the PVCs and added a new PVC0 with PPPoe, gave the username and password. The BSNL DNS ip address for DNS was given and I also enabled DHCP on the modem. After saving the settings and rebooting the modem, it automatically connected to the net and I could access the net from my laptop and desktop.

Lessons learnt.
ADSL modem configuration in a bridged as well as PPPoe configuration is not all that difficult.
The USB port is just like a USB to ethernet converter
The initial configuration that BSNL used to give was in a bridged fashion without PPPoe from the PC but later installations used PPoe from the PC.

Apparantly RASPPPoe lets you do Microsoft ICS and is more efficient than Microsoft version of PPPoe.

Another broadband connection and some new sites

Took another bsnl broadband connection. This time the modem came with a USB connection. It can act as a switch too. Too good an offer since I wanted both. There’s support for wireless too, but the pcmcia card that was supposed to be there was not in the carton.So now there’s 800 MB of download, all for free.

Yesterday went through the skype developer zone. It reminded me of the old VOIP thingie I used to do @ Telematics in Dubai. It was so exciting, but the major difference was the call quality.Found some interesting DIY projects including one for skype at http://www.grynx.com/. Lots of nice projects.

Thanks to BSNL its possible to have 2 simultaneous logins and logging in different place with same username for broadband. Life’s good. I can use my friends’ night unlimited connection and download service packs in the morning till 8am. And now the good news is that there’s the unlimited plan for Rs900. It would turn out cheaper if my brother in law in UAE takes broadband and does skype.

Work on the IE datone logger and ip mailer is going on without much progress as I get carried away, like a kid with a new toy, being broadband.

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