Docomo's 3G Wi-Fi hub

Why buy a personal 3G SIM card when you can buy one of Tata Docomo's new 3G Wi-Fi hubs? It allows you to connect upto 5 wireless devices at 3G speeds!

What is it?

Your very own gateway to freedom. Freedom from wires and freedom from buffering. If you have tried to view a YouTube video of the baby getting scared of his sneezing mom, you'll know what we mean. This pocket device will work as a portable router for up to five devices and can connect using either a CDMA Tata Photon Plus SIM card or a 3G SIM as well. Either way, you will get enough bandwidth to watch your favourite videos without cooking dinner while they load!

So what's new?

We have had internet USB sticks for a while now and more recently, even 3G versions of them. But the 3G Wi-Fi Hub flexes its muscles by being able to shoulder the load of multiple devices connected to it. Any sort of Wi-Fi enabled device can be connected in a jiffy and while speeds may be compromised depending on number of devices, our tests with four connected devices showed a drop of speed from 1.3Mbps to 350kbps on the Photon Plus SIM card. However, streaming videos was a pleasing experience with almost no buffering of standard-def uploads.

Can I use 3G yet?

Sure you can, but not in some parts of the country yet, including Mumbai. But sweat not, since this device is ready for both CDMA and 3G. If you live in a city that is still off the map for Tata Docomo 3G, just use the Photon Plus SIM card and still get greater than normal speed for surfing and maintaining your virtual farm.

How long until it runs out of juice?

The claimed battery life of four hours was almost met by our own tests and we exhausted the unit after about three hours and a few minutes. It can be charged via USB or a traditional power outlet without any interruption in the signal strength. Very nifty.

So, you're making me buy one?

You could get faster speeds via LAN-based Wi-Fi but for travel and portability, this is ace.

Verdict

Easy to connect, simple to use and with tariff plans that won't make you bankrupt, it's hard not to recommend this pocket-friendly Wi-Fi hub.

Price: Rs 5999

source

Constraint In Video Telephony and High Usage of Data and Mobile Internet

A limitation in the number of 3G-enabled handsets with forward facing cameras, privacy issues and a limited bandwidth that might hinder user experience may limit the usage of video telephony as telecom companies in India progressively roll out their 3G networks and services.

Globally, the introduction of 3G services in a country has seen subscriber usage patterns tilt towards accessing the internet, either for downloads or browsing and telecom industry officials as well as analysts say the pattern is likely to be repeated in India as 3G services cover more geographies in the country. Tata Teleservices (TTSL), Reliance Communications (RCom), Bharti Airtel and Aircel have already launched their 3G services while Vodafone Essar is currently conducting subscriber trials in Delhi and Chennai and Idea Cellular is expected to announce its 3G launch later this month.

“Initial indications are that data usage will shoot up. Besides, video telephony is very device dependent,” said chief corporate affairs officer for Idea Cellular, Rajat Mukarji. While agreeing that some voice traffic from existing 2G networks will be offloaded by telcos on their 3G bandwidth, he added that may not be a hindrance in user experience for video telephony despite the 5 MHz bandwidth of 3G spectrum. “The offloading will primarily be for customers who opt for 3G networks,” he said.

Data from Indian Cellular Association (ICA) reveals that smart phone sales in the present financial year will number 10-11 million units and for 2011-12, the figure could touch 40 million. “In three to four years, there is going to be a huge acceleration in smart phone sales in India, with annual sales in excess of 50 million handsets,” said ICA’s president, Pankaj Mohindroo.

According to him, internet will be the ‘killer’ application and not video telephony, and there might not be much impact on sales of handset manufacturers that do not offer video calling feature on their devices.

That, in effect, could be a saving grace for Research In Motion (RIM) that manufactures and sells its handsets under the BlackBerry range, which enable other 3G services such as data downloads and mobile internet access but are bereft of the crucial forward facing camera feature that is necessary for enabling video calls.

“As of now, BlackBerry handsets do not come with forward facing camera. I don’t think there is an application that can build on that feature in to BlackBerry smartphone,” said a spokesperson for RIM India, who declined to divulge if the company was planning to incorporate the feature in any future models.

Moreover, as Director of Com First, Mahesh Uppal, points out, usage of video telephony might be restricted among family and close friends due to privacy issues.

“A subscriber on a call with a professional or social acquaintance may not want to share the details of his location, through a video call. That can limit its appeal,” he said.

Low broadband penetration in India is also cited as a reason why mobile internet may pick up faster than mobile video telephony.source

Tata unveils mobile 'sex education' service

 Tata Docomo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices, today launched a new service 'Sparsh', which offers information on sexual and reproductive health-related issues.

"The service is aimed at using mobile phone to build awareness about issues related to sexual and reproductive health related concerns," Tata Docomo said in a statement.


The service would be available in English, Hindi and Marathi, while other languages like Oriya, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam will be added soon.


"Sparsh aims at creating awareness about sex education on the mobile. Majority of Indians are still conservative about openly discussing and clearing doubts about the topic", Tata Docomo Vice President New Product Development - VAS Zubin Jimmy Dubash said.


Keeping this in mind, we have introduced Sparsh, which offers the customer complete privacy in accessing this information through a simple IVR call, he added. source