Guest writer Ankur Gupta, a B.Tech student from Delhi, takes a look at the current situation of 3G on the iPhone in India. With an iPhone 3G in hand, here’re his experiences…
The Past
The iPhone 3G arrived in India last year but it did not taste success that it had hoped for. There were a number of reasons that attributed to it, but one which wasn’t given enough credibility was the lack of 3G networks in India. iPhone is a revolutionary device and its strong internet capabilities play a big role in helping it achieve its goal.
The 3G network scene in India has been all messed up with government avaricious to extract every penny out of the operators’ pocket in exchange for allocating them the coveted 3G spectrum. This has led to innumerous delays that have impacted the customers the most. MTNL and BSNL managed to get their hands on the 3G spectrum despite the debacle.
If you are an iPhone 3G user in India, you know how painful it is to access internet through Safari or other web based applications. Ever spent countless minutes glued to the iPhone screen waiting for that YouTube video to buffer? Or seen the blue GPS dot race away into unknown territory waiting for network to map the place? You got the point. Both Airtel and Vodafone, the official carriers of iPhone 3G in India, have poor EDGE speeds that barely touch 100kbps during most part of the day and if you happen to move out of the major cities you are left with pathetic GPRS connectivity. The present isn’t all gloomy; there is a shimmering light that holds promise.
The Present
The present situation of 3G services in India is bleak with only a single operator offering the service in a telecom circle. The service is not available throughout India and only a few select cities have been blessed with it. The 3G spectrum auction isn’t in sight for the next 3 months and even after allocation it would take a while for the operators to roll out the services. If you happen to opt for MTNL/BSNL 3G services you will be left with patchy coverage and a terrible customer care to deal with. But hey, you aren’t any better with those pathetic EDGE speeds anyway!
An adventurous journey with MTNL 3G
I decided to tread the shady path and unlocked my iPhone 3G, the only way to get it to access the MTNL 3G network. Remember that jailbreaking/unlocking your iPhone voids the warranty and can also brick the same. Getting a MTNL Prepaid SIM (Trump) was easy and the 3G service activation got completed within an hour of sending the request, pretty neat! The MTNL SIM was readily acknowledged by my iPhone 3G and connecting to the 3G network was a breeze by just entering the access point in the Network settings. So far so good. The journey had begun on a perfect note!
Connectivity
MTNL has limited 3G network coverage across both Delhi and Mumbai which is a major disappointment considering they got spectrum almost a year back. In Delhi, 3G network is available in South, Central and part of East Delhi which accounts for about 50% of the total coverage area. The woes do not end here as while traveling the 3G coverage is spotty and you are shuttling between EDGE and 3G networks every couple of minutes making it barely usable. Indoors, the service is decent if you are near one of the 3G enabled towers else you might face flaky connectivity.
Speed
The 3G/HSDPA speeds came as a big surprise as I did not expect them to be even greater than what MTNL broadband currently offers! 3G download and upload speeds are restricted to 384kbps and you get almost the full amount anywhere you are able to connect to the 3G network. The HSDPA speeds were stellar and I managed to clock 2.5 Mbps on a couple of occasions. MTNL boasts up to 3.6 Mbps download speed on its HSDPA network while upload has been capped at 384kbps. Indoors, the results weren’t different for 3G but for HSDPA I could only notch upto 1.2Mbps. You should get somewhere between 500kbps to 2Mbps indoors depending on the network strength that will improve over time as more towers get 3G capable. After a few initial hiccups, I managed to get the iPhone to tether to my laptop. The iPhone modem speed is limited to only 500kbps though, limiting the capability of the HSDPA network.
Pricing
Indian consumers have never been blessed with attractive pricing when it comes to data based services on cell phones and 3G service is no exception. Charging 2500 bucks (~$50) for the unlimited plan is atrocious and to make matters worse as it comes with a 10GB fair usage cap. There is no unlimited plan for the HSDPA service at all. The current pricing is monopolistic considering there is no competition in the market, things could change quickly once private telecom operators are allocated the 3G spectrum.
MTNL had outrageous pricing when it launched the service few months back but was forced to significantly lower the price when it found no takers. Under the new promotional scheme they charge Rs. 300 (~$6) for activation and the 3G plans range from 50MB for 99 bucks to 2500 bucks for unlimited usage with 10GB fair usage cap. The HSDPA has been left neglected with just a single plan of 149 bucks for 60MB and 10 bucks/MB after that.
To sum it up, the present situation is pretty grim with little choice present in front of the customers. They can only find solace in the shoddy 3G services offered by the PSUs. The present only holds hope for the future.
The Future
Having tested MTNL 3G network for a couple of weeks, I can only imagine great things to come in future. 3G networks should start rolling out beginning next year if things go according to plan. Multiple 3G operators in a telecom circle should spice up the competition nicely. Pricing does remain a big concern that will decide the acceptance of the service by the customers.
iPhone 3GS launch is impending in India and if Apple does strike a contract with MTNL/BSNL, the sales numbers won’t be as dismal as that of iPhone 3G. Apart from the obvious advantage of immediate 3G network availability with these operators, Mobile Number Portability is expected to kick in around the same time as the iPhone 3GS launch; allowing customers to retain their mobile number while shifting to another operator. Apple has done its part by introducing essential new features with the OS 3.0 update. Availability of 3G network coupled with attractive and smart marketing by official iPhone carriers would be a big step forward in making the iPhone an extremely lucrative device in the Indian market.
You can visit Ankur’s blog and follow @ankurgupta on twitter.
