Review: Reliance Net Connect USB modem

I had recently taken an Reliance USB data modem as a secondary connection to connect to the net wirelessly when I am traveling and below are my views regarding the same.

I had purchase the Huawei EC325 USB data modem model for Rs 2,850 they have an current offer in which the first 2 months of usage is free and the dealer said that form the third month the billing will start with a default plan on Rs 650/month for I GB of data, and I could choose any other data plan that I wish, the reason I choose the USB modem model over the PC PCMCIA is that I can connect this USB modem even to my standard desktop if needed.

The modem is based on the CDMAx1 technology that Reliance phones also use, Reliance names this data service as Reliance Netconnect and the max theoretical speeds that this modem is capable of is 153kbps, but expect a peak speed of around 110 – 115 kbps (about 14 -15 KB/sec) and on an average the speed hovers around 45 – 65 kbps in terms of the experience it is like on a good dialup connection, so forget about streaming videos or VOIP calls, but general browsing and checking emails is pretty functionally. I was able to browse sites comfortably even in a moving car, do note that the speed depends a lot on the network signal, if the signal (max of 5 which you can know via the connection software) is below 3 bars then the browsing experience is pathetic also at certain times of the day during peak hours the speed is slow due to network congestion, the other good thing about Reliance Netconnect is that there are no roaming charges for connecting to the net within the country, so you get charged the same amount irrespective of the city you access the net.

Why did I choose Reliance Netconnect?

You must be thinking why I chose to select this old CDMAx1 technology that support a max speed of around 115kpbs when there are technologies like EVDO based on the newer CDMA that support wireless speeds upto 2.4 Mbps and 3G based on GSM are just around the corner.

You are right the EVDO networks have already been started by BSNL in some states and in a couple of months 3G networks are also going to start by all the leading mobile providers, but the problem with these will be there coverage, initially these technologies will be limited to metros and big cities and it will take at least 1 – 2 years for these technologies to be available in all the small states and town and till then the Reliance existing CDMAx1 network has the edge in the connectivity area, again as I won’t be using this as my primary internet connection as I had a 2 Mbps Airtel DSL broadband connection for my daily usage and I just needed a connection that is country wide while I am travelling.

Installation

I installed the USB modem on my HCL Mileap UMPC running Vista Home edition and it installed without any issues, the software used to connect is pretty stable and has good functionality it works equally well on Windows XP, This USB modem also supports making voice calls / SMS apart from data connectivity which can be done via software, as this device does not have any external power source it draws the power it needs from the USB port of the laptop / desktop, In my testing I found that my UMPC battery gave about 20% less backup time while I was connected to the net via this USB modem.

The dealer also said it would also work with Linux / Mac, do note that reliance provides a couple of models and some old ones do not support Vista.

I will be traveling a lot in the next couple of weeks to various towns and cities and will update this story with my experience, as of now with this USB data card and my Mileap UMPC I finally have a true mobile computing experience with wireless internet connected across the country!