GPRS charges - monthly or pay/use

[-RooneY-]

Hi All,

I have an idea connection, and tried out the GPRS connection which they seem to have sent to my cell for free. So, yes its working. Charges on their website is given as 2 paise / kb which is quite costly (Delhi). So, I browsed a website and got charged like 14 paise. Good enough.

Now, I am wondering how other service providers charge their GPRS or EDGE connectivity ?

1. Is it one time pay for entire month like Rs. 400/month or do you also have the option of paying only as much as you use as I have in Idea. Or it depends on one service provider to another. Do all providers give you the option, to say, use just 50 kb in a month and pay 1 rupee or whatever for it...because that would affect who uses internet on mobiles.

2. And internet through gprs/edge is provided only in major cities, right?

3. How do people on CDMA access wap sites ? is GPRS available over there as well?

I am new to this field,

Thanks a lot for your time,
Cheers,
Rohil

 

[Pat]

Hi All,

I have an idea connection, and tried out the GPRS connection which they seem to have sent to my cell for free. So, yes its working. Charges on their website is given as 2 paise / kb which is quite costly (Delhi). So, I browsed a website and got charged like 14 paise. Good enough.

Now, I am wondering how other service providers charge their GPRS or EDGE connectivity ?

1. Is it one time pay for entire month like Rs. 400/month or do you also have the option of paying only as much as you use as I have in Idea. Or it depends on one service provider to another. Do all providers give you the option, to say, use just 50 kb in a month and pay 1 rupee or whatever for it...because that would affect who uses internet on mobiles.

Yes, all providers have two types of plans:

a:> Pay as you use (like 1 ps/ kb or 1 ps/2kb which is **** expensive)
or
b:> Monthly packages (like 199 per month for 256 MB in Idea, 399 per month for 100 MB is Airtel)

I use Idea's 199 plan and I find 256 MB enough for a month.

2. And internet through gprs/edge is provided only in major cities, right?

GPRS is available in almost every place. Edge service is available in only major cities. Edge gets you better speeds than GPRS (about 3-4 times more)

3. How do people on CDMA access wap sites ? is GPRS available over there as well?

Yes, internet access is available on CDMA technology as well but it is comparatively slower than Edge.

 

[ThinkFree]

On Airtel prepaid, you no longer get any plan with a fixed rent in Delhi. You just pay when you use this service at 30p/50KB. On Vodafone, you need to pay atleast 199pm rent if u activate this service(no free usage). Idea has both plans. On MTNL you get unlimited use plan for 350pm.

EDGE is faster than GPRS but not available everywhere in India. But it's available in whole Delhi.

You can use data services on CDMA as well. Though it's speed is slower than EDGE, but it's faster than GPRS and you get the same speed all over India(upto 144kbps).

 

[freshseasons]

Please please take into consideration the kind of handset you are using.
If you are using Blackberry or an iphone like me stay 100 miles from pay per use.
Last time i had this connection my iphone was checking every 15mins for the new mail and by the end of the month i paid for every spam including some who wanted to enlarge my anatomy.
Better get GPRS monthly unlimited flat if you are into heavy usage riding on faster Edge connection.
Though how fast and overhyped edge is that is however altogether different topic.

 

[-RooneY-]

On Airtel prepaid, you no longer get any plan with a fixed rent in Delhi. You just pay when you use this service at 30p/50KB. On Vodafone, you need to pay atleast 199pm rent if u activate this service(no free usage). Idea has both plans. On MTNL you get unlimited use plan for 350pm.

EDGE is faster than GPRS but not available everywhere in India. But it's available in whole Delhi.

You can use data services on CDMA as well. Though it's speed is slower than EDGE, but it's faster than GPRS and you get the same speed all over India(upto 144kbps).

Ahh so that means that in case of Vodafone or MTNL, you need to pay atleast a certain hefty amount per month even if you intend to use only say 50 kb in a month ! Thats actually quite sad. Not everyone needs 200 MB or unlimited usage.

Atleast, with my Idea, I can use only my limited requirement and be happy paying a small bill with it.

 

[ThinkFree]

^^Pay as you use plan is good for idea users, but on Airtel you will pay Rs. 600 for just 100MB use. 599Rs for 500MB will be better then.