How BSNL 3G Can Totally Change Everything

BSNL has been rolling out their 3G services at various states in India one by one . They started off with Maharashtra and recently launched 3G for Bangalore . A year back nobody actually even considered 3G as an option while buying cell phones but now since 3g has been launched getting a 3g phone would definitely be a smart thing to do . This article would tell you how a 3G connection can be so useful and so affordable and can totally change the way you do things with your phone. So here is more on that :
As soon as BSNL launched their 3G services here in bangalore , I made sure i got a 3G SIM for myself because i've always wanted to try out 3G as i knew it had a lot of potential . I knew it could do a lot more than what BSNL advertises . So i went to the customer care and purchased one for 120 bucks . Then recharged for around 50 bucks just to get some talktime . BSNL has this offer currently where it provides 2.5gb of FREE internet usage which means 2.5 gb of free 3G internet speed surfing . Thats a great offer for someone who wants to try out 3G .

Now 3G has a few cool features . Namely video calling , Mobile TV and High speed internet . Let me try explaining each one by one .

1)Video Calling
I personally think few years down the line nobody would make a voice call on a cell phone :) , its going to be video calling in a few years . The reason being that BSNL currently offers video calling for around 30paise per minute . NOw for video calling which is just being launched this is just FANTASTIC . I expected them to start of with around 2 - 3Rs per minute . If BSNL started with 30ps per minute , im sure after Airtel,Vodafone etc come with 3G their prices would go down further . We might even have offers like few hours of video calling free per month just like we have for voice calls now . So why make a voice call when you can make a video call :) .
For video calling both parties need a 3G card with video calling support . For example the Nokia 5800 Express Music supports this feature . The video calling works fantastic with no problem at all and a pretty decent video quality . So this is something i see people using in the future.

2)Mobile TV
This again is purely possible because of high 3G internet speeds . You get to watch a lot of TV channels on your cell phone . Basically you get connected through 3G and use a player like Real player and get a stream for each channel where you enter the stream server ip and the particular listen port. This can be very handy when your travelling!

3)High Speed Internet
3G offers very high speed internet . Now when i say VERY high speed i dont mean 10mbps or more . Its around 2-3mbps but i think that is fantastic if you can get such a speed while on the move and when i mean while on the move i mean when your travelling on a bus or a train or your car . It isn't that expensive either , i think it comes up to around 10paise per 100kb. NOw this 3g internet not only works on your cell phone but you can get this high speed internet on your laptop as well .
Firstly on your cell phone , you get high speed internet which helps you watch youtube videos and other bandwidth rich services with no problem at all . I tried viewing a youtube video on a 3g handset and it didnt have any LAG whatsoever . The video played without stopping in between to buffer , which means your IPL matches can be viewed on your cell phone in real time with no issues at all!
Seconding coming to your laptop , I think this is THE BEST feature of 3G and personally this is the primary feature of 3G that i am interested in . YOu can use your 3g enabled cell phone as a wireless modem and connect it to your laptop either via the data cable or wirelessly via bluetooth . Now after configuration you can actually get connected to the internet on your laptop using your 3g enabled handset as a modem . THis means high speed internet wherever you go , in your city or any other city you are travelling to ( which has 3g service ) and even on the way while you travel . The speeds are great and the network coverage of BSNL is pretty good , so you wont face much of a problem.
NOw the best part of getting 3g internet on your laptop using your cell phone is that you dont need to purchase any other service like Tata Photon or Reliance NetConnect . With these services you not only need to shell out around 3k for the device itself . But you need to subscribe to monthly plans so you need to pay a certain amount per month . This can be a waste especially if you dont have any travel plans for a few months and you would use your home or office DSL connection , then the photon you have would be a waste and you would have to pay for 3-4 months of rental even if you aren't using it whereas with BSNL 3G you just use up your talktime , you first recharge for validity in the beginning , which will be for a few years . Then you just take top up recharge like you recharge for around 55 Rs and get 50Rs talktime . So what you could do is take these top up recharge coupons only when you need to use the 3G internet , that way you save on costs. Also you dont need to spend on any device for your BSNL 3G as your 3G enabled cell phone is more than enough!

CONCLUSION :
I really expected a lot of people to take the BSNL 3G SIM card when it was launched but surprisingly not many have opted for it . I dont know if it is because they dont know the potential of 3G or if they are really not interested . 3G is definitely very useful and i feel will be something that will be used by many in the future.