Airtel Broadband: Should i go for airtel USB for my laptop?

[tuxdux]

Usually dialing S/W are just wrappers around AT commands.

I am using Airtel's GSM based data card (PCMCIA) with Slackware Linux. Of course Airtel does not support it. But you can use it like any other modem.

the pcmcia supports hayes set of at commands? are you sure? which chipset
`lspci -vv -n` please if thats the case then i wont mind giving it a shot, and coming to USB cant we use NDISwrapper and unzip the windows binary .exe which is nothing but a self extracting file and then get the .inf and .sys files and load it with the help of ndiswrapper? do i make sense?

Welcome to Beetel Modems
Wireless range claimed 18000 feet !
I have no idea about LINUX and
WiFi could be an option instead of USB.

IIRC people reached 570 km long range wireless signals and not 18000 feet, plus at home i got a 16 mile range wi-fi antenna with just 80 db attenuation i get a decent range! well mileage varies anyway!
p.s. adding to double post. i am sick and tired of the green hornets too then. replied anyway. the website is wndw. wireless networking in developing world. RTB read the book! and Linksys wrt54g ultimate hacking guide. read that book too if you can buy it..... and mind coming out of the egoistic shell? heh! and lastly? you need to know about wireless wave guide which uses 802.11b/g with powerboost its a broadcom terminology. AITE! now i need to gop up. feels like i am speaking with experts in wireless communication. i am not any. read those 2 books. 1 st one is free. Wireless Networking in the Developing World and the 2nd one from warez else buy it.
HEH! with an omni-bi-quad dipole you can reach ~600 km range. and also FYI indian wireless act doesnt support power more than 4 watts for any wireless comminication under the ISM broad spectrum, and punishable under law. geej, why do all 1/2 empty 1/2 filled egoistic nagging women behave like men. sheesh. damn!
please RTFM and also get proper knowledge. antennas can be just a 70 mm cigarette long and the real power is in how much wave strength of EMF (electro magnetic force is sent) passed via the LMR400.
complete clueless private message and that too egoistic w/ weak base! thanks whoever!

 

[halfconscious]

I've recently bought an airtel USB "EDGE" modem, as I could get no TATA
coverage where I am. The modem is branded Micromax MMX610U and
was not initially recognised by Linux. I have supplied a patch for 2.6.25 kernel that allows this modem to work with the existing pl2303 driver ( it was just a case of adding the manufacturer and product ID reported by lsusb to the driver code). This patch should be in the next kernel release as it appears to be have been accepted by the package maintainer but in the meantime
you can find it at
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/gregkh/gregkh-2.6/patches/usb.current/usb-pl2303-another-product-id.patch

If you are in an "EDGE" network enabled area, you should be able to get 150kb/s or possibly more - i.e. the similiar to TATA Indicom - otherwise it is just GPRS and you will generally have to content yourself with about 2kB/s average.
On both TATA and Airtel I've experienced huge variation in data rates - I
guess it's just down to how much traffic there is at the time.


As others have pointed out if your phone supports "EDGE" ( I believe this is
sometimes called EGPRS) then there is little benefit to buying this product -
except it is small, quite cheap and allows you to still use your phone at the
same time.

 

[DrSRQ]

Hi all,
I'm having Acer aspire 5310 with Fedora installed on it.I googled for past 2 weeks :wall: and found airtel supports Windows whereas Tata indicom supports Linux too.
But Tata Indicom user feedback looks not very good So im almost decided to go for airtel and may be install windows on my system and try find a way to work with Linux.

If anyone tried airtel USB in Linux laptop - Please let me know.

If you are using linux you must be knowing it's not click>next>next>next>finish...(mental block, you don't think)

While in linux go to command and do everything yourself!!!

About TATA thingy, tata doesn't give any installer for linux. you gotta configure it yourself.

For airtel, Well If I can make my Idea GPRS work on CHINA MOBILE phone (On Hardy Heron) then AirteL USB "MUST" also work, you just need to do everything manually.

WVDial.conf edit it with all the settings for Airtel (Extra Initiation command should be entered in int3 that is AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","airtelgprs.com","",0,0)

scan all the USB devices once you have inserted it and see on which port your USB modem is being recognized...mostly it's ttyACM0

If not then do lsusb command and you can find out device ID and wirte the driver yoruself which is not tough. and it will work.

 

[tech_help]

i think linux should recognize the usb, i used ut300r2u modem(dsl) via usb on ubuntu, it recognized without any problem at all.. they have these standard drivers, so in most cases airtel usb in fedora should work!!!

yes.

I am using USB in linux. The distro detected on it's own.

 

[coolbal]

Just saw This threadHere is my reviewI am Using Reliance Netconnect USB data cardThere are some cracks which enable us to make it work on LinuxThe speeds are so BadU can face huge variation while donwloading a single fileFor me The variations range from 2kBps to 20kBps using flashgetIf u r having Broadband connection then stick with itorIf a ISP is ready to offer a connection at ur area than take itIf u want a wireless connection than wait for some time and take Wifi or Wimaxx

 

[DrSRQ]

Hi Just Tested Airtel GPRS thru Cinki Phone dialed by Wvdial on Hardy Heron. It's working perfectly.:yahoo:. I think your USB "MUST" work on linux.

 

[halfconscious]

its hard to get support for linux for any connection that requires a customized software to log in...

we have seen the same with sify broadband...

am not sure if you would be able to use tata usb net connection on linux.

You can make TATA USB CDMA modem ("plug and surf"?) work straight
away on linux . Several have documented procedures ( e.g. on Ubuntu forums), you should find them immediately you search for a solution.

Even if there is no documented solution, you have a fair chance of making any modem ( except a softmodem ) work quickly in linux by going into the silly windows application they supply you on the CD to start your connection( unfortunately you generally have to boot into windows for this ...unless you are particularly determined to remain untainted :O).
and note down relevant info from some "settings/options/preferences" dialog
(e.g. number to dial, user, passwd) and then set up a linux dialer such as wvdial to connect you up. There are many examples of using wvdial or similiar
on the net.
You can generally find a modem log in windows - and if you "diagnose/test" the modem device you will get some useful modem info in this log file that should help you quickly google a solution on the web. A log will also contain the connection dialogue with the network server which is generally another way of obtaining the number to dial, user and password and to see if any additional commands need to be sent.

As others have noted on this thread, even for "soft modems" ( that rely on
host processing to encode and decode transmit symbols ) it is normally possible to run the windows driver in linux with ndiswrapper.

Of course it will probably always be easier to remain clicking inside Windows, but if , like the originator of this this thread, you prefer to use Linux for any of countless good reasons, then you will find a slicker better product evolving
almost daily - and a huge and growing community of helpful fellow users out
there to support you.

PS I think there are conversations about a lot of different "USB modems" on this thread... the vaguely lucid are at least talking about airtel ones , two or three about airtel E/GPRS modem.

 

[haider_up32]

Tata Indicom supports Linux ..its written on the package one of my friend has it

 

[dptxp]

It is a pity that AIRTEL (and Micromax) are not providing Linux support. It is not a huge work for them, it is simply a matter of attitude. Why should we be forced to use one proprietary OS ? I have talked to Airtel, emailed them and to Micromax. Airtel did not reply. Micromax replied, they have sent the matter to their technical department. No response after that from them.

 

[haider_up32]

good work.....u can try google blog search to find how to for airtel