Just got the Idea Net Setter EDGE enabled wireless internet device. Besides Idea I checked out the TATA photon, Reliance and Airtel versions too, but settled on Idea.

Bad mistake.

It promises up to 236kbps of speed, but the actual speed I get at my place, which is EDGE enabled, is roughly around 30 kbps. My wired Airtel connection gives me 512 kbps of speed and so the Net setter is around 17 times slower. Predictably enough it makes for a very frustrating experience. Pages take around a minute to load if they have high quality graphics, while streaming sites (Youtube, myspace, last.fm...etc) are out of the question!

I paid 3000rs for the device which came with two months of unlimited usage- pretty good you might think. Well, think twice.
Sample this: at the download speed that I get, 15kbps, it takes around an hour to download a 25mb file!!! And mind you I'm at an EDGE enabled area which supposedly gives the highest speed. In other areas that work on gprs technology the speed is claimed to even climb down to 0.1 kbps! Even a web page requires more bandwidth to load successfully. What's more the device keeps disconnecting on it's own, and shows a strange error called 619 or something.

What makes me angry is that I was promised much more. Unparalleled coverage, good speed, constant connectivity... none of them held out. At around 750 per month it's about the same price as the 256kbps wired airtel unlimited broadband tariff. However, the actual speed is less than half of the Airtel version so it is entirely misleading. Anyway, the whole 'upto' business is in itself very shady. When a network promises you upto 512 kbps expect around 256 kbps or lower most times. My Airtel connection is comparatively better since the usual speed exceeds 400kbps.

Despite having a wired connection it is good to be mobile, especially since devices like netbooks are getting lighter and lighter. With all things considered however, right now the whole wireless thing is just a gimmick in India. Why I say this is because of two reasons.

1. Carriers like Idea who offer unlimited downloads have dismal speed and coverage. Hence, the most you can do is surf web pages and download small files ( <100mb).
2. Others like Reliance and Tata who offer better speeds ( promises 3 mbps but actually works down to 512 kbps in real time usages) do not have unlimited schemes. They apply a cap at 10gbs and charge an extra 2 rs for every extra mb of download. Very pricey when you consider that a typical avi movie has 600 mbs-that's 1200 rs for a movie!!! So what's the use of the better speed?

Thus, wireless internet in India is still either wholly undependable or stratospherically expensive.

I was having a conversation with a Korean friend on the topic of internet speeds and what he told me still has me fuming. The average Korean has access to internet connections with 70-100 mbps speed!!! It takes barely 5 minutes to download an Avi movie! And whats more, they just pay about 1,500 rs per month for unlimited usage! Crazy! Their wireless connections offer constant speeds of upto 10mbps ( real speed unlike the virtual speeds of Indian carriers). You might say so what. But look at it this way- they waste a whole lot lesser time waiting!

Ok, South Korea is the leader in internet connectivity( the US is way behind it), so a comparison between it and India is highly unfair. But the rates of tariff and the quality of services we are getting here in India is still infuriating. If we could just get uninterrupted coverage and around 5 mbps of wired, and 1mbps of wireless speed at reasonable rates, we humble Indian netziens would shut our traps and become wholly docile. But no, that's not about to happen anytime soon because the corporate walas are still minting money with their disgusting infrastructure.

This review of the Idea Netsetter very quickly turned into a tirade against the entire Internet service in India! LOL. Anyway, since life always boils down to choosing the lesser evil, I'd say in retrospect and from current 'OUCH!' experience to look elsewhere besides the Idea Netsetter. Even using your Airtel SIM card with your phone a smodem would be better.