BSNL GPRS on Prepaid – How ?

Update – Oct 25, 2005: Finally my GPRS is working on BSNL Prepaid. Check update number 4 given below.

Does anyone knows how to activate the BSNL’s GPRS service for prepaid connections in Mangalore, Karnataka (south) ? Please leave a comment if you can help.

Here is what I have done so far (I use a Nokia 6600):

1. Sent a SMS to 3733 with the text ‘ACTGPRS’.
2. Received a SMS within a few minutes saying my request is received, and the message asked to wait for a confirmation SMS.
3. Confirmation SMS from +444 received tell me that GPRS and MMS service has been activated.
4. I called up the customer care for the configuration settings. They SMS’ed me the settings. (You can get the settings from : This Place too. Its available on the BSNL site too.)
5. Installed the settings. Its as simple as saving the SMS.
6. Tried to connect to the net using opera/netfront/services (built in browser), using the access point created by the configration settings.
7. It tries to connect, but so far no success. The GPRS signal indicator (the little “G”) blinks for sometime and then disappears. No specific error message.
9. Sent a SMS again to 3733 with the text ‘ACTGPRS’, to which I got a reply back saying, ‘GPRS and MMS services are already enabled’.

Has anyone successfully set this thing up ?

I have called the customer care, spoken to them ‘n’ number of times, but its of no use. Typical government stuff.

Any pointers to success would be really helpful.

Update 1 (Around Sept 19th, 2005) : BSNL customer care folks told me that the GPRS service is down for a few days and should be back online withing couple of days.

Update 2 (Sep 26th, 2005) : Called up local customer care center at Mangalore. The person says that Nokia 6600 handset has some problem with BSNL GPRS network! – Can anyone confirm this ? Cant directly trust these folks. Everytime you call them, they give you some new reason. If I get a chance, i will check it with an different handset. BTW, the solution suggested by the BSNL local guy is to upgrade software (firmware to the latest version – costs around Rs. 500).

Update 3 (Oct First week) : Spoke to one more person at the local exchange. Could reach that person after getting redirected atleast 5 times. Almost always, the person at the enter end, conviniently gives one more number saying that the next person is ‘the’ person who can handle this!. Finally, I end up talking to a technical guy (I think!). Now, this person doesn’t say anything about Nokia 6600 problem. He says even he wasn’t able to access GPRS for a couple of days. Asks me to call in a couple of days. I call back after couple of days. He says some settings have been changed just a few days back, and he doesn’t have the settings. Asks me to call back after 20 mins. I call back. Says, settings are too lengthy. Says, he cant tell the settings over the phone (WTF???). Points me the BSNL webpage mentioned above to download the settings. I downloaded the settings again. No change. Still no GPRS. Anyone from BSNL with a decent knowledge of whats happening … reading this ?

Update 4 (Oct 25, 2005) : Finally got my GPRS activiated today. The endless calls to the customer care turned out to be a total waste. Yesterday, I called up the local customer service center in mangalore. They refered me a the number of JTO of mangalore. JTO inturn gave me one more number. It was kind of endless chain. Finally I landed up with some technical person. The person confirmed that all my settings were fine. Then he checked the system (HLR) and told me that my GPRS wasn’t activated at all!. WTF!!!!!!!. He told me that at Mangalore, he wont be able to activate it, and he gave me the contact number of a person in bangalore. The person at bangalore told me that I need to call him up again today. It seems this is happening all the time and that he is fed up. Some how, the reporting system says that the GPRS is activated, but in reality (switch) it isn’t.!

So, I gave the same person a call today. And finally, he enabled my GPRS access. Now, I am able to browse on my phone. But its quite expensive. Only in emergency!

Update 5: For the benefit of all everyone, here are the correct GPRS Settings for BSNL south users for Nokia 6600. These settings work for me.

Navigate to : Menu -> Tools -> Settings -> Connection

Select GPRS (Second item on the screen)
GRPS Connection -> When needed (if you select when available, GPRS will be always active, and you would be charged. So, use with caution)
Access Point -> gprs.cellone.in

Click on ->Back

Select Access Points (first item on the screen)
Option -> New Access Point -> Use default settings
Connection name -> bsnl-gprs (can be anything)
Data Bearer -> GPRS
Access point name -> bsnlwap (not bsnlsouth)
User name : ppp
Password : ppp123
Authentication : Normal
Homepage : http://localhost/home.wml

Then….
Options ->Advance settings
Phone IP address -> Automatic
Primary name server : 0.0.0.0
Secondary name server : 0.0.0.0
Proxy server address : 10.31.54.2
Proxy Port Number : 9401

Done.

If you want to browse the net using Opera, then you must set the proxy server address and proxy port number mentioned above in opera settings too. The same holds true for other browser too.

If the above settings don’t work, then clearly, your GPRS is NOT activated by BSNL. Call up the local BSNL exchange, and ask them to check if GPRS is activated in the HLR.

316 comments | September 16th, 2005 at 02:19pm

Nokia 6600 Internet over bluetooth – How to

Finally after lot of R&D, yesterday i could finally browse the net over my 6600 using my PC’s internet connection over bluetooth !

Two things are possible.
1. You use the GPRS of your Mobile phone and browse on your PC.
2. You use the DSL (or other high speed connection) of your PC to browse on your Mobile phone.

#1 is pretty simple, and is very easy to setup on Nokia 6600. But #2 is not that simple. After reading lot of forums, i found that Nokia has on purpose blocked this feature in 6600.

If you have already done a search on this topic, you would have definitely come across this page. But the instructions there are quite cryptic, and not very clear. So, i did lot of search on various forums, and finally got it right. What i have done is, i have basically documented the steps that i followed to make it work. Do give it a try!. It might work for you as well. If it works (or doesn’t) do comment here!

Steps…
First lets set up the PC. Things to do on PC :

1. Deactivate all the Checkboxes in mRouter (at least the ones of the Bluetooth COM ports)
2. Goto Bluetooth settings and Deactivate everything else in Local services than Bluetooth serial port, note the com port you set as bluetooth serial port
3. Goto Phone and Modem options, go to “Modems” add a new one, activate “I will select it from a list”
4. Choose “Communications cable between 2 Computers” from the list (in Standard Modem Types)
5. Select the COM port from step3
6. In the modem settings set maximum port speed to 115200
7. Goto Network Connections and create a new connection (wizard)
8. Select Set up an advanced connection -> Next
9. Accept incoming connections -> Next
10. Check the Communications cable between two computers -> Next
11. Do not allow VPN connections ->
12. select a username you want to give access to your pc over Bluetooth (that’s the username you will set on the phone later) -> Next
13. Select Internet Protocol -> Properties, select “TCI/IP address assignment” and set the IP range to something like 10.0.2.2-10.0.2.254
14. Remove Internet Connection Sharing from all interfaces
15. run cmd.exe and enter the following commands:
    
netsh routing ip nat install
netsh routing ip nat add interface "YOUR LAN INTERFACE NAME" full
netsh routing ip nat add interface Internal private

    YOUR LAN INTERFACE NAME has to be replaced with the name of the interface connected to the internet
16. if there is a “Bluetooth Network” connection in Network Connections delete it
17. In network connections choose the incoming connection just created, and open its properties.
18. Click on the users tab, check the last checkbox which says “Always allow directly connected devices to such as palmtop computers to connect without using a password” (this step helped me!)

So, that’s the setup on the PC. Next we need to configure the 6600

1. Download gnubox6600.SIS and install it on your phone. Search Google for GnuBox
2. Create a new Access Point on the phone (Setting|Connection|Access points|New access point|Use default settings).
3. Use the following settings for it:
   • Name: Bt (This name is important, the gnubox software will look for it, since its hard-coded in the code)
   • Data Bearer: High speed (GSM)
   • Dial-up number: e.g. 2222. It doesn’t matter what you have here as long as it’s not empty
   • Username: the username you gave access to the incoming connection earlier
   • Prompt password: No
   • Password: Password for the user on Windows
   • Authentication: Normal
   • Advanced Settings: Use Login Script Yes
   • Advanced Settings: Login Script
     
     CHARMAP [windows-1252]
     LOOP 10
     {
     SEND “CLIENT”+<0x0d>
     WAIT 3
     {
     “SERVER” OK
     }
     }
     EXIT KErrNoAnswer$OK:
     EXIT
     Be careful that you get it exactly as show here, including line breaks. You could save it to a file, send to the phone and copy-paste to the settings.
   • Advanced Settings: Use PPP Compression Yes
4. Run the program you installed at step1 (gnubox)
5. Inside gnubox: Options-> 2box Direct -> Bluetooth, select your computer, leave gnubox running in background
6. Run the nokia wml browser select “Bt” as access point and connect.
7. You can also use any other internet app like Agile messenger, real player, opera, profimail etc

I was able to connect, and view my website and could read this blog too. I was also able to receive and send out mail using profimail, and the built-in mail client.

I hope this posting helps all the Nokia 6600 owners, specially in India!

Update (Sep-16-2005) : Check this page and this page for more info on GnuBox for nokia 6600

212 comments | March 30th, 2005 at 04:36pm