If you are still browsing the internet the ‘old’ way, then you must have a look at this video…
Personally, I have been a RSS feed addict for over 3 years now, and have never looked back!
I use Google Reader as my primary feed reader.Do try it out and see the difference!
Add comment | October 22nd, 2007 at 11:28am
Haven’t switched to Firefox yet ?
Its not too late. Switch today.
Lots of new critical security vulnerability reported in IE…. Switch to Firefox, browse safe, be happy.
More info on Asa’s blog.
2 comments | March 28th, 2006 at 02:02am
My Airtel broadband speed has been upgraded from 128 kbps to 256 kbps by Airtel.
I noticed today that my downloads were way too fast!. Could see transfers up to 300 kbps!. First i thought it was some error, but later, I searched the Airtel website and and confirmed it from Vinu Thomas broadband forums.
So, the new deal is as follows :
You can find the details here (select home combo). Confirmed the same from customer care too.
Too good to be true. I guess this was possible only because of BSNL’s Dataone broadband service. A direct answer to BSNL. Good for us.
18 comments | September 25th, 2005 at 12:34am
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
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 :
netsh routing ip nat install
netsh routing ip nat add interface "YOUR LAN INTERFACE NAME" full
netsh routing ip nat add interface Internal private
So, that’s the setup on the PC. Next we need to configure the 6600
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
Here is more on my adventures with broadband!
…. As a part of the touchtel package, we get a USB DSL modem on rental basis (Rs. 49 per month, included in the Rs. 700)
Initially, I was given a modem from beetel!…..
It had a beetel logo on it!. The installation went on without any problems…. And I was online in just a couple of mins. Was online for around 10 mins without any issues when the tech guy was around.
That night, I connected, and to my surprise, I got disconnected every 2 to 3 mins !….the connection was not at all stable.
Called up the tech guys again, and told them about the problem. They came down immediately the next day, checked the wiring etc., and finally, found the bug. It was got something to do with some settings on the server side, which was corrected, and after that no more disconnects !
Then started the real fun!…….. Now, I had stable connections without any disconnections!…:) => time to open up shareaza and make full use of my bandwidth :)………..
Started shareaza, and with a couple of mins after running shareaza, I got the blue screen of death on windows XP!. Boooom…….. Did major research on the net, and found that this was to with the modem drivers.
Tried to search for the latest version of the drivers,… and in the process came to know that the modem is actually manufactured by a Japanese company! and actually, its called TERA 100U !!..with a globespanvirata chipset. …the entire site is in Japanese. no english!., but still managed to get the drivers, and found that they are the same version as I had ! Then searched for some generic globespanvirata drivers!,…only to find that the company is taken over by conexant and could not find anything significant at conexant!
Only option left was to get back to tech guys!.. And to my surprise, the tech guy was really helpful and understanding. Without questions, he straight away replaced the modem. This time, a modem manufactured in Delhi!! with a proper conexant chipset. No more blue screen of death!.
Now all P2P programs rock!
Actually, this problem is more noticeable while running any P2P programs. i.e, its got something to do with the way in which these program work ! (may be opening up lot of connections..etc). Infact, I was able to reduce the frequency of the crash by changing the connection settings in shareaza. But could not avoid it altogether. But now, with the other modem, no problems at all. Not seen the blue screen of death since then.
All I can say is, the touchtel customer care is pretty good., and very responsive. Keep it up guys!
91 comments | August 18th, 2004 at 01:48pm