Vodafone

The ever amazing zoo zoo ads have done enough to inform us that the Vodafone 3G network is active. Vodafone is probably the only network which offers a free trial of the 3G services. Let us have a look at what else does Vodafone has to offer besides having an aggressive advertisement campaign.

Availability

Vodafone aquired 3D licences in 13 circles across India. Out of this 3G has been rolled out in 10 circles as per the Vodafone spokesperson. Vodafone successfully launched its 3G services in the circles where it obtained licenses — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (E) and West Bengal.

Ease of acquiring services

Availing 3G services for Vodafone is fairly straightforward. One needs to buy a SIM card from a Vodafone mobile store or a reseller. The SIM is later on upgraded to 3G. However, if you are already a Vodafone subscriber, then simply go ahead and get the 3G data usage plan according to your need. This upgrades the existing subscription to Vodafone 3G network apart from activating the data usage plan.

Plans

Vodafone provides 3G data usage plans which should cover all usage needs. The base plan gives you free data usage of 100 MB. The plans, their availability and pricing vary with different telecom circles. The other data usage plans which are of higher value prove to be cheaper. It is upto the user to work out his preferences and data usage to buy the appropriate usage plan for his connection. Post expiry of the data limit, the user would be charged 10p/10KB.

One would find that the data usage charges for Vodafone are on the higher side as compared to govt vendors like MTNL or BSNL amongst others. The video call pricing is a bit different and needs some understanding. A video call generated in the local network and terminating in the local network only will be billed at Rs 3/minute. If a person establishes a video call when in roaming, he would be billed at Rs 4 per minute. However if a video call originating from the local network terminates in the roaming network it will be billed at Rs 3/min only.

Value added services

A host of other value added services like live TV (Vodafone TV), video calling, live streaming have already been provided on the Vodafone network. Some others like HD gaming, video blogging, mobile newspapers, etc are in the process of activation and it should not be long before they add value to the Vodafone 3G experience.

Performance

The Vodafone network was pretty consistent in speeds in Delhi, wherever we tested. The average download speed achieved on an Android OS powered phone was 1.82 Mbps. There was miniscule difference over morning, noon and evening tests for this particular value.

The upload speed had some difference though. The maximum upload speed was achieved in the afternoon at 1.56 Mbps as the average was 1.47 Mbps.On SymbianOS we ran the dslreports online speed benchmark test which produced an average upload and download speed of 0.668 Mbps and a max speed of 0.93 Mbps in the morning.

The same test when run in Mumbai produced a bit of a contrast.The average download speed achieved on an Android OS powered phone was 1.00 Mbps. Th value was maximum (1.7 Mbps) during the afternoon. The upload speed was fairly pathetic with an average of 0.15 Mbps. On Symbian OS our test produced an average upload and download speed of 1 Mbps.