[Animesh]

Wifi onboard any vehicle is as lame as it gets especially since in all probability you would prefer to have a 3G connection on your smartphone first rather than on your car. And the very fact that you have 3G on your mobile, would enable you to use your phone as a Hotspot and then anyone inside the car can access internet.

There is absolutely nothing new about what BSNL is doing.

[needmorebhp]

It may not necessarily be as simple as putting up a 3G dongle or a wireless CDMA router. The problem starts when you start moving. If you want to experiment, do a simple speed test via any of the market apps. You'll see a drastic reduction in speeds once you start moving and at a decent speed, mobile internet becomes downright unusable. Try using a 3g dongle while in train.

The problem partly lies in "catching hold of signal", to put it down in layman's language. It's not limited to mobile networks. DTH cable networks also struggle with the same issue if installed in a car or bus. A non-stationary receiver requires a different design compared to stationary receiver.

There is an enormous amount of literature available on this topic, but intro section of any mobile communication book should give background of this problem

[deep_bang]

While the concept of wifi in automobiles is nothing new, and it is already possible to get a host of solutions as listed by many above, what I liked in this is the marketing.

How many people know about adding a dongle to a USB router etc..? Similarly many people would not even have thought this was possible... and for them, this is a great product. Just buy it and plug it in.

Secondly, this is going to be very helpful for travel fleets... Imagine if BMTC buys a host of these for their Volvo class of buses... Or a taxi service does this to offer something unique.. Pretty much every traveler to the airport has a laptop and a fair portion of them would be using the travel time to browse/work if there was such an option.

Many people like me do not have a USB dongle as I use internet only at home and office - and my phone has only a 2g plan (which crawls), and so if I have an option of a wifi taxi, I will surely opt for it - specially during airport drives.

So, the point is, the marketing has to be appreciated.

[Trust_In_Thrust]

Originally Posted by needmorebhp

It may not necessarily be as simple as putting up a 3G dongle or a wireless CDMA router........

I regularly use my mobile to watch news channel when i go from workplace to home in evening. Further it involves distances of about 40kms either from Gurgaon to Rohini or Noida to Rohini .

I rarely face any issue with the 3G speed even on humble NokiaE72.
I assume today's smartphone are much more capable and will not give any issues with speed while traveling.

[needmorebhp]

Originally Posted by Trust_In_Thrust

I regularly use my mobile to watch news channel when i go from workplace to home in evening. Further it involves distances of about 40kms either from Gurgaon to Rohini or Noida to Rohini .

I rarely face any issue with the 3G speed even on humble NokiaE72.
I assume today's smartphone are much more capable and will not give any issues with speed while traveling.

Well, I'll agree with you about evolution of mobile phones, but your experience happens to be in one of India's most densely covered mobile network areas. Trying to use 3g outside Delhi/NCR and Mumbai. In Bangalore I have never completed a successful call on 3g network. I always have to switch back to 2g network. You can only imagine connectivity outside these cities, specially on the move.

Further, the differences really start to appear while using these services on laptops. Mobile services/websites are designed to be less data intensive.

[TaurusAl]

Why spend so much ? My Samsung Galaxy has portable wifi hotspot. I can use my phone's 3G data connection on my pc through wifi hotspot, not only in the car but anywhere I want.

[Ford5]

CDMA cell sites are very few in number compared to GSM cell sites in any indian city. Not sure what Bsnl is achieving by doing this.

Ofcourse the only place it may come in handy is in rural country side where GSM don't work and CDMA would pitch in.... which begs the question. Why launch a product when you are not sure about the way the market works Bsnl?

[pradyblr]

I think this initiative will take off very well for sure.
The reason is, in my opinion, the Taxi market will find many takers and will become a business differentiation.
Business travelers, I think will benefit hugely. No more roaming 3G.

[smsrini]

CDMA technology is supposed to be more robust for data applications as the number of cell / tower hops that happen are significantly less as compared to GSM technology. This therefore allows a more stable connection for data use.

I dont know much about the 3G / 4G LTE technology to comment on how better they are w.r.t CDMA or GSM.

[Maky]

I personally don't see the benefit of this at all.
From a personal point of view, Perhaps a few years ago this would seem attractive to me but today we have very quick speeds via 3G on our mobile phones at plans as cheap as 100Rs/Month, Phones which can be tethered(share internet) with other devices through bluetooth or cable, With the upcoming 4G release by reliance this seems even more pointless.

Originally Posted by smsrini

I dont know much about the 3G / 4G LTE technology to comment on how better they are w.r.t CDMA or GSM.

Well I'm unsure of other operators but I can vouch for Vodafones 3G service in the city of Mumbai for being extremely stable.

[MuzzledMoose]

BSNL 3G may not have signal even at prime points. It's useless

[byomjeet]

Originally Posted by Maky

I personally don't see the benefit of this at all.
From a personal point of view, Perhaps a few years ago this would seem attractive to me but today we have very quick speeds via 3G on our mobile phones at plans as cheap as 100Rs/Month, Phones which can be tethered(share internet) with other devices through bluetooth or cable, With the upcoming 4G release by reliance this seems even more pointless.


Well I'm unsure of other operators but I can vouch for Vodafones 3G service in the city of Mumbai for being extremely stable.

Yes Maky, I agree with you. These days we even get pocket wifi modems which can run anywhere provided network coverage is there. I have one TataDocomo pocket CDMA wifi modem which works really well.

[apachelongbow]

All new technologies used to enslave the corporate employee. Now if company buses have wifi enablement, companies would 'expect' workers to work during their commute to and from home.
As is people are busy taking/making calls, doing offline work, now they will very well be connected to office 24*7, earlier commuting was spared of any office work, not anymore i guess.

[kamal.sn]

I think BSNL has forgotten what innovation is. WiFi inside cars/trains is something which is available since many years and it is not a rocket science. I am from the telecom domain and our company had implemented a similar solution in a high speed train in Europe (WiFi access with 3G backhaul) many years ago. In cars this is even simpler. Use a low cost MiFi router (with a 3G or CDMA EVDO SIM and powered using USB ) and use WiFi on the move. A MiFi router is available on ebay for as little as 22$.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/S0BZ-New-por...item5d39e553e3

[Tassem]

This is great! As long as it works!

At least the customer care lady wont say "Sir Cable Cut! We're fixing it" and then hang up!

P.S - Its amazing how old products around the world can be launched in India claiming to be bleeding edge technology!