Combo: Airtel 4G Day V

The Day Five is a combination which belongs to #Airtel4G and Samsung Galaxy A5 – these two surely make an interesting team. With 13MP back and 5MP front camera, this dual SIM 4G phone is the biggest phone I have used until now, and it was a lot like getting Nokia N95 at at its peek – well, there are phones bigger than this one, but the Galaxy A5 is also very much more than just a satisfying thing. It should be a master phone to use when you are using #Airtel4G or the same from any other network operators later.

The day’s test once again started with a journey, and this time to the Mattanchery-Fort Cochin area – well, there is this superior phone and high speed, and so it had to be seen what happens with the same at a tourist area around Cochin. There won’t be 4G at any of those places close to nature outside the Cochin area, and so it had to be chosen from somewhere around those islands – Fort Cochin and Mattanchery had to be the obvious choices even as I had visited the place so many times!

So, this will be just another visit to test the strength of Airtel 4G and Samsung Galaxy A5 – what is life when you have these in your possession and haven’t used them well enough? That should surely call for a small trip, right? Well, Kochi Biennale meant that we would visit this much visited place a lot more, and add another time to that list. The 4G started appearing at the Thottumugham area just before Aluva as before, and remained there all the way until we reached Mattanchery through Padma route.

The strength remained high as we alighted at the bus station and started from the Mattanchery Dutch Palace. The Airtel users among the tourists who are around should have a nice time with this one. Then, after some small shopping, we reached the Holy Cross Church which is known for the famous Coonan Cross Oath and is also a famous pilgrimage centre. Then we left to have food at Fort Cochin, and there was fine speed there too, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise because it is the big, grand tourist place.

Santa Cruz Basilica remains a beautiful marvel for us even now. One thing I am particularly glad about is that they didn’t paint this one white unlike some of those churches which lost the beauty while being coloured with that particular shade only. This is one of those older and historical churches which you surely shouldn’t miss while visiting this part of the world. The 4G speed was actually the highest around here, right in front of the church, and you know how important it will be for the tourists to have the same around the destinations. So for the tourists, #Airtel4G at Fort Cochin and Mattanchery = big.

You can wander around all the areas of Fort Cochin and see that 4G is almost everywhere, providing the speed to the visitors. We went to the other historically significant church, Saint Francis Church and also that Dutch Cemetery which remained closed this time too. Actually, you can just wander around, and you will just get to some very significant or beautiful place when at Fort Cochin. There are some other interesting churches and temples around which you can just visit along with these to add to the experience. There are also enough buildings around to give you a special feeling too.

We spent very less time at the beach because of the heat, and had masala tea at Vasco da Gama Square to go to Kumbalangi which had absolutely no 4G at all, and that was surprising because it is also part of Cochin and having good tourist inflow as the first Model Tourism Village in the state. But once we got on that bridge to the island, there was no 4G being shown, and there were areas in the route there from Thoppumpady that didn’t have the 4G either. But it didn’t really bother me in the long run. During the return, the 4G just disappeared at the moment we turned to the Pookkaattupady route from Thrikkakkara.

***The images used in this blog post were all taken by me on my Samsung Galaxy A5.

TeNy

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Airtel 4G Adventure IV

The adventures with #Airtel4G have been quite interesting so far. I have wrote about it already with two posts, one about the first day and also with day two and three. The fourth day was more like a continuation of the same incidents, but a few more locations were tested. Wherever the test was made, there was no compromise on speed as long as the 4G came up on the top bar. I have already mentioned a number of places in my recent posts, and I am going to add more, with further details here.

On the fourth day of #Airtel4G, I decided to check from where the 4G started at Aluva at least from one side. From the Perumbavoor side, it started from Thottumugham, a few seconds after passing the Mahilalayam stop. Yes, it doesn’t start from Kuttamassery as I had expected. The signal gets stronger and stronger until it reaches the centre of the town. There is maximum strength around the railway station, and it will work very good around the Zeenath theatre. It still needs to be tested inside the theatre.

Then when we traveled to Edappally from Aluva, it remained 4G all the way through, even though it was the Container Terminal Road which we had chosen. I made sure about the main road during the return journey. 4G was clearly strong through the bigger roads, even though there should still be those pockets were there is trouble reaching, especially when inside the buildings. But a usual traveler should have no problems. Imagine someone traveling on the Kochi Metro which starts from Aluva with Airtel 4G – that should be great!

Then the test was done at the most significant centre of Kochi – the Lulu Mall. The signal was very good around there for 4G even though it lowered at some areas of the mall. There was no 4G at all inside the PVR multiplex while we tried to watch Kunjiramayanam on this day as it was often claimed to be the best Malayalam movie released for Onam. Jamna Pyari and Phantom were already finished. It was once again back to 2G inside the mall which make me wonder if I have to recharge with 3G only at times, but the availability should increase, and so may be I will keep that as a later option.

The phone with 4G is surely working better than the Mobile Wi-Fi device and it is a clear thing. I have found the Samsung Galaxy A5 doing better with the connection speed, not only with the direct data transfer, but also as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Yes, the costlier ones have the advantage, don’t they? But the Mobile Wi-Fi device will also do fine. It is the cheaper option, and the right option if you have just bought a new mobile phone a few days, weeks or months ago. You really can’t really let the 4G experience go, right? Especially if you are someone addicted to speed.

Talking about this Mobile Wi-Fi device, it is a nice cheaper option to have high speed internet. This device from Airtel can stand for six hours without being connected to a power source, and we can connect up-to ten users. It can be considered during a journey in a car when we can transform the vehicle into a nice Wi-Fi zone with this portability. All those older and lower cost mobile phone users can be relieved about this one. As I got the broadband modem which works only on power, this has been something which I really needed.

But the device has problems with identifying the IP address on my laptop whhen connected through Wi-Fi. I am still trying to figure out why. Then when I connect it through the USB cable, it provides the internet connection. I will find the reason for that one day, and may be some of those people with more technical information can enlighten me about the same. I will connect with the cable for now. It is still available easily through the Wi-Fi for the mobile phone and so I can continue to use the device.

***The images used in this blog post were taken on my Asus Zenfone 5 and Samsung Galaxy A5.

TeNy

First Day of Airtel 4G

Most of you do know about #Airtel4G. Well, I have seen a lot of my friends talk about it on Facebook, Twitter and the blogs. Airtel has launched its 4G services at Cochin on August 25th and at Calicut on August 26th. Airtel has chosen Onam as the right moment here, and I couldn’t agree more about this choice. It is also available at the same price as 3G, and home delivery of SIMs is also known to be there. Airtel leads the way here, and being the first one here, holds the advantage. I was given a chance to preview #Airtel4G and I am going to give an account of what happened after that.

The sample 4G enabled phone – a Samsung Galaxy A5 [16GB]

Even though it was made perfectly clear that this was for the city of Cochin only, I took my chances and tried this at Perumbavoor, and I am sure that the situation is the same at the other towns which are around the place – Kothamangalam, Muvattupuzha and Angamaly. At these towns the 4G device as well as the 4G mobile works only on 2G. There will be no shifting to 3G here as the switching is done directly to 2G. The Airtel 4G Mobile Wi-Fi device had some difficulties with my laptop, but worked perfectly with my mobile without 4G – on my Asus Zenfone 5.

So, I decided to return to the city on the first day and make sure that this 2G became 4G again. I made the decision to travel on the same route which I took on the day on which I attended the preview at Kaloor – the speed test had been a dream success at that time. Kaloor did seem to the place where the 4G was stronger than ever – it was so quick. But on this day, I decided to choose Thrikkakkara instead. It used to be one of my most visited places during the time I spent at Bharata Matha College. So, I thought that I would start the 4G adventure from the home of one my friends there.

Vampire Owl: So, what is the plan, soldier?

Vampire Bat: We attack the City of Cochin for #Airtel4G from all flanks. We desire and deserve high speed internet. See the map below for further information.

A simplified map of the very complicated attack plan to get the high speed internet 😛

The place was aroung Vazhakkala at Thrikkakkara, just about two or three minutes walk from the main road near Biriyani Hut. The 4G was not easy to find inside home, even though it was available outside home; and so we decided to go to the terrace to see if it could do more. The scene was a lot better there on the top, and the 4G was strong there. I had problems in connecting my laptop to the device there too (even though I realized later that I could do it with the USB cable when the Wi-Fi failed me). I apologize for my lack of knowledge related to technology – I am just not into it much.

I checked the speed on the mobile with the 4G SIM and also on my 3G phone connecting it to the 4G Wi-Fi device. It was excellent – I am not a person who has had a great experience with speed throughout my life, and I have tolerated the lower speeds with great patience – the only change to that was when I was in the UK (I don’t remember much from then though). Here with the Airtel 4G, I got 40-50 MB Android apps downloaded in around 30 seconds. Well, I am not used to such speed; never with any of the internet connections which I have used. This is surely my fastest internet experience so far, and the rest of my life has just got slower.

The Airtel 4G Mobile Wi-Fi device, or “the Mi-Fi”

I connected my laptop to the Wi-Fi hotspot on the mobile with 4G SIM. My Windows 10 download just began again from where it had stopped at ten percent. I decided to wait for it to complete and the download took about fourty five minutes to finish the rest of the ninety percent of a total 2.7 GB as it was shown on the window. If I was to sit at home and use my usual broadband connection, it was to take a lot more time, and for the 2.5 GB, it would take me around eighteen to twenty hours – I might need to keep the laptop switched on for the whole night to make sure that things go smoothly for me during the day.

We actually stopped on the Seaport-Airport road on our way back, close to Bharata Mata College, and the speed test made it to the highest I had got. Well, I am not sure how that works, but returning home and checking the internet speed of my broadband made me feel that a return to the Stone Age was happening and I needed to resist the same. But unfortunately, 4G is not available at my town yet. I have to wait for it, and until now, I hope to use 4G during my regular visit to the theatres at Cochin – as long as there are multiplexes and movies, I can use this to my advantage.

Soon to follow with Day 2 of #Airtel4G: Hopefully with Aluva-Kalamassery-Kakkanad-Thrippunithura! 🙂 Lets also talk about the devices and how they have been/will be further helpful for me on the next few days.

TeNy

Internet and Speed

I have never really had a good experience with mobile internet, which is why I am not that much of a fan of having internet on my phone. It applies to almost every mobile network as there has been some problem here and there. I usually use my Wi-Fi for my mobile and even when I am going somewhere else, I try to keep my dongle with me with hope to connect it somewhere. The problems with my mobile internet connections were the high costs, slow speed and the lack of interesting plans.

I remember reading about 3G at one point. It was so big at that time, and now the time has come for 4G. I have never really been a consistent follower of a network, and has had my history of changing through them. 4G becomes a good reason to choose Airtel in this world of so many mobile phone networks when nothing really works with the mobile internet. We hope for something and we never really get them as we keep waiting. May be, 4G with its speed, can change this situation.

We have wasted a lot of time with the lack of speed. With movie, music and video download, it has been quite natural. When something like that happens, we are provided with no option but to wait. There are times when we have trouble in loading some sites and it proves to be eternal – we wait and wait. At the end of the day, the only thing that we get is the opportunity to wait. Do we pay for that opportunity to wait, like paying for a dog which bites us? Is it the right thing to do when better options are available?

Well, vampires are supposed to be immortal and so are the angels. The Devil will also agree. But some network connections are those which test your mortality as a human being. Forget the downloads, because some cases cannot even come close to that – they make me afraid to download because we have to wait so much. Do we want to use that opportunity to wait as if it is what we get and it is what we deserve? Don’t we deserve better in this age of more modern technology?

In a world in which nobody has time to wait, Airtel 4G is going to be interesting. Patience is no longer considered a virtue as things happen so fast. There is a lot of value for time, unless you are jobless as I am; still I don’t have enough time in a day. The available 24 hours in a day never prove to be enough for me and I hope for me! So, I can guess how valuable it is for people who have jobs. So, this never-ending wait is never a good thing. Everything needs to be faster, and it should begin with the internet.

My hope about Airtel 4G is to change my idea about mobile internet in a positive way. It hasn’t been that great related to any mobile operator, as something terrible happens every time. The mobile internet has been my long time enemy with 2G and 3G, and it is something which should change with the new high speed 4G mobile internet from Airtel. I have seen the advertisement about the same already, and I believe that the most of the people have gone through that already.

The new option can get rid of a lot of problems as Airtel is the first telecom operator to come up with the 4G services and it happens across 296 cities across India as this goes nation wide. There is the option of free home delivery of the 4G SIM card and it is to be available at the same rate of 3G SIM too. It is actually just one tweet away – #GetAirtel4G. You can check for the 4G option from Airtel for more details about the same as you get the same data benefits of the existing 3G pack along with enjoying high speed 4G at no extra cost: http://www.airtel.in/4g/

***The image used in this blog post belongs to Airtel.

TeNy

The New App Program

I have been an Airtel user for a few months now. I switched from BSNL to Airtel after buying a new Asus Zenfone 5, as I thought that a change was needed. Things have worked very well for me since then. Airtel has been an affordable choice for me, which is why I decided to try the Airtel App too. I don’t have the mobile internet, and so I used the wi-fi of my modem to give it a chance. After all, it is good to be aware of the options which are available, and this was new for me.

Things are just simple with the new Airtel App. You just need to give the mobile number to which they will send the One Time Password, and you are ready. We have five connections for the three people at home, thus making the option open for more than one app, and this one from Airtel did very good, with the password as well as the verification being quicker with this one. They will keep giving instructions as we progress through the app.

You can do a nice recharge for any number simple and fast. I haven’t tried recharging through the mobile phone before even though I had the apps, but this was the right time because things were so easy this time. May be I should have tried this much earlier. But as the wise people say, and so do some of the movie quotes, there is the right time for everything, and it is now for the Airtel App.

Your favourite actions will be saved, and the ease of use keeps saving the day as a reflection of time being saved. It can be used by almost anyone and even the people who are not familiar with this kind of thing. The balance is always visible and you can plan the next move according how much money remains – thus it works as a tracker too. You can add new mobile, landline, broadband or DTH numbers to the account whenever it is needed. The red and white looks of the app makes an impression too.

The Airtel Money option is another interesting side of the app which works separately and has to be downloaded from the Google Play Store itself. It can actually be accessed from the same application after download, and it is quite a useful thing which costs you very less MB to download. You can load money and do very quick transactions there, and it is an interesting option to have.

The best thing is that it is not limited to one operator as far as recharge is concerned. You can notice three logos of major telecom operators at the homepage itself. I could use it for my second sim connection or for parents’ connections. There is also the option to pay the bills, including those related to insurance, electricity, gas and water. The need to go to the office, or to try the same on the computer are eliminated. There are also free deals available on every recharge.

So, the new app which I tried this week was not a game, but My Airtel App for a change – it is not about those endless running games this time. If you install Wynk Music from Airtel, you can download and play the latest songs too, and even if it is also separate, you can access it from My Airtel App too. The possibilities are more, which is why you can add another app to your list of Android apps. It is a small app and worthy of spending some time and data.

For details about the app – http://www.airtel.in/myairtel

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of Airtel India.

TeNy

Terror of Advertisements

A few things that disturb me include the quality of the advertisements that we see on these days. Yes, there are a few nice ones like the Alphenlibe Anti-boring Ad which has been one of my favourites, and the Zoozoos of the Vodafone’s past were nice, the latter making me shift to Vodafone from the dead Uninor. Idea has been always eating my brain with those Sirji Ads and now they have come up with so many of their terrible Ads between the Malayalam version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire/Kaun Banega Crorepathi – Ningalkum Aaakam Kodeeswaran has too many of them! Idea Internet Network = University = IIN? Seriously?

1. The bakery drone maker of IIN: I am surprised that Idea could go this low. No, you are not empowering the youth here, but making them believe that only by studying in IIT that you can be someone who is of significance in this world – even the IIN (Idea Internet Network) is made to sound like IIT making the people who study in regular college seem like idiots. Yes, if you don’t get admission in IIT, you needn’t study more and they make it clear. Be an engineer, and you can use internet to make the best gadgets of India; that is all right there – you will be awesome that way.

See this Vodafone Ad? This is enough to make a good point without lying.

2. The IIN girls who never go out: Yes, they don’t send women to college, but nobody cares to change that and to make sure that the female members of that village also have equal chances. If you have a mobile phone with Idea internet connection, women can stay locked in their houses. The kind of land where women are not allowed to go to college and study, can have the best android phones and 3G internet which the girls can use without any restrictions. Good bye, logic. You were never even in the extended picture.

3. The IIN student who searches for brain: Why would someone need internet to decide what to study? What a student needs is the brain to make decisions for himself and he can always choose the books instead. If someone thinks that the not-so-authentic information in the internet equals or is better than what he or she studies at the university, Indian Government can just ban all universities and tell the citizens to come and write exams which can be conducted every six months or so.

4. The IIN teacher who uses internet to teach: Here is the dumb teacher who thinks that she can only use internet with Idea, and still she is not fired. She can’t read books, and therefore chooses to use internet to teach students. This internet addict thinks that everything which is found on internet is true and updates her classes according to what all that she can find there and not from the books. I am glad that I finished the school early and won’t have to learn from a teacher like her.

BSNL doesn’t need Ads. Yes, their Ads are not good either, but they don’t need it.

Did Idea invent internet? It seems to be trying to make people think so. Internet is not the best place to study, dear Idea – it has too much of abuse, porn, hatred, wrong information and everything which can make the place the worst university to study. Internet can help for some knowledge, but is no real teacher. There were those terrible Honey Bunny Songs, No Ullu Banoing, What an Idea Sirji, and now this. This is the lowest point. I have once been a customer of Idea before using Airtel and Uninor. I am now using Vodafone – until they outsmart Idea in making such disgusting advertisements. I also do keep a BSNL number. My whole house has turned Idea-free due to their advertisements.

There are other Ads like those of Imperial Blue which generalize or stereotype men, and those Pepsi and Boost advertisements which bring too much of the Indian cricket team without knowing any of innovation. The jewelry advertisements of Kerala are very much unbearable as you can guess easily. Those irritating bike Ads with stunts are the perfect examples of having no creativity at all. Then there are the people of the toothpaste who come into bathrooms after kicking open the doors – do they do any good?

***The images used in this blog post are from the Facebook pages of Vodafone Kerala and BSNL Kerala which are the network connections which I use. I really hope that there are better advertisements for Idea too, so that I can watch the television programs in peace. And please value books more than internet. Thank you.

TeNy