India to get mobile numbers starting with 8!

Cross-Posted from Saurabh Minni’s blog with his permission

Well its was well known that mobile numbers with 8 are going to start soon. But it so happened that my dear friend Daaku took a new Tata Docomo connection. Now the amazing thing was that it starts with 805xx-xxxxx. So now if I try to call this friend of mine, my Vodafone network tells me that its an invalid number. I was confused and so I asked my friend daaku to call me. I got his number in caller ID but calling it was again not possible. Obviously its not mistake in dialing the number, rather its a stupid things that Vodafone and possibly other networks too have done.

So here is my guess what has happened. Vodafone, takes the number +91805xx-xxxxx as 91 for country(that India), 80(Code for Bangalore) and 5 would be Tata Indicom as they provide landline with that series. Interestingly Vodafone seems to have not configured its network to this change which happened for mobile numbers starting with 8.

I tried contacting Vodafone customer care, they seemed to be unaware of the issue and they said they would get back to me soon(24hours it seems).

But the point here is, whats TRAI and DoT doing. Have they not informed the operators of this change or are the operators at lax. Who ever it might be, the fault must be found and it must be ensured that in future such stupid things do not happen.

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Recently, from almost a month SMSs from Banks, Service Providers, Companies have started prefixing something like ID, AT, VK…etc. What’s all this after all!!? Here I am to explain you what it is! Normally these SMSs originates from a Bulk SMS provider where you can use 11 digit Alpha-Numeric characters as "Sender". But there were some security risks in this method. I was able to give a phone number as "Sender" & it appears as that person at the recipient end. Basically there was a chance to send SMSs as a different person! I was actually using this to fool my friends.

But the new TRAI regulation insisted bulk SMS providers to restrict the "Sender ID" to 8 characters. Other three characters should be used to specify who is the service provider & where it’s originated from. Say for example: HDFCBANK sends an SMS to you using bulk SMS provider located at Tamil Nadu which uses Airtel. You will receive it as AT-HDFCBANK. First character specifies which service provider the message is being originated & the second character specifies from which location it’s originated. Here is the table which has details of these SMS codes:

Service Provider Codes:

So, combination of these two constitutes the first two digit of ?Sender? followed by an hyphen (-) & actual sender name.

Few people use PIN locking system to lock their phone to avoid un-authorised access. Though this is a good option, it pisses you off sometime. Three wrong entry of PIN code will result in SIM blocking. Once SIM gets blocked, phone starts asking PUK code to enter. If you again enter wrong code for three times, SIM gets completely blocked. You have to walk into your service provider outlet to get a replacement SIM card.

PUK code is a SIM specific code assigned by your service provider. No way you can guess & enter it. So, when it asks for the PUK code, don’t do anything, get the PUK code from your service provider. Airtel has a easier way of getting PUK code. For getting PUK code of a Airtel number, send PUK<space>PhoneNumber to toll free number 121. You can make use of any other Airtel number to send this message since your SIM might have been blocked already.

If the above method doesn’t works or your service provider is not Airtel, call to customer care using any other mobile phone which uses the same service provider. They will ask some details about you to make sure you are the owner of the SIM card. Questions might include your billing address, email ID, numbers you recently called or messaged etc. They might even ask you number printed on the SIM card, so be prepared with all details before calling them. Once you get the PUK code, enter it into the phone & your phone will return to normal.

Reliance has started it’s GSM service & is offering connection for as low as Rs.25. The plan is called as CeP – Customer Experience Pack. Following are the plan details:

• Free talktime worth Rs.5 everyday to call any local phone.
• Free night calling (11 PM to 6AM) across Reliance numbers.
• SIX months incoming validity

All these you get for Rs.25, top ups start from Rs.10. Many mobile phone shops in Bangalore are already selling SIM cards. Look for big Reliance banners, wallposts, you can easilyu find them.

Reliance has updated tariff plans for it’s Wi Max broadband service. It has come up with buisiness plans with static IP. There are some minor changes in Single user plans, installation charges are changed. And in multi user pack ?Static IP? is offered You can get more details about Reliance wimax at http://www.techbangalore.com/reliance-wimax-internet-connection-in-bagalore/

Following is the new tariff:

Single User:

Multi User:

For more queries & getting a connection contact Irfan M Shaikh, 9986018604

This is similar to USB internet data card provided by Reliance & Tata Indicom on CDMA technology. But this is from Vodafone on GSM platform through EDGE technology . You have to insert a SIM card into this modem & connect it to your laptop or desktop to have internet access. Vodafone website has not specified anything about speed, but they claim “speed that?s three times faster than your wired dial-up connection”, anyway I don’t believe in that! In India it connects to Vodafone EDGE network, so you can have access to internet wherever Vodafone network exists. Vodafone says “Gives 3G Broadband speeds when you travel abroad” as 3G is not implemented in India.

Charges & Tariff:

Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Modem will cost you Rs.6,499. Aw! that’s too expensive, HCL Laptop is available for 13,990! There are two monthly plans:

Overall this service is too much expensive . But if you don’t worry to pay for enjoying mobility, then this is the better one to go for. I heard Tata Indicom & Reliance data cards are extremely slow even in Bangalore!
More details on Vodafone Website

Reliance has launched it?s Wi Max (World Wide Interoperability for Microwave Access) internet connection few months ago. Wi Max is based on the IEEE 802.16 d standard ,is expected to enable true broad band speeds over wireless net works at a cost point to enable mass ,market adoption. Reliance will install a Wi Max antenna on roof top of the client premises just like other satellite antenna and a cable till the modem. If the client has more than one computer then this connection can be shared through a wireless router. So it?s actually wireless from Reliance tower to your rooftop & wired from Wi Max antenna to router/modem. Tariff for this service are given here:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dmvn8vc_7f3z3r6fz

Contact Person: Irfan M Shaikh, 9986018604, irfan AT laptopworld.co.in

Making something to work on Linux will sometimes becomes hassle. It will be even frustrating if the manufacturer don’t have support for linux. My fellow blogger Thejesh have written an “How to” on making Reliance netconnect USB card to work on Linux. Here it goes, completely extracted from his post (http://thejeshgn.com/2008/01/12/reliance-netconnect-usb-card-on-linux-howto/):

=============================================
1. Execute everything as root ( usually su in Ubuntu)
2.Check your card is recognized by the kernel
Code:
# cat /proc/bus/usb/devices
Output:
?..
?..
T: Bus=02 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=05 Cnt=02 Dev#= 4 Spd=12 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 1.01 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=16 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=12d1 ProdID=1001 Rev= 0.00
S: Manufacturer=Huawei Technologies
S: Product=Huawei Mobile
S: SerialNumber=HUAWEI EC3X1
C:* #Ifs= 2 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=100mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=ff Prot=ff Driver=pl2303
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 16 Ivl=128ms
E: Ad=8a(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms
E: Ad=0b(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms
I: If#= 1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=ff Prot=ff Driver=pl2303
E: Ad=83(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms
E: Ad=06(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms
?..
?..
This depends on which company modem you are using. Mine is ZTE. Please check on the box for details. And then get the corresponding vendor and product id.

3.Now modprobe the driver
Code:
# modprobe usbserial vendor=0?12d1 product=0?1001

4.Should get something like this with dmesg
Code:
# dmesg
Output:
[ 2315.412106] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 2315.412508] drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 2315.461938] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 2315.461945] drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial Driver core
[ 2315.480382] drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for pl2303
[ 2315.480414] pl2303 2-6:1.0: pl2303 converter detected
[ 2315.480608] usb 2-6: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 2315.480620] pl2303 2-6:1.1: pl2303 converter detected
[ 2315.480691] usb 2-6: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB1

5.Now edit your wvdial.conf file
Code:
# vi /etc/wvdial.conf
Add the following to that file
[Modem0]
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Baud = 115200
SetVolume = 0
Dial Command = ATDT
Init1 = ATZ
FlowControl = Hardware (CRTSCTS)
[Dialer cdma]
Username = You Phone Number Here
Password = Your Password ? usually same as your phone number
Phone = #777
Stupid Mode = 1
Inherits = Modem0

6.Now run wvdial
Code:
# wvdial cdma
?> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.56
?> Cannot get information for serial port.
?> Initializing modem.
?> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
?> Modem initialized.
?> Sending: ATDT#777
?> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT#777
CONNECT 230400
?> Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.
?> Starting pppd at Sat Mar 3 22:55:20 2007
?> Pid of pppd: 24314
?> Using interface ppp0
?> local IP address 220.226.50.126
?> remote IP address 97.239.2.10
?> primary DNS address 202.138.103.100
?> secondary DNS address 202.138.96.2

Thats it ? you are now connected

7. In Ubuntu ? this can be done @ System->Administration->Networking.Ensure that your internet traffic goes through your ?Modem? by selecting the ppp.You should be able to browse now?.

Please have your queries & comments on Thej’s blog to have quick response as I don’t know much about this.