GPRS & EDGE CONNECTION THROUGH YOUR CELLPHONE

As you all know, travelling is my passion. Another of my passions is the internet. I used to miss the internet a lot during the course of my travellings in remote corners. Yes, mobile internet was available for quite a long time in this region. But they were way too costly. But not any more. There are a number of affordable mobile internet services provided by different service providers like Airtel, BSNL, Reliance Mobile, Tata Indicomm, Vodaphone, etc. And don't underestimate the power of mobile internet. Browsing is not limited to the cellphone screen alone. You can easily connect the cellphone to a laptop or PC through a data cable or a bluetooth connection and browse happily on the big screen.
Hereafter, I am limiting my discussion within this post to unlimited GPRS plans only. Airtel provides the cheapest solution, with their NOP scheme calling for a meagre sum of Rs. 104/- per month. But there is a catch. You will understand it once you expand the name of the scheme. NOP stands for "net on phone". With this scheme, you are allowed to surf on the phone's tiny screen only. If you want to browse in a PC, Airtel has a costlier scheme called Mobile Office which comes at Rs. 498/- a month. However, there is a buzz that there is a wayout hack to get even the NOP connection on PC. The cheapest full fledged unlimited GPRS scheme is from Reliance Mobile. They charge Rs 150/- per month (for prepaid). BSNL has an unlimited GPRS plan of Rs. 199/- only for their postpaid customers. Prepaid customers has to pay 2 paise per kilobyte(KB). The plans for other service providers are slightly costlier.
Next, let us learn about the process of channeling the internet connection from your handset to your PC or laptop. You can use three types of connections, data cable, bluetooth or infrared. The last one is really worthless, for its meagre rate of data transfer. The fastest connection is possible through a USB data cable. Corresponding software depending upon the manufacturer of phone is required. For Nokia phones, there is the Nokia PC suite. For Sony Ericksson phones, they provide the Sony Ericksson PC suite. There is the EasyGPRS software for Samsung phones.