{"id":38,"date":"2008-04-27T02:08:48","date_gmt":"2008-04-26T20:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/?p=38"},"modified":"2008-04-27T11:32:34","modified_gmt":"2008-04-27T05:32:34","slug":"gprs-edge-1xrtt-access-to-internet-in-bangladesh-using-mobile-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/2008\/04\/27\/gprs-edge-1xrtt-access-to-internet-in-bangladesh-using-mobile-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"GPRS \/ EDGE \/ 1xRTT – Access to Internet in Bangladesh using mobile technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Previous Relevant article: EDGE \/ GPRS \/ EVDO<\/a><\/p>\n

My previous post on this issue was written in 9th August 2007. Since then there has been some changes in the service type and tariff of the Edge \/ GPRS \/ 1xRTT (Citycell Zoom) services by the operators. Also some new competitors have emerged in the market. But those are not Mobile phone Operators, They are Fixed phone Operators, although it doesn’t require any cable connection and these phone service is almost like mobile phones.<\/p>\n

eg, Dhaka Phone, National Phone, Ranks Telecom etc.<\/p>\n

They work using same technology as mobile phones ( 1xRTT in most of the cases) but the difference is that they can’t support network mobility. I know the term is not clear enough. Let me clarify what I wanted to mean by network mobility. Like mobile phones You can talk using a wireless set (rather bigger set like old bttb land phones) with these operators, but you can not move from one BTS (nearest base station) to another BTS while talking. In cases of mobile phone, when you move from one place to another, you connection automatically connects to the nearest BTS without interrupting your call. But this is not possible in the cases of Dhaka phone , National Phone or other operators like these.<\/p>\n

One of the benefit of these operators is that the handset they provide to the customers have a built in modem in most of the cases using which the customers can also connect to the internet as well as talking. And these operators are using sophisticated technology like CDMA-1xRTT in most of the cases. This is the technology used by Citycell. Therefore they can also provide high speed internet in Bangladeshi context (153 Kbps). There offers are also interesting and competitive enough.<\/p>\n

Official website of Dhaka Phone: http:\/\/www.dhakaphone.com<\/p>\n

Official website of Ranks Telecom: http:\/\/www.rankstel.com<\/p>\n

Official website of National Phone: http:\/\/www.nationalphone.net<\/p>\n

However the mobile phone operators are not sitting and watching others crossing them!! Grameen phone<\/strong> was the pioneer in introducing Edge<\/strong> service. Now they have increased there edge network vastly throughout the country and still holding the number 1 position in providing such services. I still use the unlimited package and the speed is very good (26-27 Kilo Bytes per second in most of the time). GP unlimited internet costs 1000 taka per month (1150 including VAT). Grameen phone introduced a new package titled “P3” for its users. According to this package the subscriber of this package will be able to use unlimited internet from 12 am (night) to 7 Am spending 300 Taka (+VAT) only. The package was available for both prepaid and postpaid, eventually which is only available for the post paid users at the moment. GP has also offered the famous “P2<\/strong>” unlimited usage per month for the prepaid users with the same tariff as the postpaid. http:\/\/www.grameenphone.com\/index.php?id=134<\/p>\n

Citycell<\/strong> was not far behind and Citycell’s zoom<\/strong> really attracted people because of its vast publicity and better service as well. But the Data transfer limit is still the disadvantage for anyone who is using citycell zoom although they provide a good data rate. A recent introduction of the Zoom service through prepaid and postpaid has got the attention of the people although I couldn’t be that impressed with the offer. It is some thing like how we used dial up internet. The cost is something like 80 paisa\/minute during the peak, 60 p\/min during the off peak and 25p\/min during the super off peak. To me, the per minute price is very high compared to other facilities of the internet. http:\/\/www.citycell.com<\/p>\n

Warid<\/strong> is claiming that they have introduced EDGE<\/strong> service throughout the Dhaka city along with some other cities. But the speed is very poor ( I have checked it). Besides there claim is not true as I found EDGE network of WARID only covers only Gulshan, Banani and parts of Uttara although the speed is nothing better than normal GPRS speed ( never more than 5-6 KB<\/strong>). However, Warid has introduced unlimited internet for a monthly payment of 1000 taka<\/strong> (1150 including VAT) for its postpaid customers. Prepaid customer still don’t have anyother option rather than 2p\/1KB<\/strong> that is 20 taka per mega byte data transfer. http:\/\/www.waridtel.com.bd\/portal\/page?_pageid=133,249890&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL<\/p>\n

Aktel<\/strong> is also testing its Edge<\/strong> network and many people saw Edge network through their mobile phone (Some mobile set can differentiate between EDGE (E) and GPRS (G) netrwork). And some of them said they got good speed using Aktel’s internet service. If Aktel can provide EDGE it will be a very good tariff for mobile phone unlimited internet users because Aktel only charges 750 taka (without VAT) per month for unlimited usage. http:\/\/www.aktel.com\/?module=32<\/p>\n

Banglalink<\/strong> is still far behind in this race offering unlimited internet for the enterprise solution users (for 600 Taka) and 2p\/KB for prepaid users. What positioned them behind is that they haven’t started EDGE network yet not even in a single area. http:\/\/www.banglalinkgsm.com\/html1\/gprs.php
\nI almost forgot about Teletalk<\/strong>, the only nation owned mobile phone operator. For quite a long time teletalk is not in the frame. I don’t know how is it doing but I don’t think they are at any sort of good condition. They are still carrying the tarrif for their Customers. Ofcourse Teletalk is the first operator to introduce unlimited internet facility for any prepaid users. Their tariff is still same as before which they started with (800 taka + VAT). http:\/\/www.teletalk.com.bd\/services\/gprs.html<\/p>\n

Dhaka Phone<\/strong> has a flat rate offer of 30 paisa per minute<\/strong>. I have used the internet and the speed was pretty good (around 12-16 kilobytes per second).<\/p>\n

National Phone<\/strong> provides unlimited internet usage for 1200 taka<\/strong> per month. They provide quite good data transfer rate (12-16 kilo bytes per second). They have some other time band packages too as well as 25 paisa per minute<\/strong> flat rate.<\/p>\n

Ranks Telecom <\/strong>offers various packages for both its post paid and prepaid users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Package 1 (Prepaid Only)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Search<\/td>\n10am – 5pm<\/td>\nTk. 0.75\/ min<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5pm -10pm<\/td>\nTk. 0.50\/ min<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10pm – 10am<\/td>\nTk. 0.25\/ min<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Window<\/td>\nNo Use No Pay<\/td>\nTk. 1\/ MB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Package 2 (Post Paid Only)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pointer(Super)<\/td>\n3 GB<\/td>\nUnlimited<\/td>\nTk 1\/ MB<\/td>\n1000 \/-<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pointer<\/td>\n1 GB<\/td>\nUnlimited<\/td>\nTk. 1\/ MB<\/td>\n800\/-<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Messenger<\/td>\n500 MB<\/td>\nUnlimited<\/td>\nTk. 1\/ MB<\/td>\n350\/-<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Download<\/td>\nUnlimited<\/td>\n10 pm-8 am<\/td>\nTk. 1\/ MB<\/td>\n400\/-<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Window<\/td>\nUnlimited<\/td>\nN\/A<\/td>\nN\/A<\/td>\nTk. 1\/ MB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

3G<\/strong> and WiMaX<\/strong> technology will soon emerge in Bangladesh, and therefore we can predict a boost in the data service by the telecom operators. Let’s wait for the golden days………..<\/p>\n

Hasibul Islam<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The article is also available at- \u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/community.nsuers.com\/showthread.php?t=3346<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Previous Relevant article: EDGE \/ GPRS \/ EVDO My previous post on this issue was written in 9th August 2007. Since then there has been some changes in the service type and tariff of the Edge \/ GPRS \/ 1xRTT (Citycell Zoom) services by the operators. Also some new competitors have emerged in the market.…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,11,6,1],"tags":[],"how-to":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"how-to","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hasibul.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/how-to?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}