If you consider a dongle based wireless broadband services, CDMA operators will be your first choice in India. CDMA operators were the first to offer true Wireless Mobile Broadband before 3G/HSPA landed in India.
Using EVDO rev A ( 3.1 Mbps downlink and 1.8Mbps uplink) over 800 MHz spectrum CDMA operators - Reliance (Netconnect), Tata Tele (Photon+), MTS India (Mblaze) and BSNL all offer EVDO based HSD data services in India.
We have summarized all the EVDO tairff plans offered by above operators in the form of fact sheets. CDMA - EVDO is offered over 800 MHz enjoys better indoor coverage than GSM's 3G/HSPA which is deployed over 2100 MHz.
But CDMA operators are not keen to offer EVDO based data services to their mobile phone users, as a result their high speed data offering is mostly limited to data card subscribers.
Let's check the comparison of EVDO data tariffs:
| Reliance Netconnect+ | Tata Photon+ | MTS MBlaze | BSNL EVDO | |
| 1GB | Rs 153 (7days), Rs 255 (30 days), Rs 98 (2days + 1X UL) | Rs 255 (30 days) | Rs 96 ( 1 day + 1X UL), Rs 248 (30 days) | Rs 285 (30 days)* |
| 1.5GB | Rs 350 (30 days) | Rs 350 (30 days) | ||
| 2GB | Rs 449 (30 days) | Rs 450 (30 days), Rs 700 (30 days+ 1x UL) | Rs 298 (7 days+ 1x UL), Rs 375 (30 days) | |
| 2.5GB | Prepaid Rs 565 (30 days)*Postpaid - Rs.500/month | |||
| 3 GB | Rs 650 (30 days) | Rs 750 (30 days+ 1x UL) | Rs 490 (30 days) | |
| 5GB | Rs 800 (30 days+ 1x UL) | Rs 850 (30 days) | Rs 798 (30 days+ 1x UL) | |
| 6GB | Rs 1000 (30 days+ 1x UL) | |||
| 7GB | Rs 818 (30 days+ 1x UL) | |||
| 10GB | Rs 800 (30 days+ 1x UL) | Rs 999 (30 days+ 1x UL) | ||
| 11 GB | Rs 1200 (30 days+ 1x UL) | Rs 1010 (30 days+ 1x UL) | ||
| 15GB | Rs 1200 (30 days + 1x UL) | Rs 1298 (30 days+ 1x UL) | ||
| 17GB | Rs 1330 (30 days+ 1x UL) | |||
| Long Validity Packs | 12GB - Rs 1500 (90 days) | 6GB - Rs 1500 (90 days) | 4GB - Rs 698 (60 days) | |
| 30 GB - Rs 3000 (180 days) | 6 GB - Rs 2501 (365 days) | 6 GB - Rs 998 (90 days) | ||
| 20GB – Rs 5000 (365 days) | 15GB – Rs 1499 (90 days) | |||
| 5GB/month – Rs 3990 (180 days) | ||||
| Speed Based (postpaid only) | 256kbps: 6AM – 10PM 8GB, 10PM-6AM 15GB for Rs 500 | 256kbps: 6AM – 10PM 8GB, 10PM-6AM 15GB for Rs 499 | ||
| 384kbps: 7AM – 11PM 15GB, 11PM-7AM 20GB for Rs 749 | ||||
| Time based (postpaid only) | 1800 min free usage for Rs 500, extra use Re1/min | |||
| True Unlimited plans | NA | NA | Rs 303 (15 days, 12-6am), Rs 550 (30 days, 12-6am) - available in selected circles | Rs 55 (1day), Rs 251 (7 days), Rs 440 (15 days), Rs 825 /Rs.750 (30 days) |
| Special Plans | 6GB Weekend (30 days) for Rs 295 | |||
| 4GB + unlimited access on facebook, twitter & linkedin for Rs 647 (30 days) | ||||
| Extra Usage charge | 50p/MB | Varies from Re1/MB to 50p/MB on different plans | Re1/MB (prepaid)20p - 40p/MB (postpaid) | * On limited plans extra usage charge 10p/100kB (7am to 11pm), 5p/100kB (11pm to 7am) |
** Comparison table is based on mostly prepaid plans. Plans can be changed without prior notice as operators change them. Some plans are not available in all circles.
From the table you can understand that BSNL has fewer options, but only BSNL offers True Unlimited plans (Home and Roam), while MTS has widest data plans for its MBlaze customers, which may confuse the customers. Reliance and Tata have more or less similar plans.
