The battle is set for 3G mobile service operators to fight an exciting game in Metro cities. Some like Airtel have gone ahead in launching the 3G much ahead of its peers in Mumbai and Delhi Metro circles.
Yesterday TelecomTalk got privilege to officially Test the Airtel 3G / HSDPA + network, Data Speed and Video Calling in Mumbai before the commercial launch which is expected in December 2010.
We tested Airtel 3G connection in Mumbai by using 7.2 Mbps Huawei HSDPA 3G Data Card then we tried it out on mobile handset Nokia E75 and Samsung Galaxy S for Video Calling (Airtel to Airtel and Airtel to MTNL both) and Mobile Broadband-Internet.
Airtel 3G - Following are the observations :
1. The Airtel 3G network is very strong in-terms of Out Door coverage in Mumbai city area while Indoor coverage at most of the place in South Mumbai area are available along with MTNL and Reliance 3G . Here i can say Thumbs up to Airtel for good 3G network !
2. We got the 2.4 Mbps downloading and 360 Kbps uploading speed with Airtel 3G. The speed test was done using the Huawei 7.2 Mbps Data card by Airtel 3G Team with the 3G Sim Card.
3. While testing Airtel 3G the constant speed received was on average about more than 2 Mbps, please be noted that the maximum speed was up to 2.4 Mbps.
4. Finally We test the Video Calling capabilities of Airtel 3G. The Video Call facility is available for Own Net and Off net both. Video Streaming is really good however I didn't found any difference of quality of Video Streaming/Video Calling between the MTNL 3G and Airtel 3G.
It is significant to say that Bharti Airtel is more prepared to 3G rolls out because it allows Video Calling to any other/existing 3G operators like MTNL/BSNL which is still not available with the Tata Docomo's commercial 3G network in 9 telecom circles.
Every operator claims that it has won lucrative 3G circles. The question is who will win the 3G game? Here i can say the operator who will lead the 3G race will be the one who creates a perfect ecosystem (Innovative Products and Services, Affordable Pricing/Value, Network coverage, Network QoS, Good customer service and reasonably priced hardware – dongles and bundled handsets.
