[cyberhippie]

With a bit of luck I'll have a shiney new laptop to take to India with me on my upcoming trip. Which means I'll be able to do a bit more writing than I usually do. So what are the options for using a laptop whilst on the road, what cables do I need to hook up in a cybercafe, a LAN cable. Which offer the best chance of doing this, Sify, Reliance?? Is mobile phone internet an option?

[Anders]

I went around India with a laptop in 2003 or so. Rarely had any problem hooking it up in cyber cafes, worked around 80% of the time but I never went to any of chains, Sify etc. I would expect that it is even easier today since there is a lot more laptops around. I did have a "roll up" lan cable with me but never had to use it.
Last winter I started using a cell phone with GPRS and that would really be my preferred way of connecting to the net but I never did any travel with it, just stayed in the same room I Arambol so I have no idea how it works with rooming in different states.

[john.sw]

India has CDMA mobile phones that connect you to the internet at near-broadband speed.

I have a RIM phone and data cable and it works just fine, although the speed slows down at peak times.

On a pre-paid phone it costs Rs.36/- an hour in the daytime (charged by the minute).  Night hours 10 pm to 6 am are half price.

There may be other companies with better deals...

http://www.rcom.co.i..._netconnect.jsp

To my mind, this is by far the best way of connecting your laptop to the internet.  You can tune in to your local radio station back home, upload all your photos, update your blog and use personal messaging when it suits you, and you don't have to sit in a sweaty cyber café to do it!

[cyberhippie]

Yep looks the net connect card looks good John Thanks, of course now I have to figure out how to get one as you're supposed to be a resident.

[john.sw]

If you get a CDMA phone with a data cable you can get it on pre-pay.

You don't need to be a resident, and it also means that you get a mobile phone you can make and receive phone calls on!

However, you must plan ahead if you're travelling about because the pre-pay card has a validity date that can expire before your credit expires, and you'll need to get it topped up.

I managed to get mine on a one-year validity, so it's no bother.

The cost of my RIM CDMA phone and data cable was Rs.3900/-

The phone does not have a SIM card as it is built in to the electronics, which means that you can't use the phone on any other network.

[cyberhippie]

That will be the way to go then since as you say you get the use of the mobile handset as well. Oh I'm going to have fun, let's just hope the lap top arrives, it's free with a two year ISP subscription but the company are a bit shoddy sometimes.   An Acer 15 inch, 80 GB Hard Drive,DVD burner and Celeron M

[Hyderabadi]

cyberhippie, on Dec 9 2007, 06:30 AM, said:

An Acer 15 inch, 80 GB Hard Drive,DVD burner and Celeron M

A pucca confirmed India trip.... and a brand new laptop!     

RAM?

[cyberhippie]

RAM 512 MB DDR2, downside it comes loaded with MS Vista, that we'll be going straight in the bin, as this system isnt fast enough to run it!

[john.sw]

Our younger daughter just got a free Acer laptop (from her father) - with 2GB of memory.  It runs Windows Vista™ Home Premium just fine.

I doubt if 512MB would even run XP.

[Hyderabadi]

cyberhippie, on Dec 9 2007, 08:25 AM, said:

RAM 512 MB DDR2, downside it comes loaded with MS Vista, that we'll be going straight in the bin, as this system isnt fast enough to run it!

You mean you are going to uninstall Vista?

I have my living room PC on Vista and like all the bells and whistles. It's search is great. I also notice that I don't have to defrag it as frequently as XP....

On the downside, many programs are not yet comaptible, you can run some older programs as administrator. My $100 TV card which I took out from my old desk top (now kid's computer) does not work...

I have 2gig RAM installed (came with 1gig) plus I upgraded my videocard and it runs like a dream, even when I have 2 -3 programs running at the same time.

Why not install additional RAM and see if it works for you? How expensive is it over there?

[cyberhippie]

Strange John as a 2.4 GB Dual Core processor and 2GB ram on a desktop still has issues with Vista in my experience like a strobe effect cursor, slow to open applications and pages. The OS is just too resource intensive, The consumers watchbody here in The Netherlands advises not to even buy Vista.

Ram upgrades in India will be cheap enough no doubt, as in the service costs. I'm guessing you can't do this yourself on a laptop.

512MB RAM will run XP though

[Hyderabadi]

john.sw, on Dec 9 2007, 08:42 AM, said:

I doubt if 512MB would even run XP.

It won't..

I have 1gig installed (came with 512) my old XP PC and it still struggles sometimes. I think the most amazing thing is that when XP came out some of the PC manufacturers shipped it out with 256mb!

CH:

Quote

Strange John as a 2.4 GB Dual Core processor and 2GB ram on a desktop still has issues with Vista in my experience like a strobe effect cursor, slow to open applications and pages.

My Vista PC (above) is almost the same configuration and I don't have those problems.... It's never been slow after I upgraded atleast. I have to check the processor speed, I cant recollect what it was just now and I'm at work.

[-m2-]

Do check out TATA Indicom as well.  

I was looking into alternatives for connecting my iBook last month and was intrigued with their system -- a thumb-drive sized thingy that plugs into your USB port will enable you to connect to their system anywhere in India that they have facilities.  The device was Rp2995 (as I recall) and an unlimited plan was around Rp 1000/month.  (not sure about speed)  

Unfortunately, although it looked pretty good, it wouldn't work for me as they only provide software for XP and 2000 and not Mac.  Mac software is available elsewhere, but is only reliable for a newer version of  Mac OS than I am using.  Mobility would have been nice, but my primary interest was a good home connection so I went for a cable connection with Sify which has pretty good speed, but expensive one-time connection charge (Rp 8000).

[noflylist]

acer 15in, 6.3 lb and 1.4 in thick not bad for travelling!

[iwanttogoback]

[quote]On the downside, many programs are not yet comaptible, you can run some older programs as administrator. /quote]

hyderabadi, tell me more. i've just bought a hp laptop, it has vista installed. one of the programs i need, autocad, does not run on vista. i'm quite happy to uninstall it and install xp if it means getting autocad running, but if this isn't necessary that would be even better.

not sure what i think of vista yet, i'm only tinkering with the laptop, not using it like i wuold during semester.

[Hyderabadi]

OK.. The second attachment, see the little shield? Thats telling you that this may not run properly on Vista.

First attachment, right click the icon and you get the options, including -'Run as Administrator'.
XP has an option to run programs in Win'98 mode etc. so nothing new here.

Mr.Gates loves intrigue and mystery.

BTW, that option is also available for programs that are Vista compatible too.

Not sure if it will work with Autocad. Depends on your version I guess.

Edited by Hyderabadi, 10 December 2007 - 08:16 AM.

[iwanttogoback]

thanks hyderabadi, when i get around to it (out of semester i run at around 45% efficiency) i'll let you know.

[HowieUK]

I am using Tata intercom via a modem and bought my mobile phone seperately.

I paid rs5500 for it but believe the price has dropped since (typical!)

Works pretty good most of the time once the opening page has loaded (this takes a while on my pc)

Go to a 'true' Tata shop and not one of the agents that deal with a range of providers as this I found was cheaper.

You have to get a letter from your guest house saying you live there, photos and passport and visa copies and jump through a few more hoops for them.

I think mine will only work in Goa but have'nt tried it elsewhere.

[Hyderabadi]

iwanttogoback, on Dec 9 2007, 10:11 PM, said:

out of semester i run at around 45% efficiency

Lucky you.   

[Hyderabadi]

Here's an article on the compatability issues:

Quote

Windows Vista hasn't changed the world after all, and compatibility issues have been a major concern. But it's often quite simple to get around the conflicts.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140391/article.html?tk=nl_wvxnws

Edited by Hyderabadi, 10 December 2007 - 06:52 PM.