Tata Photon+ Review (Technical & Service)

[BSDgeek]

### Tata Photon+ ###

Hardware: Huawei EC1260 USB 1.1 Broadband Modem
Color: Black
Accessories: USB cable


# Pros:
1. Good Signal Quality. Acceptable Latency & Delay.
2. Speed from 200kbps to 1300kbps.
3. HSIA (EVDO 200kbps - 1300kbps) in Major Cities.
4. Modem is configurable. (warning: invalidate the warrenty)
5. Stylish Design.
6. Inbuild MiniSD card reader for extended storage.
7. Out-Of-Box support for Widows & MacOS.
8. No CDs. The USB has ROM with setup files.
9. Lesser user on the data network than any other CDMA service provider so internet speed is much better.
10. 15GB Bandwidth in INR 1500 and add-on 10GB night plan (2300 - 0700) for INR 200, So You Get 25GB of Total Bandwidth.


# Cons:
1. Customer Service sucks.
2. Technical Support is Novice.
3. Bandwidth Usage follows Fair Usage Policy (fair usage policy). Maximum Usage is 15GB.
4. No official support for Linux/Unix.
5. Lesser bandwidth (standard CDMA 1x 8kbps-20kbps) in most of the cities (other than Major cities).


I'm running Photon+ on my FreeBSD without any problems. My Configuration:
> FreeBSD 8 CVS
> Intel Core2Duo 2.0Ghz
> 2GB of RAM
> Opera 10.0 & Midori
> Photon+ Modem @ 115200 bps (ppp0)
> Optimized TCP Stack
> Class Of Service Defined
> Bandwidth Compression
> Content Filtering

also tested on the following:
> GRML 1.1 (kernel:2.26.29)
> Sabayon 4.1 (kernel:2.26.29.custom)
> Ubuntu 9 (kernel:2.26.30)

# Test:
> Page load delay 1-2 seconds (normal browsing)
> 10MB download in 4-5 minutes (standard http download)
> Speed Test Cairo: Download>739kbps Upload: 190kbps

NOTE: HSIA Speed is dependant on the bandwidth allocated to specific Towers. Unix users can benefit on speed by re-configuring there TCP Stack and Packet Precedence. "There Is Always A Way To Be Ahead"

Linux users can monitor there Photon+ RAW Bandwidth usage using vnstat available from http://humdi.net/vnstat/ Pick source n compile or use a pre-build binary and run as daemon/at system startup. Every usage is monitored and recorded in a file (only the traffic flow). Better use it and stop messing with ur POCKETS. Alternate tool is darkstat at http://dmr.ath.cx/net/darkstat/ with web view (nice realtime graphs) but old source code.

If anyone wants to make Photon+ workable in LINUX/UNIX, Please Ask and I'll be happy to Help !

 

[madhusudhan7]

Good review pal - here's my experience with Photon+

i stay close to one of the TATA towers so i normally get speeds around 275 kBps to 300 kBps download & 80 kBps to 100 kBps upload - even if i were to use torrents !

service is very reliable - sometimes i use it 24/7 & it works in most places at Bangalore - at least in my case - home(Vijaynagar), office(Domlur), inlaws(RRnagar & Kengeri regions)

P.S: speeds of EVDO always depends on how good the signal strengths are - my signals are always full(5 bars) & hence i get very good reception but it could vary elsewhere.
For eg: i had BSNL EVDO before this - would give max of 200-300 kbps at home & upto 2Mbps at work - a great variation from place to place !

 

[ganny21]

Hi BSDGeek,Very nice review. Am in central chennai . Which one would you recommend, is it EVDO or photon+ ?. am planning to buy either Lenovo Y650 or Acer aspire 5739G which seems to have good config. Please advise before i make the investment.Thanks a ton for a review well done :clap:

 

[BSDgeek]

hi ganny21,what purpose ar u buyin for IS THE ANSWER. I'm not a fan of IBM or Lenovo but they are supposed to be Business Machines. For multimedia i prefer HP or Aspire. (once upon a time i had the Aspire 5200 series in AMD64bit,good for long run). Now i own HP 520/550 with custom configuration.Better is search in "google" n compare for atleast 2-3 weeks and get ur own understanding. "Word of mouth is bad in Technology."EVDO is the technology everyone uses in High Speed Internet Access (HSIA). Photon+ is amazingly fast.

 

[ganny21]

Thanks BSDGeek,Am buying it for multimedia use and i guess i need to buy Acer aspire 5739G, seems to be a worthy deal. But except Sony no company is commiting on Windows 7 upgrade , so should i wait for some more time?.Also i need to use skype video chat alot(bandwidth eater) with the wireless internet. I guess photon+ uses the fair usage policy so it will be better for me to get the EVDO unlimited connection isn't it ?. In Mylapore am unsure about the signal strength though 😛leasehelp:

 

[BSDgeek]

I'm getting more n more mail request for Linux Configuration for Photon+. So here it is:

Just do the following steps to make it work:
1. Plug ur photon+ and wait 5 seconds.
2. in Terminal, do a "dmesg" and cross-check it is showing the modem as Huawei.
3. in Terminal, do a "sudo wvdial" and its will create a config
in /etc/wvdial.conf, something like this:

(if u dont have wvdial, please download frm Wv Dial - open.alumnit.ca)

#
[Dialer Defaults]
Modem = /dev/modem
Baud = 115200
Modem Type = Analog Modem
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0

[Dialer info]
Init9 = AT&V

[Dialer photon+]
Modem = /dev/modem
Baud = 115200
Modem Type = Analog Modem
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Phone =
Username =
Password =
Auto DNS = off
#

some of the above section are customized so u should not be confused.

4. now in Terminal, connect by "wvdial".

5. Alternate method is by using Network Manager applet which is more easier and automatic whenever u plug the card.

6. In Network Manager, U can create profile by configuring network > analog POTS > setup. fill the data according to ur need. leave the IP & gateways as defaults. type username/passphrase/dial number (usually username/passphrase are ur assigned phone number & dial number is *777).

5. connect the profile and see if it work.

Go on and let see if it work for u.

 

---

[BSDgeek]

Its is difficult to reply every mail i get so please chat with me on gtalk:jakethomas.bsdgeek@gmail.com. I'm online for almost 18hours a day.

Thanks.

BSDgeek
"Because Knowledge Is Freedom"

 

[sumitbit]

Hi Evryone,I am new to forum and looking fwd to help.I have Photon Plus and my experience isn't very good. The speed is pathetic at times and signals are often lost.I see the ugly -> cannot connect to internet/server or connection failed pages on my explorer even when the signal strenth bars icon shows 4 or as I remember 5 bars.I am using it in Ghaziabad (near shipra mall). I have sought for technical help from indicom, they responded too. but results aren't consistent. The will run/or ask me to run some DOS commands like winsock reset, netsh log reset etc and then they will set the max speed on N/w properties window to somewhere 92100 or so and speed increases to as high as 400 KBps but then after an hour or so its goes down and stays low.Are there some drivers/ dialer etc i need to install which may help. Any firewall/antivirus settings (I have quickheal 2010) that may help me.please adviseRegards !!

 

[ajithv]

Is Tata Photon Plus Service available in Kozhikode (Calicut),Kerala??