For more than two years I am having a broadband connection from airtel. So far I have not faced any problem with Airtel. I used to get SMS from Airtel when their broadband service will be down(that will be usually in the midnight only, may be for maintenance). If there was a technical problem, after logging the complaint with the help desk within 24 hours, I used to get the prompt service.

Recently I got a connection from BSNL also. I got a landline and broadband connection. I wanted to change the broadband plan and when ever I tried to call the customer care, I was not able to reach them. So still I am continuing with the same broadband plan. I received the first month bill. I did the payment through Les Concierges. Even after making the payment, they have disconnected my landline and also broadband connection.

In my experience Airtel service is better than BSNL.

I connected to internet using my Nokia N72 handset from my Fedora by activating Airtel Mobile Office.

Here is a small howto

• From your mobile (Symbian OS) select the menu “Settings | Tools | Packet Data” and make sure access point is “airtelgprs.com”

• Identify your mobile’s bluetooth address by running

$ hcitool scan Scanning … 00:1A:16:D1:xx:xx asdf

• First pair the mobile you want to use (Otherwise it won’t work)

• Find out which channel supports Dial up feature in your mobile phone by running and search for entry like

$ hciconfig browse <addr> Service Name: Dial-Up Networking Service RecHandle: 0×1000f Service Class ID List: “Dialup Networking” (0×1103) Protocol Descriptor List: “L2CAP” (0×0100) “RFCOMM” (0×0003) Channel: 3 ^^^^ Language Base Attr List: code_ISO639: 0×454e encoding: 0×6a base_offset: 0×100 Profile Descriptor List: “Dialup Networking” (0×1103)

• Create rfcomm device by

  $ rfcomm bind /dev/rfcomm0 <address> <channel>

• Just run wvdialconf to create default modem settings and update the settings as follows or use the following settings for /etc/wvdial.conf

  [Dialer Defaults] Init1 = ATZ Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 stupid mode = 1 Modem Type = Bluetooth Modem = /dev/rfcomm0 Baud = 115200 New PPPD = yes ISDN = 0 Phone = *99***1# Username = a Password = b

• Now run wvdial to initiate connection

Note

You can also try kppp with the same settings.

Troubleshooting

• pppd daemon terminates unexpectedly

  • Check whether the accesspoint is properly set to airtelgprs.com

• rfcomm(x) connection refused

  • Pair the mobile with the laptop/computer