Eureka, I got my 3G Activated BSNL SIM today. Its good & its bad.
*img24.imageshack.us/img24/8773/bsnl3gsim.jpg
After dissecting, I found that in real world usage, for voice & SMS, Vodafone & BSNL are almost same in cost.
I have 2 years incoming in my Vodafone SIM so each month I recharge with Rs 225 in which I get full talk value & then Rs 69 + Rs 31 + Rs 30 = Rs 355 to get Local On Air Calls at 40p, Off Air at 60p, STD at Rs 1 & 200 SMS anywhere in India. For my usage, Rs 255 talk value with the tariff vouchers is enough. In Lucknow, most of my communication is through Internet only so Rs 255 does suffice in a month. If not then I can still refill for Rs 100 in which I get Rs 88 talk value. Means for a total of Rs 455, I get Rs 343 which is indeed enough.
In case of BSNL, I have to pay a flat rate of Rs 600 a month. There is no lifetime incoming plan on the 3G SIM yet it seems. So after paying Rs 500 + Rs 69 + Rs 29 = Rs 598, I get 30 days validity, Rs 400 value, on air local calls at 20p, off air local at 40p, on air STD at 50p & off air STD at 75p which is less that what I am paying with Vodafone, & Local SMS at 10p while STD SMS at 50p which is costly compared to Vodafone cos in Vodafone I just have to pay Rs 30 for 200 SMS & no extra money.
However, it evens out cos the money I save in phone calls goes into SMSing & I do SMS a lot. Considering I am getting Rs 400 value, it can be exhausted but in reality I am paying more compared to Vodafone for almost same cost & features.
So, if it is only talking that I do & not the use of Internet via 3G a lot, then its better to go for BSNL 2G SIM as there are better tariff coupons available for it, else go for Vodafone in U.P East at least.
Now comes the 3G & Data part. In Vodafone, I pay 1p per K.B. Since I got BSNL broadband & Wi-Fi at home, I don't need internet in Mobile phone a lot & in a month my Data transfer is usually upto 5 MB. If I was in some other city then it would have been more for sure. With this rate I pay Rs 50 for 5 MB in a month on Vodafone, but with BSNL 3G I will be paying only Rs 15 in a month cos BSNL charges Rs 3 per MB for 3G if you do not have any Data plan subscribed. Since in Lucknow my 3G usage is low, this data plan suits me perfectly.
There is one catch though. Vodafone doesn't support POP3 & IMAP in Vodafone Live or HTTP due to which I am unable to receive my GMail, Yahoo & Hotmail and also unable to connect to chatting services using Slick. Vodafone charges Rs 200 extra for it per month. I hope BSNL 3G supports all this because if not, then there is no point in buying BSNL 3G for such a low data usage.
Vodafone supports connecting PC using Vodafone Live, I have yet to check whether BSNL 3G supports it or not.
On the BSNL 3G Tariff webpage, there is one line written which I am unable to interpret so I will ask about it tomorrow in the office.
v)The pulse rate for data usage shall be of 1 MB under all post/prepaid plans.
What does this means? Pulse rate in voice plan means that for every 60 second, I will have to pay 40p for off Air local calls. If the conversation is between 60 seconds & 120 seconds, I will still have to pay 40p more so a total of 80p whether I talk for 120 seconds or 90 seconds. However, i am unable to interpret & would like the help of some else already using it to interpret the same about data.
As said, Rs 3 is for each 1 MB of usage, but most of the time when I use GPRS I am only using 300 kb or 500 kb at a time, sometimes even 100 KB.
Will I be charged Rs 3 whether I use 100 KB or whether I use 1024 KB? If this is the case then BSNL 3G will turn out to be utterly costly. If I am using Opera mini then checking some sites take only 10 to 20 kb like Orkut or Facebook mobile. In Vodafone I end up paying 20p only but then in BSNL 3G, I will have to pay Rs 3. In Vodafone, for Rs 3 i get 300 KB so yeah, it can be justified in this way.
So every month, after a flat payment of Rs 600, I get Rs 400 value, Local On Air calls at 20p, Local Off Air calls at 40p, On Air STD at 50p while Off Air STD at 75p, Local SMS at 10p & STD SMS at 50p & 3G at Rs 3/MB. Here is the thing, I guess BSNL 3G is not suitable or SMS junkies.
I will write here soon after testing BSNL 3G thoroughly as mentioned in my previous post.
Got it atleast now, Is it launching all over India or just TN ?
due to Holi Holidays.
). I did this & now I am getting HSDPA compatible speeds. My Symtorrent download skyrocketd to 60 KBps. Also, now instead of "E", "3.5G" is written when using data. Here is a screenshot of Symtorrent which i was able to take before speed throttled. The network is 3.5G. 
