The Usual Suspects...

So having identified what we need to compare, we're going to start with the most visual and apparent side to the various products.

Our options are:

• The Reliance HUAWEI and ZTE USB Dongles
• The Airtel Data Card and Dongle
• The Idea USB Dongle
• The Tata – Plug 2 Surf and Photon+ Dongles
• The Vodafone PCMCIA and USB connections.

There’s a clear evolutionary movement one can trace through the various dongles. The newer and more modern they are, the lighter and slicker they look in design.

From the days of the PCMCIA slots and the obtuse looking antenna emerging from the sides, I remember the days where Tata improved the form factor first by allowing it to disappear back inside the device.

Then, of course, the rest followed suit and Vodafone did the best job at making it look slick (again – by virtue of being a late entrant).

Then, everyone went USB and Reliance had an obnoxious looking dongle in partnership with Huawei. Of course they did upgrade with the ZTE model which the other operators also do offer.
Their latest dongle though (from Huawei) is quite interesting, and looks like a bluetooth headset – very stylish and modern. Speeds and Connectivity though are yet to be tested.

Vodafone too has brought out its 3G dongle which is also stylish like the Reliance Dongle. In Ceramic white, it seems edgy (pardon the pun). The good thing here is that, finally someone has bothered to convert this into a memory device as well and hence provide the drivers built in.

For the longest time, Tata had Plug2surf which was the smartest on the block, and hence we have two of those in my home. But the one that really takes the cake is the NEW Photon+. The dongle launched in Mumbai is quite cool. Again in white and with its rocket-like image (I’m referring to their ads), it seems rather delectable.

This too comes with its drivers built in, though I’m not quite sure of the memory on the stick.

Both Idea and Airtel are like boring black old style pen-drives, so not much to speak of there.

So my rankings are:

1. Tata Photon+
2. Vodafone 3G
3. Tata Plug2Surf
4. Reliance Huawei (New Version)
5. Idea and Airtel

Look out for more soon, coming up next is the Ease of Use and Driver Compatibilities!!