Sreejith’s NETwork

I recently bought the TATA indicom Plug2surf as had to go to a place where ISP’s didn’t have any unlimited data plan. I used to access internet through GPRS on my (Airtel) n73, but considering the fact that their speed is too low and the plan now costs Rs275/- for 15 days, its too expensive. I decided to buy a CDMA based connection for better speed and had two options, Reliance Netconnect and the TATA Indicom Plug2Surf.
I called representatives from both of the company and asked them to show me a demo of how it will work at my home (on my Macbook pro w/ OSX leopard). Both the team told warned me that their services are not Macintosh supported but I assured them that they just had to let me use the device and nothing else. I tried both and finally, at the end of the day, I chose the Plug2Surf as their plans where bit cheaper.

The Plans (Unlimited) (as of 26 July 2008)

TATA Indicom Plug2Surf :
Rs 2500/- onetime for the USB modem (Qualcomm CDMA Technologies MSM)
Rs 1100/- + 12% Monthly.
Reliance Netconnect :
Rs 2850/- onetime for the USB modem (ZTE 880)
Rs 1500/- Monthly.

Before I called them, I had made sure my mac is ready for the devices. So, here’s how you do it.

Getting ready for TATA indicom Plug2Surf

TATA Indicom’s installation was pretty easy as they provide the modem drives for mac. But the guys from Indicom may try hard to convince you that Plug2Surf does not work and mac and you need their dialer to connect to the internet.

1. Download the Mac Drivers for Qualcomm CDMA MSM modem.
2. The zip file you downloaded has to be unzipped. You’ll see two files inside, one for the Newer Intel x86 Macs and other one for the Older PowerPC Macs. Open the appropriate installation (.pkg) file. (Note : Unplug the device before opening the file.)
3. Click Continue.
4. In the next window, “Continue” after the reading the license and then click “Install” .
6. Now open System Preferences > Network. You’ll see “Qualcomm CDMA Technologies MSM” on the left side bar (or it pops up a window, that it has found it). Click on it.
7. Type Telephone No #777 , Account Name and Password both internet.
8. Click on “Advanced” > Select Vendor : Generic and Modem : Dialup Device. Click “OK”
9. Your Done! The “Connect” button should be clickable now and will connect to the Indicom service once clicked.

Getting ready for Reliance NetConnect

As Indicom guys, the Reliance guys will also tell you that their modem won’t work on a Mac. But in this case they are right, it won’t work unless you make it but its pretty easy. You need to make the chinese device (ZTE 880) work on OSX. Thanks to Hari Selvarajan, you can .

1. Download the zip archive of open-source Mac OS driver for ZTE 880 and install. You’ll be asked to restart, do so.
2. Download this (Info.plist) to your computer, and copy it over the existing Info.plist in this location
/System/Library/Extensions/osx-pl2303.kext/Contents/
3. Now open “Terminal” and type the following commands into a terminal window.

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/osx-pl2303.kext
sudo kextload -v /System/Library/Extensions/osx-pl2303.kext

4. Now plug the MG 880 (Reliance Netconnect Device).
5. Now open System Preferences > Network. You’ll see “ZTE CDMA Tech” on the left side bar. Click on it.
6. Type Telephone No #777 , Account Name and Password both internet.
7. Click on “Advanced” > Select Vendor : Generic and Modem : Dialup Device. Click “OK”
8. Your Done! The “Connect” button should be clickable now and will connect to the Indicom service once clicked.