Airtel 99Rs GPRS plan won’t work with iPhone or any PDA but works with most of the Nokia phones and medium functional devices. So this unlimited plan is for limited functionality devices. How they find out the device model and where they block the device is the beauty.
I have configured “Airtel Live” GPRS plan in my iPhone with APN: airtelfun.com by customizing the method mentioned in iPhone forums for Airtel GPRS plan. It works great, you can access any http website with your “small beauty”- iPhone or any PDA. This connection is cost per KB download so not cost effective.
If I use the same methodology for “Airtel Online” or “Net on Phone” connection with APN: airtelwap.com (99Rs unlimited plan) it is not working in iPhone. I got surprised and tried all possible combination of the hack but no use. If I revert back to airtelfun.com it is working and airtelwap.com is working with Motorola E398 (my old phone) .
Following are the facts about how they find out the mobile model and manufacturer, where they are finding out.
1) Every Phone has a unique identification number called IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) generated with information on the origin, model, and serial number of the device.
To know your device details enter your IMEI number in the following website http://www.numberingplans.com/?page=analysis⊂=imeinr
2) IMEI is basically to minimize the theft and to provide security with identity. But it is used by operators to distinguish the user to enable/disable the plan.
3) When we connect to internet mobile phone forms GPRS PDP (packet data protocol) session with the APN to get the dynamic IP address. IMEI is sent as part of the PDP request.
4) aitelwap.com (99Rs unlimited plan) Airtel APN server straight away rejects the request from the PDA phones by reading the IMEI information. (This is one of the worst usage of the IMEI number)
Above information can be verified by the details given by the Airtel GPRS Help Desk and Airtel GPRS technical person by name Rajeev working in Airtel Shop, Brand Shop Building, Indranagar 100 Feet Road, Bangalore.
1) Why 99Rs unlimited plan is working in Nokia N80 and does not work in iPhone Ans: “Airtel Online” plan is not for PDA kind of devices
2) What is the plan suitable for iPhone?
Ans: Only “Mobile Office” it starts with 399 Rs per month and this is “Phone as modem” plan (means connect to internet using phone)
3) I want only “Net on Phone” ( means browse internet from phone)
Ans: No schemes available for your phone.
4) How you are finding out the Phone device and rejecting the connection
Ans: We have a software in our server which will find out your device and reject the connection.
If you apply the same rules to internet then (for ex:) 500Rs broadband plan works only with HP laptop and it won’t work with Sony VAIO core duo processor. This is pathetic situation. I am wondering, why the mobile operators are worried about the user device. Tariffs should be with respect to data transmission and network resource allocation.
For more technical information about this Airtel plan and validation of the information, please refer this POST.
Give your comments … let me know your views
Comment by Janakg — December 13, 2007 @ 5:29 pm |
Nice analysis dude.
Comment by Anshuman Mishra — December 19, 2007 @ 8:37 pm |
you should have sued them for not having said this restriction earlier – clearly, cheating customers
Comment by Vignesh — December 20, 2007 @ 3:38 pm |
I guess for Iphone u need to have MobileOffice plan thru which you can surf the net & also make your Iphone as a modem for your laptop.
Comment by Anand — December 21, 2007 @ 8:48 am |
Anand, ya I understand that “Mobile Office” will suffice the need but the cost difference is very high and i am pointing out the problem in Airtel 99Rs plan.
Comment by Janakg — December 21, 2007 @ 9:11 am |
While you are on the subject, I am currently using airtel nop on my motorola A1200 and its horrible. it doesn’t allow direct http/socket connectivity due to which i cant use many java apps that connect to the internet (gmail app, rss readers, messengers, etc). Apparently this is not the case with mobile office. However i can access non-wap or html sites using opera mini.
Overall, i think you are better off not using the NOP plan and i’ll get rid of it as soon as i find a decent and practical (read: cheaper than Rs. 399) alternative.
Comment by rohan — January 6, 2008 @ 4:53 pm |
While you are on the subject, I am currently using airtel nop on my motorola A1200 and its horrible. it doesn’t allow direct http/socket connectivity due to which i cant use many java apps that connect to the internet (gmail app, rss readers, messengers, etc). Apparently this is not the case with mobile office. However i can access non-wap or html sites using opera mini.
Overall, i think you are better off not using the NOP plan and i’ll get rid of it as soon as i find a decent and practical (read: cheaper than Rs. 399) alternative..
Comment by sleepyrohan — January 6, 2008 @ 4:58 pm |
you are right Rohan. everyone is waiting for such a plan. Only if users like you and me aware of the facts and push our requirements, it will happen.
Comment by Janakg — January 11, 2008 @ 5:01 pm |
I use Airtel NOP(Chennai) on my Imate JAM PDA. It works fine and im able to use feed readers too.
Comment by Vinayak — January 18, 2008 @ 5:26 pm |
Vinayak: You are lucky. your IMEI is not blocked by the Airtel, for your information Nokia n80 has a complete mini map s60 browser but it is not blocked by the NOP plan.
Comment by Janakg — January 23, 2008 @ 12:23 pm |
hey janak
I’m jags from mumbai and i just unlocked my iphone myself (OTB 1.1.3) today
we have 2 services in mumbai
the MO(Mobile office[airtelgprs.com]) rs 399/month
and Nop(Net on phone[airtelwap.com]) rs 2/day
MO is working fine on my iphone and E61(along with NOP)
but when i tried to configure NOP i cud not get the settings page
where i can enter the advanced settings which are required for NOP
these settings are (as set in my E61)
Proxy serv addres :100.1.200.99
proxy port no :8080
these are the two settings if we can set somewhere in iphone the nop will work.
Airtel does not block any browsers and the reason i think it is because
i have nokia N800(Tablet PC) which has mozilla browser and i am able to connect to E61 (via bluetooth)
and surf unlimited with good screen and resolution on my N800 using NOP on E61
so if you were able to enter those settings can you let me know
u can ping me on yahoo messenger on the same email id
jags
Comment by jags — February 12, 2008 @ 12:03 pm |
Hey jags,
I appreciate your interest.
please refer the technical description of the problem. http://democomm.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/more-technical-analysis-of-airtel-99rs-unlimited-plan/
I have configured the proxy and port number in iPhone. Lot of methods available to configure the proxy and port number in iPhone. airtelfun.com also requires the same proxy and port number. After configuring the proxy and port number it is working because the gateway is allowing the iphone for this particular plan but not for Airtel Online.
E61 of Nokia is supported, they are allowing the IMEI of it. What you are doing is tethering the E61 to your N800 like tethering the laptop. so it will work.
My concern is different.
Comment by Janakg — February 14, 2008 @ 12:04 pm |
I am using NOP Airtel on My Nokia 6270. It works with inbuilt wap browser, but the Operamini does not work on it, with the same settings(as per the Manually done by the Airtel Cusomer Care). Also I have tried so many Settings on it. Activated configuration settings for all applications. Swithed off the phone. But stiii it does not work. My friend is using Operamini on Sony Z550i, it works properly. I have tried to make my settings from his mobile. but it does not work. It shows the message “Sucribe to Packet data First”. Please help me. Also I have tried from Operamini site(Nokia standard Settings). I have saved it. But it also does not work with Operamini. So many Big Sites can not be viewed with given Browser, it shows “Memory Full”. So why I want Operamini on my Phone. Please help me. My email address is avantiya@yahoo.co.in
Comment by Anit — March 5, 2008 @ 4:22 pm |
Hello,
I am using Airtel wap99 NOP settings on my nokia 6030 phone.
I am unable to access net using Opera,mig33 etc., it will say ‘subscribe to packet data first’.
Then I created an access point as airtelwap.com with proxy as 100.1.200.99 and proxy port as 8080 still opera not working. This time it won’t displayed the message ‘subscribe to packet data first’. But the processing is going forever.
Any one Who know how to set access point to access net through opera browser will send their comments to my mail ‘kpvsr_2007@rediffmail.com’.
Comment by kpveeresh — March 6, 2008 @ 12:44 pm |
Hello anit and veeresh,
I guess both of you are having the same issue. My first suggestion is configuration settings. Now a days operators can do settings over the air. ie. you can ask for Over-The-Air setting in customer care. So make sure your settings is correct.
Second, OperaMini software need to select the data connection from the list of data connections. Even though your settings is proper, it need to be picked up by the operamini.
Third, Is it possible to configure the proxy and port in Operamini settings?
Reference links: http://www.operamini.com/help/connect/
http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=222983
Nokia Series 40 2nd Edition
Go to –>
Services/Settings/Connection Settings
0r Settings/Configuration/Personal Configuration Settings
Choose Options/Add New/Access Point (AccessPoint is labeled Services on some phones)
Set up the Access Point or Service as follows
Settings name: Airtel NOP
Homepage: http://wap.google.com
Proxies: enable
Primary proxy: 100.1.200.99:8080
Secondary proxy: 100.1.200.99:8080
Data bearer: GPRS
Bearer settings: GPRS
Access point: airtelwap.com
Authentication type: Secure
Login type: automatic
User name: leave blank
Password: leave blank
Finally,
I don’t think, Airtel is blocking applications . But there is a possibility, User-Agent information of aplication can be misused to block the application in the network. But it should not be the case, because i have seen people using opera mini in the Airtel network.
Comment by Janakg — March 8, 2008 @ 7:06 am |
im airtel custormer since 2 or three year but i lost my mobile plz can track it plz mittal sir can you bye imei 353780005497110 n 351851015769640 n 9860453656 nagpur maharastra plz sir
Comment by DEVASHISH — March 16, 2008 @ 2:05 pm |
Hi devashish,
It looks like your mobile is “Nokia 3220″
for more info about your phone , go to this site and enter your imei number
http://www.numberingplans.com/?page=analysis&sub=imeinr
Comment by Janakg — March 16, 2008 @ 5:23 pm |
more over to track your mobile give your IMEI number to your operator and register or track your phone,
Comment by Janakg — March 16, 2008 @ 5:35 pm |
hey any one can tell me how to work with airtel gprs on iphone.its not workin.
my iphone version is 1.1.2
Comment by praks — March 17, 2008 @ 6:25 pm |
Hi , how to zetting in IPv6 ? For nokia 6630
Comment by Jez — January 29, 2009 @ 1:56 am |
I am a user of nokia 6020 and i am connected with airtel NOP service.from 15-16 days i cant access m.orkut,gmail because my connection is not secure. Please tell me what can i do to make my connection secure???
Comment by Shaan — March 1, 2009 @ 2:15 am |
Shaan, Your phone should support HTTPS connection.
If your phone does not support then
a) I you are able to configure your Google services for HTTP. (I think not allowed)
b) Use Gmail Application : http://mobile.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=52860&topic=13573
b) Round soln: Create an account in pure HTTP mail services (Like indiatimes) and forward from gmail.
Comment by Janakg — March 7, 2009 @ 11:10 am |
Plz. sent to Detail 888 rs Life time Unlimited downloding .
Comment by R. B. Singh — May 6, 2009 @ 9:47 pm |
I am using NOP Airtel on My Nokia 9300i. The Operamini does not work on it, with the same settings(as per the Manually done by the Airtel Cusomer Care). Also I have tried so many Settings on it. Activated configuration settings for all applications. Swithed off the phone. But stiii it does not work. My friend is using Operamini on Sony Z550i, it works properly. I have tried to make my settings from his mobile. but it does not work. It shows the message “Sucribe to Packet data First”. Please help me. Also I have tried from Operamini site(Nokia standard Settings). I have saved it. But it also does not work with Operamini. So many Big Sites can not be viewed with given Browser, it shows “Memory Full”. So why I want Operamini on my Phone. Please help me. My email address is desaijitendra1968@yahoo.com
Comment by jitendra — July 20, 2009 @ 4:53 pm |
@Jitendra,
I cannot find out the problem with the given information.
Please see the measure to get it working!!
1) opera mini version 4 supports your device. check the version compatibility
2) Is your NOP connection allowing HTML browsing in native browser of Nokia? or is it only WAP pages.
3) Did you configure access point settings
If you have already tried all steps mentioned above, please send more information to my personal mail id: janakiramg2020 [AT] GMAIL
Comment by Janakg — August 19, 2009 @ 10:50 am |
i would like to activete Rs. 99 Per month plan in my GPRS enable phone Plz tell me what message shuld be sent and which number…..
Comment by Gaurav Kumar — August 20, 2009 @ 11:45 am |
IT IS MOST DEFINITELY POSSIBLE TO USE AIRTEL NOP (NET ON PHONE) WITH IPHONE
I am currently using a US Iphone 3G – 8GB Firmware 3.0 (jailbreak & unlock)
The trick is to ALSO change the proxy address and port with the APN
By default, inserting an airtel sim card in your iphone will disable the APN / carrier settings in the settings tab.
You may enable it for future use if you wish but it is not required (see various tutorials on the web to know how)
Steps (For Maharashtra it has worked, I do not know about other states)
1) I enabled the NOP service by sending sms “ANOP” (without the exclamation marks) to 51619 (Sim card is in my Iphone at this time)
2) The next day i receive an sms that NOP service has been activated
3) I sent the sms “NOP” to 52567 to receive the settings (sim card is in my iphone)
4) I receive the sms that settings have been sent but none are received
5) I put my Sim card in a nokia n85 and send sms “NOP” to 52567 again and receive the settings and save them
6) restart my n85 phone and verified that Internet is working
7) note the settings from access point NOP (access point – airtelwap.com, proxy address – 100.1.200.99, port – 8080
8) insert the sim back in the iphone
9) at this point it may be possible to edit the settings directly through modifying the carrier settings .plist file in the iphone framework (search the web to know how) but i preferred to use the “Iphone configuration utility” from the apple iphone website
10) create a new profile in the “iphone configuration utility” and just edit the “APN” section
11) create a new payload with the details from step 7 – leave user name and password blank
12) Export the configuration file to the desktop
13) If you want, you can email the file to yourself on the iphone as an attachment and iphone will handle the rest
14) OR — if your iphone is connected to your computer with USB then you can go in the devices section of the iphone config util > configuration profile tab > and install the profile which you have created.
15) The iphone will ask for conformation before installing
16) after installation is complete. reboot your iphone and you should be able to connect to the internet.
Tested Working
———–
Safari
Cydia
Rock
Maps
Tested NOT working
———–
MAIL (whats the use of internet on iphone without this)
I did not get time to download and test anything else
I dont think torrent and skype / voip would work due to the port blocking that airtel uses for NOP service
Please post your feedback
Thanks. Good luck.
Comment by Saumitra — October 3, 2009 @ 1:11 am |
hey, this is cool news, if they opened up the service.
I have tried the same thing in the iphone before 10 months setting to airtelwap.com and proxy address – 100.1.200.99:8080
Actually, they have blocked before IP is allocated using IMEI number. so this method is client enabling.
Will try and tell you soon…
Comment by Janakg — October 28, 2009 @ 9:22 am |
i have tried with http://www.unlockit but NOP is not working in IPhone 2G Software Verson 2.2.1
Comment by Ashish — November 14, 2009 @ 2:16 pm |
Airtel NOP discontinued as per customer care,Bangalore.
Comment by Janakg — November 29, 2009 @ 1:56 pm |