Phones Not Suited for 3G: What to Check Before You Buy

India's 3G era has officially begun. The spectrum auction that concluded in May raised nearly Rs 68,000 crore, and Tata Docomo switched on the first private 3G services on Diwali, November 5, in nine circles — joining state-run BSNL and MTNL, which have offered 3G since early 2009. Bharti Airtel, Reliance, and Vodafone are expected to follow within months.

So what does a 3G handset buy you that a 2G one does not? Speed, and everything speed enables. On EDGE, uploading a photograph to Facebook is an exercise in patience; on a 3G connection running at several megabits per second, it is instant. Streaming video becomes genuinely watchable instead of a slideshow. Video calls, mobile TV, and using your phone as a high-speed modem for a laptop all move from fantasy to feasible.

Which makes the handset question real. A phone without 3G support cannot be upgraded into one — the radio inside it simply does not speak the language. If you are buying a phone now and expect to keep it for two years, the single most important specification on the box is 3G support on India's 2100 MHz band. Without it, you are buying a ticket for a train that has already left the station.

The networks will take time to mature and the tariffs are still being worked out. But the direction is set: India's mobile internet is about to get dramatically faster, and the only question is whether your phone is ready for it.