Lots of blogs and forums are talking about a tweak which supposedly increases your GPRS browsing speeds. The tweak involves changing your DNS server address. Now, let me make this clear,

DNS servers have nothing to do with transfer rates.

A DNS server is basically used to convert a hostname/url like “www.abhishta.net” to a corresponding I.P. address like “192.168.1.1″. It will not improve loading times, download rates in any way.

But some users reported an increase in their browsing speeds. How did this happen? Let me explain it to you in brief:

A GSM system uses TDM or Time division Multiplexing, wherein each user transmits in predefined time slots. Since GPRS/EDGE is an overlay over GSM, it works in the same way. Initially, the network starts your connection by assigning you a single slot with the most conservative data rate. As it sees that your bandwidth requirement increases, it will try to increase your data rate by decreasing the coding rate (you still transmit in a single slot) if the channel conditions permit. However, if that is not enough, it will then try and assign you extra time slots to transmit, provided the network is not busy. Thus, your data rate increases gradually as you start your packet data session. So if you started your speed test with the network default settings and found your data rate to be say, 50kbps and then if you changed your DNS settings and re-ran the test, the network knowing that you have an active data connection, will allocate additional resources to you. That’s why you see an immediate increase in your speeds.

I would STRONGLY recommend people to keep the DNS server to the network default as a bad DNS server could lead to DNS spoofing.

Let us take the example of a bank, say for example, Bank of America. Its url is “www.bankofamerica.com” and its actual IP address might be 129.2.24.23 (hypothetical IP address). And this is available in your DNS server. Now, someone comes along and says, change your DNS server to blah blah and you will get better speeds. Trusting him, you do it. In the new DNS server, www.bankofamerica.com is now mapped to IP address 129.24.56.20 which belongs to a hacker. The hacker runs a web server from that IP address and hosts a spoofed version of the bank of america website. And on that duplicate website, the moment you enter your username and password, it gets stored into the hacker’s database and your identity is compromised.

That’s why I will always recommend never to change settings that you don’t know about.

Mobile Diva Darla Mack has posted about Nokia’s New Year Eve party to be held in 5 cities and guess what, one of them is in Mumbai. Thanks Darla! for the awesome info. I’m definitely going to the party when I visit India this december. Anyone else going to the Nokia New Year Bash?

Nokia New Year’s Bash (Mobile version)
SOURCE: Darla Mack

I’ve been working on creating a comprehensive list of freeware applications for S60 3rd edition phones. The list has gotten pretty big now and I try to update it as frequently as I possibly can. So if you have any suggestions or if you want an application to be added to the list, do leave me a comment or send me an email.

As I was looking at the specs for the Nokia 6086 on gsmarena I came across the term “UMA” listed in its specifications. A quick search revealed that UMA stands for Unlicensed Mobile Access. Also known as GAN (Generic Access Method), it allows for roaming between GSM and Wi-Fi networks. A nifty feature, if you ask me. I’m looking forward to seeing more phones from nokia with UMA support.

Member rivvah from HowardForums has posted a comprehensive list of s60v3 product codes for various Series60 3rd edition phone models. For example, my N91’s code is:

N91 RM-43
0535291: English, Chinese

The part “RM-43″ can be obtained by pressing *#0000# on your S60 phone. The number “0535291″ can be found under the battery. The languages can be found in the Menu under Tools->Settings->Phone-> General.

This guide serves as a great resource for people who buy unlocked phones from retailers which sell imported phones. It allows a person to verify if the phone given to him has the correct firmware or if its firmware has been changed/modified. For example, A Nokia E50 RM-170 with a product code of 0534465 must be an Indian BLACK edition. So if you find a phone with that product code, but different languages in it, you can be sure its firmware has been modified. Please do note that though the list is fairly extensive, it is not complete. The N91 code I posted above is not on that list. However, it is a great resource, definitely bookmarked for future use.