Monday, October 3, 2011

Vodafone Data Card - Rolling Back Action

I recently purchased a Vodafone Data Card 3G for Rs.1500. This data card allows you to access the internet through your computer. It plugs into the USB port of your computer. There are various data plans available. Since, I purchased this as a backup connection, I decided to opt for the Rs.100/month plan which gives me 200mb download.

Vodafone also provides a 15 day return policy so if you are not happy with the data card, they will refund the money. However, the customer rep who delivered the card said that it is very difficult to get a refund! Nonetheless, I had no choice since I have used Reliance and Tata data cards before and the customer service and speed is terrible.

After the card was delivered to my home, it takes 72 hours to be activated. Installation of the data card was smooth on my Windows 7 PC. But, there was a problem when I tried to install the data card on my laptop running Windows XP SP3. Just before the installtion would complete, I would get an error "Rolling Back Action" and the entire installtion would be reversed!! I called Vodafone customer helpline and was told to visit Vodafone store with my laptop and data card for help! Now, imagine if I had a problem with deskptop...How am I supposed to take my entire desktop machine to the store???

Anyway, after hours of painstaiking resarch, I solved the Rolling Back Action installation error as follows:

For the data card to install successfully, you need Wireless Zero Configuration and DHCP Client services started on your computer. Now, it turns out that some Windows computers don't automatically start these services when you turn on your computer hence the problem.

Go to Start>control panel> administrative tools> services> DHCP Client . Right click on DHCP Client and retstart this. Now go to panel> administrative tools> services> Wireless Zero Configuration.
On my computer, Wireless Zero Configuration was disabled. So, right click on Wireless Zero Configuration and click Properties. In "Startup type", disabled will be shown. Choose Manual and click OK. Then, right click on Wireless Zero Configuration and select Start. Now, install the data card again and it should work fine now.

Overall, I am pleased with the speed of the Vodafone data card. I am getting download speed of 1.67mbps! It connects smoothly to the internet - just plug the data card and click Connect. Apart from the installation issue, I would give a thumbs up to the Vodafone data card.