Using Tata Plug-2-Surf USB Modem on Mac OS X Leopard

This is for all Mac users in India who are using Tata’s plug-2-surf USB internet or planning to buy it.

Although there is no official support from Tata to use plug-2-surf on Mac, it is fairly simple. Just follow steps listed below…

1. Just plug your USB modem to any USB port available on MAC. Wait for green light to turn on.

(image via: Techie Cocktail)

2. Next open Mac’s System Preferences. Select Network settings.

3. Under Network settings, for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies MSM connection, use following values:

  • Telephone Number: #777
  • Account Name: internet
  • Password: internet

After this, go to “Advanced” Settings.

4. In Advanced settings, modify two fields:

That’s it, hit OK.Β  Click Connect on next screen (Step #3).

I am experiencing a lot with Mac and quite comfortable with it. So if you guys have any general questions related to Mac, please feel free to ask them here.

I do not code apps for Mac as of now, but hope to do that someday. πŸ™‚

Related: Enabling Bluetooth File Transfer on Mac OS X Leopard

43 Comments

Gautam October 2, 2008

Lol.. nice..

Rahul Bansal October 2, 2008

@Gautam
Hey you are on Mac too? πŸ™‚

Moses Parmar December 17, 2008

Dear Friends,
Thanks for this help. It is working great.

Rahul Bansal December 20, 2008

@Moses Parmar
Your welcome buddy… πŸ™‚
Welcome To Devils Workshop! πŸ˜‰

hans kall December 23, 2008

Thank you for the tips, trying hard as a tourist in Goa, it will unfortunately not work,
well it seems to work for others, maybe I schould wait untill tomorrow; I just bought the stik, it may take some activation time,
just to get rid of airtel-extraslow!

Rahul Bansal December 24, 2008

@hans
Steps listed in this article work for sure. If they don’t work there then there must be some technical problem from Tata’s side.
Anyway traffic will be at peak in Goa due to holiday season so I guess that may be affecting traffic as well.

jorden January 7, 2009

Well I have just read the above steps and it really worked…
Much to the surprised Tata folks who had told me that it would not work its working just fine!
My sincere thanks for the tips… πŸ™‚

Rahul Bansal January 15, 2009

@Jordin
Your welcome budyy… πŸ™‚

Philippe VAHE January 31, 2009

Thanks you so much for this amazing help !!! Philippe from France

Rahul Bansal January 31, 2009

@Philippe
Your welcome buddy… πŸ™‚
Welcome To Devils Workshop… πŸ˜‰

aditya February 1, 2009

is there any way to hack tata s plug to surf for free internet

kunalt April 4, 2009

pls tell me hw 2 hack tata usb modem for free interne

Sunil Sherkhane June 13, 2009

hey where can i get the Mac Os X i want to install it on Intel Dual Core 3.0 PC. Please Help me out

Rahul Bansal June 16, 2009

@Sunil
Mac is officially available for Apple created hardware only.

Anand Patwardhan June 18, 2009

Thanks for the information. Two questions: (1) I have a MacBook running OS X 10.4 (Tiger). Will the same procedure work? Anyone using this on 10.4? and (2) Does the new Photon+ (EVDO) USB modem work on the Mac? Is the procedure the same? Thanks.

Rahul Bansal June 27, 2009

@Anand
Here are answers…
1. Not sure. Never used Tiger. I started my Mac life with Leopard. By the way you can try above steps. If they don’t work, you can always Google.
2. Sorry again. No idea as I used plug2surf long time back.

Awais June 23, 2009

Hi friends I want to sell my MAC AIR Laptop do you have any idea where can i sell it

Rahul Bansal June 27, 2009

@Awais
Try ebay! πŸ˜‰
Or you can try our forum as well…
http://www.devilsworkshop.org/forum/

Dennis July 19, 2009

Hey this is great. Thanks for the solution. My mac connects with the tata indicom USB modem. Any idea how I can send and receive sms’s as well throught he mac?

Rahul Bansal February 8, 2011

@Dennis
Sorry for late reply… There is no way to handle SMS on Mac as far as I know.

hansknakk February 8, 2011

hello, severalways,
one exellent, smsmac.com, you send directly from your adressbook, very god, very cheap, only thing is, it will not make a record from your sms, once they are gone, that’s it
ok!

hansknakk February 8, 2011

ah by the way, of course with skype you can receive SMS. probably only to a skype international phone nr.

Rahul Bansal February 8, 2011

I guess Dennis is asking for using SMS via Tata dongle. For that there is no software, like they provide it for Windows, I guess!

shahveer November 14, 2009

hi…i dnt have the cdma option in my network settings….
hw do i get tht….
will it wrk for the bsnl evdo stik also
thnx….

Rahul Bansal February 8, 2011

@Shahveer
No idea about BSNL’s settings.
All I can say, try above article first with BSNL. If it doesn’t work, search around!

prashanth January 8, 2010

Hey Rahul… Thanx so much… Been stuck with an ancient modem because none of the new ones came with support for Mac.

Thanx to you I now use a sleek USB modem which compliments my sleek Mac.

Anand – It works with 10.4 beautifully.

Rahul Bansal February 8, 2011

@Prashanth
Thanks for update buddy πŸ™‚

David January 12, 2010

Hi,

Good article.

What’s the best USB modem now in 2010?

I’m coming to India for two months, arriving beginning of Feb, and I have been surfing, looking for reliable info on which USB modem is best for Macbook. I’m running Snow Leopard.

Also, where can I actually buy the dongle in Delhi?

sagar February 6, 2010

I am a mac user and have a tata plug 2 surf device , pls tell me that how can i connect to the net in my mac…/////////???//

Rahul Bansal February 8, 2011

@Sagar
Did u read above article?

mayday April 27, 2010

I am a mac user and have a tata plug 2 surf device , pls tell me that how can i connect to the net in my mac do i require any software for installation or connecting the internet

i

Rahul Bansal February 8, 2011

@Mayday
No. Mac has all necessary softwares builtin.
Just follow above article… That’s all! πŸ™‚

rakesh September 28, 2010

when i plug the tata device after connecting to internet after some moments the screen turns into gainy green horizontal lines and my pc will not work until re start.

Rahul Bansal February 8, 2011

@Rakesh,
This post in for MAC, not PC.
I haven’t used in PC in last 3-4 years so cannot help about it. Sorry….

David September 28, 2010

This is a follow-up to my comment on January 12. I bought a pre-paid Photon + and used it for two months in northern India. The story of travelling with a Macbook in India how I got the modem and the success I had in using it from Delhi to Darjeeling is here – just follow the link.

Rahul Bansal February 8, 2011

Hey David, checking comments on this post after long time so kinda missed your old comment.
I hope you enjoyed your journey in India…. πŸ™‚

Pranjit November 13, 2010

Great Info. My bro just landed from US with Apple and I was at a loss how to provide him net connectivity. I got TATA Plug-to-Surf. Googling brought me here. Rahul Bansalji, TUSI GREAT HO!

Rahul Bansal February 8, 2011

Thanks Pranjit. Glad to know that you like this post! πŸ™‚

[email protected] February 7, 2011

Hi, sometimes mine is working and sometimes not. It says above, at least when I view it :

4. In Advanced settings, modify two fields:

That’s it, hit OK. Click Connect on next screen (Step #3).

It doesn’t say what to modify in the two fields. Sort of frustrating that I can’t see that. What goes there?

Thanks.

Rahul Bansal February 8, 2011

Hi Peter,

Sorry for the issue you have faced.
I updated the post with missing piece of information.
Please check again and let me know if you face any further issue.

Thanks,
-Rahul

David February 8, 2011

Hey Rahul,

Absolutely loved India.

πŸ˜€

David

Rahul Bansal February 8, 2011

Glad to know that! πŸ™‚

Shiva September 13, 2012

Hi Rahul,

I’m new to MacBook Pro, recently got the airtel dongle (Huawei E1731) for 3g connection.

Please do let me know how to use the dongle to connect in MacBook pro.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Shiva