Paying TDS on apartment purchase

After April 2013, it is now mandatory on the individual to cut TDS before making payment to the builder. This seems to be the sole responsibility of the buyer even if he has taken a loan from the bank. So before you raise a demand note on the bank cut the mandatory 1% taxes for TDS and raise the demand note only for the remaining amount with the bank.

The following are the step-by-step process for paying the tax and collecting the FORM 16B which then you need to submit to the builder as well as you need it for your registration.

1. Like you pay advance tax, one could pay this tax through the TIN site. This as far as i know has to be done by 7th of the following month after the payment was done to the builder else there will be penalty or interest to be payed on TDS.
2. Click on Form 26QB and pay the taxes. you would need the PAN card of the builder as well as the details of the company like address, part payment detail, complete property price etc.
3. Once you fill the form it will take you to online bank as specified by you and you can make the payment.
4. Once done it will give an E-Tax acknowledgement Number. Pls print it and keep as you will need this. Also print and keep the challan.
5. Now register yourselves with TRACES site if you have not done it.Click on "Register as New user" and then Tax payer to fill the form. Please specify the "First Name" though it is mentioned as non-mandatory as else you will not be able to register. Please use both Option 1 and Option 2 to fill. For this you will need TDS details of your company to fill it. Option 2 can be based on the above challan. I have seen only Option 2 not working.
6. Once registered login at the same TRACES site. And inside there is a download area where you can use the E-Tax acknowledgement number to place a request for FORM 16B.
7. Once request is raised it generates in a week (may be lesser though i have not checked).
8. You can use your DOB ddmmyyyy as password to open and print the FORM 16B.

Hope this helps.

Filling a pothole in puttenahalli area

This is my first effort to reach to BBMP to try fix a road pot hole and the steps are mentioned below:

1. Know your ward number. It is 187 in case of puttenahalli and comes under bomanahalli jurisdiction. I also saw a board showing 195 as the ward near us but i think both are in same jurisdiction.
2. Call 25735642 to register the compliant by providing your name phone number and address.

3. In my case the road was fixed though not sure if my call really helped or it would have happened even without my call.

Filing online rectification for wrong TAN number

In case you have filed the return online in India and in case you made a mistake in typing the TAN number which came up in the intimation under section 143(1) then the following procedure has to be followed:

1. Login with the UserID and passwd at the Income tax webpage
2. On the right box you can click on the "Rectification Request"
3. Fill the Assessment Year as in 143(1)
4. Fill the Communication Reference Number number in 143(1) along with the date from the 143(1). Please note any error in typing can cause rectification request to be rejected.
5. For Rectification Request Type select: "TAN Wrongly Quoted"
6. Select "Taxpayer is correcting data for tax credit mismatch only"
7. Please type the corrected TAN number and all the details like income etc.
8. File the request. Please note in case of TAN error no need to refile the xml again.
9. It gets corrected in a months time and you can track the status in this same page.

Hope this helps. Please note in case you have not filed online you will have to do this over post and can take more than 6 months and more.

BIAS Timing at shantinagar

Airport volvo bus service at shanti nagar TTMC, Bangalore, Karnataka.

Accuweather widget update issue in Samsung

I have seen that the free accuweather widget which is part of all Samsung offering in their android platform refuses to update even if i do manual update. I have this issue on the Galaxy Grand Duos where the weather widget does not refresh after sometime even if you try a manual refresh. I found it worked with the following way:

1. Reboot the smartphone: This works in all cases but is not a very good solution. Just for one widget issue rebooting the phone is not good, so was searching for some alternate solutions.
2. Clear data: Clear All data by going to settings->Application Manager->Weather Main-Clear data. This works without reboot but has issue of losing info about all the multiple location you had enabled for tracking and you need to start from scratch. Not a neat solution as well.
3. Remove auto refresh completely and do manual refresh each time: This has worked for me for last few days and seems to be the best option. When we really need to know of the weather refresh it before viewing it.

SO try (3), if not (2) and worst case (1). Hope samsung will fix this issue with an update till then the above fix seems to be the only work around for weather widget. Any other solution mention in the comment.

Nokia Bluetooth Handset and Android phone

In case you are one like me who has a Nokia bluetooth handset BH-216 and now got a new Android phone (Samsung Galaxy Grand in my case and i hope it should be same with other phones as well) and finds out that your old hands free is not working with android, this is what you need to do.

1. Switch on the bluetooth connection from your android phone
2. Switch on the BH-216
3. Within 3 mins, Scan for bluetooth device from the android phone.
4. In case your phone does not detect your BH-216, switch off your hands free.
5. Now press both the call button and power button for 6 secs.
6. You will see both red and green colour LED glowing one after another. Once you see this wait for a few sec.
7. Do step (1) to (3) again and it should work now.

Enjoy Nokia BH-216 with your Android phone.

Samsung Galaxy Grand Review

I got a Grand one week back and already did intensive testing and already have workaround for many issues. Let me list it down

1. Dual SIM not working: All of a sudden i noticed that i cannot SMS from either SIM. Sadly using dual sim to tide over redundancy of network operator does not work always as both can be down if the handset behave like that. It may have to do with Smart SIM setting though i have not verified it but i have disabled it for now. Workaround: reboot and it works. May be it has to do with HSPA in SIM-2 as someone was mentioning to me that he also had to reboot as soon as he migrated to HSPA. Now i see as per specs only SIM-1 supports HSPA. I started with HSPA only in SIM-2 as i was not aware of this restriction. Maybe i should now test the other scenario as well.Will keep you posted. 
2. Complete shutdown of handset even though battery is not fully discharged: In this case even if you try to reboot nothing comes up. Workaround: take the battery out and replace it after some a small duration. It seems this is even seen in Galaxy note 1 and the frequency of doing this battery swap goes down over the life of battery. This also may be linked to SIM-2 being in HSPA.
3. Google Drive Spreadsheet Not working: In this case spreadsheet there is an option to open up through a browser by using the left button.
4. Battery draining faster: Open up the battery setting and it will show all the application burning all the battery power. For screen set auto brightness or reduce the brightness. Google+ somehow consumes a lot of power, so go to google settings and discontinue all automatic notifications. Switch off GPS, WiFi, mobile data whenever not using them through the notification panel. After doing all this battery on an average stays for 25 hrs. Also remember battery can support 500 charge/discharge cycles and more you can keep it alive will prevent your wallet getting lighter. Anyhow plan to change battery in 1.5yrs and plan for a 2000 rupee budget.
5. Samsung Dive: Enable this from security section and it allows to track your mobile if it stolen and allows to remotely delete all you confidential data and passwords. Also enable other security features like SMS to two nos once you change the SIM.
6. Text editing: In case you have old text document, it does not reads with Smemo and it only reads .snb. Jota text editor is a good option for txt editing.
7. Contact streamlining and Merging: All of a sudden i have a large set of contacts as it pulled things from google, outlook, facebook and so on. At least google has an option in its contact section in gmail to merge similar contact.DO that on gmail and automatically it gets sinked up. Also you have an option to join the contacts manually from the contact editing option. But this is a manual process.
8. Large upload: If you are not careful with photo/video, soo you will run out of memory and in case you are syncing you photo to drop box with a bounded plan one may soon run up a huge bill as the video and photo are configured at peak resolution by default. You may want to change this to keep a tab of memory growth.
9. Missing Memory: Only 4GB of internal memory is usable as the other half does not even show up in your file manager. All your apps can run only from internal memory so don't dumb lot of photo and video there and push these into dropbox or external memory.

EPF Passbook

The only way one could know the amount one has in his/her EPF (Employee Provident Fund) account in India was when one gets the small strip of paper mentioning the amount one have payed and amount the employer have paid. Recently EPF provides mean to see online the entire passbook with monthly granularity of payments. It also mention the amount of corpus in your pension fund which gets appropriated towards it. To do all this one need to do the following:

1. Register oneself with all the details in this site.
2.  Generate the PIN and use it to complete the registration. PIN will be sent to your mobile number.
3. In case the details are already been uploaded it will be seen instantaneously else you may have to come back to site once it is available.
4. EPF portal sends an SMS once it is available. So need to do regular checks for seeing the status.

Meter tampering in Bangalore petrol pump

Yet another ingenuous way to cheat. As indicated by a colleague in our association:

"Many of you may be filling up your vehicles at the Puttenahalli petrol pump down the road as it's the nearest and most convenient one. Just want to share my experience with you to ensure that you are not cheated. On three different occasions we have filled up our car for abt Rs 2000 worth of petrol. The meter starts at zero and goes properly till abt Rs 1400 then it jumps suddenly to Rs 1700 and continues onto Rs 2000. If you do not watch carefully you would easily miss this. First couple of times we have fought with the attendants and even given a written complaint (don't know how effective this is though). The last time we just told him it jumped and he promptly filled in petrol for the relevant amount!! I am sure this kind of meter tampering is common and not just in this pump.Please take care while filling your vehicles."

Collecting the ration card

For collecting the ration card in Karnataka after doing all the online registration, we got the SMS to collect the card from C.E.T. Cell in Malleshwaram. There we are supposed to collect a token and based on the token we are supposed to get the cards. But as everyone in Bangalore needs to collect from the same place, there were some 100s of people waiting for getting the token and another 100's after getting the token.

Hope the authorities will send the ration card by post like in case of Passport and not make such a wonderful process fail in the last step.

Now they have moved it to a decentralized way of collection by setting up multiple office around. A good step which can scale better than the centralized model.

I collected my Karnataka ration card from the Vijaya Bank Layout, Bangalore police chowk next to Coffee Day opposite the park. One needs to carry the acknowledgement printout (Even the mobile acknowledgement would do but i heard that some people were sent back without the printout in other center), they will print the card after verifying the fingerprint. One need to pay Rs 20/- for a family of 4 and Rs 5/- for any additional member. There is also a counter in front of it in case you need to laminate. It takes not more than 10 mins now if queue is small and all systems work properly ;) We took 45 mins though one of my friend did it in less than 5 mins.

Checking TV remote working

In case you have found that your TV or set-top box (STB) remote does not work there seems to be a easy way to figure out if indeed the remote has issue or TV/STB has issue or battery has a issue. This i learned from my cable repair person.

First you need a camera mobile and put into camera mode. Show the infrared LED portion towards the camera lens. Focus your camera so as to see LED distinctly. Then press any remote key. Then in camera you will see light emanating from the LED if it is working. Try different keys to ensure it is not some key issue. Change the battery and see if it is a battery issue. Even after battery change it is not working it is time to change your remote.

Lost security code for ration card

In case you want to apply for a ration card online in Karnataka one can register through the online site. Once it is registered then one will get a security code on the registered mobile in 1-3 months. This security code is needed when you visit the biometric center to take your photograph and fingerprint. So, Once you get it and somehow you lost the security code and one can regenerate it online. The process needed is mentioned below, which i learned after multiple hit and trials:

1. one can "Click here to verify your LPG/Ration Card status (ಎಲ್.ಪಿ.ಜಿ/ರೇಷನ್ ಕಾರ್ಡ್ ಸ್ಥಿತಿ)" use the link in the same site and then click on the last bullet. 
2. Click on this link and you may need multiple clicks before it works as the server is usually very unresponsive.

This option helps you to get security code for the Ration Card application through SMS and also change your mobile no in the application if required. ಇದನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಅರ್ಜಿಗೆ ಸಂಬಂದಿಸಿದ ಸೆಕ್ಯೂರಿಟಿ ಕೋಡ್ ಪಡೆಯಬಹುದು ಮತ್ತು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಮೊಬೈಲ್ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ಬದಲಿಸಬಹುದು.

1. Fill the details and don't be alarmed if it raises an error or exception with proper details.Give it multiple tries and if not even wait for sometime before you re-enter it. 
2. Try to regenerate the code with the same mobile as in your application. If it raises exception multiple times change the mobile number to a new one and ask the security code to be regenerated.
3. Please verify if the name in the SMS is same as the registered person you had applied for the ration card else regenerate the pin again. Otherwise like me you would have to go to the biometric center and redo the process again.

It worked for me and hope it will work for you as well.

Indane gas booking status online

In case you want to see the consumption pattern of your indane gas and details of ordering date and delivery date etc you can find it here in this site. You need to give your location and your gas distributor details. You can also know how much subsidy has been availed by you.

Using USB port in Huawei LTE CPE B593

Huawei TDD or FDD LTE modem or CPE B593 (provided in India as well) supports connecting of USB port. To use it one has to do the following.

1. Login to CPE through 192.168.1.1 through the browser.
2. Plugin the USB.
3. Go to "USB Management"
4. Go to the "Server Setting". If the USB is working fine it will show there. Click on submit button.
5. Go to "User Setting". Create a new user by clicking "Add item". Fill in all the details mentioned and make it "Read/Write" if you need to do that mode of operation. The directory will create a directory which can be accessed through FTP. Fill all details and submit it.
6. Run "cmd" command from the windows.
7. Run "FTP 192.168.1.1".
8. Give the user name and password based on the input you gave in step (5) above.
9. You can use all ftp command like mkdir to create new folder, put to copy something to that folder and so on.

Bharti 4G speed J P Nagar 7th Phase

This is a speedtest.net test done using 4G TD-LTE from Airtel using a Huawei B593s-82 Cat 3 modem at J P Nagar 7th Phase, Bangalore. Other details on RSSI, RSRP and RSRQ are shown below:

Latitude	Longitude
12.89218	77.58379

3	Frequency(kHz):	23350
4	Bandwidth(kHz):	20000
5	Cell ID:	404
6	Signal Strength:	4
7	RSSI(dBm):	-65
8	RSRP(dBm):	-91
9	RSRQ(dB):	-13

I also did a test with BSNL Speed test for Bangalore and the result is here.

Checking data usage in Tata Photon +

Tata Photon + data usage would require one to have a registered account number and password and then login at their my account page. In case you do not know your account number and/or photon number the following is the procedure you have to follow to get yourself registered before you can view your usage.

1. Call 1800-266-121
2. Tell them the MEID which you can see if you open the cap of Tata Photon + where SIM is kept. It is a 14 digit hex format number which you would have to tell the call center.
3. In case of postpaid, one needs to tell the billing address
4. They will then provide you two distinct numbers (in case of postpaid)
1. Photon number
2. Account number (for postpaid)
5. Use this number to go to my account new user page in Tata Photon+ and register with all these details.
6. You are supposed to get a password in 24 nos to both your emailID and your Alternate number. (So check that these are entered correctly)
7. In case you have doubt that if it is registered or not try registering with the same user ID which was available in your earlier attempt again. If it does not allow you rest assured you will get a mail in next 24 hrs.
8. If you still have not got a password send a mail to 1515@tatatel.co.in for password regeneration by providing all the account details.
9. Relogin with the account details and password to change your initial PIN and then there is a boring survey which you can skip to get to the account page. 
10. Right at the end of the page there is a link through which you can check your usage. Please note that if you are around the end of billing cycle you may not be able to see the present month usage.

Hope this helps.

BIAS-5 timing at J P nagar 6th phase

Timing of Volvo BIAS-5 bus service to Airport from J P Nagar 6th Phase. "V" denotes volvo service and other normal service.

Nokia N78 Call signal Trace: Does this meet standard?

This is a signal trace which uses the same tool as used in my earlier post for measuring signal strength. The set is a Nokia N78 and the measurement was carried out at Kalyani Motors, Banargetta Road with GSM Mode of operation with operator being Bharti Airtel. The call was made from a landline with call being picked up with the Nokia N78 handset.

See the violet colur line and the average power measurement of the radiated signal from the handset. The average is 24dBm or 250mW over the 1 minute duration of the call. The green line below shows the input signal strength which is an average -77dBm. So an hours call can cause a lot of harm.

Also like the recent articles coming in the media it may be a good option to take the call in loudspeaker mode ad avoid it keeping it near the ear.

Measuring mobile signal strength

I got hold of an App for Nokia Symbian called Nokia Energy Profiler, which gives a wealth of information on the power consumed and expected time at the the present rate of power consumption before which you may need to get another recharge.

I used it for another purpose to measure the signal strength of my operator. The test environment was my home at J P Nagar 7th Phase and the operator is Bharti Airtel. As the levels were different in different rooms ranging from -35dBm (Open Balcony), -47 dBm (bedroom with one wall away from open) to -51 dBm (Living room enclosed in all sides by rooms) for 2G. This was done over a 1 minute average. This is done at a height of 3-4 ft from my house which itself is 40 ft above ground level. Sadly i cannot see the tower on to which i am connected though i have enabled the cell info "on".

I also did a drive test from my office to JP Nagar 7th Phase in a car traveling at less that 40 Kmph. This was done with UMTS/ 3G Mode of operation. The screenshot shows the result between 4 min to 18 min of travel from J P Nagar 3rd Phase along the outer ring road and on the 24th main road/brigade millennium road before reaching J P Nagar 7th Phase.

Indane gas booking IVRS process

Finally one can book Indane gas through telephone call to Telephone No 8970024365.