A Friend In The Middle Of Nowhere Needs A Gprs Connection

[JustAnotherFarang]

Hi guys

I have a friend who lives out of town where there is no electricity or telephone connection to his house. He manages fine with a generator and his aptop computer but what he really needs is some sort of internet connection even if it he is only able to read and send emails

He obviously has a mobile phone tho it is not GPRS enabled but he told me that he had heard that there are GPRS modems avaliable and you just insert your mobile phone sim card (or is it another card perhaps) and connect to a service

Well I want to help the guy but I am not conversant with GPRS service or components so i am hoping somebody can help me point my friend in the right direction with some good advice. He will be visiting BKK in 2 days time and ants to buy something then if possible

Cheers for your attention

JAF

[nikster]

Hi guys

I have a friend who lives out of town where there is no electricity or telephone connection to his house. He manages fine with a generator and his aptop computer but what he really needs is some sort of internet connection even if it he is only able to read and send emails

He obviously has a mobile phone tho it is not GPRS enabled but he told me that he had heard that there are GPRS modems avaliable and you just insert your mobile phone sim card (or is it another card perhaps) and connect to a service

Well I want to help the guy but I am not conversant with GPRS service or components so i am hoping somebody can help me point my friend in the right direction with some good advice. He will be visiting BKK in 2 days time and ants to buy something then if possible

Cheers for your attention

JAF

It kind of depends on your friend's computer - what connections does it have? Laptop? Are you sure his phone can't do GPRS? Most moderately new phones can. Phone model and laptop model please.

Here are your options, and what you need

GPRS PC card - need PC card slot, most laptops have it except brand new ones, those have express card slots. Expensive! 10,000 Baht+

GPRS Express card - for brand new PCs, surely as expensive as the PC cards

GPRS phone - all sorts of phones have GPRS, you want to get one that has EDGE class 10 though, can be had for 5000 - 6000 Baht new. Need either bluetooth in the laptop or USB with cable (phone cable can be expensive though) or USB bluetooth module (600 baht)

So from what I have seen PC cards that you can put in the expansion card slot of your computer are expensive. Many also come with a plan which you don't want.

You also obviously need GPRS enabled from the operator, AIS or DTAC.

GPRS package with AIS prepaid, many options. 100 hours for 350 Baht/month for example.

GPRS with DTAC postpaid only, also many options. Unlimited for 999 Baht/month for example.

Or your friend is very lucky and is near a Hutch 3G connection which is leaps and bounds faster than GPRS. In that case forget all the above and contact Hutch for options/plans. Choose 3G if you can.

hope this helps

[JustAnotherFarang]

He has an Acer Laptop, about 2 years old and a cheapo Nokia mobile. I did ask him for the model number but he said it did not have gprs. 10,000 bht for a gprs card and another 6,000 bht for a modem seems an expensive option but my friend mentioned hearing about a modem that you could put a sim card in and connect it to the laptop computer - do you know anything about that, might save 6,000 bht for another phone he probably does not want to buy

Cheers

JAF

[joka]

Hello,

Seriously, buy a new phone with gprs, its cheaper and a better value. True, DTAC and AIS all have gprs plans, you have to figure out whose signal is stronger in your friends ares. Also, as someone else mentioned, CAT is rolling out CDMA nationwide, check the "local" CAT office, they are selling phones for 4000 baht, thought the service is around 1200 baht a month. The other companies have far cheaper plans, starting around 200 baht.

[Guest Reimar]

That's an "Aircard", PCMCIA connected and available from Baht 5,xxx up to Baht 15,xxx!

You need to have a Simcard which will be placed inside the Aircard.

Or an other option is "AirPlus" which is using Hutch (CDMA) and USB connected with an Speed of max. 153 kbps while the "Aircard" up country can connect with 40 kbps only. The "AirPlus" is also around Baht 5,xxx available at Hutch Office or Dealer or in Bangkok's IT-Centers!

[phazey]

7000 baht for a USB GPRS dongle (pantip, three shops to the right of "minimac" - third floor), couple of hundred baht for a car mobile ariel - sorted. sod these cards ....

[youngkiwi]

I use GPRS on TrueMove. The service is excellent and cost only 300 baht (unlimited access) per month on a post-pay plan.

[monty]

I recently bought a Solomon USB gprs modem...

Install software from CD on laptop. Put simcard in Solomon modem. Plug solomon modem in USB port.

Double click on the newly installed software, click connect and of you surf...

I paid 5900 Baht, the package includes a one2call simcard giving you 40 hours of free gprs/month for a whole year!

Don't use it often, speed is a bit hit and miss, mostly it works and I get around dial-up speeds. Sometimes it even speeds up to what a 64kbps isdn line gets...

If it doesn't work, unplugging the modem, wait a minute, plug it in again (so it has to re-register on the gsm network) gets the connection going for 9 times out of 10!

P.S. ask the shop where you buy the package to activate the sim. You can't use the solomon as a phone, so you need to put the sim in a phone, go through some motions etc to get it activated...

[lomatopo]

I'd recommend just getting a new phone. The incremental cost over some of these dedicated PC/USB data card solutions is less than 10%; you don't have to swap the SIM back and forth and you can receive/make calls.

A Nokia 6151 (~ 7,300 baht) has Bluetooth and EDGE/GPRS. You do need a Bluetooth/USB adapter (750 baht or less) for the PC. (Most Nokia phones have IR also, as do many laptops; and most phones also have a proprietary data cable/USB for connection to the PC but these are optional and can cost more than a Bluetooth/USB adapter.) But any new phone with EDGE/GPRS and Bluetooth will be fine. (Bluetooth, IR or a cable are used to connect the PC to the phone, which then allows you to use the EDGE/GPRS modem built into the phone to establish an aggregated data channel over the air, similar to a dial-up connection. Most mobile operators, 1-2-Call, DTAC, TrueMove act as an ISP giving you one of their internal private IP addresses.)

I am a 1-2-Call pre-paid customer and have a monthly recurring GPRS package with 25 hours for 107 baht. With 1-2-Call, EDGE is actually offered in a lot of remote areas. I usually get ~ 150 kilo-bits per second on EDGE, and 75 kilo-bits per second on GPRS. (Local/intra-Thailand speedtest results) I use the Nokia 6151.

Edited January 25, 2007 by lomatopo

[djc45]

i use a soloman with no problems 6000bht

i pay 214bht per month with ais

[retiredusn]

I recently bought a Solomon USB gprs modem...

Install software from CD on laptop. Put simcard in Solomon modem. Plug solomon modem in USB port.

Double click on the newly installed software, click connect and of you surf...

I paid 5900 Baht, the package includes a one2call simcard giving you 40 hours of free gprs/month for a whole year!

Don't use it often, speed is a bit hit and miss, mostly it works and I get around dial-up speeds. Sometimes it even speeds up to what a 64kbps isdn line gets...

If it doesn't work, unplugging the modem, wait a minute, plug it in again (so it has to re-register on the gsm network) gets the connection going for 9 times out of 10!

P.S. ask the shop where you buy the package to activate the sim. You can't use the solomon as a phone, so you need to put the sim in a phone, go through some motions etc to get it activated...

I have been using the SOLOMEN for three years with no problems the unit is avail. at telewiz and they have several plan's/options I pay 967bt per month and they provide a internet sim card for the device, this gives me 7/24 service for all internet use all service/billing is through ASI and you can either pay monthly or in advance as far as you want the service is a one year sign up.

[deminister]

Another solution is an IPSTAR connection. Do not buy it from Shin Corp. Although the system is theirs they are up to 11 times more expensive per month. A Cheap high speed connection is oiften cheaper than gprs and only a modem is needed connected to the laptop. TOT will install the dish and modem for a modest 3750BHT and they charge from 1500 Bht per month onwards depending on the speed. The most expensive connection is 7,500THB per month whereas Shin charges 85,000 THB with limited data transfer. At the TOT even the 1,500 THB satellite system is with unlimited data transfer for a 256/128 connection