Fastest Aircard For Pattaya Vs Nokia E90 C

[Gerry290]

Hi

since I am a long term stay person in pattaya and need a very strong, fast, reliable backup for business use should there be a long term internet crash again, (due to cut/stolen telecom cables), what is the fastest most powerful air card or similar that I can use for the pattaya area, and what is cost and any recommendations of a good place to buy one?

Am I correct in guessing that an aircard would not be strong enough to support VOIP softphone?

or would a Nokia E90 communicator be a better option, as have been told my my voip provider that it can allow me to use my european based voip service, even if I am here in thailand, and of course skype, email and usual mobile internet.

I am not concerned as much about cost, as this is for business use.

Any ideas or suggestions please?

Thanks

Gerry

[Ian_B]

I have an E90 and IM+ for Skype installed on it

Instant messaging works a treat via GPRS/EDGE but I've not been able to get VOIP working on GPRS/EDGE here in Bangkok

I guess it must need to use a wireless network for VOIP

[Kf6vci]

Well, unless it rains, I have found ADSL reliable. And there are countless internet cafe's in Pattaya, many have headsets or you could buy and bring one... But you want a wireless solution, right? Get the Sierra Aircard and read below on how it works in the South. Some use GPRS with a mobile phone. But Hutch & CAT seem to have the fastest package these days. ** to receive calls, I use different Skype-in numbers and I have no issues using different VoIP servicers to make calls, like http://www.voipbuster.com for EUR 0.039 per call for up to an hour.

[gregb]

My recommendation would be the Hutch aircard. Max 144 kbit, but in practice much faster than GPRS, as EDGE is not implemented or reliable as a general rule in Thailand. Decent coverage in Pattaya, but throughput really depends on how many people are using the cell in your area at the same time.

http://www.hutch.co.th/mbi/1x/index_en.htm

You can also try their EVDO service, although I have no experience with it, so I can't say whether it is good or not. Supposedly up to 2.4 Mbps, but I would be surprised if you ever actually got that.

http://www.hutch.co.th/mbi/evdo/index_en.htm

VoIP over any kind of non fixed line service is a very bad idea. Extrememly high latency and small packet sizes over the wireless network will give you a very bad experience. Leave all of these services for data only.

For voice, there are enough inexpensive local options that offer direct dial services that make it impractical to even consider anything else.

[Gerry290]

thanks for info everyone.

See reason I asked this question, re air card etc.... is that due to TOT Telecoms cables getting cut and stolen out in east pattaya in Aug... I had 14 days net down time which was a massive problem since I have business in ireland and depend big time on VOIP ( irish provider) use skype as back up, and email.

of course if TOT cablei s cut... the land line is gone too.

This seems to be the new petty crime in pattaya, robbing telecoms cable for the copper inside, and I just cannot afford to loose so much internet time every again, and need a back up if in worst case net and landline goes down.

anyway in pattaya it is not uncommon to have 2 or 3 days approx of internet down time a month I find ( includes very slow internet days with TTT maxnet).

Thanks

Gerry

[Gerry290]

For voice, there are enough inexpensive local options that offer direct dial services that make it impractical to even consider anything else.

Thanks, do you have any recommendations for direct dial? ( especially if one can get a low cost direct dial over a mobile phone?)

[Ian_B]

I've had my business True SME internet & phone access cut off twice in the past month due to the theft of the copper cables

Both times the cable was cut and stolen near the Swedish embassy on Wireless road and it took them almost a day to replace the cable

Luckily I had just gotten the E90 and used it as a GPRS/EDGE modem to access my email for the day

Before that I never had any problems at all with my connection

[Gerry290]

I've had my business True SME internet & phone access cut off twice in the past month due to the theft of the copper cables

Both times the cable was cut and stolen near the Swedish embassy on Wireless road and it took them almost a day to replace the cable

Luckily I had just gotten the E90 and used it as a GPRS/EDGE modem to access my email for the day

Before that I never had any problems at all with my connection

In Pattaya apparently they have to ship the cable and the work crew down from way north of BKK and takes a week each time, for them to fix it. has happened 2 time in Aug and early in year in June 10 days no net also...and no reson given.

So serious back up plans are being consider right now to keep phone and email commnication open to europe to keep the job/business going.

considering strongly the E90 myself for the same reasons, down here in Pattaya. but I am a mobile phone techno phobe, so will have a steep learning curve.

[gregb]

For voice, there are enough inexpensive local options that offer direct dial services that make it impractical to even consider anything else.

Thanks, do you have any recommendations for direct dial? ( especially if one can get a low cost direct dial over a mobile phone?)

I mentioned it to you in another thread, but if you didn't see it: http://www.deedial.com. Comes with free callback too in case you can't get a low cost direct dial over mobile phone. (They call you back so you don't pay anything.) Most western countries go for fixed line at 2 baht/minute. Their SmartCall option makes it just as convenient for me as CAT/TOT, but alot cheaper.

There were some other similar carriers out there when I researched several months back, but I don't remember them now. One of them after researching turned out to be JI-Net, but I don't remember their brand name. Perhaps another reader can help out?

I would definitely not recommend VoIP over a mobile link. I've had alot of experience with it. Don't waste your time unless you really want to save the last satang and don't care about quality. It will work, but not well. Certainly not for business.

[Gerry290]

I mentioned it to you in another thread, but if you didn't see it: http://www.deedial.com. Comes with free callback too in case you can't get a low cost direct dial over mobile phone. (They call you back so you don't pay anything.) Most western countries go for fixed line at 2 baht/minute. Their SmartCall option makes it just as convenient for me as CAT/TOT, but alot cheaper.

There were some other similar carriers out there when I researched several months back, but I don't remember them now. One of them after researching turned out to be JI-Net, but I don't remember their brand name. Perhaps another reader can help out?

I would definitely not recommend VoIP over a mobile link. I've had alot of experience with it. Don't waste your time unless you really want to save the last satang and don't care about quality. It will work, but not well. Certainly not for business.

Hi Greg

I think what you recommend the www.deedial.com is going to be a life saver for me. in case of future major net crashes due to stolen TOT cables in Pattaya.... or the expected few days of slow or down internet that seems to come as part of living in thailand.

I will test it this week. See my irish voip company since you call ireland I can say it is www.blueface.ie also got a landline gateway number I can call to get into the VOIP system and use. so I can deedial.com to their landline gate way then use their service to get the mobile rates and call from my business number.

So I think this is going to work out excellent. and then upgarde mobile or buy aircard for computer internet access for email and onlline asp databas etc I use for work.

This is going to save me from major problems like I just had which lost me serious business opportunity.

also going to test fring.com but i have to upgrade mobile, which I believe my SIP blueface voip can be linked too. so another potential saver of lost business on those slow internet days, crashes when thunder storms or week of no net due to robbers cutting down TOT cable to steal the copper.

had 3 major over 1 week crashes on the net this year alone.

Thanks Again

Gerry

[Gerry290]

I mentioned it to you in another thread, but if you didn't see it: http://www.deedial.com. Comes with free callback too in case you can't get a low cost direct dial over mobile phone. (They call you back so you don't pay anything.) Most western countries go for fixed line at 2 baht/minute. Their SmartCall option makes it just as convenient for me as CAT/TOT, but alot cheaper.

There were some other similar carriers out there when I researched several months back, but I don't remember them now. One of them after researching turned out to be JI-Net, but I don't remember their brand name. Perhaps another reader can help out?

I would definitely not recommend VoIP over a mobile link. I've had alot of experience with it. Don't waste your time unless you really want to save the last satang and don't care about quality. It will work, but not well. Certainly not for business.

Hi Greg

I think what you recommend the www.deedial.com is going to be a life saver for me. in case of future major net crashes due to stolen TOT cables in Pattaya.... or the expected few days of slow or down internet that seems to come as part of living in thailand.

I will test it this week. See my irish voip company since you call ireland I can say it is www.blueface.ie also got a landline gateway number I can call to get into the VOIP system and use. so I can deedial.com to their landline gate way then use their service to get the mobile rates and call from my business number.

So I think this is going to work out excellent. and then upgarde mobile or buy aircard for computer internet access for email and onlline asp databas etc I use for work.

This is going to save me from major problems like I just had which lost me serious business opportunity.

also going to test fring.com but i have to upgrade mobile, which I believe my SIP blueface voip can be linked too. so another potential saver of lost business on those slow internet days, crashes when thunder storms or week of no net due to robbers cutting down TOT cable to steal the copper.

had 3 major over 1 week crashes on the net this year alone.

Thanks Again

Gerry