3g In Chiang Mai - When Is It Available?

[Sledge71]

Can anyone please clarify when 3G will be available in Chiang Mai. I've read a fair bit in the papers over the last few months but still have no idea when it's coming or if indeed it's already arrived.

I hear AIS have got the licensing sorted out, and friends have told me that Cat / Hutch already have a CDMA network that does more or less the same speeds as 3G, is this true ? How does Edge compare to 3G and CDMA in terms of speed ?

The phone I just bought isn't CDMA compliant ( Nokia E90 ) and really all I want to do is connect my mobile via bluetooth to my laptop for emergency emails etc when I'm at home. Also have the ability to surf the web relatively quickly and mail directly from the phone when I'm not at home. Do I have to wait years for 3G or change my phone to one that can handle CDMA? Whats the deal with Edge?

I have a crappy / inconsistent 1024kbps adsl line in the office that I'm really happy with So really it's just a stop gap for when I'm out of the office or at home. Which can be quite often

I know there are Sierra CDMA aircards, which is an option for the laptop at home, however I'd just like to do it through the phone, ideally on a 3g network. This way I have the convenience of a relatively fast connection via my phone when I'm out.

Any advice or information is welcome.

Regards

Island ape

[Crow Boy]

I use an EDGE card connected to DTAC. It was the only viable option I had from my house in San Kamphaeng. I can't get a phone line in here and consequently can't get ADSL connection. The card is a Sierra Wireless and the connection is usually pretty good. Sometimes atmospheric or high useage of the phone network slows it down but as a seconday or for those of us will no other option it is fine for eMail and Thaivisa. Downloading large files is slow and I don't even bother thinking about U-Tube etc.

When we move back into town I will connect to a better system and then change the card over to a prepaid system as backup. Currently it is a post paid account.

CB

[TheEmperorOfTheNorth]

Your phone will use Edge when available, which I think is almost everywhere.

Cdma is not going anywhere, and who would want to use Hutch anyways.

Thailand is rapidly squandering the leading position it once had in mobile technology, so it's anyone's guess when 3g will arrive.

Your phone does wifi though right.. At least you can use Thaivisa at Mad Dog then. also look into the Opera Mini browser, where their server (a proxy, effectively) pre-processes a website to remove excess bulk so it's faster and you use less kilobytes when you're paying by the byte, it's really neat. I'm writing this post on it. The new beta version does some even cooler things, check it out.

[Sledge71]

thanks for the info. I'll try opera out, never heard of that before. Edge I already get by the sounds of it. Maybe the Edge datacard gets more oomph! as the phone at present is pretty slow. I'll try to find out elsewhere when 3G is expected.

Regards

Islandape.

[stateman]

I'll try to find out elsewhere when 3G is expected.

Regards

Islandape.

I recall reading several times this year that the Chinese are offering to finance a 3G system. But the deal is not up-and-up. Soon as it was mentioned, others revealed the shady part of the deals. With the Chairman a General sitting there to prevent corruption, it seems nothing will happen until the new gov swears in next yr.

best to check out somehting else for the time being.

[thai_narak]

Can anyone please clarify when 3G will be available in Chiang Mai. I've read a fair bit in the papers over the last few months but still have no idea when it's coming or if indeed it's already arrived.

I hear AIS have got the licensing sorted out, and friends have told me that Cat / Hutch already have a CDMA network that does more or less the same speeds as 3G, is this true ? How does Edge compare to 3G and CDMA in terms of speed ?

The phone I just bought isn't CDMA compliant ( Nokia E90 ) and really all I want to do is connect my mobile via bluetooth to my laptop for emergency emails etc when I'm at home. Also have the ability to surf the web relatively quickly and mail directly from the phone when I'm not at home. Do I have to wait years for 3G or change my phone to one that can handle CDMA? Whats the deal with Edge?

I have a crappy / inconsistent 1024kbps adsl line in the office that I'm really happy with So really it's just a stop gap for when I'm out of the office or at home. Which can be quite often

I know there are Sierra CDMA aircards, which is an option for the laptop at home, however I'd just like to do it through the phone, ideally on a 3g network. This way I have the convenience of a relatively fast connection via my phone when I'm out.

Any advice or information is welcome.

Regards

Island ape

the earliest would be 2009 but it is unlikely. why? because until now the thai government has not issue any 3G licenses yet to any operator. speculation has it that licenses will be issued after the official elected governent is installed; december 23 is the scheduled election date to now.

assuming that licenses are issued right after december election, whoever (operator) gets it, bidding will start, site survey, engineering and planning will be carried out which is about 6 months the fastest and then implementation of radio stations follows through. this takes a while and normally implemented in bangkok first. in bangkok alone it will take about 6 months of implementation before the first commercial 3G mobile phones is launched in the market. by the end of 2008, roaming services between 2G-3G would be available and users may use 3G services only on certain locations like dense urban (city center) areas (chiangmai maybe) but would be using 2G (GPRS/EDGE) services in the rural areas. having said that, you may have 3G services in chiangmai by early 2009 but this is an optimistic view. in worse case, license will not issued by 2008 and expect to have 3G in chaingmai on 2010 or later.

Edited October 31, 2007 by thai_narak

[tigerbeer]

3G would be obsolete by the time it gets here. you have to make do with EDGE on AIS or DTAC. or CDMA through CAT telecom. Like I have mentioned several times before, 2.5Mbps is not a bad option with CAT. 10k-12k to start off and 1k per month for that speed seems reasonable. more so mobile.

again people forget 3G. Wimax more of a possibility!