Last time I was in Ubon for a holiday I purchased a local GPRS card to get my motorola phone connecting my laptop to the internet when in the house. This gave initial free minutes and meant no need for ADSL as I just needed to check emails and stuff when on holiday. I can't remember the phone shop I used but it was in BigC and a few shops all sold the equivalent same type of cards. Two years on and we are looking to come back again and wanted to know if there are any better deals around for short term connection. Still don't see a need to setup a phone line in the house so mobile phone is still preffered. There are a few more hotspots popping up in/around Ubon but still need something for when at the house. Is there anything new on the market or is GPRS still the best option:

Last time I was in Ubon for a holiday I purchased a local GPRS card to get my motorola phone connecting my laptop to the internet when in the house. This gave initial free minutes and meant no need for ADSL as I just needed to check emails and stuff when on holiday. I can't remember the phone shop I used but it was in BigC and a few shops all sold the equivalent same type of cards. Two years on and we are looking to come back again and wanted to know if there are any better deals around for short term connection. Still don't see a need to setup a phone line in the house so mobile phone is still preffered. There are a few more hotspots popping up in/around Ubon but still need something for when at the house. Is there anything new on the market or is GPRS still the best option:

Ubon Com World, near Tan Sri Muang, sells an EDGE card which connects to your laptop by USB. As with GPRS, you insert a SIM. EDGE is sometimes called 2.75G (whereas GPRS is 2G) so it is a little faster than GPRS - but only when you are in Ubon. Buy Comp had two cards available, both Sony, but Ubon Com World not only had more selection but understood the products, and could describe them in English!

The card I bought was the Solomon EDGE (for about 9k baht, I seem to remember).

Connection is about 1k per month unlimited, I bought the 100 hours for 350 Bt option as I use IpStar at home. Of course different service providers have different promotions from time to time. Unless you are a gadget freak I think you might as well stay with the GPRS.

thanks mike i'll take a look in their shop when over next.

thanks mike i'll take a look in their shop when over next.

I brought this back to the top to tag on two extra questions. I would like to access e-mail at home in a village in Maha Sarakham province and wondered about GPRS, using a mobile linked to a laptop. Q1. Is GPRS coverage fairly general throughout Isaan? Q2. Is it sufficient to use a USB cable to make the connection, or - as I read somewhere - is it the case that Bluetooth would speed things up significantly and make all the difference re the usability of GPRS via a mobile?

thanks mike i'll take a look in their shop when over next.

I brought this back to the top to tag on two extra questions. I would like to access e-mail at home in a village in Maha Sarakham province and wondered about GPRS, using a mobile linked to a laptop. Q1. Is GPRS coverage fairly general throughout Isaan? Q2. Is it sufficient to use a USB cable to make the connection, or - as I read somewhere - is it the case that Bluetooth would speed things up significantly and make all the difference re the usability of GPRS via a mobile?

Hi Citizen33,

1. GPRS is widely available - I find at home it is sometimes *very* slow, but in towns is ok.

2. USB is perfectly adequate. The speed is limited by the GPRS connection, not the USB. USB is 12 mbps, Bluetooth about 1 mbps, GPRS maybe 120 kbps, EDGE 480 kbps. (Note: There are many factors affecting the speed, so you will see other speeds quoted. The important point to note is that GPRS is much slower than either USB or Bluetooth).

[ 1 mbps = 1000 kbps ]

Cheers,

Mike

I would stick with GPRS connecting your mobile with your laptop either through bluetooth or USB cable.

AIS 1-2 call SIM cards allow you to buy GPRS/EDGE connection time which works much cheaper than the regular 1 baht 1 minute basic rate.

Last time (early september) I got 40 hours for 100 baht !

In the sticks it can get really slow especially between 4pm and 8pm at other times it is great !

This is near Khun Han south of Sisaket