Cat Cdma 3g

[Gary A]

I was in Loei today and stopped by the CAT office. They said that CDMA 3G will be available in Loei province within three months. The usable speed is supposed to be 500 - 800 Kbps. The USB adapter will cost 10,990 baht. Is it fact or not? This is Thailand so I must see it to believe it. Then I have to see if it will indeed work 50 kilometers from Loei. If it does work at anywhere near the supposed speed it will be GOODBYE and good riddance Crapstar.

Forgot the price. unlimited for 790 baht per month.

Edited January 23, 2008 by Gary A

[klikster]

I was in Loei today and stopped by the CAT office. They said that CDMA 3G will be available in Loei province within three months. The usable speed is supposed to be 500 - 800 Kbps. The USB adapter will cost 10,990 baht. Is it fact or not? This is Thailand so I must see it to believe it. Then I have to see if it will indeed work 50 kilometers from Loei. If it does work at anywhere near the supposed speed it will be GOODBYE and good riddance Crapstar.

Forgot the price. unlimited for 790 baht per month.

Hi Gary,

What size dish is required for CDMA 3G?

BTW, I feel for you about IPStar .. had to live with it for 2 years.

Edited January 23, 2008 by klikster

[Guest Reimar]

I was in Loei today and stopped by the CAT office. They said that CDMA 3G will be available in Loei province within three months. The usable speed is supposed to be 500 - 800 Kbps. The USB adapter will cost 10,990 baht. Is it fact or not? This is Thailand so I must see it to believe it. Then I have to see if it will indeed work 50 kilometers from Loei. If it does work at anywhere near the supposed speed it will be GOODBYE and good riddance Crapstar.

Forgot the price. unlimited for 790 baht per month.

Hi Gary,

What size dish is required for CDMA 3G?

BTW, I feel for you about IPStar .. had to live with is for 2 years.

NO Dish!

It's the 3rd Generation Mobile Phone System! The USB adaptor will use an Sim Card or like the Hutch CDMA, but mainly a SimCard.

According to yhe infos about the australian 3G which is running on CDMA 850 MHz if I remember right, the service isn't good not to tell bad! Telstra is having the problem now with a lot complaint's and they need to extend the service for the old system mun. another 3 month on Government Order! Normally Telstra would like to cut the service for the old system on Jan. 28!!

There will be min 3 or 4 different system in Thailand: 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 970 (?) MHz and 1900 MHz! Now you can start thinking which would be available and mor importandly, will be the required Hardware available?! In Australia they having already problem with the last one!

So, NOT expecting to much or anything right now! And I do believe they would like to install to first the lower Frequency 850, 900 and 970 MHz to first because the hardware is a lot more cheap but with the more bad outcome (service)!

Cheers.

[HDRIDER]

HI

This is my download speed in Nai Harn, Phuket using CDMA CCU-650 EV-DO USB modem.

Last Result:

Download Speed: 806 kbps (100.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 120 kbps (15 KB/sec transfer rate)

[Guest Reimar]

HI

This is my download speed in Nai Harn, Phuket using CDMA CCU-650 EV-DO USB modem.

Last Result:

Download Speed: 806 kbps (100.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 120 kbps (15 KB/sec transfer rate)

What Frequency is used?

[Gary A]

HI

This is my download speed in Nai Harn, Phuket using CDMA CCU-650 EV-DO USB modem.

Last Result:

Download Speed: 806 kbps (100.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 120 kbps (15 KB/sec transfer rate)

Yes, that's the same modem as in their brochure. I'll be VERY disappointed if they don't come through with this system. I'm VERY much looking forward to telling TOT to stick their dish where the sun doesn't shine.

[yorkman]

HI

This is my download speed in Nai Harn, Phuket using CDMA CCU-650 EV-DO USB modem.

Last Result:

Download Speed: 806 kbps (100.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 120 kbps (15 KB/sec transfer rate)

Yes, that's the same modem as in their brochure. I'll be VERY disappointed if they don't come through with this system. I'm VERY much looking forward to telling TOT to stick their dish where the sun doesn't shine.

The problem might well be, if you are well out in the boonies, that its just not worthwhile putting in the equipment in your area on the masts given the likely ROI for them; that is, the number of customers.

So the Loei office can tell you this, but they dont have a coverage map?

On reflection, silly question, of course they dont

[LivinLOS]

All the facts you list are the right prices etc for the CAT CDMA 2000 (be careful, only the CDMA 2000 equipment is fast, theres other cheaper hardware thats CDMA only at about 150kbps max)..

Only think I would add that the above speedtest and cited 800kbps speeds seems high from tests I have done on my mates equipment.. They have been from a low of 250 - 300 up to about 550 on a good day.. Usually 400 or so.. I was told it was faster when it just started so maybe they have way too many users on Phuket.

[HDRIDER]

HI

This is my download speed in Nai Harn, Phuket using CDMA CCU-650 EV-DO USB modem.

Last Result:

Download Speed: 806 kbps (100.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 120 kbps (15 KB/sec transfer rate)

What Frequency is used?

I dont know what frequency

this is the speed @ 21.30:::Last Result:

Download Speed: 1015 kbps (126.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 127 kbps (15.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

Forgot to tell there is free SMS and local phone call as well.

Edited January 23, 2008 by HDRIDER

[Gary A]

HI

This is my download speed in Nai Harn, Phuket using CDMA CCU-650 EV-DO USB modem.

Last Result:

Download Speed: 806 kbps (100.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 120 kbps (15 KB/sec transfer rate)

Yes, that's the same modem as in their brochure. I'll be VERY disappointed if they don't come through with this system. I'm VERY much looking forward to telling TOT to stick their dish where the sun doesn't shine.

The problem might well be, if you are well out in the boonies, that its just not worthwhile putting in the equipment in your area on the masts given the likely ROI for them; that is, the number of customers.

So the Loei office can tell you this, but they dont have a coverage map?

On reflection, silly question, of course they dont

WRONG! Of course they have a coverage map. Every square inch of Thailand is covered. Of course it's possible that the map is projected coverage and won't be valid until maybe 2015 or something like that. They just forgot to mention the details.

[HDRIDER]

All the facts you list are the right prices etc for the CAT CDMA 2000 (be careful, only the CDMA 2000 equipment is fast, theres other cheaper hardware thats CDMA only at about 150kbps max)..

Only think I would add that the above speedtest and cited 800kbps speeds seems high from tests I have done on my mates equipment.. They have been from a low of 250 - 300 up to about 550 on a good day.. Usually 400 or so.. I was told it was faster when it just started so maybe they have way too many users on Phuket.

HI

Just moved to Nai Harn, before in Kata it was slow, sometimes very slow, but here in Nai Harn its OK

speed @ 22.20:::Last Result:

Download Speed: 914 kbps (114.3 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 114 kbps (14.3 KB/sec transfer rate)

[JCCR6]

All the facts you list are the right prices etc for the CAT CDMA 2000 (be careful, only the CDMA 2000 equipment is fast, theres other cheaper hardware thats CDMA only at about 150kbps max)..

Only think I would add that the above speedtest and cited 800kbps speeds seems high from tests I have done on my mates equipment.. They have been from a low of 250 - 300 up to about 550 on a good day.. Usually 400 or so.. I was told it was faster when it just started so maybe they have way too many users on Phuket.

The '3G' that CAT and hutch are now offering is EV-DO, based on the CDMA network, not CDMA 2000. The speeds are pretty good, but it suffers from high latency, so skype is a no-go, unless you can bare very long delays in call. Hutch covers bangkok, and CAT covers everywhere else, unfortunately you can't roam data on each others network just now. CAT offer a USB modem, but unfortunately Hutch only offer a PCMCIA card, and most new laptops don't come with PCMCIA..... not particularly well thought through!

[HDRIDER]

HI

I use skype with no problems.

[LivinLOS]

All the facts you list are the right prices etc for the CAT CDMA 2000 (be careful, only the CDMA 2000 equipment is fast, theres other cheaper hardware thats CDMA only at about 150kbps max)..

Only think I would add that the above speedtest and cited 800kbps speeds seems high from tests I have done on my mates equipment.. They have been from a low of 250 - 300 up to about 550 on a good day.. Usually 400 or so.. I was told it was faster when it just started so maybe they have way too many users on Phuket.

The '3G' that CAT and hutch are now offering is EV-DO, based on the CDMA network, not CDMA 2000. The speeds are pretty good, but it suffers from high latency, so skype is a no-go, unless you can bare very long delays in call. Hutch covers bangkok, and CAT covers everywhere else, unfortunately you can't roam data on each others network just now. CAT offer a USB modem, but unfortunately Hutch only offer a PCMCIA card, and most new laptops don't come with PCMCIA..... not particularly well thought through!

Strange when I was in the CAT shop they described the aircard and the c-motech USB modem as being CDMA 2000 but the other ones (a cellphone type thing and a huwai (sp) desk style telephone with USB port( as being the slower ones..

My buddy used skype with an aircard, wasnt great but wasnt unusable.

[HDRIDER]

HI

This is the USB modem, the only one CAT have.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Being Hutch-user since over 4 years i can answer some of the questions here.

TWO types of "CDMA" in Thailand: CDMA 2000-1x (153 kb/s max) and CDMA 2000-EvDo (up to 2.5Mb/s).

Both work in the 800 MHz range, and BOTH are "CDMA 2000". Yet the EvDo is advertised as "3G" or "EvDo", both of which is correct. Australia's CDMA is on 800 as well (Hutch users can roam there with their own handset).

Both providers here (CAT and Hutch) use SIM cards in most of their devices (few exceptions) as opposed to most of the (CDMA) world such as Australia where the phones are "programmed". Only Thailand, Indonesia and China use SIM cards in CDMA devices.

GSM is available in Thailand on 900 (AIS), 1.800 (TRUE, D-TAC) and 1.900 (Thai Mobile a.k.a. Suthep Net) MHz. 850 is NOT used here, that's a U.S.A. specific frequency for GSM.

Devices (aircard, phones, modems etc) are compatible between Hutch and CAT.

Best regards.....

Thanh

[nikster]

I also have the CCU-650 from CAT, I am up here in the north, and honestly, this service is awesome. I bought it as a back-up for my TOT DSL + have been using it exclusively for the last 2 weeks b/c of a problem with my local wireless network (some equipment died, this time not TOT's fault ).

It's been extremely reliable, in fact there has been no downtime at all. Using download managers, I can get over 100KB/s download, uploads are slow like HDRider said. But it's easily good enough for skype. In fact, I had a lot of trouble with TOT over skype, don't know whether due to generally bad service or because of their bandwidth shaping, it has been terrible for a few months now.

The CAT EV-DO connection does skype like nobody's business.

How does it compare with DSL. When the DSL has one of its bad days, which it does fairly often, CAT is faster. When DSL is at normal speed, it's faster. Lag time is much worse with CAT as well - lag is the packet roundtrip time, from when you click a link until the page starts loading. CAT has about 1 second, DSL has about 300 - 400 ms.

Short answer: CAT CDMA EV-DO is great. Make sure to get equipment that can do EV-DO though or you will be stuck with the much slower CDMA 1x speeds.

Caveats:

- EV-DO doesn't work in the areas covered by Hutch. Hutch provides CDMA 1x only

- No data roaming between CAT and Hutch yet. The effect is, I can't use the modem in Bangkok. Bizarre, and annoying.

[monty]

850 is NOT used here, that's a U.S.A. specific frequency for GSM

Actually this frequency is in use, it's licensed to the CAT, which has about 50,000 subscribers on that system.

Very relevant to this thread, Dtac is considering going into joint venture with CAT and then start offering 3G services on this frequency band.

Supposedly this would not need additional licenses from the NTT, making virtual immediate deployment possible.

According to following article, they are already testing:

The operators have in fact been testing the 3G system for three months on three base stations at Siam Square, a university in Maha Sarakham province and its headquarters, with maximum download speeds of four megabits per second. A public demonstration has also been planned soon.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Dear, that 850 MHz which is used in Thailand is ANALOGUE...... it's called D-TAC "New 800", i have a couple of phones for that network actually (NMT technology is used on that). What i was referring to was GSM 850, which is NOT used here (yet). They might use the available frequency (as they have it allocated), why not - but it's going to be chaos then when they don't follow the world standard ("3G" a.k.a. W-CDMA is actually mostly on 2,100 MHz, few use 1,900 so a "dual-band" 3G phone will do almost everywhere - then comes Thailand with 850?? Which manufacturer will make the phones... PhoneOne?) There were also talks of Suthep (together with T.O.T. as a joint-venture) testing 3G on THEIR frequency, it was even said that THEY would be the ONLY ones in Thailand with a real chance as they do have the 1,900 MHz band..... and users could use regular (dual-band) 3G phones.

But hey, aren't we used to them generating pure chaos in Thailand? Hutch vs. CAT are the prime example - Hutch is partly owned by CAT yet they still don't have data roaming between them.... Let's see, maybe we get something unexpected - such as 3G on 450 MHz (as tested and possibly already implemented in Russia)... welcome the new mobile phones with telescopic antenna

Best regards.....

Thanh (and i'll stick to CDMA no matter what!)

[monty]

Hi

Dear, that 850 MHz which is used in Thailand is ANALOGUE...... it's called D-TAC "New 800", i have a couple of phones for that network actually (NMT technology is used on that). What i was referring to was GSM 850, which is NOT used here (yet). They might use the available frequency (as they have it allocated), why not - but it's going to be chaos then when they don't follow the world standard ("3G" a.k.a. W-CDMA is actually mostly on 2,100 MHz, few use 1,900 so a "dual-band" 3G phone will do almost everywhere - then comes Thailand with 850?? Which manufacturer will make the phones... PhoneOne?) There were also talks of Suthep (together with T.O.T. as a joint-venture) testing 3G on THEIR frequency, it was even said that THEY would be the ONLY ones in Thailand with a real chance as they do have the 1,900 MHz band..... and users could use regular (dual-band) 3G phones.

But hey, aren't we used to them generating pure chaos in Thailand? Hutch vs. CAT are the prime example - Hutch is partly owned by CAT yet they still don't have data roaming between them.... Let's see, maybe we get something unexpected - such as 3G on 450 MHz (as tested and possibly already implemented in Russia)... welcome the new mobile phones with telescopic antenna

Best regards.....

Thanh (and i'll stick to CDMA no matter what!)

The phones and modems are already available. They plan to use the same system as Telstra uses in Australia, marketed as Next G, an HSPDA-enabled 3G network on the 850 Mhz band. It's actually technicians from Telstra which did the testing in Bangkok!

Not sure if this system/frequency combination is used anywhere else, but at least it looks like the phones should be easily available...

More info here!

[klikster]

Please help me get this issue correct in my old noggin. For someone traveling, how much of Thailand (outside Bangkok) will have this CAT CDMA EV-DO available? Major cities, every province (except Loei ) .. useable range from major cities?

[Gary A]

Please help me get this issue correct in my old noggin. For someone traveling, how much of Thailand (outside Bangkok) will have this CAT CDMA EV-DO available? Major cities, every province (except Loei ) .. useable range from major cities?

Their coverage map shows ALL of Thailand is covered, except Loei. The way my luck runs my area will NEVER have coverage. Crapstar apparently doesn't cover my area either. They charge like they do but the service doesn't show it. The good news is that GPRS is sometimes pretty good. Yesterday I downloaded an update file of 43 MB and it downloaded the entire file at about 29 Kbps.

[nicksmart]

hello guys, i'v just bought the usb modem ccu-650 and i'm pretty happy about speed (700-900k) but.. i have a big problem, i'm peer to peer user (emule and Utorrent) but i cannot open the forward port for have High ID, anyone know how i can open the port that i want? i tried to ask the CAT company but they dunno how (strange he?!? )

p.s

before i had a DLINK Router and was easy to open port that i need, just go to 192.168.1.1 set NAT and open the port, but now is not possible with this CCU-650

thx a lot

[monty]

hello guys, i'v just bought the usb modem ccu-650 and i'm pretty happy about speed (700-900k) but.. i have a big problem, i'm peer to peer user (emule and Utorrent) but i cannot open the forward port for have High ID, anyone know how i can open the port that i want? i tried to ask the CAT company but they dunno how (strange he?!? )

p.s

before i had a DLINK Router and was easy to open port that i need, just go to 192.168.1.1 set NAT and open the port, but now is not possible with this CCU-650

thx a lot

Since the ccu-650 is a modem and not a router, no port forwarding can be done, nor should be done. Since only one computer is hooked up to the modem, simply ALL ports get forwarded to that PC.

Most probably CAT is somewhere limiting the speeds of P2P networks, partly possible by blocking certain ports.

Most probably nothing can be done, I assume they don't want their mobile network being swamped by P2P...

[nicksmart]

ok thx a lot monty..

[bkkmick]

Sorry but I'm a bit confused. Are you saying that I can use a 3G network on my mobile phone here in Bangkok if I swap my SIM card? If so, which SIM should I use?

Cheers

Mick