Bkk Mobile Internet / Wifi

[schoepfw]

Hi everyone,

I am an exchange student from Europe to study here in Bangkok for the next 2 months. After that I will travel for 4 month around Thailand and Asia (maybee I will keep my appartment in BKK for this time) and I wondered if any of you can recomend me an ISP that suits my needs.

comfortable internet surfing

voip (skype) important

streaming (youtube...) not extremely important but sometimes

At the moment I have an appartement in the Silom area for 1 month but since I am not shure if I am going to stay here I would rather have mobile Internet and considered Hutch or CAT CDMA EV-DO, DTAC or AIS EDGE.

Concerning CDMA EV-DO does anybody know how the coverage is in Bkk, because I heard that Hutch is responsible for BKK but in a Hutch shop they told me that there is hardly any coverage in Bkk. Is this true?

Is EDGE available and fast enough in Bkk for voip and what is the best provider?

Does anybody know any other possibility for my needs like maybe WiFi of True but I think that there wont be any signal in most appartments in Bkk even though at the place I stay know there seems to be one.

Thanks for answering my questions

Wolfgang

[monty]

The only mobile internet service which has a small chance of giving you VOIP is CAT's CDMA EV-DO network.

Even then it will be hit and miss because of two reasons: high latency and slow upload speed.

The high latency creates delays, but when used to it it would still remain usable.

The biggest problem is upload speed, and the continuity of the data stream. Even though EV-DO's download speed is high, upload seldom goes above 60 kbps, which is marginal already for VOIP, on top of it it tends to shoot away chunks of data with pauses in between instead of a continuous stream of data resulting in broken up sound!

Also, CAT is not available in Bangkok. Hutch is available, but only in very few places they have upgraded to EV-DO. There is no roaming between Hutch and CAT, so your Hutch would be useless in a CAT covered area. Hutch mainly covers Bangkok and the Eastern Seaboard (Chonburi, Pattaya, Rayong). Note that they do have a roaming agreement, but only for voice calls, so you CDMA phone would work pretty much all over Thailand. Hopefully they'll work a deal out for roaming on data as well. Don't hold your breath though.

Edge is becoming pretty much standard on the GSM network, with coverage nationwide. Comfortable surfing, youtube is possible, but you'll want to let the clip play stuttering and then replay when the download is complete. Usable with some patience. Both AIS and Dtac offer it, which one is best seems to be dependent on your location.

If you get lucky there might be wifi in your area (more and more acces points continually appear) but they often are used heavily, and most do not have the QOS set correctly to give good VOIP connections (i.e. a heavy downloader can render the connection useless for VOIP).

[schoepfw]

Thanks,

Seems to me that there is not really a reasonable choice for voip in Bkk/Thailand if you dont stay at the same place long enough to get adsl or sth. else.

At the moment, however, I am thinking about a True Wifi/GPRS package for 800 Baht with unlimited usage of both since I seem to have constant but low TrueWifi signal in my appartment and in case I move I can still use the gprs for at least some surfing. In order to get this package i am also required to become a True move post pay subscriber, which is not really a problem since I have lost my mobile yesterday.

Does anybody know what the true gprs is like? Is it Edge and how is the coverage in Bkk/Thailand?

Is True Move recommendable? Or do you think that should go for a AIS or DTAC SIM-Card, use their EDGE-internet and only use True WiFi for VOIP on a pre-paid basis because True seems to have a really bad reputation and customer service.

Again a lot of questions and thanks in advance for answering them

Wolfgang

[jfchandler]

Regarding True, you mentioned exploring a POST-pay account for Wifi and GPRS.

To the best of my knowledge, True will require you to show them a Work Permit as a foreigner, or a Thai ID card, in order to establish POST pay service (where they bill you monthly instead of buying top-up cards).

I switched from pre-pay to post-pay in the past, and I had to jump thru all kinds of hoops with True to get around that problem. DTAC has the same policy I believe. To get post-pay service with DTAC, they will require a work permit. DTAC has told me that both in their shops and thru their call center.

Regarding True and DTAC, that doesn't mean you can't get the Internet service you want. But, I believe, it means you'll have a difficult time as an exchange student getting it thru POST pay.

[nickbkk]

I know for a fact that you can do it over DTAC GPRS.

A friend has the Nokia N70. She uses the application from www.fring.com

We have talked over the internet, me on Skype at my PC and her using fring over DTAC GPRS. Test her calling me and me calling her. It's not perfect, but it works. Occasionally, the phone freezes.

About 2 years ago, I used to stream BBC radio on a Windows Mobile phone, also using DTAC GPRS, so it's clear that streaming audio (though not of hi-fi standard) is eminently possible on DTAC GPRS.

Before that, I had used Skype over dialup, which itself was slower than the data rates possible on multi-slot GPRS.

Having established that it is possible to VOIP over DTAC GPRS, you have a range of options. You can use a phone capable of running your chosen VOIP app, or you can use a PDA or PC, linked to your mobile phone as a GPRS modem. The link can be by cable or Bluetooth.

Finally, you could buy a dedicated Skype WiFi handset and use it anywhere with wifi available, either paying for the access or using somewhere with free WiFi.

You can also pick up the Asus eee pc for about 11k baht. The default OS installation includes Skype. With WiFi, it works splendidly.

I forgot to add that if you already have a laptop, you can get a PC card or USB modem for GPRS. If anything, they work even better than the above GPRS options.

I haven't checked lately, but a year or so back DTAC has some pretty cost-effective GPRS packages avialable for pre-paid users. 40 baht for unlimited use for 1 day, or something like 299 baht for 1 month.

Edited April 3, 2008 by nickbkk

[monty]

Streaming audio (BBC) is downloading.

Download speed on GPRS (Edge) is more then adequate for audio streaming. I often listen to European radio stations through my GPRS connection, and very seldom my player has to re-buffer! Streams of up to 64 kbps come in quite good, higher bit rates start to struggle though.

The problem is in the uploads for VOIP.

I tried skype several times over both AIS and Dtac. In most cases I was hearing the other party almost perfectly clear, but they were complaining that I was breaking up non stop, to the point of becoming completely unintelligible.

The culprit was the too slow upload speeds.

I will try again though, as I noticed that my upload speeds nowadays can be quite good using my AIS simcard.

Just did a speedtest to a Bkk server

which should be adequate.

New York downloads even faster, upload is a tad slower...

Will check out fring.com as well!