How Good Is Your Edge-enabled Phone As A Computer Modem?

[GlutinousMaximus]

Do you use an EDGE phone as a modem for your computer?

If so:

• What make/model is the phone?
  
• Which network/price plan are you on?
  
• Do you use a PC or Mac - any particular problems in either case with getting it setup and connected, software drivers etc.?
  
• How reliable/steady is the EDGE connection once it's established?
  
• Does your performance vary depending on whether you're in a good/bad EDGE coverage area?
  
• Does your performance vary by time of day - e.g. when the network is under load?
  
• What kind of download speeds are you getting on average?
  
• How do you connect it to your computer? (USB/Bluetooth/Infra-red etc.)
  
• Any other comments?
  

[Gary A]

Do you use an EDGE phone as a modem for your computer?

If so:

• What make/model is the phone?
  
• Which network/price plan are you on?
  
• Do you use a PC or Mac - any particular problems in either case with getting it setup and connected, software drivers etc.?
  
• How reliable/steady is the EDGE connection once it's established?
  
• Does your performance vary depending on whether you're in a good/bad EDGE coverage area?
  
• Does your performance vary by time of day - e.g. when the network is under load?
  
• What kind of download speeds are you getting on average?
  
• How do you connect it to your computer? (USB/Bluetooth/Infra-red etc.)
  
• Any other comments?
  

I bought a Nokia E51 about ten days ago. I use AIS EDGE for my ISP and am very happy with the phone and connection speed. Sometimes it is very fast and sometimes it slows down. In any case it is always better than the TOT Crapstar that I had. It does slow down but it doesn't stop. I do live out in the boonies and I doubt the traffic is any problem. I might add that while in Jomtien, there were huge fluctuations with the speed.

[ballbreaker]

I use Motorola K1 connected using bluetooth to computer. I live 30 km north of Korat and speed seems to vary depending on time of day and day of week. If connection is working good I get download speeds in the 12-18 kB range. When the system is loaded then speed drops down to 4kB range and sometimes worse.

[Gary A]

I am using a Nokia E51 with AIS EDGE connected with a USB cable;

Last Result:

Download Speed: 205 kbps (25.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 37 kbps (4.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

It is usually pretty consistent.

[sibeymai]

Can anyone define the basic differences between GPRS and EDGE ?

For AIS EDGE do you pay for connection time or data, or both ? What are people paying ?

[billd766]

Basically GPRS is the original standard for data downloading and EDGE is the next generation and is faster.

It is primarily aimed at people who want to download data when there is no external internet connection such as landlines or satellite. It is handy for people on the road and travellers.

I live out in the sticks and use a Nokia 3110c Bluetoothed to my windows laptop.

I have a postpaid account and my contract with AIS is 500 baht monthly for 250 hours air time and unlimited (except for the download speed) downloads.

Now that they have upgraded the nearest sites I am on EDGE and the service is good in the day and degrades in the evening when more people use the system. It is also poor on Monday afternoons. Wednesday mornings and Saturday afternoons due to the market days and more users on the system.

At this time I can't tell you the speed as I have lost the link to the testing page though if I find it I will post later.

I am quite happy with it as I am not into downloading MP3 or DVD files.

Edited March 2, 2008 by billd766

[monty]

Can anyone define the basic differences between GPRS and EDGE ?

For AIS EDGE do you pay for connection time or data, or both ? What are people paying ?

GPRS (general packet data system) is the system used to enable data traffic (internet for example) over the GSM network.

Speeds depend on how far away from the base station you are. When you are right next to an antenna, 20kbps per slot can be transmitted (CS4).

When you are on the outer edge of the antenna reach, only 8 kbps can be achieved per slot (CS1).

A maximum of 4 slots are available for download, so you can expect a top speed of 80kbps only when you are bang next to the base station. Most often you will be somewhere in between (about 75% of the time) and you'll achieve 48 kbps (12 kbps per slot or CS2).

Coding

scheme Speed

(kbit/s)

CS-1..... 8.0

CS-2..... 12.0

CS-3..... 14.4

CS-4..... 20.0

The closer to the base station, the faster coding sheme can be used, up to 20 kbps per slot!

EDGE, also called EGPRS, is an update on the coding system used by GPRS. With this system the maximum speed per slot is increased to 59.2 kbps (MCS-9). Again, this is only achieved when sitting right next to a base station. On the outer edge you'll only achieve 8.8 kbps per slot (MCS-1)!

Again, 4 slots are available for download, so close to the base station you can get 236.8 kbps (4 X 59.2).

Coding and modulation

scheme (MCS) Speed

(kbit/s/slot) Modulation

MCS-1..... 8.80 GMSK

MCS-2..... 11.2 GMSK

MCS-3..... 14.8 GMSK

MCS-4..... 17.6 GMSK

MCS-5..... 22.4 8-PSK

MCS-6..... 29.6 8-PSK

MCS-7..... 44.8 8-PSK

MCS-8..... 54.4 8-PSK

MCS-9..... 59.2 8-PSK

Again as with regular GPRS, the closer to the base station, the faster the encoding scheme that can be used.

At the base station, only a software upgrade was needed to move from GPRS to EDGE. On the phone side, a new phone is needed to decode the MCS encoding allowing you to enjoy the faster speeds. If an older phone is used, the base station will transmit automatically on the slower CS encoding!

If a lot of voice traffic is active on a base station, you might get only 3,2 or even 1 slot for your data connection, slowing down the speed dramatically. GSM is primarily a phone system, so voice has priority over data!

Of course, the speed achieved between your phone and the base station is not the actual internet speed you can achieve. Just like any other ISP, the available international bandwidth is shared between the users, and often slower then what your GPRS/EDGE connection is capable of!

In Thailand, most providers allow you to pay per time on-line (quite cheap, as low as a few Baht/hour), or completely unlimited (around 1000 Baht/month).

Billing per data transmitted is AFAIK not done in Thailand.

[sibeymai]

Thanks for the info.

I use a Nokia 6300 which is GPRS/EDGE enabled. Last month I tried using it for internet access through bluetooth to my laptop. Worked very easy. I assumed that I was automatically on "package" as I had never asked for the service to be enabled. Usually there's no access for additional services unless specifically requested. 999 Bt is the most it could cost for checking it out I thought.

Very surprised to get a bill for 37,000Bt. Having a devil of a time convincing AIS to discount this, even though they risk the whole company's phone service going elsewhere (we currently spend over 100K a month).

[monty]

Thanks for the info.

I use a Nokia 6300 which is GPRS/EDGE enabled. Last month I tried using it for internet access through bluetooth to my laptop. Worked very easy. I assumed that I was automatically on "package" as I had never asked for the service to be enabled. Usually there's no access for additional services unless specifically requested. 999 Bt is the most it could cost for checking it out I thought.

Very surprised to get a bill for 37,000Bt. Having a devil of a time convincing AIS to discount this, even though they risk the whole company's phone service going elsewhere (we currently spend over 100K a month).

Did you leave it on 24/7?

With AIS (Dtac as well), if you do not choose a package, you will get billed 1 Baht/minute! All the other packages (certain amount of hours/month, or unlimited) you have to ask for to get them enabled!

I don't know how much your voice calls cost you a month on that particular number, but 30,000 Baht of GPRS would mean almost 21 days non stop connected...

Another possibility is that your phone keeps the connection alive, even when not connected to your laptop!

This is a problem with some PDA's, where the software is actually written in view of the fact that in most countries you get billed by Kbyte transferred instead of hours online.

Many of these PDA's have messaging software such as MSN or skype installed, which in a foreign country can keep you online and reachable non stop without costing much, as a few message sent back and forth only uses very little data.

[PMK]

Do you use an EDGE phone as a modem for your computer?

If so:

[*]What make/model is the phone?

Nokia 3110 C

[*]Which network/price plan are you on?

1-2 call (AIS) 30 hr/month for 50 baht but plus air time.

[*]Do you use a PC or Mac - any particular problems in either case with getting it setup and connected, software drivers etc.?

Not really. For AIS call 1175 and they will walk you through it. Excellent English and knowledgeable staff. They also will check and upload configuration data to your phone.

[*]How reliable/steady is the EDGE connection once it's established?

Terrible. Not reliable

[*]Does your performance vary depending on whether you're in a good/bad EDGE coverage area?

I don't know because I only use it in one location. I would really like to have the answer to that question but testing is not convenient.

[*]Does your performance vary by time of day - e.g. when the network is under load?

No.

[*]What kind of download speeds are you getting on average?

Download Speed: 156 kbps (19.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 72 kbps (9 KB/sec transfer rate)

But the problem is intermittent connection. It is very difficult to complete a 5 MB download.

[*]How do you connect it to your computer? (USB/Bluetooth/Infra-red etc.)

Bluetooth, but that doesn't affect download speeds.

[*]Any other comments?

[monty]

Do you use an EDGE phone as a modem for your computer?

If so:

[*]What make/model is the phone?

Sierra wireless aircard 775

[*]Which network/price plan are you on?

GSM advance postpaid, 450 Baht/350 hours plus Dtac Dprompt SIM as back-up, no plan (1 Baht/minute)

[*]Do you use a PC or Mac - any particular problems in either case with getting it setup and connected, software drivers etc.?

Laptop running WindowsXP. Latest drivers from Sierra wireless's website. Clear instructions, no problems. Card comes pre-configured with AIS and Dtac settings when bought in Thailand.

[*]How reliable/steady is the EDGE connection once it's established?

Pretty good, have had it running for 8 hours non stop without disconnect.

[*]Does your performance vary depending on whether you're in a good/bad EDGE coverage area?

Yep, pretty wide variance. See my above post on achievable speeds in relation to distance from base station.

Additionally, as stated in my above post, voice gets priority over data, so on busy base stations you seldom get your maximum 4 slots!

[*]Does your performance vary by time of day - e.g. when the network is under load?

Yes, very fast early mornings, slows down afternoons and can be downright slow in evenings. Do note that my main area of usage is Pattaya, a city only coming alive around lunchtime

[*]What kind of download speeds are you getting on average?

Over 200 kbps in the mornings, most of the day around 100 and evenings sometimes slower (AIS). Dtac is never very fast (seldom over 120 kbps), but doesn't seem to slow down as much as AIS on busy times of the day. Guess One2call is still the most popular gsm provider here! If AIS is too slow, I switch sims and use Dtac to get things done. Percentage wise I would say about 15% of my online time is with Dtac, so in the other 85% AIS is good enough to keep me from switching sims!

As PMK says, browsing is OK, large downloads do stall often, but mostly I can get them to resume using my download manager (flashget).

[*]How do you connect it to your computer? (USB/Bluetooth/Infra-red etc.)

PCMCIIA card...

[*]Any other comments?

Also use some other devices, an O2 and a HP pda, stand alone with their built in browsers/e-mail clients or sometimes as modem on my desktop PC (can't use the sierra wireless on a desktop). No difference in performance, although when connected through bluetooth and using windows's dial up system, you have to be sure the speed setting is set at least at 230 kbps, the default is 115 something kbps, which seriously limits the speed!

[ballbreaker]

Thanks for the info.

I use a Nokia 6300 which is GPRS/EDGE enabled. Last month I tried using it for internet access through bluetooth to my laptop. Worked very easy. I assumed that I was automatically on "package" as I had never asked for the service to be enabled. Usually there's no access for additional services unless specifically requested. 999 Bt is the most it could cost for checking it out I thought.

Very surprised to get a bill for 37,000Bt. Having a devil of a time convincing AIS to discount this, even though they risk the whole company's phone service going elsewhere (we currently spend over 100K a month).

Suck it up and pay the bill. You should have checked what you would be paying before you started use.

[sibeymai]

Thanks for the info.

I use a Nokia 6300 which is GPRS/EDGE enabled. Last month I tried using it for internet access through bluetooth to my laptop. Worked very easy. I assumed that I was automatically on "package" as I had never asked for the service to be enabled. Usually there's no access for additional services unless specifically requested. 999 Bt is the most it could cost for checking it out I thought.

Very surprised to get a bill for 37,000Bt. Having a devil of a time convincing AIS to discount this, even though they risk the whole company's phone service going elsewhere (we currently spend over 100K a month).

Suck it up and pay the bill. You should have checked what you would be paying before you started use.

AIS will get paid. It's a question of how much they value existing and long standing customers.

AIS have an unlimited plan at 999 baht per month. It can be assumed that AIS has priced this offering to make a profit. What possible justification is there then for charging 37 times that for the same service ? In many countries this is termed price-gouging and there are laws against such practices, even in Thailand.

AIS may well act like this with individual consumers with little risk of litigation. However, our lawyers will be reminding AIS of their responsibilities under Thai consumer laws if they fail to recognise these themselves.

Why is it that Telcos world wide think they have a license to print money ?

[elektrified]

I used my Nokia 6230 with EDGE and USB cable when I was in Europe (T-Mobile/appx. 30 Euros per month) and the connection was just as reliable and as fast as my friends who all had ADSL.

[wangsuda]

Do you use an EDGE phone as a modem for your computer? Yes I do

If so:

• What make/model is the phone? Sony Ericsson W300i with GPRS and EDGE class 10
  
• Which network/price plan are you on?DTAC monthly, 399 baht for 140 hours
  
• Do you use a PC or Mac - any particular problems in either case with getting it setup and connected, software drivers etc.? I use a PC. No problems with the Sony-provided software or getting connected.
  
• How reliable/steady is the EDGE connection once it's established? Never cuts out. I love it!
  
• Does your performance vary depending on whether you're in a good/bad EDGE coverage area? I've only used it in Bangkok, sorry.
  
• Does your performance vary by time of day - e.g. when the network is under load? By small amounts, yes.
  
• What kind of download speeds are you getting on average? Just took a reading. Download Speed: 120 kbps (15 KB/sec transfer rate)
  Upload Speed: 30 kbps (3.8 KB/sec transfer rate). That's a bit slow for me. I can usually get a bit more. The air con must be messing with my connection!
  
• How do you connect it to your computer? (USB/Bluetooth/Infra-red etc.) USB
  
• Any other comments? Nope
  

[PMK]

One question I have is is Aircard technology different from EDGE technology, and any less likely to be location sensitive.

Peter

[monty]

One question I have is is Aircard technology different from EDGE technology, and any less likely to be location sensitive.

Peter

No difference. The sierra wireless is actually a complete phone in the form of a PC card, but without battery, display and speaker/microphone combo.

When it's running in your laptop, you can plug a headset in and use it as a regular phone, call out and receive calls, send and receive SMS messages through the included software.

So no difference in location sensitivity (speedwise).

I do found the aircards to be a quite a bit more stable/faster then a regular phone, as the device was specifically developed for the purpose. However with todays high quality phones this difference has all but disappeared.

[jonny5]

Hi guys

I to will be travelling throughtout Thailand and need internet access.

So is all i need to do is get a phone with GPRS on, then connect it upto my laptop vai bluetooth or USB.

I already have a pre pay 1to2 call sim card so would i need to contact them to set up this facility, as said before is it 500bht for 250mins internet time?

Thanks for any info

Jonno

[Gary A]

Hi guys

I to will be travelling throughtout Thailand and need internet access.

So is all i need to do is get a phone with GPRS on, then connect it upto my laptop vai bluetooth or USB.

I already have a pre pay 1to2 call sim card so would i need to contact them to set up this facility, as said before is it 500bht for 250mins internet time?

Thanks for any info

Jonno

I think you'll be quite disappointed using just GPRS. A GPRS EDGE enabled phone will be about four times faster than plain GPRS. I have the 250 HOUR, not minutes AIS monthly package for 500 baht per month. Keep in mind that any time not used during the month will be lost and NOT added to the next month. Payment is automatically taken directly from your prepaid balance. There are many smaller packages available and if you use all the time and need more you can sign up again.

[RKASA]

Can anyone define the basic differences between GPRS and EDGE ?

For AIS EDGE do you pay for connection time or data, or both ? What are people paying ?

GPRS (general packet data system) is the system used to enable data traffic (internet for example) over the GSM network.

Speeds depend on how far away from the base station you are. When you are right next to an antenna, 20kbps per slot can be transmitted (CS4).

When you are on the outer edge of the antenna reach, only 8 kbps can be achieved per slot (CS1).

A maximum of 4 slots are available for download, so you can expect a top speed of 80kbps only when you are bang next to the base station. Most often you will be somewhere in between (about 75% of the time) and you'll achieve 48 kbps (12 kbps per slot or CS2).

Coding

scheme Speed

(kbit/s)

CS-1..... 8.0

CS-2..... 12.0

CS-3..... 14.4

CS-4..... 20.0

The closer to the base station, the faster coding sheme can be used, up to 20 kbps per slot!

EDGE, also called EGPRS, is an update on the coding system used by GPRS. With this system the maximum speed per slot is increased to 59.2 kbps (MCS-9). Again, this is only achieved when sitting right next to a base station. On the outer edge you'll only achieve 8.8 kbps per slot (MCS-1)!

Again, 4 slots are available for download, so close to the base station you can get 236.8 kbps (4 X 59.2).

Coding and modulation

scheme (MCS) Speed

(kbit/s/slot) Modulation

MCS-1..... 8.80 GMSK

MCS-2..... 11.2 GMSK

MCS-3..... 14.8 GMSK

MCS-4..... 17.6 GMSK

MCS-5..... 22.4 8-PSK

MCS-6..... 29.6 8-PSK

MCS-7..... 44.8 8-PSK

MCS-8..... 54.4 8-PSK

MCS-9..... 59.2 8-PSK

Again as with regular GPRS, the closer to the base station, the faster the encoding scheme that can be used.

At the base station, only a software upgrade was needed to move from GPRS to EDGE. On the phone side, a new phone is needed to decode the MCS encoding allowing you to enjoy the faster speeds. If an older phone is used, the base station will transmit automatically on the slower CS encoding!

If a lot of voice traffic is active on a base station, you might get only 3,2 or even 1 slot for your data connection, slowing down the speed dramatically. GSM is primarily a phone system, so voice has priority over data!

Of course, the speed achieved between your phone and the base station is not the actual internet speed you can achieve. Just like any other ISP, the available international bandwidth is shared between the users, and often slower then what your GPRS/EDGE connection is capable of!

In Thailand, most providers allow you to pay per time on-line (quite cheap, as low as a few Baht/hour), or completely unlimited (around 1000 Baht/month).

Billing per data transmitted is AFAIK not done in Thailand.

I live next to a AIS tower.  I can hit it with a rock from my back door.  When you connect GPRS the speed started out 60kbps+ but would drop to the set limit in this area of 22kbps within 15 seconds that was up to when they put edge on the market. After that I never saw more then 5kbps max. and GPRS will no longer stay connected more then 2 minutes at a time around here anymore.  Even at 4AM I could no longer check email it became worthless.  Given the history I have had with it I was not willing to spend more money on new equipment to get edge.  That history includes the time I got a phone bill for 12,000 baht because they had not used any of the prepaided time I had on the account.  One would assume that is an easy thing to correct, but they would be surprized.  I hope edge is working out for users, I won't be spending any money on it unless I see it used on this tower and working properly with ensurance it will stay that way more then a few months.  It would seem from the history of related postings that differant areas work better then others.  This part of Phitsanulok is not one that works at all.

[Krub]

Do you use an EDGE phone as a modem for your computer?

If so:

• What make/model is the phone?
  Nokia 6500 Classic
  
• Which network/price plan are you on?
  AIS 20 hours for 100 baht pack
  
• Do you use a PC or Mac - any particular problems in either case with getting it setup and connected, software drivers etc.?
  Win XP NP
  
• How reliable/steady is the EDGE connection once it's established?
  NP
  
• Does your performance vary depending on whether you're in a good/bad EDGE coverage area?
  NO
  
• Does your performance vary by time of day - e.g. when the network is under load?
  Speed slows to a crawl when in countryside (remote town in Isaan south of Sisaket) In Bangkok NP
  
• What kind of download speeds are you getting on average?
  
• How do you connect it to your computer? (USB/Bluetooth/Infra-red etc.)
  Bluetooth
  
• Any other comments?
  

[Gary A]

I have come to the conclusion that whether you have good Internet service or not is simply the luck of the draw. Some people have good service with Ipstar. I had two different suppliers and all three packages. To say that they all were terrible is an understatement. I am now quite happy with my AIS EDGE service. It is not the greatest but it is better than any service I EVER had from Ipstar and much cheaper. As far as having good EDGE speed, I think the phone has quite a bit to do with it. My N80 Nokia was no slouch but the Nokia E51 I now have is much better.

[altman]

this is probably one of the single most useful and informative threads i have ever seen.

it has answered questions i did not even know i should ask.

thank you.

[pilou]

Hi everybody

Reading this thread, it looks pretty easy to use a PDA as a modem to access internet on GPRS / Edge.

The only problem is that I still have not figured out how to do it. My phone is a Asus P750 with an AIS GPRS card ( Windows Mobile 6 ), I have ActiveSync 4.5 installed on my laptop.I have tried to find tutorials or help on internet, but to no avail..

Can anybody explain me how to do it please ?

Thanks.

Phil

[Gary A]

Hi everybody

Reading this thread, it looks pretty easy to use a PDA as a modem to access internet on GPRS / Edge.

The only problem is that I still have not figured out how to do it. My phone is a Asus P750 with an AIS GPRS card ( Windows Mobile 6 ), I have ActiveSync 4.5 installed on my laptop.I have tried to find tutorials or help on internet, but to no avail..

Can anybody explain me how to do it please ?

Thanks.

Phil

If you got a CD with the phone, all the drivers will be on it. If not you will need to do some searching for them. I use Nokia and they come with a disk. If your laptop has Bluetooth it should find the phone and possibly also look for the drivers for you. If the laptop doesn't have Bluetooth, you can buy a dongle to plug into a USB port. I use a dongle on my desktop and that dongle software is called Blue Soleil. It found my phone and was amazingly easy to connect even for a non techie like me. Good luck.

[Crushdepth]

Reading this thread, it looks pretty easy to use a PDA as a modem to access internet on GPRS / Edge.

The only problem is that I still have not figured out how to do it. My phone is a Asus P750 with an AIS GPRS card ( Windows Mobile 6 ), I have ActiveSync 4.5 installed on my laptop.I have tried to find tutorials or help on internet, but to no avail..

Tutorial

[pilou]

Thanks Crushdepth, I will try this asap.

Phil

[rob:pee]

I need help. I can't get the Internet to work on my computer. its working on my phone, I have tested on 2 phones with 2 different sim cards and they are getting connected. I have used GPRS Internet on my computers many times without any problems, I'm connecting with Bluetooth.

I get connected with the computer and getting packages but I can't connect to any servers. I'm using AIS. Its strange because I haven't changed anything since the last time I was using it. Any ideas what could be wrong?

Thanks.

[Crushdepth]

Did you enter the extra initialisation string in your computer's modem? The thing that goes something like +cgdcont=1,"IP","www.yourisp.com" ? (See tuturial link above).

Edited July 3, 2008 by Crushdepth

[phazey]

I found one useful tip is to use a bit of proxy software called Rabbit.

The speedup is quite significant, the lower sizes downloaded make for cheaper per/KB plans. It does work on Nokias default web browser.