Warning About Ais Gprs Mobile Internet

[Scarlett]

I don't have a land line available so I got the GPRS service from AIS in order to have an internet connection. Their employees were pretty inept at explaining the service or my contract. As far as I knew I would be billed 1200 baht a month which I thought was rather high, but I could live with. I thought they told me it was unlimited usage but now I find out differently!

I used it for 10 months mainly for email and web surfing. Since I am going on vacation for a while I went to cancel my service and pay my balance. They gave me a bill for the prior 2 months and the total was 55,000 baht!!!

Aside from my inability to prove that my usage should not be high, I am unable to cancel the bill, according to them until I pay the balance. Even though they finally "temporarily suspended" my account they still assess a monthly balance of 450baht to my account until it is officially cancelled.

Aside from paying the outrageous sum, I don't know how to resolve the problem. I just wanted to post my situation here so that others would be warned about this pitfall to AIS GPRS service.

[Ijustwannateach]

I don't know what package you're on, Scarlett; I'm on the 12Call refill card system- no monthly fee. I think when I was checking out price for bandwidth it was one or two baht per K (1000 bytes) of data transfer. That means if you download a picture that's 50K, it would cost you something like 50-100B. Even with fairly low usage on the Internet for 2 months, it doesn't seem like it would take you too long to build up to 55,000B at that rate. Anyway, sorry to hear about the misunderstanding or however it happened.

"Steven"

[Sunny Valentine]

I sometimes use the One2Call Card for GPRS surfing with my Notebook.

It seems that I am billed at around 1 Bt a Minute, could of course also be that I am billed on traffic, but a Session including checking Emails and a few Web Pages (a little over 30 Minutes, with around 1,1 M incoming and 0,7 M outgoing traffic) Idid lately was billed at about 34 Bt, as I checked my Account before as well as after the session.

It is pretty slow and sluggish, I revert to it only in the case my Phone or my Dial Up is dead, or I am aout of my house.

Sunny

[monty]

the 1200 Baht/month package was for unlimited internet the first 6 months, the second 6 months was 150 Mb included plus 100 Baht per Mb over this amount!!!

A monthly usage of 300 Mb would give you a bill of 16200 Baht and 300Mb is not a whole lot....

I used around 1Gb (1000Mb) monthly on my iptv system, now this is probably up to 4 or 5 Gb on my brandnew adsl line

I also have a GPRS account from AIS, but one of their new packages, 350/month for 120 hours.

[triplegee]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune Scarlett and thanks for provding the rest of us with a heads up!

To those of you using 1-2-call - how do I go about configuring my phone using a 1-2-call sim card - sounds like a good option but I can't find any details on the 1-2-call site. What a dog's breakfast of a site IMHO....

TIA.

[billd766]

I have had a post paid account from AIS for over 3 years and last month I joined the GPRS promotion of 120 hours per month for an extra 350 baht per month. Anything over the 120 hours wil cost me 5 satang per minute but I can pay a little more for more hours. I will wait until the first full months bill comes in and see what it is like.

Last Saturday AIS called me and told me that my promotion package will be extended for 3 years.

Most of the time it is OK but as I live 5 km froma small village behind a hill the service sometimes drops out but i have been on line for nearly 2 hours at one time.

I am happy with the service and I have been waiting over a year for a land line.

[sriracha john]

They gave me a bill for the prior 2 months and the total was 55,000 baht!!!

Do you at least get an autographed 8 x 10 glossy of Thaksin for that amount?

[Heng]

Sounds like the original poster didn't read the user agreement. Just have them itemize the bill for you. I'd wager that the charges aren't just made up out of thin air.

[yuyi]

My friend (well, maybe not really friend) did leave Thailand for business reasons rather quickly, and did leave me his AIS GPRS sim and Sierra PCMCIA card with the invoices etc., asking me to cancel it or do whatever I want with it. I was tempted to use it myself, because he has an 800 baht/month contract for unlimited usage !!! which seems to be still valid, even if it is older than one year now.

All invoices indeed have a total of 800 baht, plus taxes, all charges for more usage have been deducted again

I did not really need it, so I did almost forget about it. When I then went to AIS, they asked for the last 3 months, 800 baht x 3, plus taxes. Well, latest then I decided that I do not want it, and informed them to cancel it, because the owner is out of the country, and most probably not coming back.

They refused. They said it has to get paid first. They said I can go with my passport to the AIS office in the former world trade center, and make a declaration about the owner being gone, and then pay the open amount, and then they would close it.

I told them that I would certainly not pay anything. The answer was that then they do not close it. My remark that then they would probably end up sometime in the future with an open invoice of 2 millions baht, and never a payment, did make them smile. And confirming, yes, that will be it.

[Crushdepth]

Some phones have a GPRS traffic counter, that lets you keep an eye on how much data you used. But probably not much use unless you reset it each billing cycle.

[Sunny Valentine]

To those of you using 1-2-call - how do I go about configuring my phone using a 1-2-call sim card - sounds like a good option but I can't find any details on the 1-2-call site. What a dog's breakfast of a site IMHO.... 

TIA.

First thing to do is to establish a Connection between Phone and Notebook. Can be Bluetooth, Cable, or IR.

These setting very much depend on what gear you have, so I can't tell you much about it.

Next is to tweak a setting in System Configuaration - Modems:

Chose the Modem you will use, go to Properties, there to extended, and enter

+CGDCONT=1,"IP","Internet" as Inittialisation String.

This string please use "as is", including the " !

(Sorry, can't be more specific, as I have German XP, and the Menus have different Names, so I have to guess the names in English.

Then you set up a new Dial-Up Connection, using your newly established Phone Modem as the Modem.

The Number to dial is:

*99***1#

Username and Password: Leave empty

Connect, and enjoy!

Sunny

Again, it seems as if I get charged at 1 Bt a Minute, so in case you don't need it very often it seems it does not make sense to go for a post-paid Plan at all. (1200 Bt is 20 Hours ....)

Might be differnet in case you use it daily for some hours, of course.

[stumonster]

Next is to tweak a setting in System Configuaration - Modems:

Chose the Modem you will use, go to Properties, there to extended, and enter

+CGDCONT=1,"IP","Internet" as Inittialisation String.

This string please use "as is", including the " !

Then you set up a new Dial-Up Connection, using your newly established Phone Modem as the Modem.

The Number to dial is:

*99***1#

Username and Password: Leave empty

I use the AIS gprs with my notebook when I am not within reach of a telephone line and it costs me about 1 baht perminute.prepaid 12call sim. It is a little slower than dial-up but adequate. i use a BT dongle to my phone.

what are the initialsation strings you have quoted.( though I can 't find the ! in there )

and the number I dail is *99#

[Sunny Valentine]

Basically, these strings and number are the ones that work for me. I have not much of a clue if the initialisation string is really necessary or not, have been told by a guy in Pantip Plaza I should use them, and the number I quoted, and it works, fine with me!

Now the string should go with the " Marks, that's all!

Sunny

[ProThaiExpat]

I have had AIS GPRS with a Sierra Wireless card on my laptop for two years now, and while I have had "bad" days and even a week once, the service is adequate but quite slow.

I pay 800 Baht a month unlimited and with taxes and an occasional long distance call, my bill has never been more than 950 baht a month. My usage counter goes over the millions of bits and the bill shows usage in excess of 30kmgb a month.

My plan is good until 2006 and from what I have read above, I will try to renew the plan when it nears expiration.

I would opt for a dial-up if I could, however, it will be years before I get a land line and no ADSL in my lifetime. Perhaps, someday, UBC or some other reliable sattelite service will be available, ipstar has a long way to go from what I have heard.

[mouse]

ipstar has a long way to go from what I have heard.

I do not work for them or make a commission but for an area that has no phonelines it is the best deal available as I well know. Reconsider for I have been happy for a year now withthe occasional complaint about speed (or lack of) having been sent tot he CEO's office. However, that ususally does the trick and then things are speedy again.

[ProThaiExpat]

Mouse: Many thanks for your last. May I trouble you for more details in arranging this service and its cost. I live in Chiang Mai, however if you don't, there really shouldn't be any difference in reception wherever one lives in Thailand.

Perhaps I was put off by the fact that my local distributor or set-up agent was the notorious "David" who was deported.

I trust that by dealing with their head office, one can obtain local installation and service? Is one dependent on independent contractores from which equipment and service are obtained?

Any help you feel like giving would be most appreciated. The principle of sattelite transmission appeals to me as UBC has been pretty good where I live. I am often faced with my browser message that "the web site has been contacted, awaiting reply" which seems to happen a lot on AIS GPRS and it can last for days at a time. Of course, even when connected, it is very slow.

Many thanks for your help.

[stumonster]

prothaiexpat

you might want to investigate EDGE which is the faster version of GPRS. You will probably need a new card , though it will be compatible with GPRS. it is supposed to be 3-4 times faster with real world speeds between 100-150kb/s. DTAC was talking about rolling it out over their network, and AIS apparently has done a trial here in bangkok.

sunny valentino

this info I found on this page

http://www.filesaveas.com/gprs.html

If you have more than one GPRS connection set up on your handset, you may need to add an additional string in the "dial-string" settings field, to select which APN to connect to. The standard string is: need to enter a dial-up

+CGDCONT =1,"IP","apn.address" - you should substitute apn.address with the name of the GPRS APN that you wish to connect to

GPRS is a service supplied by your mobile phone network operator. It doesn't use a dial-up number (as GSM data calls do). Instead the APN (Access Point Node) is used to work out where to route your data requests.

Confused about APNs

For your phone to connect over GPRS, you'll need to tell the phone which APN (Access Point Node) to use.

change the phone number you are using to *99***n# where n is the CID of the new data account you created.

[Sunny Valentine]

Stu, thanks, I bookmarked the page for further reference, once I run into problems with the Connection.

Am I right assuming, that as my Connection is working now, I don't need to change anything?

Sunny

[stumonster]

+CGDCONT =1,"IP","apn.address" - you should substitute apn.address with the name of the GPRS APN

change the phone number you are using to *99***n# where n is the CID of the new data account you created.

It seems to be saying to that you really only need that string if you have more than one gprs modem.( say a gprs pcmia card and a Edge capable phone(connected via blutooth ))

this page had some info on EDGE vs GPRS

http://supportattws.primus.com/aws/resultD...us+GPRS#Goto119

EDGE meets the official International Telecommunications Union (ITU) 3G requirement of 384 Kbps at pedestrian speeds because devices can be built that use all eight time slots, and operating at MCS-9, such devices would exceed 384 Kbps. Most devices, however, will be limited to four time slots due to practical implementation considerations. EDGE chooses the optimum modulation and coding scheme based on the

radio environment in a process called link adaptation. To respond to EDGE Capabilities, Technology, and Applications varying radio conditions, EDGE makes highly accurate measurements of the radio link over short time periods. This allows the EDGE to quickly adapt to changes in the radio environment

this page has info on how fast your modem can go. it depends on the class of your gprs unit.

http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/gprs/class.shtml

[ProThaiExpat]

Stumonster: Many thanks for your info. From what I understand, EDGE is only currently avaiable in Bangkok. Chiang Mai needs to wait, as usual. If you know otherwise, please advise.

[mouse]

Mouse: Many thanks for your last. May I trouble you for more details in arranging this service and its cost. I live in Chiang Mai, however if you don't, there really shouldn't be any difference in reception wherever one lives in Thailand.

No problem. PM me an email adress and in the meantime I will get the whole kit and kabudle together. Where to download the forms, who to contact etc. It is all in English and you will be dealing withthe company directly rather than an agent or rep.

[mouse]

Any help you feel like giving would be most appreciated. The principle of sattelite transmission appeals to me as UBC has been pretty good where I live. I am often faced with my browser message that "the web site has been contacted, awaiting reply" which seems to happen a lot on AIS GPRS and it can last for days at a time. Of course, even when connected, it is very slow

Dear ProThaiExpat,

The site with the prices is located http://www.csloxinfo.com/broadband/ipstar4_en.asp#1

There you will also find the numerous required PDF forms. Just link to http://www.csloxinfo.com/download/index.asp and then click on the purple ipstar logo. Make sure you have Adobe reader or get it at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

After you have downloaded the forms and filled them out together with your Thai partner, send an email to [email protected] or to the same person at [email protected] requesting the service and he will instruct you from there.

He it seems is the direct company representative located up north in Chiang Mai. I do not know which email he is using maybe both.

If you cannot contact him that use the email adresses and phone information at the bottom. They speak reasonable English. Do not deal with anyone that places themselves between you and the company.

Also ask him about the special promotion of the 5,000 discount or the free PDA as mentioned on their website.

Whole process will take about one month. Also they will tell you to have a cement base 2 meters by 2 metesr square and 15cm thick, built facing with a clear view to the southwest (where the satellite is now). However, the same base will also need a free southeast view from the same location, cause they will shift to the new satellite some time next year, so if you have a tree or something there you will have to have everything moved.

Good Luck and keep me informed

MOUSE

Sales Support 0-2263-8000 Ext.2236 - 2238 and 2242

Fax 02263-8039 email [email protected]

Csutomer Service (24 hours) 022637171

Fax 022638005 email [email protected]

[Merlin]

[...snip]

Well, latest then I decided that I do not want it, and informed them to cancel it, because the owner is out of the country, and most probably not coming back.

They refused. They said it has to get paid first. They said I can go with my passport to the AIS office in the former world trade center, and make a declaration about the owner being gone, and then pay the open amount, and then they would close it.

I told them that I would certainly not pay anything. The answer was that then they do not close it. My remark that then they would probably end up sometime in the future with an open invoice of 2 millions  baht, and never a payment, did make them smile. And confirming, yes, that will be it.

 

A typical case of Thai logic.

When I first arrived, I wanted a phone line in my apartment. I was told there was one available now from TT&T, or I could get one from TOT in about 2 months. But when I went to the TT&T office I was told there was an outstanding bill of 7000b on that number - even though it had nothing to do with me [it wasn't even in the same building], if I wanted that number it had to be paid first. I said no way I was going to pay someone else's bill, and didn't they want some money coming in rather than nothing?

No, they'd rather have nothing, was the answer...

[valentinoxxx]

Hmmmmm