How Use Gprs

[ProThaiExpat]

sas-cars: For the ill informed, such as myself, who uses his laptop, wireless card and a sim card to connect to GPRS, will we be able to get EDGE when it is offered by mrely buying a sim card to connect via EDGE or do we need to buy anything else.

I am referring to your suggesting that one must have an EDGE enabled mobile?

Thanks

[meadish_sweetball]

Sabaijai:

A third option to Bluetooth and physical cable (check first that your phone is capable of acting as a modem through a physical cable, some phones DO NOT work like that) is IR, infrared. Many phones and many laptop computers are equipped with IR sensors today. I have never used Bluetooth, but I have used IR for GPRS connection with both a Nokia phone (6610), and 2 SonyEricsson phones (T68i and T610) . It works out fine. If you want to reduce costs, maybe you should check what an IR dongle would cost before you buy the Bluetooth one (provided your computer does not have an IR sensor already).

[Crushdepth]

I am referring to your suggesting that one must have an EDGE enabled mobile?

Yep you'll need a phone that supports EDGE (or a wireless card that supports EDGE - some of them do but I don't think I've seen one here - not that I've looked very hard).

[george]

I need the notebook DUN (dial up networking) settings for DTAC GPRS. Anyone?

[johnsjourney]

There are some settings on their site, http://www.dtac.co.th/eng/ProductsServices.../gprs/Index.htm Choose the device you are using in the right column. Hope this helps.

[sas_cars]

sas-cars:  For the ill informed, such as myself, who uses his laptop, wireless card and a sim card to connect to GPRS, will we be able to get EDGE when it is offered by mrely buying a sim card to connect via EDGE or do we need to buy anything else.

I am referring to your suggesting that one must have an EDGE enabled mobile?

Thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes,you just need nothing more than an Edge mobile phone with(absolutely a DTAC SIMCARD) and a USB bluetooth dongle in order to browse EDGE on your notebook.One example of such a phone is Nokia 6230.You don't have to subscribe to anything.Just buy the phone,get DTAC Simcard and there you are

[sas_cars]

I am referring to your suggesting that one must have an EDGE enabled mobile?

Yep you'll need a phone that supports EDGE (or a wireless card that supports EDGE - some of them do but I don't think I've seen one here - not that I've looked very hard).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nokia 6230 is your answer

[sas_cars]

Sabaijai:

A third option to Bluetooth and physical cable (check first that your phone is capable of acting as a modem through a physical cable, some phones DO NOT work like that) is IR, infrared. Many phones and many laptop computers are equipped with IR sensors today. I have never used Bluetooth, but I have used IR for GPRS connection with both a Nokia phone (6610), and 2 SonyEricsson phones (T68i and T610) . It works out fine. If you want to reduce costs, maybe you should check what an IR dongle would cost before you buy the Bluetooth one (provided your computer does not have an IR sensor already).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

IMHO,connection GPRS via Infrared is a pain in the arse.You have to align both infrared ports and must have them in place all the time in order to browse.If they are misplaced a little bit,the connection is lost.And you have to connect again.I will NEVER RECOMMEND it to anyone unless some bloke wanna have pain in it's arse Infrared USB dongle and Bluetooth USB dongles are of nearly the same price.One more thing,Infrared transfers date very slow comparing to bluetooth.Even if you are able to align the infrared ports of both devices in order,you can browse the web,but very slow.The choice is up to you

[stevehaigh]

the dtac web site has some good info in english:

http://www.dtac.co.th/eng/ProductsServices.../gprs/Index.htm

[billd766]

999Baht/Month ,You can use it unlimited regardless of hours or data usage.

Contract Phone means a Post Paid Phone,Not a Prepaid phone i.e. NOt Happy Dprompt.It has to be a post paid registered number only in order to qualify for these monthly packages.

999 a month unlimited. same as 56k modem. can use anywhere DTAC signal is available. no per minute fee. Sounds almost too good to be true, but I will try it and report back.

CMT is off on another quest to find something better than dial-up! As always we'll be following your exploits.

I'm still trying to figure out how it works. I have a Nokia 6100, the rubbery one that looks like a Nike sneaker and is water/dust/shock resistant. Under the 'Connectivity' menu I can choose to switch on GPRS. Does this mean I can use this phone if I get a USB dongle, or is Bluetooth essential? What purpose does the GPRS menu on this phone serve if it can't be used without Bluetooth?

Thanks, I know these are very basic questions ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sabaijai

I also use a Nokia 6100 mobile with a DKU5 cable to connect to my laptop.

I have a postpaid service with AIS and about 3 months ago I went onto their GPRS service plan at 350 baht per month for 120 hours usage. If I go over that it costs me 5 satang per minute, however I can always go to a higher usage plan and pay a small amount more per month.

I live uip country out in the sticks about 5 km from my nearest cell site and the service is good in the day going to not so good but still workable in the evening. This is normal with any radio system worldwide (I have been putting mobile phone systems in countries all over the world for the last 16 years).

When I am connected to GPRS, if the cellsite loses it signal (and it happens a lot everywhere) then my GPRS connection stays up and when the signal comes back I just carry on working with no problems.

Bluetooth and Edge are fine if you change your mobile every 6 months or a year and want to keep up to date and trendy but if you have a mobile which works as a phone and as a GPRS mobile as well why change it.

As to which mobile phone is best, I worked for Motorola for 10 years and always used the phone the company gave me. When I went contracting I bought Nokia all the time as IMHO Nokia is better, but the choice is yours.

If you think that I can help you in any way please PM me.

billd766

[mcfester]

the dtac web site has some good info in english:

http://www.dtac.co.th/eng/ProductsServices.../gprs/Index.htm

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for that link, the coverage page was usefull as billd766 comments about living 5 kms for the cellsite suggest that distance will be a major factor in performance.

Without going away from the subject too much but what are the pros and cons of sattellite, prices of installations and monthly fees etc compared to the DTAC 999bt package. Reasons being I'm on dail up jixtreme shark byte 15 hrs unlimited which runs fine untill the schools finish at 4pm (nightmare when they are on holiday) and looking to upgrade to either GPRS or sattellite, anybody?

[monjan]

I set up GPRS a week ago using the exact recommendations from this forum. Bluetooth Dongle/Ericsson T68i/DTAC on my Desktop running XP. The set up was pretty straight-forward though needed a little tech support on exact modem settings.

So far the service is usable but in general slower then dial-up and not nearly as stable. Connection will run anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 1/2 hours before hanging or the line dropping. I then need to restart my Bluetooth session on the PC and/or mobile phone (usually both). I use my internet connection almost continuously so this becomes a big pain after a while.

Everyone claims how great (well, no problems anyway) the service works but it hasn't been my experience. I live in OnNut so it should work better then upcountry you would think.

Want to see if others experience the same and if this is all I can expect from GPRS. If there're any recommendations on how to make the connections more stable, I'd appreciate it...

BTW, I'm using (no-name) IVT Bluetooth dongle purchased at MBK, not sure if that contribute to my problems.

[mcs-computers]

help can anyone tel me about the 999 bhat offer, can I sign up from england? or do I have to wait till I arive in Thailand? Do I have to Buy hardware to get the offer or can I use my Nokia D211?

[pistonpilot]

What do I use if I want to have unlimited access in Jomtien but only for a month and a half while I am there on vacation.

I have several bluetooth phones - T68is , T616 and I have a bluetooth USB connector.

My phone is locked to At&T - so where do I go in Pattaya to unlock the phone, buy a SIM chip and get plan with unlimited usage but only for a month and a half?

[MattFS218]

I want to get a Dtac gprs account but am a tourist here. What are the exact requirements for getting a post-paid account with Dtac? can i put a big deposit down with dtac? Workpermit, non imm B? please let me know..

[stevehaigh]

I want to get a Dtac gprs account but am a tourist here. What are the exact requirements for getting a post-paid account with Dtac? can i put a big deposit down with dtac? Workpermit, non imm B? please let me know..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

both dtac and ais $999/mth deals require you to be either thai (i.e. your girlfriend does it for you) or have a work permit, no exceptions that i know of.

steve

[Dah fahrang]

Work permit, girlfriend/wife opeing account, or (as in my case) letter from Immigration confirming your residence. This is so the company with whom you sign up can chase up defaulters.

Same in most countries - you need to prove you are a real person, with a real address to get real credit!

[MattFS218]

I want to get a Dtac gprs account but am a tourist here. What are the exact requirements for getting a post-paid account with Dtac? can i put a big deposit down with dtac? Workpermit, non imm B? please let me know..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

both dtac and ais $999/mth deals require you to be either thai (i.e. your girlfriend does it for you) or have a work permit, no exceptions that i know of.

steve

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Does an application for a work permit count? or do I need to wait the 1-2 months for them to process the WP?

Matt

[Khutan]

This is what I did, and I annoyed a few people on the forum, so hopefully my experience will add some value.

I am the Owner/Manager of one business, and my wife is the Owner manager of the business that owns my w/p. I have a NON-O with everything. I am just trying to say this so that you will see the hurdles ahead.

I walked into the local AIS office - yes up country and they didn't care "Mai Mee creedee card" which meand a Thai ID Card.

So my wife signed up, only to find that someone 6 years ago stole her ID card (yes that made her 17) and rang up a 30,000B+ bill in her name. No Go, that company isn't going to have me as a customer, even with what happened....

So we walked 30m to the DTAC schop still the rubbish with all that, so my wife again signed for the plan... no worries.

Face it even with the W/P and everything, including the Yellow ID Card, forget it, their peocesses are not made for it. Too Hard - big story.

S we come home and for 3 days I couldn't get my laptop to get a browser to work.

NUMBER 1 make sure if you can connect - cet a commaon prompt and try to ping something. A good one is ns2.ksc.co.th. If it can resolve the name, your laptop etc is really talking.

What I found to be the real problem is the modem initialisation string. When you get that correct the world changes. You set "Direct Connect" and everything is great.

Now for a Nokia 6600, the Modem string was

AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","www.dtac.co.th"

now I got an earlier string with djuice.co.th not dtac, and it didn't work.

Lesson - perservere with customer help.

I can now get a 43k streaming audio 5km from the Cambodia boarder out in the jungle - from Sydney - you think I am impressed listening to 2mmm in Issan rather than the local stuff ???

Good luck, and I hope that helps.

Just a last thought, make sure ALL the bluetooth stuff is working and forget Infrafred, (IRDA) it causes more problems than it cures with a 6600 like the XP drivers don't work, and you have to download new ones for XP. Microsoft sure doesn't have them and neither does Nokia (that I can find). Bluetooth is the way to go.

[Crushdepth]

They probably won't touch you without a work permit (although they finally accepted a letter from my employer as a substitute).

AIS are much less strict about the work permit.

[Khutan]

Oh yes, sorry George, I meant to post this before;

The general DUN is *99***2#

But they say if you have a 6600 you can use the DUN *99***1#

Others don't seem to work.

I hope I am not the forst to reply.

[Khutan]

They probably won't touch you without a work permit (although they finally accepted a letter from my employer as a substitute).

AIS are much less strict about the work permit.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think we crossed posts, but up-country they didn't want to know me even with the yellow-ID Card(owner - manager) and a WP with all tha paper, sure BKK is different.

[sas_cars]

I am glad that eventually you are connected to GPRS.It's surely a cool idea to be connected anywhere you go in thailand without needing any wires.Dtac is offering broadband GPRS called Edge in a lot of places in Bangkok.I wish within 1 or 2 years Edge will be working throughout thailand.And that's the way to go.Though GPRS is not that slow,but some broadband users may not like it.But at least it's great to be connected anytime anywhere.

The DUN for Dtac GPRS for persons using Nokia phones is *99***1# and replace the 1 with 2 if you'r using Sony Ericsson sets.You have to set modem extra initialization string as +cgdcont=1 or 2 (Nokia,Sony Ericsson),"ip","www.dtac.co.th" if you put djuice.co.th ,it's for WAP.Usually entered on your mobile phone

[joonasdf]

Hello,

Today I walked to the DTAC shop in Central World Plaza. Told that I would like to open an unlimited GPRS service. They asked me about work permit which I don't have. Next they asked me if I have a local bank account, which I have in Bangkok Bank. They filled the service agreement and direct billing agreement and I paid 500B for the SIM and we were done. I'm on Non-O visa here. No work permit, no one helping me and the service is on my name.

It is amazing what you can accomplish by just asking. Tomorrow I'm going to buy a new phone (Nokia 9500) to get EDGE working.

Very positive feelings about DTAC so far.

[Khutan]

I am glad that eventually you are connected to GPRS.It's surely a cool idea to be connected anywhere you go in thailand without needing any wires.Dtac is offering broadband GPRS called Edge in a lot of places in Bangkok.I wish within 1 or 2 years Edge will be working throughout thailand.And that's the way to go.Though GPRS is not that slow,but some broadband users may not like it.But at least it's great to be connected anytime anywhere.

  The DUN for Dtac GPRS for persons using Nokia phones is *99***1# and replace the 1 with 2 if you'r using Sony Ericsson sets.You have to set modem extra initialization string as +cgdcont=1 or 2 (Nokia,Sony Ericsson),"ip","www.dtac.co.th"  if you put djuice.co.th ,it's for WAP.Usually entered on your mobile phone

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks sas_cars;

It was excellent to sit in the far south of Surin, with it finally working. While they were listening to the "local music" I was getting 2mmm from Sydney Pumping.

Thanks for the assistance again, the Modem strings are clearly the key.