Internet Radio In The Car

[bkkmick]

Hi

When driving in the car I like to listen to some talk radio shows on my N95 using the Internet Radio application. I'm currently using a True sim card.

Last term (before summer holidays) when taking my kids to/from school the quality was great and the playback was only interrupted from time to time and reconnected quickly. Since the new term started (this month) the connection has been terrible. The Internet Radio app. shows 24kbps when the radio is working but often drops to 4kbps and, obviously, the connection drops.

Is there any way to improve the signal by using some kind of external ariel? Has anyone any proof that AIS/DTAC or another ISP sim card provides a better/faster/more reliable connection?

All in all I've been really happy with the True GPRS quality until just recently.

Thanks

Mick

[monty]

Has anyone any proof that AIS/DTAC or another ISP sim card provides a better/faster/more reliable connection?

Only way to know is to try yourself! GPRS/Edge access can be very location dependent!

Luckily this is easy/cheap to do, pop in to your nearest mobile phone shop, buy a 49 Baht One2Go sim card, put 100 Baht credit on and presto, you have 100 minutes worth of internet to try it out!

Or call the call center (1175) and activate a gprs package, I'd reckon the 20 hour package is also something like 100 Baht...

You can do exactly the same with Dtac (Dprompt happy pre-paid simcard)...

[Phil Conners]

GPRS usage used to be billed by the kbyte, has that changed to time?

Edited September 18, 2008 by Phil Conners

[Digitalbanana]

GPRS usage used to be billed by the kbyte, has that changed to time?

I've been using GPRS with Happy for several yrs in BKK time fee based. Saves me a lot of money. (Never considered listening to internet radio on it tho, can hardly get net radio work on my CSLox adsl at home. The infrastructure isn't there.

[bkkmick]

Yea, thanks Monty I guess that experimentation is the best route. I have a 650bpm unlimited connection as I use the internet a lot.

p.s. having real problems keeping connected to ThiaVisa using my ADSL at home.

[monty]

GPRS usage used to be billed by the kbyte, has that changed to time?

Thailand is one of the few places where GPRS is billed by time.

Most of the packages on the prepaid sim cards cost between 3 and 6 Baht/hour with no data transfer limits. Without a pre-paid gprs package you get billed 1 Baht/minute.

ompletely unlimited (both time and data wise) is around the 1000 Baht/month mark.

In general extremely cheap compared to most Western countries!

[Digitalbanana]

Most of the packages on the prepaid sim cards cost between 3 and 6 Baht/hour with no data transfer limits. Without a pre-paid gprs package you get billed 1 Baht/minute.

I get billed 1b/min unlimited kb prepaid Happy. Looks like I need a new plan if it can be bought 3-6b/hr unlimited? I didn't realize prices were this cheap or is that a typo? Also is pre paid so much cheaper than without pre paid (presumably you mean post paid)?

[whooliggen]

Most of the packages on the prepaid sim cards cost between 3 and 6 Baht/hour with no data transfer limits. Without a pre-paid gprs package you get billed 1 Baht/minute.

I get billed 1b/min unlimited kb prepaid Happy. Looks like I need a new plan if it can be bought 3-6b/hr unlimited? I didn't realize prices were this cheap or is that a typo? Also is pre paid so much cheaper than without pre paid (presumably you mean post paid)?

Using AIS 1-2-Call and Ive only ever been offered time based charging as opposed to data transfer. A quick call to their care centre will give you the rates. I'm currently paying 300 baht/month for 50 hours I believe...

[paveet]

DTAC also offers per data, I'm using 140MB for 399 a month. I can't do time because I leave EDGE on 24/7 for push mail.

[Tywais]

I get billed 1b/min unlimited kb prepaid Happy. Looks like I need a new plan if it can be bought 3-6b/hr unlimited? I didn't realize prices were this cheap or is that a typo? Also is pre paid so much cheaper than without pre paid (presumably you mean post paid)?

I'm using DTAC (grps/edge) happy prompt (pre-paid) and it costs me 266Baht for 7 days unlimited time/data. My computer is connected through my EDGE phone pretty much all the time I'm at home. Weekends usually 24hours per day. Works out to about 1.5 Baht per hour if using it 24/7.

[Digitalbanana]

I'm using DTAC (grps/edge) happy prompt (pre-paid) and it costs me 266Baht for 7 days unlimited time/data. My computer is connected through my EDGE phone pretty much all the time I'm at home. Weekends usually 24hours per day. Works out to about 1.5 Baht per hour if using it 24/7.

Ah ok so it could also work out at 266B / min if I only used it for one minute in 7 days.... think I'll stick with my baht/min plan as sometimes I never use it at all for a couple of months.

[Tywais]

Ah ok so it could also work out at 266B / min if I only used it for one minute in 7 days.... think I'll stick with my baht/min plan as sometimes I never use it at all for a couple of months.

Yeah, that makes sense in your case to use timed charges.

[monty]

Ah ok so it could also work out at 266B / min if I only used it for one minute in 7 days.... think I'll stick with my baht/min plan as sometimes I never use it at all for a couple of months.

I'm pretty sure Dtac also has a 100 or 150 hour package for something like 350 Baht. CAll their call center to be sure, and if you have enough credit on your sim they can activate it immediately.

I'm also of the impression that with Dtac the unused hour get carried over into the next month, unlike with AIS where any hour unused disappears at the end of your monthly cycle (but AIS has much more packages to suit your usage pattern).

[Gary A]

My ONLY Internet connection is EDGE. I can't listen to the radio with either AIS or Dtac. True has no signal here at all.

[monty]

My ONLY Internet connection is EDGE. I can't listen to the radio with either AIS or Dtac. True has no signal here at all.

I'm getting perfect internet radio with AIS Edge (up to 96 kbps, which is pretty good quality).

On Dtac anything over 64 kbps quality starts to get chopped up, the line is much more stable with Dtac, but the speed is to slow. On AIS speeds can vary wildly, but topspeed is high enough that the player can keep up enough buffering during the slow moments.

I'm actually watching my Belgian slingbox on my Edge capable PDA, slingbox does some aggressive compression for mobile connections, but it works often over an hour without a single hick up!

[Gary A]

My ONLY Internet connection is EDGE. I can't listen to the radio with either AIS or Dtac. True has no signal here at all.

I'm getting perfect internet radio with AIS Edge (up to 96 kbps, which is pretty good quality).

On Dtac anything over 64 kbps quality starts to get chopped up, the line is much more stable with Dtac, but the speed is to slow. On AIS speeds can vary wildly, but topspeed is high enough that the player can keep up enough buffering during the slow moments.

I'm actually watching my Belgian slingbox on my Edge capable PDA, slingbox does some aggressive compression for mobile connections, but it works often over an hour without a single hick up!

Actually I can listen to the radio sometimes but it is irritating when it starts chopping so I have given up. It's just not consistent enough.

[bkkmick]

Sorry for the bump, just thought I'd report back.

Monty said how good his connection is with AIS so, over the weekend, I bought a 30 hour AIS sim.

Today I drove to and from the kids school (round trip of about 1 hour) listening to the internet radio using the new AIS sim card. The reception was almost perfect. The signal only dropped out twice and re-connected after a couple of seconds. There is no comparison with this AIS card compared to the True sim I'd been using.

Another bonus (and it's a big one for me) is that I can also listen to BBC radio 5 while driving! F'ing great!