Broadband In The Boondocks

[monty]

I personally would not go for Hutch.

Although the system itself is slightly better suited for data transfer, it is still slower overall. When Edge is slow (peak times) it will be outperformed by Hutch, but when Edge is running normal, it'll be faster then Hutch, and Edge runs normal about 18 hours a day!

Plus so much more hassle. You need a contract (not needed on Edge, pre-paid sim cards give you all the data plan offers), and you need either a dedicated CDMA modem or phone, which can ONLY be used with Hutch. If you ever decide to stop using Hutch, your phone or modem will become useless.

Very little portability as well. Hutch (internet) will work in the central provinces and the Eastern Seaboard. If you use a Hutch phone it will work nationwide, but only for voice calls. Not for the internet. Even then upcountry reception can be very spotty.

It would be so much better if Hutch would upgrade to EV-DO and do data roaming with CAT (the other CDMA operator). That way you'd get fast internet (comparable to 512/256 ADSL or faster on a good day) pretty much nationwide! Alas, this seems not to be in the near future

As it stands today, EDGE is the way to go. Nationwide coverage, cheap standardized equipment (works pretty much worldwide), dirt cheap internet time, for very little money you can have 2 sim cards (Dtac and Ais) giving you almost guaranteed proper internet 24/7.

Mobile data the world over tends to be very expensive, APART from Thailand. They do not count data transfer over here! Brilliant, I have internet radio on hours on end at home using EDGE, even on the move in the car using my EDGE capable PDA phone! 5 Baht/hour!

[stoffel]

CDMA (Hutch) has a speed of 153 kbps while EDGE has a speed of 430 kbps if you within the coverage area of the highspeed otherwise it drops to 40 kbps.

[monty]

CDMA (Hutch) has a speed of 153 kbps while EDGE has a speed of 430 kbps if you within the coverage area of the highspeed otherwise it drops to 40 kbps.

CDMA 1X has indeed a top speed of 153 kbps, however Edge in Thailand is limited to 236,8 kbps.

Theoretical Edge can reach 472 kbps, but for this the network needs to give you 8 slots. Almost none of the providers around the world allow this and limit connectivity to 4 slots down and 1 slot up. Giving 8 data slots will leave hardly any capacity left for voice calls!

Speed is very dependent on signal strength, the closer to the cell antenna, the clearer the signal and the higher the data rate per slot.

Regular GPRS allows speeds up to 80 kbps (class 10, 4 slots down 1 up, 20 kbps per slot) when close to the antenna. However for GPRS you really have to be standing virtually under the antenna to get the fastest speed, move out just a little and speed will drop to 57.6 kbps (14.4 kbps per slot).

Also when voice traffic is getting heavier, the system will take away slots from data connections, so speeds will drop accordingly.

Both AIS and Dtac currently have almost all their coverage nationwide upgraded to Edge.

[Utley]

I used Ipstar satellite for about 1 ½ years until just recently. It is marketed by TOT with free installation. Monthly fees run about 2,200 baht per month.

About 2 months ago I started to have great difficulty connecting to the Ipstar satellite so I switched to Edge via AIS using an external USB modem made by Huawei (purchased at the AIS outlet on the ground floor of the Big C complex). Although there is an AIS tower close to my home the connection speed is very slow (40 kps) and I lose it about 5 times per hour.

I am now researching a faster modem C-Motech CCU-680 sold by CAT Telecom with CDMA rather than Edge. I’ll let you know how it works out.

[dave_boo]

I used Ipstar satellite for about 1 ½ years until just recently. It is marketed by TOT with free installation. Monthly fees run about 2,200 baht per month.

About 2 months ago I started to have great difficulty connecting to the Ipstar satellite so I switched to Edge via AIS using an external USB modem made by Huawei (purchased at the AIS outlet on the ground floor of the Big C complex). Although there is an AIS tower close to my home the connection speed is very slow (40 kps) and I lose it about 5 times per hour.

I am now researching a faster modem C-Motech CCU-680 sold by CAT Telecom with CDMA rather than Edge. I'll let you know how it works out.

Utley, that's a rev.A modem. You'll get much faster uplinks and much lower pings....

[1900]

I have CAT, not the fast one though. My receiver cost 4,000B and the service is 600 a month (my house is 500 meters from the transmission tower). I've never seen my download at higher than 15 Kbs. It least you won't get that after-school gamer's slowdown. What you do get is the phone caller's slowdown, mostly from about 4PM to 6PM. Night time it's pretty good. Just thought I'd let ya know.

[dave_boo]

I have CAT, not the fast one though. My receiver cost 4,000B and the service is 600 a month (my house is 500 meters from the transmission tower). I've never seen my download at higher than 15 Kbs. It least you won't get that after-school gamer's slowdown. What you do get is the phone caller's slowdown, mostly from about 4PM to 6PM. Night time it's pretty good. Just thought I'd let ya know.

Is that kilobits or kilobytes? Because if that's kilobits, you're doing quite well; 15 Kilobytes=120 Kilobits which means you're getting 78% of the rated speed. And that's considered good in networking that uses TCP/IP.

[Sheryl]

I am nowhere near any transmission tower, and I am fairly sure I am the only person with a computer in not only my village but for several around. Nearest towns of any size at all are 30 and 50 km awqay respectively. So my challenge is to figure out what I can receive, if anything. Internet cafe places in the town all assure me that where I am, I won't get anything, and if getting anything requires a tower ir node within close proximity it is probably true.

From the Hutch website they do cover my province but n ot clear if I can receive from where I am, I have an email in to them.

Is there an equivalent website for Edge???

[jdinasia]

so you didn't call ....

[monty]

I am nowhere near any transmission tower, and I am fairly sure I am the only person with a computer in not only my village but for several around. Nearest towns of any size at all are 30 and 50 km awqay respectively. So my challenge is to figure out what I can receive, if anything. Internet cafe places in the town all assure me that where I am, I won't get anything, and if getting anything requires a tower ir node within close proximity it is probably true.

From the Hutch website they do cover my province but n ot clear if I can receive from where I am, I have an email in to them.

Is there an equivalent website for Edge???

None of the websites have exact coverage info, especially out there in the boondocks.

Really, the only way to find out is with an edge capable phone and check what indicator you get (G or E, for gprs and edge respectively) along with the signal strength indicator.

[GungaDin]

Sheryl,

in the room where you want to work on your pc or laptop,

what is the signal strength on your mobile phone, is it full or partial and is it AIS or DTAC?

[anotheruser]

Did you contact MaxNet?

I tried the website, it is mostly in Thai butr from what I can gather seems geared towards business customers and Bangkok based?

Are they an IPS? Because if so I am pretty sure they don't have coverage in my area..??

Thanks

Maxnet is TT&T and in theory available countrywide. Most TV members in Phuket use it. It is cheap and reasonably reliable.

Call the call center at 1103

I used it in Phuket and was happy with it (I was not in Patong or in Phukettown but there were at least 2 nodes in Kamala)

And it is broadband not dial up?

TT&T is out here, they are my long distance carrier...

Maxnet is an ISP owned by TT&T.

Available everywhere in Thailand on a TT&T line APART from Bangkok.

Maxnet is ADSL broadband, not dial-up.

The only caveat is that you have to be within roughly 3 km's from the telephone exchange you are hooked up to, while regular phone lines (and dial-up) work up to 30 km away from the exchange.

So there is a big chance you are hooked up to an ADSL capable telephone exchange, but you are just too far away from it to support ADSL broadband.

About the iphone, I'm pretty sure it's the one and only mobile phone which does not indicate whether it is on a regular GPRS or an EDGE network so no luck there.

WCDMA is an even faster version of mobile internet, however it won't be available in Thailand anytime soon (maybe late 2009). On top of it the WCDMA in the 3120 classic is the old UMTS standard, which will never get introduced in Thailand (which will use HSDPA). So no point spending extra on the 3120, the 3110 classic will do nicely for at least a year more.

The iPhone most certainly does display the 'E' symbol for edge as well as a small circle for GPRS. If you have the newer model it also displays when it is on 3G.

[ballbreaker]

I am nowhere near any transmission tower, and I am fairly sure I am the only person with a computer in not only my village but for several around. Nearest towns of any size at all are 30 and 50 km awqay respectively. So my challenge is to figure out what I can receive, if anything. Internet cafe places in the town all assure me that where I am, I won't get anything, and if getting anything requires a tower ir node within close proximity it is probably true.

From the Hutch website they do cover my province but n ot clear if I can receive from where I am, I have an email in to them.

Is there an equivalent website for Edge???

I would not rely on coverage info from vendors of their respective service. Many people have purchased equipment based on their info only to find out it doesn't work. Its always best if you can find someone with phone so you can check at your location.

Not much to know about Edge except to verify you have Edge capable phone and good signal strength. The phone will automatically use GPRS and switch to EDGE if available from that location. Remember EDGE (EGPRS) is just a higher speed GPRS.

As for EDGE both AIS and DTAC currently offer GPRS in all areas and many have been upgraded to EDGE. Once you verify it works in you area you sign up for one of their internet plans. I currently have AIS and they call theirs Mobile Net Package. I'm not sure about DTAC. I currently use a pre-paid SIM and for 350 baht plus tax get 100 hours for 30 days. They offer many price options based on your usage.

If your cell phone works at your house and signal strength is high then you should have no problem using GPRS and if EDGE is available in that area it should work. Your current Nokia 3120 should be able to access the internet via the key pad if I'm not mistaken. It will be at a slow GPRS speed but its one test you can try.

Edited October 28, 2008 by ballbreaker

[Sheryl]

so you didn't call ....

Yes, I did call. Much frustration and difficulty asnd basically they could not say because the person I was speaking to had no clue as to where it is I live and wasn't much inclined to try to figure it out.

I plan to go in person to the TT&T office awhen I'm next in town nd talk to them there as they are at least likely to know where I am referring toi (my village that is).

[Sheryl]

Sheryl,

in the room where you want to work on your pc or laptop,

what is the signal strength on your mobile phone, is it full or partial and is it AIS or DTAC?

What I have currently is AIS altho DTAC also works out here. the signal strength varies from about 50% to 80%, rarely full except sometimes late at night.

[Sheryl]

Not much to know about Edge except to verify you have Edge capable phone and good signal strength. The phone will automatically use GPRS and switch to EDGE if available from that location. Remember EDGE (EGPRS) is just a higher speed GPRS.

As for EDGE both AIS and DTAC currently offer GPRS in all areas and many have been upgraded to EDGE. Once you verify it works in you area you sign up for one of their internet plans. I currently have AIS and they call theirs Mobile Net Package. I'm not sure about DTAC. I currently use a pre-paid SIM and for 350 baht plus tax get 100 hours for 30 days. They offer many price options based on your usage.

If your cell phone works at your house and signal strength is high then you should have no problem using GPRS and if EDGE is available in that area it should work. Your current Nokia 3120 should be able to access the internet via the key pad if I'm not mistaken. It will be at a slow GPRS speed but its one test you can try.

How exactly would I go about doing that (testing whether my current phone can connect)??

[ballbreaker]

Not much to know about Edge except to verify you have Edge capable phone and good signal strength. The phone will automatically use GPRS and switch to EDGE if available from that location. Remember EDGE (EGPRS) is just a higher speed GPRS.

As for EDGE both AIS and DTAC currently offer GPRS in all areas and many have been upgraded to EDGE. Once you verify it works in you area you sign up for one of their internet plans. I currently have AIS and they call theirs Mobile Net Package. I'm not sure about DTAC. I currently use a pre-paid SIM and for 350 baht plus tax get 100 hours for 30 days. They offer many price options based on your usage.

If your cell phone works at your house and signal strength is high then you should have no problem using GPRS and if EDGE is available in that area it should work. Your current Nokia 3120 should be able to access the internet via the key pad if I'm not mistaken. It will be at a slow GPRS speed but its one test you can try.

How exactly would I go about doing that (testing whether my current phone can connect)??

It appears you will need to follow directions in manual for 3120 phone. It will be under SERVICES (Menu 12). Each phone setup is a little different so must follow manual setup procedure. I will email manual I downloaded from Nokia just in case you don't have one.

[Sheryl]

I get an immedicate message "GPRS Connection Not Available". Now, the first time I did this it was without a user name or password as I am unclear how to get these, but the "No GPRS" message came so quickly that I kind of doubt that was the problem, I would expect a different message if ity were a password/ID problem.

After some fumbling about on the AIS mobilelife website I registered for a onetiem password for soemthing (all in Thai and I don't read Thai well), tried second time with the password but still no user name, same exact result.

On the Connection settings menu for services it reads AIS-GPRS-WAP as name, wap.mobilelife as homepage, Data bearer GPRS and GPRS access point wap. All of these came autiomatically, I didn't put them in. Then there are blanks for user name and password...

My niece's iPhone shows neither the E nor the circle when she's here.

Am I correct in thinking that my location doesn't receive either GPRS or Edge or do I need to further pursue this by getting a user name and password, or by trying with a DTAC SIM?

[ballbreaker]

I get an immedicate message "GPRS Connection Not Available". Now, the first time I did this it was without a user name or password as I am unclear how to get these, but the "No GPRS" message came so quickly that I kind of doubt that was the problem, I would expect a different message if ity were a password/ID problem.

After some fumbling about on the AIS mobilelife website I registered for a onetiem password for soemthing (all in Thai and I don't read Thai well), tried second time with the password but still no user name, same exact result.

On the Connection settings menu for services it reads AIS-GPRS-WAP as name, wap.mobilelife as homepage, Data bearer GPRS and GPRS access point wap. All of these came autiomatically, I didn't put them in. Then there are blanks for user name and password...

My niece's iPhone shows neither the E nor the circle when she's here.

Am I correct in thinking that my location doesn't receive either GPRS or Edge or do I need to further pursue this by getting a user name and password, or by trying with a DTAC SIM?

First off you do not need a user name or password to access GPRS and my Samsung seems to have the same connection setting of your Nokia.

Its hard to believe GPRS is not available in your location because I was under the impression that GPRS uses unused time slots so it should always be available but perhaps slow at times.

I am not sure at this point what is going on with your phone or area. I've looked through the manual and do not see any other required settings.

I guess you might try when you get close to a large town in the near future.

[GungaDin]

Thanks, this is sounding clearer and clearer. My phone is the old Nokia 3120, nio camera, so that answers that. Now I just have to track down someone with an edge enabled phone and see if I am within reach of Edge.

New phone would be small price to pay for broadband...!!

No EDGE or GPRS.

[Sheryl]

Thanks, this is sounding clearer and clearer. My phone is the old Nokia 3120, nio camera, so that answers that. Now I just have to track down someone with an edge enabled phone and see if I am within reach of Edge.

New phone would be small price to pay for broadband...!!

No EDGE or GPRS.

Do you mean non EDGE or GPRS in my area or that my phone isn't enabled for it? My phone is definitely not Edge enabled but it is supposed to be able to get GPRS....

Update: I got an answer from Hutch: no coverage where I am. Went to the TT&T office in the provincial town, where the staff were quite pleasant and understood exactly where I live and said the signal would not reach there.

So: Hutch and Maxnet a definite no, and most likely no EDGE or GPRS either, although I will continue trying to verify for sure via someone else's phone.

I gues sthat leaves a satellite system of some sort although poster comments thus far haven't sounded very favorable on the speed those will provide....?

One other thought: it won't get me broadband but it woul at least increase my options and chances of getting a connection of 30 kbs or more if I could use my mobile phone for the dial up connection. The landline connection is often bad, especially on rainy or windy days, I recently had 2 weeks solid of never connecting abover 8 kbs. And not infrequently goes down altogther.

Is there some sort of cable or device I can buy to hook up the mobile phone to dial up my connection? I tried extensively some years back to get one, bith in Bangkok and Singapore, and no one seemed to know of any such thing but maybe in past 5-6 years things have changed. Can anyone advise what it is i need to get to be able to do this?

[monty]

Do you mean non EDGE or GPRS in my area or that my phone isn't enabled for it? My phone is definitely not Edge enabled but it is supposed to be able to get GPRS....

Update: I got an answer from Hutch: no coverage where I am. Went to the TT&T office in the provincial town, where the staff were quite pleasant and understood exactly where I live and said the signal would not reach there.

So: Hutch and Maxnet a definite no, and most likely no EDGE or GPRS either, although I will continue trying to verify for sure via someone else's phone.

I gues sthat leaves a satellite system of some sort although poster comments thus far haven't sounded very favorable on the speed those will provide....?

One other thought: it won't get me broadband but it woul at least increase my options and chances of getting a connection of 30 kbs or more if I could use my mobile phone for the dial up connection. The landline connection is often bad, especially on rainy or windy days, I recently had 2 weeks solid of never connecting abover 8 kbs. And not infrequently goes down altogther.

Is there some sort of cable or device I can buy to hook up the mobile phone to dial up my connection? I tried extensively some years back to get one, bith in Bangkok and Singapore, and no one seemed to know of any such thing but maybe in past 5-6 years things have changed. Can anyone advise what it is i need to get to be able to do this?

Dial up through the GSM network is limited at 9.6 kbps. Additionally at AIS they have to enable data calls on your phone number. Only possible on post paid accounts, not on one2call.

Plus it turns out very expensive as you'll pay your connection 3 Baht per minute. Even if you have some promotion going, datacalls are still the full 3 Baht/minute (180 Baht/hour!).

Indeed your phone should be able to WAP, and it should show a G in the display when GPRS available. So it would look like no GPRS on AIS (strange though).

Try to opo in a Dtac simcard...

[Sheryl]

A friend with an Edhge enabled phone who regulalry uses it to conncet to internet via DTAC (in the town) just came over with her computer.

No signal.

So: no to Hutch, no to Edge, no to Maxnet and seem not even to have GPRS out here.

The only thing left from what I have heard so far is CS-Loxinfo via satellite and an immarset phone. LoxInfo I can track down in the town and talk to. I assume immarset phones are very costly??

Am I missing anything?

[MaiChai]

Nokia 3120 Classic is a 3G phone, and thus should be good at data crunching. All phones should be 3G capable now since its everywhere in the MODERN world. Unfortunatly Thailand is backward in this respect and will never get 3G if the phone companies and government continue playing games with little regard for the consumer. Rest of the world has been 3G for some time now and HDPSA is now prevalent and available in low end phones (will Thailand ever have this?).

[longball53098]

Sorry I may have missed it in this long thread,,,,do you have a phone line currently? If not can you get one and just use the slow old method of dial-up?

[ballbreaker]

On my trip from Korat-Bangkok I decided to take a different route than the normal one. After getting living location of OP I traveled a route that went through her village and was able to get good signal and EDGE connection using AIS pre-paid SIMS on two different phones (Nokia N73 and Samsung E690). From what I saw on my phone it should be a very good connection. Certainly as good or better than what I see using EDGE at my home slightly north of Korat.

[manjara]

Hi,

I haven't read the rest of the thread, so apologies if I'm repeating earlier suggestions.

I have a CAT subscription for a 'fixed-wireless' phone, based on CDMA. It's a Huawei phone that looks like a normal 'house-phone'. It also gives me an internet connection at around 128kbps. Not too bad, and the rate is around 1 baht per minute, I think (it's never that much per month anyway). CAT also do a more expensive option, where you get 2Mbps - but I can't remember the price, other than that it was about 10k for the equipment and that it was good value if you used it a lot!

I also have a True mobile where I get unlimited GPRS for around 800 baht per month (has to be postpaid). That usually gets me similar to dial-up speeds, on a good day.

This was all up in the North of Thailand, about 8km east of Ngao, which is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere itself!

[Sheryl]

Thanks to all and especially Ballbreaker who established that there is Edsge and GPRS connectivity in my area. it turns out that I just needed to call AIS to activate my GPRS and my niece needed to likewise call DTAC to activate EDGE on her phone.

i have no idea why we needed to do this when everyone else says it should be automatic. Maybe because we bought out SIM cards many years back (perhaps before these services were available)?

Anyhow now that I know I have EDGE that is the route I will take. Plan to buy a new Nokia 3120 in a few weeks when I go to Cambodia (much cheaper there plus user manuals in English). Meanwhile in my spare time keep trying to get it to work with my niece's EDGE, so far no luck but probably some set up glitch related to the phone itself.

Looking forward to joining the modern age with reazl connectivity!!! I already signed up for a package with AIS to keep costs reasonable. New phone and knock on wood I'm all set....

[LivinLOS]

I have never had to have GRPS or edge turned on..

You do of course have to have the settings in the phone.. For which AIS can send you a configuration SMS for the commonly used phones.. Maybe thats what happened.

[ballbreaker]

Thanks to all and especially Ballbreaker who established that there is Edsge and GPRS connectivity in my area. it turns out that I just needed to call AIS to activate my GPRS and my niece needed to likewise call DTAC to activate EDGE on her phone.

i have no idea why we needed to do this when everyone else says it should be automatic. Maybe because we bought out SIM cards many years back (perhaps before these services were available)?

Anyhow now that I know I have EDGE that is the route I will take. Plan to buy a new Nokia 3120 in a few weeks when I go to Cambodia (much cheaper there plus user manuals in English). Meanwhile in my spare time keep trying to get it to work with my niece's EDGE, so far no luck but probably some set up glitch related to the phone itself.

Looking forward to joining the modern age with reazl connectivity!!! I already signed up for a package with AIS to keep costs reasonable. New phone and knock on wood I'm all set....

If your getting another Nokia 3120 make sure its the 3120 Classic. You can check this link: http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_3120_classic-2240.php