Usb Internet Stick Dongle Vs Mobile Phone Modem

[blakegeee]

I am interested in getting online in a remote village in Chiang Rai province. A cell phone tower was recently installed close enough to now get a signal.

What is the difference between using a cell phone as a modem to connect to the internet vs using a USB dongle (aka internet stick, aka data card?)?

I have heard about EDGE technology which is the best available in Thailand, and 3G is not yet available now right? Do both of these options use this same technology? Any benefits to one vs the other?

Thanks for any info!

[stumonster]

the cellphone method advantages are you probably already own a cellphone with the data capability - can connect to the cellphone via bluetooth or USB cable

you can also use PCMCIA card modems or USB modems to connect to the mobile data connection , but it becomes another device to have to carry with you if you are using it mobile - but some devices allow you to connect an external aerial which will give you better reception and mostly a better connection and speed.

if you are using a desktop and don't mind spending the extra money a usb modem that accepts an external aerial would be the most solid solution. ( you can also get wifi routers which accept a PCMCIA modem and Huawei has just realeased the D100 which accepts Huawei USB modems and is a wifi AP and 1 RJ45 network port.

if you are using a laptop with bluetooth , just using your phone is probably the least hassle.

( I use my phone via bluetooth to my laptop )

when thailand gets HSPA rolled out mobile data access will be a much more rewarding experience

[ballbreaker]

I am interested in getting online in a remote village in Chiang Rai province. A cell phone tower was recently installed close enough to now get a signal.

What is the difference between using a cell phone as a modem to connect to the internet vs using a USB dongle (aka internet stick, aka data card?)?

I have heard about EDGE technology which is the best available in Thailand, and 3G is not yet available now right? Do both of these options use this same technology? Any benefits to one vs the other?

Thanks for any info!

Performance should be the same between the cell and dongle option. You will need a second SIM if you go the dongle route unless don't mind moving SIM back and forth between phone and air card dongle.

[Gary A]

Before EDGE, I used a Solomon USB modem. There was no difference in speed between the Solomon and my Nokia phone. Both were slow. When EDGE became available, I bought an EDGE capable phone and gave the old Solomon to a Thai friend who still uses it. I now use a Nokia E51 and a Samsung E370. The Nokia normally has the AIS SIM card in it and the Samsung the Dtac SIM card. I had thought the Nokia data cable would be faster but have found no speed difference between Bluetooth and the data cable nor any difference between the Samsung Bluetooth and the Nokia data cable. The ONLY speed difference are between the AIS and Dtac services. USB modem, bluetooth or data cable are all faster than the services available.

[blakegeee]

Before EDGE, I used a Solomon USB modem. There was no difference in speed between the Solomon and my Nokia phone. Both were slow. When EDGE became available, I bought an EDGE capable phone and gave the old Solomon to a Thai friend who still uses it. I now use a Nokia E51 and a Samsung E370. The Nokia normally has the AIS SIM card in it and the Samsung the Dtac SIM card. I had thought the Nokia data cable would be faster but have found no speed difference between Bluetooth and the data cable nor any difference between the Samsung Bluetooth and the Nokia data cable. The ONLY speed difference are between the AIS and Dtac services. USB modem, bluetooth or data cable are all faster than the services available.

Thanks so much for the information guys. So which one do you find faster, AIS or Dtac? Maybe it depends who has a better signal wherever you are I guess? One last question, are there any limitations for me if I am using a Mac laptop, only a few months old (macbook 2.4ghz)?

[Gary A]

As far as the Apple, I have no idea. Yes, I think it depends where you are at. I have a full signal with both AIS and Dtac but Dtac is much better right now. AIS has been very bad for the past month or so.

[monty]

If speed and reliability is important it makes sense to have both a Dtac and an AIS sim card handy (as both I and Gary A have).

Location can have an impact, but apart from that they are always fiddling with their systems so you can find 1 month AIS having brilliant service while Dtac is soso, just to see it completely reversed next month!

I feel (again, in my location) that Dtac has the better and more stable GPRS system, but they seem to be lacking a bit of bandwidth at the source, meaning practically that it is reliable and steady, but not so fast.

AIS seems to be playing with their stuff a lot, so their service can completely disappear for days on end, in different ways, i.e. cannot connect at all, or connect but no data transfer etc... But when everything is up and running properly, it seems to outperform Dtac speed wise by a good amount...

My main provider is AIS, for which I have a 50 hours/month package (costs 250 Baht) while Dtac is my back up. On Dtac I do not have a package so when I use it I get deducted 1 Baht/minute. If it looks like AIS is seriously messed up, I tend to take a 1 week unlimited package on Dtac (also around 250 Baht) and usually after that week AIS has things running smoothly again.

All in all I reckon I pay around 600 Baht/month on internet access and to keep the 2 sim cards alive. I only use it while on the move, so maybe anywhere between 20 and 60 hours/month.

[Gary A]

This morning, I used Dtac to connect to the Internet. It connected fine but was stalled. By stalled, I mean connected but not working. I disconnected and connected with AIS. AIS is working great. I have been connected for three hours with no problems. It's too early to say AIS has worked out their problems but this is the best it has been for more than a month.

[Gary A]

I spoke too soon. AIS has given up already and I'm back on Dtac. It is slow right now but at least it's working.

[think_too_mut]

when thailand gets HSPA rolled out mobile data access will be a much more rewarding experience

PCI Like this - works on Shinkansen, in tunnels, everywhere...7.2Mbps, better than LAN connection in many countries (including Australia):

[blakegeee]

when thailand gets HSPA rolled out mobile data access will be a much more rewarding experience

PCI Like this - works on Shinkansen, in tunnels, everywhere...7.2Mbps, better than LAN connection in many countries (including Australia):

Is there any news of Thailand going for this or the 3G system? I guess its pretty hard to say even if there was talk about it. Oh now I spoke to soon. I just found an article that 3G is already available but only in the Chiang Mai city centre area as a trial. Once they work out the bugs, they will expand it. Hopefully that doesn't take too long but I am sure it will. I live in Chiang Mai but I already have broadband there. Its Chiang Rai province in small villages that is the issue for me.

[GungaDin]

^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Don't hold your breath.

[anotheruser]

Even a caveman can tether a phone to a Mac it is very very simple. Just open your Bluetooth preferences window and set up new device. It will pair it and most likely even name it for you. Takes about 2 minutes to do the first time. Depending on what make of phone you have the bundled .exe software crap won't work as is the case with Nokia phones. I don't know what their software does and didn't care as I just bought the phone to tether and that was it. If you are using a laptop and will be doing so in areas away from power plug ins, then the advantage of the dongle seems to be one less device with a battery to charge. Oh, and to not tie up your phone while online too of course.

As far as 3G in Thailand goes even if they put a system up it most likely won't work very well anyway. 3G signals don't travel as far as Edge does nor does it penetrate buildings very well. 3G coverage also highly varies upon even slight differences of location. I get 3 bars in my yard here but none in my house. Even if 3G launches in Thailand expect nothing but frustration with it outside of areas like Bkk. I live right outside of London at the moment and 3G is here but very weak. Don't expect Issan to have strong (read usable here) 3G any time soon or you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Even in the west 3G is a marketing gimmick more than anything.

[kenk3z]

The advantage of getting a phone to use for EDGE internet access is, obviously, that you can use it as a phone if you need to.

Recently I used a Nokia 6085 on AIS EDGE with a laptop and a Bluetooth dongle. The Bluetooth range was around 10 meters, so I could just leave the phone in one place and move around with the laptop. This is a better situation than being tethered by USB cable.

When a call came in or I needed to make an outgoing call, the data access was placed on hold and the voice call took priority.

The SIM card was an AIS prepaid NET SIM. I had never seen one before but saw it on EBay at reduced price and snapped it up. It had 30 hours of data access upon activation (which I never used up during almost three weeks of vacation) and maybe 50 baht telephone credit. I plussed-up with 300 baht telephone credit and that also lasted me for the whole vacation. So for less than $20 USD I had a cell phone and EDGE Internet access during a three-week vacation. Upon return to the USA I put back the AT&T wireless SIM card and continued on with the phone.

Compared to a phone, I can't think of much advantage to a USB data stick in my single-laptop situation. As others have mentioned, if you are planning to network multiple PCs into a router, then the USB data stick may do better.

kenk3z

[blakegeee]

I guess the advantage for me of the USB dongle would be that I could continue using my cheap phone. I don't have to buy a more expensive one with more capabilities. Are the USB dongles very expensive or hard to find? And/or, are there many cheaper phones with EDGE capabilities or do only the high end models have this? Oh ya, as "anotheruser" mentioned, I don't have to worry about keeping it charged which is convenient since I do spend a lot of time online sometimes.

I won't be networking any computers. Just running my own laptop.

The advantage of getting a phone to use for EDGE internet access is, obviously, that you can use it as a phone if you need to.

Recently I used a Nokia 6085 on AIS EDGE with a laptop and a Bluetooth dongle. The Bluetooth range was around 10 meters, so I could just leave the phone in one place and move around with the laptop. This is a better situation than being tethered by USB cable.

When a call came in or I needed to make an outgoing call, the data access was placed on hold and the voice call took priority.

The SIM card was an AIS prepaid NET SIM. I had never seen one before but saw it on EBay at reduced price and snapped it up. It had 30 hours of data access upon activation (which I never used up during almost three weeks of vacation) and maybe 50 baht telephone credit. I plussed-up with 300 baht telephone credit and that also lasted me for the whole vacation. So for less than $20 USD I had a cell phone and EDGE Internet access during a three-week vacation. Upon return to the USA I put back the AT&T wireless SIM card and continued on with the phone.

Compared to a phone, I can't think of much advantage to a USB data stick in my single-laptop situation. As others have mentioned, if you are planning to network multiple PCs into a router, then the USB data stick may do better.

kenk3z

[blakegeee]

I don't know much about it, but I just read that the 3G they are using is 900mhz which travels further but it is not supported by most 3G phones available to Thailand. Apparently most 3G phones support a higher frequency that doesn't travel as far. I guess AIS or whoever is offering the service is going to supply more of these 900mhz 3G phones.

Even a caveman can tether a phone to a Mac it is very very simple. Just open your Bluetooth preferences window and set up new device. It will pair it and most likely even name it for you. Takes about 2 minutes to do the first time. Depending on what make of phone you have the bundled .exe software crap won't work as is the case with Nokia phones. I don't know what their software does and didn't care as I just bought the phone to tether and that was it. If you are using a laptop and will be doing so in areas away from power plug ins, then the advantage of the dongle seems to be one less device with a battery to charge. Oh, and to not tie up your phone while online too of course.

As far as 3G in Thailand goes even if they put a system up it most likely won't work very well anyway. 3G signals don't travel as far as Edge does nor does it penetrate buildings very well. 3G coverage also highly varies upon even slight differences of location. I get 3 bars in my yard here but none in my house. Even if 3G launches in Thailand expect nothing but frustration with it outside of areas like Bkk. I live right outside of London at the moment and 3G is here but very weak. Don't expect Issan to have strong (read usable here) 3G any time soon or you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Even in the west 3G is a marketing gimmick more than anything.

[monty]

I guess the advantage for me of the USB dongle would be that I could continue using my cheap phone. I don't have to buy a more expensive one with more capabilities. Are the USB dongles very expensive or hard to find? And/or, are there many cheaper phones with EDGE capabilities or do only the high end models have this? Oh ya, as "anotheruser" mentioned, I don't have to worry about keeping it charged which is convenient since I do spend a lot of time online sometimes.

I won't be networking any computers. Just running my own laptop.

Actually the cheapest phones offering Edge are cheaper then the USB dongles. Bigger market of course.

Nokia classic 3110 supports Edge, has USB mini connector and costs around 3,500 Baht.

The best known brand here in Thailand for the dongles is Solomon, but their Edge model costs almost 6,000 Baht.

There are Chinese made models round the 3500 Baht price level, but not sure about quality.

In China (mainland Shenzen) in the factory stores I've seen Edge dongles for 700 Baht (yep, seven hundred)!

[monty]

I don't know much about it, but I just read that the 3G they are using is 900mhz which travels further but it is not supported by most 3G phones available to Thailand. Apparently most 3G phones support a higher frequency that doesn't travel as far. I guess AIS or whoever is offering the service is going to supply more of these 900mhz 3G phones.

Actually AIS has only deployed a few cells in Chiang Mai on the 900 MHz band. Indeed very few phones support this frequency.

They have just slashed their 3G budget for next year from 600 million to 90 million, so I guess they'll wait till they get licenses on the 2100 MHz band, expected (maybe) late 2009, early 2010...

Don't worry about 3G in Thailand, you'll have to pop down to Laos or Cambodia to enjoy it!

[blakegeee]

I don't know much about it, but I just read that the 3G they are using is 900mhz which travels further but it is not supported by most 3G phones available to Thailand. Apparently most 3G phones support a higher frequency that doesn't travel as far. I guess AIS or whoever is offering the service is going to supply more of these 900mhz 3G phones.

Actually AIS has only deployed a few cells in Chiang Mai on the 900 MHz band. Indeed very few phones support this frequency.

They have just slashed their 3G budget for next year from 600 million to 90 million, so I guess they'll wait till they get licenses on the 2100 MHz band, expected (maybe) late 2009, early 2010...

Don't worry about 3G in Thailand, you'll have to pop down to Laos or Cambodia to enjoy it!

This is some good info! Thanks a lot everybody. This thread should be quite informative for a lot of people like me.

Wierd that Laos and Cambodia have 3G but Thailand doesnt! Do you think its because they dont bother with the licensing there? Definitely doesn't sound like I will be considering the 3G in Thailand any time soon. I understand you point about the phones being cheaper than the dongles. I think you have swayed me back to a phone! That seems crazy for a dongle. Although I guess the prices on them will probably fall fast as soon as its not such new technology. I wonder if I would be better to buy one here in Canada before I come?

I just looked up the Nokia 3110 phone online and oddly enough it is nearly identical to my phone, the 6275i, but my phone does not have EDGE

[GungaDin]

@ blakegeee.

just curious, how much is the 3110 classic in Canada?

Your currency is close to the AUD$........ or was.

[blakegeee]

@ blakegeee.

just curious, how much is the 3110 classic in Canada?

Your currency is close to the AUD$........ or was.

I don't know, I just tried looking online but can't find any prices and there doesn't seem to be anything on our 2nd hand site www.kijiji.ca

Next time I am at a store I will check it out. BTW; Canadian dollar is usually about 20% more than AUD I think. See www.xe.com

[kenk3z]

Got my Nokia 6085 on EBay. I bought it for my wife to use on AT&T in the USA, but also made sure it had the EDGE and Bluetooth features I could use on the vacation.

In my case, I bought a 6085 locked to AT&T. I've been with them long enough that they unlocked it for free when I told them I wanted to use it overseas.

Buying the locked phone was much cheaper as they have less market value.

You should be able to find a locked 6085 for well under $100 USD and unlocked is a bit more but still under $100.

Can you use this phone when you get back home? If not, sell it back on EBay.

kenk3z

[blakegeee]

I am thinking about getting a Nokia 6125 for connecting to my macbook for EDGE internet access. I was looking it up online and it looks like it has EDGE but maybe only for its own built-in browser? Does that make sense? Can anybody tell me if I can get my computer online with EDGE through the Nokia 6125?

Thanks!

[OxfordWill]

in general I have found the dongles to be better than my nokia 3110c for places like Bangkok, nongkhai, Laos, Jakarta. YMMV

[blakegeee]

Does anybody know about the 6125 for mobile internet? I saw that the 2630 has EDGE/EGPRS (or something like that) but does have EDGE to get mobile internet for a computer. For the 6125 it is not clear which type it has.

[Samuian]

Any updates on this one?

What the best choice/option these days?

Connection area Kantaralak.