Gprs/edge Slower Than Ever?

[misterme]

Recently back in CM and noticing how terribly slow my internet is with my laptop and AIS Edge service.

It seems to be just as slow as it was a few years ago before all of Thailand had been upgraded to Edge. I'm normally in Phuket, and speeds are much faster when I surf there.

Isn't 3G here? Have users noticed a slower GPRS/Edge connection speed too? Do I need to temporarily subscribe to 3G to benefit from the upgrade, and is it worth it? I seem to remember quite expensive price differences between GPRS and 3G.

Any comments or experience is appreciated.

[Sledge71]

Recently back in CM and noticing how terribly slow my internet is with my laptop and AIS Edge service.

It seems to be just as slow as it was a few years ago before all of Thailand had been upgraded to Edge. I'm normally in Phuket, and speeds are much faster when I surf there.

Isn't 3G here? Have users noticed a slower GPRS/Edge connection speed too? Do I need to temporarily subscribe to 3G to benefit from the upgrade, and is it worth it? I seem to remember quite expensive price differences between GPRS and 3G.

Any comments or experience is appreciated.

As far as I know 3G is just within the moat area, it's not Chiang mai wide yet, from memory it's expensive and switches to edge when you out of range. Which will be most of the time. Perhaps it's improved - feel free to correct me.

Cat has a newish CDMA solution - you'll need to buy a USB attachment for your laptop circa 10K and pay approx 800THB per month. It's supposed to be pretty good, faster than the old CDMA solution via a PCMCIA card. I don't know the Nationwide coverage though, expensive if you can't use it when you get back to Phuket But good for Chiang Mai!

[JoshCM]

It could be data congest in particular place & time where/ when you are connected. Try again in the morning/ afternoon , the connection should be faster...

[mcgriffith]

I have AIS 3G (and DTAC EDGE and Maxnet ADSL).

I average between 60-180 kbps on AIS. I live near CMU at the base of the mountain; 99% signal strength here.

It (like all other ISP's in Thailand) has its good and bad days.

The package I signed up for- 199 B a month, for 1st 6 months 500 MB included. After 6 months, 5 MB= 1 B. Outside 3G area (EDGE/GPRS) 20 hours usage included in this price.

It is cheap, and it usually works well. And no, I don't do torrents, or partake of YouTube, etc.- no streaming video at these prices

Catch: you need to buy a flashdrive modem- 5990 B. "phone one" (Huawei) brand. Works on all the GSM freqs as well as the 2100 Mhz band.

As I've mentioned before, redundancy in Internet connectivity is my advice for Thailand.

How many posts from very disgruntled members/customers, who are paying 1000-2000 B a month.....and have very iffy service (or sometimes none at all).

Better to not put all your eggs in one basket....have a few low-cost options as backup.

Just my 25 satang.

[xwteee]

I have AIS 3G (and DTAC EDGE and Maxnet ADSL).

I average between 60-180 kbps on AIS. I live near CMU at the base of the mountain; 99% signal strength here.

It (like all other ISP's in Thailand) has its good and bad days.

The package I signed up for- 199 B a month, for 1st 6 months 500 MB included. After 6 months, 5 MB= 1 B. Outside 3G area (EDGE/GPRS) 20 hours usage included in this price.

On average, how much "MB" could a one hour live stream program contain, just to give me an idea ? I am mostly interested in using AIS 3G for live stream programs, because it's nearly impossible to watch them with my TOT "gold"cyberpackage.

By the way, you mention a 60-180kps for AIS. I guess this is for "Edge" and not for "3G" ?

[mcgriffith]

I have AIS 3G (and DTAC EDGE and Maxnet ADSL).

I average between 60-180 kbps on AIS. I live near CMU at the base of the mountain; 99% signal strength here.

It (like all other ISP's in Thailand) has its good and bad days.

The package I signed up for- 199 B a month, for 1st 6 months 500 MB included. After 6 months, 5 MB= 1 B. Outside 3G area (EDGE/GPRS) 20 hours usage included in this price.

On average, how much "MB" could a one hour live stream program contain, just to give me an idea ? I am mostly interested in using AIS 3G for live stream programs, because it's nearly impossible to watch them with my TOT "gold"cyberpackage.

By the way, you mention a 60-180kps for AIS. I guess this is for "Edge" and not for "3G" ?

I have no idea what a 1 hour live streaming program content would be in MB, or GB for that matter.

I have AIS 3G- they call it 3GSM Advance. Go to the main AIS office on Tapae Road, and they will fill you in on the coverage area, pricing, modems, terms and conditions, etc. The network is CAPABLE (my emphasis) of 7.2 Mps. As I mentioned, I never see speeds better than 180, maybe 200 kbps maximum.

Sounds to me like you want to watch TV shows. Or download large content (movies, etc.) As I mentioned, this service is really not suitable for live streaming video, or large data transfers. But it is cheap! And faster than Edge (by a bit- I have DTAC Edge as well).

Probably IpStar is your best option, for what you want to do.

Hope this helps.

[xwteee]

I have AIS 3G (and DTAC EDGE and Maxnet ADSL).

I average between 60-180 kbps on AIS. I live near CMU at the base of the mountain; 99% signal strength here.

It (like all other ISP's in Thailand) has its good and bad days.

The package I signed up for- 199 B a month, for 1st 6 months 500 MB included. After 6 months, 5 MB= 1 B. Outside 3G area (EDGE/GPRS) 20 hours usage included in this price.

On average, how much "MB" could a one hour live stream program contain, just to give me an idea ? I am mostly interested in using AIS 3G for live stream programs, because it's nearly impossible to watch them with my TOT "gold"cyberpackage.

By the way, you mention a 60-180kps for AIS. I guess this is for "Edge" and not for "3G" ?

I have no idea what a 1 hour live streaming program content would be in MB, or GB for that matter.

I have AIS 3G- they call it 3GSM Advance. Go to the main AIS office on Tapae Road, and they will fill you in on the coverage area, pricing, modems, terms and conditions, etc. The network is CAPABLE (my emphasis) of 7.2 Mps. As I mentioned, I never see speeds better than 180, maybe 200 kbps maximum.

Sounds to me like you want to watch TV shows. Or download large content (movies, etc.) As I mentioned, this service is really not suitable for live streaming video, or large data transfers. But it is cheap! And faster than Edge (by a bit- I have DTAC Edge as well).

Probably IpStar is your best option, for what you want to do.

Hope this helps.

I sure helps, mcgriffith. One more question though : why is it that "3G" is not suitable for live streaming video ? I thought that due to it's relatively high speed and low cost it would be the choice "par excellence" ?

And one more thing : on too many occasions I have read bad reports about IpStar, actually most of the time it's being called "CrapStar". Without having experienced this service myself, bad publicity has done it's work and I wouldn't even consider taking this rather expensive "IpStar".