Cdma Ev-do

[real]

Hi Everyone,

Let me ask a question.

Should I subscribe to CAT in order to use CDMA EV-DO ? How does CAT charge the user?

If so, what packages are there ? How much do they cost?

Thanks for your attention.

[nikster]

You have to buy the modem for either ~7000 or ~11,000 depending on the model.

The unlimited plan is BHT 799/month or ~850/month including taxes.

There are other limited plans but they have very low limits and are not that much cheaper so it doesn't make a lot of sense to get them...

Hi Everyone,

Let me ask a question.

Should I subscribe to CAT in order to use CDMA EV-DO ? How does CAT charge the user?

If so, what packages are there ? How much do they cost?

Thanks for your attention.

[dekka007]

Whats the download speeds like using CDMA EV-DO in BKK?

[Gary A]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. Hutch has the area around Bangkok and Chonburi and as far as I know there is no EVDO available in the Hutch covered areas. I have CAT EVDO and they told me that it doesn't work in Bangkok or Pattaya.

[monty]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. Hutch has the area around Bangkok and Chonburi and as far as I know there is no EVDO available in the Hutch covered areas. I have CAT EVDO and they told me that it doesn't work in Bangkok or Pattaya.

That is correct. Quite a big area as well.

Hutch covers greater Bangkok, up to Kanchanaburi in the West, Prachuap privince (Hua Hin/Cha Am) and the whole Eastern seaboard up to the Cambodian border.

http://www.hutch.co.th/networkcoverage/website/map_eng.htm

If you have a CAT CDMA phone you will have coverage in those area's but ONLY for voice, NOT data. Same if you have a Hutch phone. Voice nationwide but internet only in the Hutch provinces.

Hutch trialled CDMA EV-DO, both in Bangkok and Pattaya, but for some unknown reason dropped the system altogether and is sticking with the slower then Edge CDMA 1X

[real]

Thanks a lot for your kindness !

You have to buy the modem for either ~7000 or ~11,000 depending on the model.

The unlimited plan is BHT 799/month or ~850/month including taxes.

There are other limited plans but they have very low limits and are not that much cheaper so it doesn't make a lot of sense to get them...

Hi Everyone,

Let me ask a question.

Should I subscribe to CAT in order to use CDMA EV-DO ? How does CAT charge the user?

If so, what packages are there ? How much do they cost?

Thanks for your attention.

[nikster]

^^ Yeah, a major caveat is that it doesn't currently work in Bankok and vicinity. Works everywhere else. There is no technical reason, but there is a concession problem between CAT and Hutch which has been on-going for years now and there is no end in sight. It might change but don't count on that happening any time soon.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

I have just experienced that utter nonsense that those two family members have with each other.

To stet the record straight, CAT owns and runs (!) the network (CDMA 800 MHz) in all of Thailand, fullstop. Hutch only does marketing for their own services (voice/data) in the central regions. So that would make it "two networks" even though it's actually just one - there is absolutely no area where you can switch between Hutch and CAT, you have one or the other.

I have long been a Hutch user (since the first year they started) and always happy. But as i have started to travel to Chiang Mai somewhat regularly and have no internet there, i was always disappointed that my Hutch does voice (while "roaming" on CAT) but no data. There is NO technical reason - "marketing" is what i'm told at CAT and "concession problem" is what i'm told at Hutch.

Just last week i found out that CAT now finally sells pre-paid SIM cards, too, so i got me one. I thought "no problem, got a bunch of Hutch phones, just use one of those with the CAT SIM as a modem up north" but - narda. None of my Hutch phones would accept the CAT SIM card!! Where as a Nokia which i got from Indonesia runs well on both CAT and Hutch - yet that phone got no data capability at all. Again i phoned CAT and they told me "yeah, Hutch lock their phones so they don't work with CAT SIM cards but we can change the firmware of your phone so it will work with CAT and Hutch!" and then i phoned Hutch who told me "no don't do that, it will work with both but no longer do data via Hutch!" Asking if Hutch could "unlock" the phone? "Sorry, not possible, don't have the software".

I saw that, in Chiang Mai, they sell CDMA/GSM-in-one phones (Chinese no-name ones) all over the place, however only the ones 6k+ Baht do data via CDMA and i don't want to spend that much on a phone to be used only for a few weeks a year. So after some searching around (and talking to a guy at CAT who spoke English just like a native American!) i found a place that sold real CAT phones, so i got me one - 3,500 Baht, a Samsung. Popped in my CAT SIM, worked fine - installed driver on the computer, connected it, and yup - internet was there and quite fast, too. Expensive though - their prepaid charges 5 Baht per megabyte, but to check e-mail it is good enough, certainly better than the ultra-crappy GPRS i got by putting my D-TAC into the bathroom (net strength 1-2 bars) and praying that the bluetooth link lasts to the next room. AIS has no coverage there at all, neither does TRUE, but CAT is full on

I then popped my Hutch SIM into that phone, expecting it to work - after all CAT had not much good words for Hutch locking their phones but wait - didn't work?? SAME THING IN GREEN!! CAT locks their's just like Hutch.

So now i have a CAT that doesn't do data (but voice) in Bangkok and 3 Hutch that won't do data (but voice) in Chiang Mai - and another phone for my collection.

Now i'm looking for a Chinese manufacturer that makes an all-CDMA dual-SIM phone WITHOUT A dam_n TELEVISION IN IT that does data and isn't huge like a bloody PDA, i'll get me one of those.

And i seriously hope that their USB-modems are not locked like the phones! I'd like to try EV-DO but not with separate devices for Bangkok and Chiang Mai! I haven't got money to burn, got to pay my car first.

Best regards.....

Thanh