Terrible Speed With Ais Gprs/edge

[GreenSnapper]

I use GPRS/EDGE as my internet connection. Used to work ok with DL speeds of 250 kb/sec at good times.

Now it is just unbearable slow since a few days, a single page sometimes needs minutes to load. Reminds me of the internet connection in Myanmar......

I have a strong signal, live in an upper floor in Bangkok, so this is not the problem. Even after midnight, the connection is dead slow.

What are your experiences? Shall I switch to DTAC? I need internet here, cannot stand this crap anymore.

[Mobi]

I use AIS GPRS/Edge as a back up in Pattaya and when I travel up country. Generally it is fine, although a bit slow, and even up in the Isan villages I can get my emails, and connect to UK websites etc without too much problem.

It also used to be fine in Bangkok, but I was up there a couple of weeks ago, and it was terrible. I either couldn't connect at all, or when I did it was VERY slow during the morning and afternoon, up to about 8 p.m. at night.

I found that early morning and late evening it worked much better.

So I can only assume it is an excess of users, and not enough bandwidth to go round.

About par for this country and it's telecommunications and internet connectivity.

[webfact]

I doubt it. I use both providers and both show the same "symptoms" as you describe.

Trust it has something to do with the area you are in because I realize in some areas the signal is good in some its bad.

[bkkmick]

I line in the On Nut area and my AIS Edge connection is great. Streaming radio without much interruption. Websites load quickly.

[GreenSnapper]

I line in the On Nut area and my AIS Edge connection is great. Streaming radio without much interruption. Websites load quickly.

I envy you.

This morning it was better here, there seems to be no logic when it works or when not. As the speed is sometimes even below simple GPRS, I believe it is not just the connection to the base station, but the internet inside AIS servers. Pages don't load fully, connection interrupted and such.

Often my free True Wifi (green Bangkok wifi) with only 64kb is way faster.

[monty]

There is a big chance you are in an area where there is a high amount of phone users.

GSM systems give priority to voice calls, so when a lot of calls are being made, time slots are taken away from data connections to accomodate those calls.

You get up to 4 time slots, each allowing a maximum of 60 kbps, so when it's busy and you get just 1 slot, the theoretical max speed would be 60 kbps (but in real life will be more like 30-50 kbps)

[Gary A]

I use GPRS/EDGE as my internet connection. Used to work ok with DL speeds of 250 kb/sec at good times.

Now it is just unbearable slow since a few days, a single page sometimes needs minutes to load. Reminds me of the internet connection in Myanmar......

I have a strong signal, live in an upper floor in Bangkok, so this is not the problem. Even after midnight, the connection is dead slow.

What are your experiences? Shall I switch to DTAC? I need internet here, cannot stand this crap anymore.

If I were you, I'd buy a Dtac SIM card and try it. I live upcountry and Dtac here is much better than AIS. SIM cards are cheap.

[GreenSnapper]

There is a big chance you are in an area where there is a high amount of phone users.

GSM systems give priority to voice calls, so when a lot of calls are being made, time slots are taken away from data connections to accomodate those calls.

You get up to 4 time slots, each allowing a maximum of 60 kbps, so when it's busy and you get just 1 slot, the theoretical max speed would be 60 kbps (but in real life will be more like 30-50 kbps)

Technically speaking, you are right.

But practically, today the speed is fine during the whole day, but was terrible last night at 2am. No technical logic applies here - I think AIS is just plain crap. Will switch soon to DTAC and report my experiences here.