Whats Going On With Cat - Cdma

[chrgrims]

yes, that can happen. I thought it was a time out function, meaning as you are logged in a long time, for example 12 hours, it will stop and you must disconnect and reconnect. But i am not certain, just an idea.

[Totster]

My international speeds have improved by around 80%-100% today.. !

totster

[nikster]

My TOT was down today with rolling power outages so I used CAT CDMA for Skype - and got absolutely perfect call quality. No delays. No noise. Much better than my 3Mbit TOT line even on a good day.

Edit - on no, ridiculous pings to Google.com I guess they must have a local data center cache... 70ms!

Edited February 12, 2010 by nikster

[wolfmanjack]

My CAT CDMA has been so slow i can not load web pages from 4am to 12pm. Then the speed picks up to normal. I have an external antennae and am only 2km away from the tower as the crow flys. I am thinking of buying this router to help with the speed. Will it help?

Zalip CDW530AM 3G/CDMA Router Wifi

http://www.totalaircard.com/products/Zalip...outer-Wifi.html

It is only 3,500 baht instead of the one the guy that installed my CDMA recommended at 12,000 baht.

[halfhead]

My CAT CDMA has been so slow i can not load web pages from 4am to 12pm. Then the speed picks up to normal. I have an external antennae and am only 2km away from the tower as the crow flys. I am thinking of buying this router to help with the speed. Will it help?

Zalip CDW530AM 3G/CDMA Router Wifi

http://www.totalaircard.com/products/Zalip...outer-Wifi.html

It is only 3,500 baht instead of the one the guy that installed my CDMA recommended at 12,000 baht.

I talked to Cat Telecom staff today and was told the north is having CDMA problems due to new equipment been installed,two weeks they say and it should be sorted,the only problem Im having is my connection drops to 1XRTT sometimes then needs to be disconected,I called them to ask about getting a static IP and was told they dont offer that service.

[MisterMan]

My CDMA is not even working for the last 2 days!!!

[nikster]

CAT CDMA seems to be extremely slow in Chiang Mai - can anyone confirm this? I was there and it was slow as molasses. A few KB/s anywhere. Maybe I was in a bad area but I had all bars... back in Pai, it's fast as it used to be.

[bledu]

Hi, I' am near Chiang Mai, on east, Doi Sakek. I' am using the CAT tower behind the Doi Saket Hospital, about 5 km from my house. My modem is Merlin X720 in front of a Cradelpoint MBR-1000. I have three Mac (on gigabit Ethernet cable and two iPhone by Wifi on my domestic network. I 'am CAT subscriber for only three months, since I entered my house. I cannot have land line so no ADSL.

Until two weeks ago, the service was almost acceptable. Not stable, but OK.

But since two weeks, the problem is worse and worse. I can have very good performance for some hours, then suddenly every thing drop to 0kb (or nearly that).

Everything that needs download (FTP, mail, web … almost everything in fact) stops to work. When I try, it always starts at extreme speed… then drop to 0 after very few seconds, in fact nothing happens.

If I check my connection, I had 4 bars, full connection to the CAT tower, as usual.

I call many times the Call Center 1322, and they are pretty aware of the situation.

I went to the CAT building in Chiang Mai. They know very well. And say that many many customers are very hungry about the situation but… they just propose me to not to pay the current month. I said I don't mind to be refund, I just want to have reliable connexion and I would be even OK to pay more than 790 baths/month. They gave me the phone number of the CDMA chief engineer in Chiang Mai, Mr. Boy. On thai friend of me called to try to know more, but get no precise answer. They are working on the problem, but can't say anything else.

Well that the situation now. Yesterday and the day before, my connection was perfect for about 35 hours. Then yesterday nearly 5 pm, everything drops down to 0 kb/s. It was like that this norming too. I have just a little http web. It is why I can write this post. It took about 3 minutes to reach this reply form and I hope I will be able to send it…

That's my experience for now. I cannot do anything else than stay with CAT and go to my condo with ADSL in the Chiang Mai city when CDMA is broken here in Doi Saket.

[bledu]

For now three days (21st of February), in Chiang Mai and around the city, CAT CDMA operations seems to be at last again that they should have always been : stable and quick. Hope that will stay like that.

[wolfmanjack]

My CAT CDMA has been so slow i can not load web pages from 4am to 12pm. Then the speed picks up to normal. I have an external antennae and am only 2km away from the tower as the crow flys. I am thinking of buying this router to help with the speed. Will it help?

Zalip CDW530AM 3G/CDMA Router Wifi

http://www.totalaircard.com/products/Zalip...outer-Wifi.html

It is only 3,500 baht instead of the one the guy that installed my CDMA recommended at 12,000 baht.

I talked to Cat Telecom staff today and was told the north is having CDMA problems due to new equipment been installed,two weeks they say and it should be sorted,the only problem Im having is my connection drops to 1XRTT sometimes then needs to be disconected,I called them to ask about getting a static IP and was told they dont offer that service.

When the tech had the 12,000 baht cradle hooked up my net was faster. He said it was because the mc760 runs on software and the cradle runs from hard ware but i want to know if the 3,500 baht one will work just as good. It only has 1 antenaae and the 12,000 baht one has 3 but that is for wifi around the house and i don't care about that.

[tigerbeer]

my Cat connection in Chiang Mai has been extremely slow for the past week or so as well. 2 days ago it was good for a while. but only for a while. I called them today and they said, they would check it out. pretending like they don't know anything about it. tomorrow i'll kindly let them know that i am not paying my bill for the month.

[halfhead]

Anyone else seeing a big improvment in speeds over the last week or so?

[loong]

Anyone else seeing a big improvment in speeds over the last week or so?

My connection has mostly been more stable and I have been getting slightly better download speeds on occasion, but still far from perfect.

Your speedtest is only something that I can dream about

Edited March 1, 2010 by loong

[flemmie]

I also have been having a problem with CAT. Lately it has been constantly disconnecting. I wanted to upgrade to their 1MB wireless system, which comes out to about 10,000 Baht, but it has gotten so bad, that I feel I'd be throwing the money away. They have known there is a problem for months ( this from talking to a CAT employee) but haven't done anything. As long as you pay they are happy, doesn't matter if it works or not. They have nothing to worry about, foreign competition is not allowed, and you have what other choices to select from?

If you are willing to spend that kind of money, take a look at PACNET, I have the ADSL 4M/512K Home package for 6.600 Baht per month and it works great. Good speed and no interruptions.

[loong]

I have posted before that I had problems with my MC727 about 7 months ago. When it packed up altogether CAT gave me a loaner and told me that it could take a month or so to repair.

After about 6 months they finally contacted me - the modem could not be repaired and so it was being replaced by a new one. I collected the new MC727, gave back the loaner and on getting home found that the new modem didn't work.

Back to the office the next day ( a bit annoying as 50Km round trip and waste of time.)

They checked it and contacted head office in Bangkok. They then told me that Bangkok would EMS the newer model MC760 to replace it.

2 weeks later I got a phone call that the 760 was in. This time I took my old laptop with me.

Plugged it in and guess what - it didn't work. It turned out that it hadn't been activated.

Now it's working fine. I got good speeds from it in the office at Khon Kaen. I had to buy a new connector for the modem to Co-ax at 850 Baht - bit of a ripoff if you ask me.

Back home and connected to the antenna, I'm still not getting the speeds that many others are getting, but it does seem to be more stable now. I haven't had a single disconnect since I've been using it - but early days yet.

I may have to get up on the roof and play with the antenna to see if I can improve the speeds

500/150 Kbs still seems to be about the best I can get - mind you if it is stable, I can live with it. I actually made a call to a landline in France via Skype this afternoon and although I could hear echo on my voice, the other end said that it was clear as a bell. That does surprise me with the upload speeds that I am getting.

Anyway, CAT have been very longwinded about this whole affair with the faulty modem, but a lot was out of their control I suppose.

I tentatively award CAT a pat on the back for customer service in this respect at least

[halfhead]

Loong,

good to hear that you got the modem sorted out now,

what signal strength are you getting now?(with and without the antenna,and post a speed test result too please,Im in contact with Novatel support at the moment([email protected],her name is Susan and she seems helpful)Sometimes they reply within minutes other times its weeks,regarding a problem Im experiencing the odd time with the connection dropping to 1XRTT,and another issue with MobiLink giving me the option to connect when its connected already,yesterday for the first time I had no signal and was told by CAT center that it was a problem with a fiber optic cable in Chiang Rai.

Cheers

[loong]

Loong,

good to hear that you got the modem sorted out now,

what signal strength are you getting now?(with and without the antenna,and post a speed test result too please,Im in contact with Novatel support at the moment([email protected],her name is Susan and she seems helpful)Sometimes they reply within minutes other times its weeks,regarding a problem Im experiencing the odd time with the connection dropping to 1XRTT,and another issue with MobiLink giving me the option to connect when its connected already,yesterday for the first time I had no signal and was told by CAT center that it was a problem with a fiber optic cable in Chiang Rai.

Cheers

Halfhead, I'm getting 4 bars with the antenna and that looks to be the maximum with Mobilink 3. Without the antenna it just seems to alternate between 4 bars and no signal - nothing in between. When the 4 bars show without antenna it is not possible to do a speedtest.

I did some speedtests at 5AM this morning. Not particularly good but webpages are loading fast enough. Definitely faster than they were when I was getting similar test results with the other modem.

My software informer is now telling me that there are updated versions of mobilink 3 and generic drivers, so I will try to download those and see if there is any difference.

I still haven't had a chance to take the laptop and sit next to the tower to see what sort of results I get. I don't have car and just cannot see the screen with the sun. I really need to do that before I start messing with the antenna and possibly making things worse.

Edited March 3, 2010 by loong

[halfhead]

Loong

Mouse over the signal bars and see what signal strength fiqure you get,

I have -70 most of the time which is ideal.(I cant believe there is such a big difference between our connections)

Cheers

HH

[loong]

Loong

Mouse over the signal bars and see what signal strength fiqure you get,

I have -70 most of the time which is ideal.(I cant believe there is such a big difference between our connections)

Cheers

HH

Hmmm,

Signal strength shows as 0, but it's working.

[ThaiLife]

to day's test ..

A few day's ago my signal strength dropped to no bar's , but I could still open web pages, and use my Download Manager but it was slower than normal. I rang CAT and explained the problem, they got back to me 15 minuets later and said that the CAT tower in my area had a damaged cable, and the engineers were all ready on site, and would finish the repair in Two day's time. The next day my signal was back to its normal 4 bars , and every things been ok

from then . ( may be bad luck in talking about this )

[loong]

Well, I checked for updated versions and drivers on the Novatel website and it looks like what they offer for download are older than the versions that auto-load from the modem!

I guess that my slower speeds are probably in part due to the antenna moving or something like that. It's just too hot to keep climbing up and down n the roof to try different angles

Web pages are loading much faster, so for the moment I am reasonably satisfied.

[ThaiLife]

Well, I checked for updated versions and drivers on the Novatel website and it looks like what they offer for download are older than the versions that auto-load from the modem!

I guess that my slower speeds are probably in part due to the antenna moving or something like that. It's just too hot to keep climbing up and down n the roof to try different angles

Web pages are loading much faster, so for the moment I am reasonably satisfied.

hi loong , ive just been sent this information on an antenna ...

That mentions the CAT CDMA frequency ( from Google Translate ) .....

An antenna Log-periodic with enclosed amplifiers suitable for mobile networks. ในจุดอับสัญญาณ Signs point to Abraham. หรือเร่งความเร็วการรับส่งข้อมูล Or speed of data transfer. รองรับทุกความถี่และผู้ให้บริการ เช่น CAT CDMA EV-DO, HUTCH(800), AIS(900), TRUE, DTAC(1800), UMTS(2200) หรือแม้แต่เครือข่ายคอมพิวเตอร์เช่น Bluetooths, Wi-Fi(2400) All frequencies and support services such as CAT CDMA EV-DO, HUTCH (800), AIS (900), TRUE, DTAC (1800), UMTS (2200) or even computer networks such as Bluetooths, Wi-Fi (2400).

*

Frequency : Frequency:.

o 824 - 960MHz: 824 - 960MHz:.

o 1,710 - 2,500MHz: 1,710 - 2,500 MHz:.

*

Gain : Gain:.

o 824 - 960MHz: 10.5 dBi. 824 - 960MHz: 10.5 dBi.

o 1,710 - 2,500MHz: 12 dBi. 1,710 - 2,500 MHz: 12 dBi.

*

Impedance : 50 OHM Impedance: 50 OHM.

*

VSWR : < 1.5 VSWR: <1.5.

*

Horizontal Beam Width(degree) : Horizontal Beam Width (degree):.

o 824 - 960MHz: 80 824 - 960MHz: 80.

o 1,710 - 2,500MHz: 60 1,710 - 2,500 MHz: 60.

*

Vertical Beam Width(degree) : Vertical Beam Width (degree):.

o 824 - 960MHz: 60 824 - 960MHz: 60.

o 1,710 - 2,500MHz: 50 1,710 - 2,500 MHz: 50.

*

F/B : > 20 dB. F / B:> 20 dB.

*

Polarization : Vertical Polarization: Vertical.

*

Maximum power : 200 watts Maximum power: 200 watts.

*

Connector : N-Type female Connector: N-Type female.

*

Lightning protection : DC ground Lightning protection: DC ground.

*

Wind velocity : 60 km/h Wind velocity: 60 km / h.

*

Mounting mast diameter : 40 - 50 mm. Mounting mast diameter: 40 - 50 mm.

*

Dimension (mm.) : 500 x 220 x 60mm Dimension (mm.): 500 x 220 x 60mm.

*

Weight : 1 kgs. Weight: 1 kgs.

not too sure how well it works , but thought it may be of interest

Link to the Thai web site

[loong]

Thanks Thailife.

If I decide to try a different antenna, I will bear it in mind Doesn't seem to be any prices on the website - bit strange for an online shop!

I note that the mounting means that you can not only adjust the horizontal plain,but also the vertical. I've often wondered that as I'm in a dip, should the antenna be angled slightly upwards?

Edited March 4, 2010 by loong

[ThaiLife]

Thanks Thailife.

If I decide to try a different antenna, I will bear it in mind Doesn't seem to be any prices on the website - bit strange for an online shop!

I note that the mounting means that you can not only adjust the horizontal plain,but also the vertical. I've often wondered that as I'm in a dip, should the antenna be angled slightly upwards?

Hi , When I originally set up my CAT supplied external roof antenna, I took my netbook up to the roof, and connected the antenna

to the MC727 plugged into the netbook, I did this at night time to be able to see the netbook screen better, and a lot cooler. At first

when I slowly moved the antenna around ( in the horizontal ) the bars of the signal strength panel, increased and de creased until I found just the right position that gave me a constant full signal, But I first made the mistake of thinking once the signal strength was showing the maximum, that would be that, but with in a few minuets of watching the signal strength panel while on the roof, it would some times drop from full 4 bars to Two bars, so once I found what I though was the best full signal position, I then touched nothing and waited several minuets to see if it was constant, when it was constant I then fixed the antenna in that position, as for the vertical setting , when trying to find the best setting position, I did in the end find having the vertical position of the end of the antenna up by about One inch , made the full strength more stable.

[halfhead]

I have never seen it show a signal strength of 0 before,I know the lower it is the

better but not that low:),I hope you can get it sorted Loong,you should be getting better speeds than that.I think the distance to tower and lack of other users sharing it is why

Im getting good results at the moment,

[loong]

I have never seen it show a signal strength of 0 before,I know the lower it is the

better but not that low:),I hope you can get it sorted Loong,you should be getting better speeds than that.I think the distance to tower and lack of other users sharing it is why

Im getting good results at the moment,

I'm 3 Kms from the tower and that's on the motorbike, slightly less as the crow flies. The engineers told me that I had problems because I am in a dip. They rigged up the antenna, but it still didn't work well, so they had to change with a longer pole. My antenna is pretty high.

When I was first set-up, I was getting speeds of 1 Mb, but that didn't last long

At the moment, the speedtests don't return good results, but the most important thing to me is a stable connection although having the higher speed would be nice.

[halfhead]

Thailife,

I have no experience with antennas but Im just wondering did you use the RSSI to position

your antenna or just the signal strength bars?

Can you link to the antenna your using please?

Loong

Do you ever see your connection slip to 1xRTT?

Cheers

HH

[nikster]

Thanks Thailife.

If I decide to try a different antenna, I will bear it in mind Doesn't seem to be any prices on the website - bit strange for an online shop!

I note that the mounting means that you can not only adjust the horizontal plain,but also the vertical. I've often wondered that as I'm in a dip, should the antenna be angled slightly upwards?

Hi , When I originally set up my CAT supplied external roof antenna, I took my netbook up to the roof, and connected the antenna

to the MC727 plugged into the netbook, I did this at night time to be able to see the netbook screen better, and a lot cooler. At first

when I slowly moved the antenna around ( in the horizontal ) the bars of the signal strength panel, increased and de creased until I found just the right position that gave me a constant full signal, But I first made the mistake of thinking once the signal strength was showing the maximum, that would be that, but with in a few minuets of watching the signal strength panel while on the roof, it would some times drop from full 4 bars to Two bars, so once I found what I though was the best full signal position, I then touched nothing and waited several minuets to see if it was constant, when it was constant I then fixed the antenna in that position, as for the vertical setting , when trying to find the best setting position, I did in the end find having the vertical position of the end of the antenna up by about One inch , made the full strength more stable.

That reminds me of setting up a large scale WiFi near my house. This is not an exact science, and the radio waves take paths very different from what you'd think sometimes. I had the advantage of being able to use netstumbler. There were some locations that had a very strong signal, but interrupted by zero signal dips - those locations were worthless for maintaining a connection. Others didn't have as high a max value, but were stable without major interruptions - those were the best, and indeed when I put the antenna there the network would be up 24/7 for months at a time. The bad spots were just a few meters from the good spots...

Anyway, lots of trial and error involved in wireless signals, and best to have a way of visualizing the signal strength.

[loong]

Thailife,

I have no experience with antennas but Im just wondering did you use the RSSI to position

your antenna or just the signal strength bars?

Can you link to the antenna your using please?

Loong

Do you ever see your connection slip to 1xRTT?

Cheers

HH

Halfhead,

I only had the modem replaced a few days ago. Since then the MC760 has only ever shown 4 signal bars and EVDOA with the antenna connected. The MC727 often slipped to1XRTT

What's an RSSI?

I went up on the roof today and moved the pole around a bit. My ladder isn't quite long enough and the roof extremely hot so I only went up twice. The 2 movements that I have made have not shown any noticeable improvements. On the other hand they haven't made it worse either. Next time I will try swinging the other way.

Thailife, when I stand on the roof the antenna is so far above my head that I cannot connect the laptop anywhere. The only way I can get to the antenna is by taking down the pole.

Oh and i thought that it was too good to be true. The disconnects have started, though thankfully not often enough to be a real pain. That was before I moved the antenna.

[halfhead]

Loong

(RSSI)received signal strength indication is a measurement of the power present in a received radio signal,

this is the signal strength value that you get when you mouse over the bars which yours is showing 0 at the moment,but I think I know why yours is showing that,I think that they have locked your modem to only use

EVDO(which is not the default setting,well for my one anyway)because they know that you are in a bad area and if they didnt lock it to EVDO it would keep slipping to 1xRTT because of the weak signal your getting.They are forcing the modem to operate EVDO with a low signal strength,which it proves capable of doing but with varying results,I know this because I have locked my modem to "HDR" mode(EVDO)too.Since I did this my RSSI is now showing a value of 0 when I mouse over the signal bars too.

To get the modem into Debug Mode so you can monitor the RSSI value to help in postioning your antenna(and to see other stats and stuff like modem temperture) this is how its done.

In MobiLink disconnect first,

Then Click on Ready and type ##debug(it wont display it back)

To get into the advanced tab your have to get a code from Novotel or maybe CAT by giving

them your ESN.

HH