Gprs.......

[Gary A]

I paid 9,900 baht for a little Solomon modem. I then signed up for the AIS 999 baht a month service. I found that GPRS works great (Maybe one day a week)! The service SUCKS! The 3 baht a minute for the SIM card dial up usually works but it is SO slow it stinks too besides breaking your wallet. I had thought maybe GPRS D-TAC would be better. A friend in Loei province got me over that misconception. Since where I live in Loei province has no land lines my options are quite limited.

As a note, I am not looking for blinding speed. In fact at my condo in Jomtien I am satisfied with dial up. I finally bit the bullet and went with IPSTAR satellite service. I think that even at 3,000 baht a month it will be cheaper than what I was using. It is not as fast as I had hoped but it has been dependable so far. I have checked the speed a number of times and found downloads to be between 150 and 350 megabits and uploads average about 41 megabits. I'm not complaining because after my GPRS experiences ANYTHING is better.

I also tried the GPRS at my Jomtien condo and it was barely usable. It connects like lightening but then sits there and does nothing. They have a long way to go before this system becomes usable. IMHO!

[ProThaiExpat]

I paid 9,900 baht for a little Solomon modem. I then signed up for the AIS 999 baht a month service. I found that GPRS works great (Maybe one day a week)! The service SUCKS! The 3 baht a minute for the SIM card dial up usually works but it is SO slow it stinks too besides breaking your wallet. I had thought maybe GPRS D-TAC would be better. A friend in Loei province got me over that misconception. Since where I live in Loei province has no land lines my options are quite limited.

As a note, I am not looking for blinding speed. In fact at my condo in Jomtien I am satisfied with dial up. I finally bit the bullet and went with IPSTAR satellite service. I think that even at 3,000 baht a month it will be cheaper than what I was using. It is not as fast as I had hoped but it has been dependable so far. I have checked the speed a number of times and found downloads to be between 150 and 350 megabits and uploads average about 41 megabits. I'm not complaining because after my GPRS experiences ANYTHING is better.

I also tried the GPRS at my Jomtien condo and it was barely usable. It connects like lightening but then sits there and does nothing. They have a long way to go before this system becomes usable. IMHO!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have had AIS GPRS with a wireless card on my laptop for over two years now and on the whole it is as good or better than loxinfo dial up when I had it.

I did experience real trouble for a while, one with the connection to the Chiang Mai relay station, but after many complaints, connection there is no trouble.

However, for more than six months I experienced real stoppages when I tried to access websites. "Waiting for web site to respond" was the message often when the download stopped, rarely, now, nowever do I have a problem.

One thing that seems to happen is a problem with my internet explorer software. By re-booting my computer every time I go online, I find my problem with the internet explorer program disappears.

My conclusion is that it wasn't GPRS being unworkable, most of the time, but my browser. I suspected my browser when slow times and unworkable times didn't occur when one would expect maximum ussage by others.

Now, my only slow times is when maximum usage by others can be expected.

[Gary A]

I suspected maybe there were problems with my computer so I took my desktop to Loei. Same thing. I took my laptop and the Solomon modem to a Thai friend's bar on top of a mountain. He used the card with his cell phone with infrared and it was even worse. After three months of screwing around I gave up. He had a D-TAC card also and it was no better. He was going to try an external antenna and if no better he will be putting in a dish. He could probably get a return on his satellite dish because of offering Internet café services.

I was using the Mozzilla browser and Firefox and it didn't work either. It definitely was no better. YMMV is very true but it didn't work out for me. I'm pretty stubborn and thought I would find the key to making it work so I tried MANY things. I wouldn't have tried so hard if not for a friend of mine telling me I was stupid for buying it and to give up on it. I hated telling him that I gave up on it. LOL!

I paid 9,900 baht for a little Solomon modem. I then signed up for the AIS 999 baht a month service. I found that GPRS works great (Maybe one day a week)! The service SUCKS! The 3 baht a minute for the SIM card dial up usually works but it is SO slow it stinks too besides breaking your wallet. I had thought maybe GPRS D-TAC would be better. A friend in Loei province got me over that misconception. Since where I live in Loei province has no land lines my options are quite limited.

As a note, I am not looking for blinding speed. In fact at my condo in Jomtien I am satisfied with dial up. I finally bit the bullet and went with IPSTAR satellite service. I think that even at 3,000 baht a month it will be cheaper than what I was using. It is not as fast as I had hoped but it has been dependable so far. I have checked the speed a number of times and found downloads to be between 150 and 350 megabits and uploads average about 41 megabits. I'm not complaining because after my GPRS experiences ANYTHING is better.

I also tried the GPRS at my Jomtien condo and it was barely usable. It connects like lightening but then sits there and does nothing. They have a long way to go before this system becomes usable. IMHO!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have had AIS GPRS with a wireless card on my laptop for over two years now and on the whole it is as good or better than loxinfo dial up when I had it.

I did experience real trouble for a while, one with the connection to the Chiang Mai relay station, but after many complaints, connection there is no trouble.

However, for more than six months I experienced real stoppages when I tried to access websites. "Waiting for web site to respond" was the message often when the download stopped, rarely, now, nowever do I have a problem.

One thing that seems to happen is a problem with my internet explorer software. By re-booting my computer every time I go online, I find my problem with the internet explorer program disappears.

My conclusion is that it wasn't GPRS being unworkable, most of the time, but my browser. I suspected my browser when slow times and unworkable times didn't occur when one would expect maximum ussage by others.

Now, my only slow times is when maximum usage by others can be expected.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[billd766]

I live about 50 km southwest of Khampaeng Phet and about 4 1/2 km from a land line.

Last August I went to AIS as I already have a line through them and signed up for a 120 hours a month promotion for 350 baht.

I use a Nokia 6100 mobile and a cable connection to my laptop and apart from the odd times when my nearest site gets busy I have no problems with connecting to the internet and working my emails.

I use Mozilla Firefox mainly but there are some sites where a download is only possible with IE.

My mobile is on a promotion which costs me 1250 baht per month for 3000 baht worth of calls and was renewed for another 3 years in December and the GPRS promotion was renewed at the same time for another 3 years.

My normal bill is around 5000 baht a month before discounts and I normally pay less than 2000 every month.

I am more than happy with that.

[Ken]

I'm using AIS with a solomon modem right now. I'm connected thru my laptop. In addition I'm "bluetoothed" to a desktop in the same room. I'm playing streaming audio from one of my favorite radio stations in Nashville, TN on the desktop as I play on Thaivisa with the laptop.

I've been using the service for six months and overall it has been quite good (signed up for one year plan 1200 Baht per month). Occasional "hiccups", but a call to AIS has resolved any issues and I live about 80 KM northwest of Korat.

I wouldn't buy another solomon modem again simply because I found out afterwards that I could connect using my bluetooth/GPRS mobile phone and having checked the speeds using the Solomon versus the mobile, the speed is comparatively the same.

So for me, no compaints.

Edited March 2, 2005 by Ken

[monty]

I have gprs as well (ais) but over here (Jomtien) it is hardly usable.

Speed is actually faster just letting my gsm dial up to a Loxinfo prepaid package.

I only get 9600bps, but it is practically double as fast compared to when I dial the gprs connection.. I use this if I really need to check an e-mail or send one of, because at 3 Baht/minut it gets a bit expensive for surfing!

It's "only" 350 Baht/month for the gprs (120hours) but a waste of money since 7 out of 10 times I need to dial loxinfo just to get access...

[Insight]

I'm using DTAC GPRS right now. No problems so far really, but would you recommend moving over to AIS? If so, why?

Thanks in advance...

[Ken]

I'm using DTAC GPRS right now. No problems so far really, but would you recommend moving over to AIS? If so, why?

Thanks in advance...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

From anything that I have read on this forum, I wouldn't make any switch to AIS if your DTAC is working ok. The reason I'm using AIS is that DTAC doesn't work well in my area, but AIS does.

[Insight]

I'm using DTAC GPRS right now. No problems so far really, but would you recommend moving over to AIS? If so, why?

Thanks in advance...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

From anything that I have read on this forum, I wouldn't make any switch to AIS if your DTAC is working ok. The reason I'm using AIS is that DTAC doesn't work well in my area, but AIS does.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Noted - thanks for the advice.

[billd766]

I have gprs as well (ais) but over here (Jomtien) it is hardly usable.

Speed is actually faster just letting my gsm dial up to a Loxinfo prepaid package.

I only get 9600bps, but it is practically double as fast compared to when I dial the gprs connection.. I use this if I really need to check an e-mail or send one of, because at 3 Baht/minut it gets a bit expensive for surfing!

It's "only" 350 Baht/month for the gprs (120hours) but a waste of money since 7 out of 10 times I need to dial loxinfo just to get access...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Monty

If the service from AIS is not good ring their helpline and email them and complain. I did and after a couple of complaints they sent a team to check out the cellsite and they even came to my house to check the signal there.

It has improved in the last year since I bitched to them so perhaps it may for you as well.

[Phil Conners]

Both DTAC and AIS are a bit hit and miss. Some days it's really good, 128 kbps, other days it's crawling.

I wouldn't use AIS for political reasons. I don't like Toxin and would rather give my money to a company who has a couple of farangs on the board (DTAC) than a company with an owner who says he doesn't like farangs (AIS).