Gprs Speed

[ddoff]

I'm confused with different opinions on GPRS services. Somebody says that it flies with a speed of light, somebody says that it is very slow and there is a 9600 maximum. What's the real story -- perhaps it depends on location?

[Wash]

I'm confused with different opinions on GPRS services.  Somebody says that it flies with a speed of light, somebody says that it is very slow and there is a 9600 maximum.  What's the real story -- perhaps it depends on location?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Go check for yourself:

McAfee Speed Check

I connect bia bluetooth, which indicates 115k but that is the bluetooth to computer speed. the actual gprs speed is dependant on many things so go check with the speedometer and see what you are doing. Many times I end up with connect at 80 k and seldom is it less than 38.

[ddoff]

I'm confused with different opinions on GPRS services.  Somebody says that it flies with a speed of light, somebody says that it is very slow and there is a 9600 maximum.  What's the real story -- perhaps it depends on location?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Go check for yourself:

McAfee Speed Check

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, but I don't have GPRS yet and trying to consider all pros and cons (I need it badly because I have to travel around). By now I'm completely confused because in one of the previous postings

monty wrote:

Your speed will be limited to 9600bps, so it's not important if you use infrared, cable or bluetooth..

So is it 9.6kbps or 80kbps for GPRS?

[monty]

When I mentioned the 9600bps speed I was talking about using your GSM as a regular modem.

This means just dialing an ISP like you would do with a normal modem / phoneline.

You don't use the gprs capability this way...

I have a Nokia 6610i, which theoretically can achieve a speed of 40.2 kbps(close to a regular modem) when using the gprs network using 3 timeslots (2down, 1 up)

Practically however, the fastest I have ever seen was around 35 kbps, and average I would say around 20 kbps.

There are phones / gprs modems around which have a higher class of gprs (using more timeslots) These should be able to achieve higher speeds, but I'm not sure what the fastest is the local networks support.

I most definately haven't seen a gprs connection that "flies" . Usable, comparable with a regular phoneline / modem is the best you'll probably get.

Where I live (Pattaya/Jomtien) the gprs system seems to be overloaded, as very often I can connect OK but there seems to hardly any datatraffic possible. At these times I revert to dialing up my back-up ISP so I can at least get my e-mail...

Other people on the forum seem to have better experiences, but they are located in different places of the country.

Since you write you have to travel around it's probably your only option, since the gprs network (both AIS and Dtac) have pretty good coverage over the country.

As a back-up buy a 12 hour prepaid package from loxinfo, along with a list of their nationwide accessnumbers and you will have guranteed internet wherever you have signal! you'll probably use 90% gprs, but when it is stuck you still have the back-up for that all-important e-mail

[Gary A]

No one can answer that question for you. It depends where you are at mostly. In Loei province it doesn't work at all most of the time. The maybe one day a week that it works it is quite a bit faster than dial-up. In my opinion it SUCKS!

Here's a link that checks upload and download speed;

http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/Bandwidth.asp

I'm confused with different opinions on GPRS services.  Somebody says that it flies with a speed of light, somebody says that it is very slow and there is a 9600 maximum.  What's the real story -- perhaps it depends on location?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Go check for yourself:

McAfee Speed Check

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, but I don't have GPRS yet and trying to consider all pros and cons (I need it badly because I have to travel around). By now I'm completely confused because in one of the previous postings

monty wrote:

Your speed will be limited to 9600bps, so it's not important if you use infrared, cable or bluetooth..

So is it 9.6kbps or 80kbps for GPRS?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Amethyst]

im using GPRS on notebook AIS nowaday they are very SLOW ...MAkes me mad all the time with annoying disconected

[paulfr]

If you will be located in Bangkok, you can use EDGE as it is deployed all over central BKK by DTAC. Think of it as fast GPRS. You need an EDGE enable phone like the Nokia 6630 (20KBaht at MBK) or many others.

Speeds can be as high as 384kbps I believe.

What people are getting in BKK I do not know.

PM user Crushdepth ..... he might know.

Cheers

[ChiangMaiThai]

I had AIS GPRS for awhile. First of all, if you have an EDGE phone, the speeds will be much faster in areas where there is EDGE coverage. With AIS, this is Siam Square and Silom. So forget about it. DTAC does have EDGE coverage in BKK. Initially I was quite satisfied with AIS GPRS. I would get 20k to 40k. After a week or two, half the time you couldn't even connect. Most of the time, if you could, it was SLOW 9k or less. It would time out trying to check email. That was in chiang mai. I tried it in Chiang Rai and Samui too and same thing. So, in my opinion AIS GPRS is total shit. If you're going to try GPRS, go with DTAC and see what happens. It can't be any worse than AIS and you'll have EDGE coverage in BKK.

[ayakiawe]

I now have a leased line for internet and want to sell my GPRS wireless modem. I will discount it a lot if you would like to buy it, contact me!

If you dont have a phone that can do this it might save you some bucks!

[email protected]

09-594-9432

[Plus+]

I use GPRS Edge Aircard (GC83) from Dtac. In Bangkok the fastest I've seen with McAffee speedtest was 170kbps. It happened only once, BUT when Morpheus downloads three-four files at once 170-180 seem to be the usual total speed - check in the bottom right corner - that's if I don't surf the Internet at the same time.

Out of Edge coverage area it's about 20-40 kbps but very stable for downloads. Internet surfing can get hiccups if you open too many windows - say five or six. I think it's lots of simultaneous up and down traffic that overloads it, not the total amount in Kb.

I don't know of AIS Edge coverage, Dtac covers most of Bangkok.

New Aircard cost about 14,000 baht and connects through PCI slot, and you'll probably need another SIM card.

Connecting through Bluetooth to the Edge capable phone is another option and 115kbps Bluetooth speed mentioned earlier I believe should read 115KBps=1150Kbps so Bluetooth won't slow you down.

[ddoff]

I had AIS GPRS for awhile. First of all, if you have an EDGE phone, the speeds will be much faster in areas where there is EDGE coverage. With AIS, this is Siam Square and Silom. So forget about it. DTAC does have EDGE coverage in BKK. Initially I was quite satisfied with AIS GPRS. I would get 20k to 40k. After a week or two, half the time you couldn't even connect. Most of the time, if you could, it was SLOW 9k or less. It would time out trying to check email. That was in chiang mai. I tried it in Chiang Rai and Samui too and same thing. So, in my opinion AIS GPRS is total shit. If you're going to try GPRS, go with DTAC and see what happens. It can't be any worse than AIS and you'll have EDGE coverage in BKK.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, CMT, but EDGE is not an option -- I'm also in Chiang Mai and would need mobile Internet for such places as MAe Hong Son, Prachuap Kirikan or Ko Si CHang. I've got your point about the quality of AIS GPRS. Is there anybody who uses DTAC GPRS and can review it?

[Phil Conners]

Standard GPRS, average about 7KB/s = similar to 64K ISDN. For files already cached in Thailand (all GPRS traffic is forced through caching proxy servers) you get the full 15KB/s.

I use DTAC (unlimited traffic, 999/month) and used AIS before. I don't see much difference to be honest.

As a farang I prefer using DTAC as they have two farangs on the board while AIS is owned by the biggest farang hater in the country, Toxin. Why would a farang give him any money huh?

The problem in Thailand is always the link out of the country and either of them have to use the same shitty CAT lines.

Edited March 29, 2005 by madsere

[Plus+]

This morning I downloaded 55mb video at a speed of around 350kbps (Dtac Edge).

I can't say what is Dtac's regular GPRS speed. Used to be around 30-40kbps when I used the phone as a modem and it was the same everywhere in Thailand.

Here's a solution for Ddoff - get a cheap Siemens GPRS phone, order USB Data cable (they stock them only at their service center, 30 baht for delivery), download Modem manager from Siemens website, and sign up for Dtac Gprs unlimited. For emergency cases buy an extra AIS Sim card when going to remote places without Dtac coverage.

No need to buy a bluetooth phone and a bluetooth dongle for the notebook, go through a lengthy set up process, and then fiddle with your phone every time you want to use it - just plug it in USB and connect in one click.

Siemens doesn't have any Edge phones yet but using their phones as modems is a lot easier than Nokia or Sony Ericsson's. Downside is that with Siemens you can't use a charger and a data cable at the same time.

http://communications.siemens.com/cds/fron...NrNrNrN,00.html

Aircards are locked to use Dtac only.

[ddoff]

Here's a solution for Ddoff - get a cheap Siemens GPRS phone, order USB Data cable (they stock them only at their service center, 30 baht for delivery), download Modem manager from Siemens website, and sign up for Dtac Gprs unlimited. For emergency cases buy an extra AIS Sim card when going to remote places without Dtac coverage.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks. Plus+,

Do you know the difference between using handset vs. Solomon modem?

Today I visited DTAC office and discovered another problem: they would need a 1-year visa for signing a post-paid contract (I'm on a re-newed 90-day B visa and not planning to get a 1-year visa until summer). Have to find a way around it.

[Phil Conners]

Have a Thai national do the signing up for you.

[Gary A]

I have a Solomon modem and it is better than using Blue Tooth, a cable or infrared. Infrared was the worst. Since my AIS GPRS sucks, my friend went with D-TAC. We even swapped SIM cards and both of them stink. I have since gone with IPSTAR satellite. I might add that the phone shows a full signal for both AIS and D-TAC. My friend is now using my Solomon modem because it is slightly better.

[Plus+]

They don't sell Solomon modems here. Also new Siemens phones usually have faster GPRS class 10, not class 8 as Solomon.

All connection settings are preset in Siemens modem manager, at least for Dtac and Ais, and the phone is the phone. You can use it to make calls and take pictures.

On the other hand USB modem, or an air-card, doesn't need any cables or batteries.

You'll need a Thai to sign for any post-paid service, with any company. Pre-paid cards are far far more expensive to use for the Internet, keep one form different provider just in case your regular network is not available.