Mobile Network Dongle For Internet Access

[Jahil]

Hi everybody.

Even if it is not the good forum for an internet question, I need experience of locals...

I will arrive in CR on April 4th and I intend to by a dongle and use mobile network for internet......

It would be kind of you to give me your experience about dongles and operators....

what is the best dongle available?

What network has the best performance in the area?

Thanks for your help

[kandahar]

I use the CAT CDMA dongle and service. Works well in CR, CM and Mae Sai. I'm told it won't work in BKK but haven't tried. The monthy fee is somewhere around 850 baht. The hardware was 8,000 baht when I bought it but I understand that the price has dropped a lot now. The hardware is offered up for sale on the ThaiVisa classifieds by different people from time to time at some really good prices. Doubt you'll have time for shopping that market when you come. If you visit the CAT office when you come, they will set you up immediately and you'll be operating.

The wife says it is faster than the landline connection she had at the house before. I can't talk about speeds because I don't know much about them. Using CAT CDMA, I watch my favorite TV shows from overseas on the computer without problems. The wife trades stocks all day with the live connections to the markets and she doesn't have problems. So, fast enough for us. This is the only Internet connection we have.

It travels well in the areas we visit. The only dead spots we experience is on the way to CM. There are several spots in the higher hills on the superhighway to CM where the thing can't get a signal. It maintains a good signal all the way to Mae Sai.

Works well in the office buildings and hotels we have visited.

I run a Gateway laptop, she runs an ACER and the system works great on both machines.

We did have trouble with lots of dead time and dropped connections early on. The problems were fixed by CAT on their end several months ago and things have been good since then.

Bad weather has no effect on the signal here in CR and in CM. It continues to work well in storms.

I can't address all of your questions but that is my experience with the hardware and service I use. I'm sure others will pop up here with other input.

If you go with CAT, let me know when you're ready. I'll show you the way to their office. Easier for me to do that than to try to tell you where it is.

Edited March 25, 2010 by kandahar

[Jahil]

hello Kandahar,

Thanks a lot for your extended reply.

If there is no other comment from other members, I will follow your advise and go for CAT.

Do they have a shop in Big C? That would be the easiest way as, anyway, I have to pass in Big C when I will arrive

[kandahar]

hello Kandahar,

Thanks a lot for your extended reply.

If there is no other comment from other members, I will follow your advise and go for CAT.

Do they have a shop in Big C? That would be the easiest way as, anyway, I have to pass in Big C when I will arrive

I really don't know. I always go to what I think is the CAT CR head office, kind of in the area of Overbrook Hospital.

I go to Big C sometimes but I don't pay any attention to the shops that are located in that complex.

[Limbo]

I am sure Jahil, that you know the most famous temple of Chiang Rai town, the Wat Phra Kaew.

If not, visit it, because it is beautiful and it has a blessed copy of the Emerald Buddha,

that, now in Bangkok, has been hidden here in a chedi for several hundreds of years.

Since a year or so the beautiful wooden building at your left when entering the wat houses

a museumlike collection of artefacts related to the history of Buddhism in this area and to

the history of this temple in particular.

This temple, as also the very special Wat Muang, uphill at the right side along the wall of Wat Phra Kaew,

where remains of King Mengrai are said to be resting, is located next to the hundred year old original

building of the Overbrook Hospital. You can't miss it.

You could combine a cultural tour with a visit to the CAT.

After sniffing culture and history in the Wat Phra Kaew you go to the right when you come out.

At the first crossing, after fifty meters, you take to the right again.

Two hundred meters further you are standing in front of a hill, enriched with satellite discs and

billboards recommending the services of the CAT.

I would, after been walking first fifty meters to the right after leaving the temple, first take to the

left and pay a little visit to Technocom, see if Khun Ravi is there and ask if there are other alternatives

that even might be better in the mean time.

Good luck!

Good information Kandahar!

Limbo

[chang35baht]

Hi Kandahar. Is there a monthly download limit on this service? Ie 3Gb, 5Gb

Thanks,

C35b.

[kandahar]

Hi Kandahar. Is there a monthly download limit on this service? Ie 3Gb, 5Gb

Thanks,

C35b.

Hey C35B.

I don't know about a limit. If there is, I have never reached it.

I have to go pay the bill today. I'll ask about the limit and the current cost of the hardware and post it here.

[kandahar]

I didn't get to go to CAT today. Too many loads of rock showed up for me to shovel.

The wife called their CR office and received this info:

The current price of the hardware and supporting software is 6,500 baht.

The current price for the monthly plan we have is 850 baht per month.

The plan we have for 850 baht per month has unlimited download. They offer other plans for cheaper rates that have download limits that kick in at different levels, depending on the package.

CAT currently has several specials that involve buying hardware and matching plans. I don't know what those plans are but she said they have MANY different specials/promotions going right now. The promotions have end dates, with the number one special ending on May 1, 2010

They are well-versed in what areas have dead spots and can quickly let you know if the area in which you live, work or play is supported by a tower that is close enough to insure good connectivity.

They now offer 3-G. I don't know anything about that.

Their phone number in CR is 05-371-6741.

[Jahil]

Limbo,

Thanks a lot for the info relating to internet issue + site seeing ones.

For sure I will follow your suggestion!!

[Somnambulist]

I use CAT CDMA in Mae Rim. When it works it's great but that's not something you can predict. The guy who set me up installed an exterior antennae on my roof because my signal is weak and said when it's windy I might have problems but I don't think the wind has much to do with the extreme unreliability I've experienced off and on over the last six months. When I just used the dongle on day trips to Chiang Mai it usually worked to some degree but I recently bought a MacBook Pro and the people at the Mac store couldn't get the dongle to work on it. They couldn't even get it to work on their machine with Windows 7 installed. Fortunately there's a beautiful Wawee coffee shop a few kilometers up the road with free wifi (a TOT landline connection) and I've had to go there dozens of times when my either I couldn't connect at all, could connect but the speed was too slow to get the most simple tasks done, or it kept disconnecting. I'll be moving soon to a place in Mae Rim that has a TOT landline and a will not miss CAT one tiny bit. There are plenty of dissatisfied customers. Just do a search on Thaivisa.

[Silverbone]

You may want to consider prepaid sim card as per below thread.

www.thaivisa.com/forum/Prepaid-Broadband-Sim-Card-t338470.html