Cat Cdma

[Speedup]

Has anyone taken the jump with the new CAT CDMA system advertised on television recently?

It appears to be a type o USB plug in device and/or a edge card device that connects to the CDMA network?

How is it? can it be used around the country? Does the line drop out? is it fast?

Edited April 17, 2010 by Speedup

[Dave the Dude]

Use the 'Search Button' and you will find

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/speed-Intern...il-t356344.html

[MYKTHEMIN]

Use the 'Search Button' and you will find

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/speed-Intern...il-t356344.html

This link does not answer the op's question, I am interested in this system as well and look forward to any usefull replies.

[kandahar]

I have used it for over a year now. Works and travels well for me. From what I can see, if you can get a cell phone signal, you can get Internet. It works off of the same towers/signals that the mobile phones work on. Wife uses it for stock trading every day that the market is open, I use it for general web stuff plus e-mail. I watch a lot of TV shows and movies with it.

There are periodic outages that don't last long and don't happen often. There are periodic slowdowns that don't last long and don't happen often. When we first started with it, there were more problems but the last 8 months have been pretty good.

I'm in the north and they say it works just about anywhere except in BKK. There is a different service offered there that is not compatible with ours. Works fine in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Mae Sai. Check with the company. They have maps that show their coverage.

Supposedly, they have better dongles available now. When we bought ours, it was over 8,000 baht but the price has dropped. I understand that the new dongles aren't improved enough to justify us upgrading, so we stick with the one we have. We are happy with it.

We do lose the signal sometimes in mountainous areas and have to wait until we get to a better position. We also notice that the mobile phones are off-line because of signal issues at that time.

[tigerbalm]

I have a CAT CDMA (6 months now)and it works fine for me in Chiang Mai, recently went up to Issan and stayed 180 Kilometers from Nong Khai in a very rural location and it worked very well.

[Speedup]

thank you for your reply, how much is your monthly fee and download limit?

what does that 8k baht include, the actual hardware needed to use CAT CDMA?

I am considering a move out of bangkok , so tis appears to be a good solution if i can travel with it.

[kandahar]

With the plan we have, 850 baht per month, there is NO download limit. They offer cheaper plans and those plans have limits.

The 8,000 included the hardware (dongle) and the software disk to load their program onto our computers. Again, it is cheaper now and they say the hardware is a little better. The last time I checked, the price was down to 6,500 with CAT. Other dongles are offered for sale in many places but I wanted to stay with CAT hardware because I didn't want to have to resolve any problems with other brands of hardware.

I suggest stopping by your CAT office. They will let you fool around on a laptop that is connected using this service and you can decide if it is fast enough.

For us, there just isn't a better answer out there. I felt very fortunate to discover it.

[Daren]

Would someone please go to speedtest.com and post the results?

[halfhead]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Whats-Cat-Cdma-t273392.html

[rreddin]

kb/second and an up;oad speed of

Would someone please go to speedtest.com and post the results?

My CAT CDMA has (according to Thai Visa) a download speed of 1369 kb/s and an upload speed of 300 kb/s. I use a download accelerator. I am 40 km from Udon Thani in a very rural area. I had CAT install an antenna to get a good signal here (cost 5000 baht - paid in cash to the technician) because my house is in a low lying area at the edge of transmission range from the local transmitter. I use only the USB modem where the signal is stronger. My only other option is to use a mobile phone. In comparison that is a very slow connection.

I have been using it for a year and have had no problems with it. I use it for Skype video conferences as well as for my work, which is web based.

I do not use it in thunder storms or if there is lightening about because the technician fitted the antenna a metre below the top of a steel pole that is held up with wire stays.

[TigertheCat]

Thanks for starting this thread speedup,just what I was looking for as I am at present using a USB EDGE modem and was hoping for a faster connection soon so this may be just the ticket.I live between Pattaya and Sri Racha in the country.

[Deke]

I'm assuming that as a result of the recent acquisition of the Hutch CDMA system by CAT, the same high speeds will soon be available in the former Hutch territory. Does anyone have any information to contradict that?

[dave_boo]

A couple of points (working from the bottom of the thread backwards.

1) Pending the agreement (as always it's how much money will change hands) Hutch's towers will be 'bought out' by CAT.

2) As seen in this map, currently the fastest coverage does not extend to Rayong..but see point 1.

3) Rreddin, I hope that you totally unplug the antenna from the modem during lightening storms....and the reason that the phone is slower is although both run on the same network, the phone is most likely (unless you have the Motorola Q (which as far as I can tell is the only EVDO phone offered by CAT), it's only connecting at 1xRTT. That's like going from EDGE to GPRS.

4) Depending on the age of the modem, an upgrade could be worthwhile. Some of the older ones were just plain-jane EVDO, the new ones are all rev.A. Wikipedia has a pretty good write up on rev.A, but suffice it to say that it allows more devices higher speeds at lower latencies; especially on the uplink.

5) According to their website, they are offering, what appears to my limited Thai skills and autotranslations, a 790 THB post paid all you can eat connection. Notice there's a cheaper version, but my understanding is that is for the non-EVDO.

6) Finally, there's the MiFi; would save people from having to buy a Cradlepoint router (assuming you don't need failover, loadbalancing, and all the other wonderful thinks that the company has included), but have a simple plug and play shared internet connection.

[klikster]

I recently got CAT service in Khon Kaen .. staying in Umphur Muang on a temp basis. The current plan is about Bt 7,000 and Bt 700/mo postpaid .. but with the first 3 months free.

Service varies, and from what the CAT rep told me, the speed will vary considerably depending on the distance from a CAT tower. While they didn't address the number of users active at the time, I suspect that is an issue. My service varies from "1 bar" to "4 bars". I do not use an external antenna. (my modem has no connection for one)

I have run speed tests that that show 1mb download speeds from North American servers. Speeds while downloading software vary as high as 40k and as low as 2k.

By comparison, I have an iCard EDGE modem. For me, DTAC is better than AIS, but CAT is better than either.

All this being said, I think that so much depends on your location that reviews need to be suspect.

[phuketrichard]

it works OPK her ein phuket and since its only 800 baht cant complain to much, althiough i tend to.

During songkran and school, vacation it has really slowed down.

Note it wont work in bangkok

For there i use my nokia and ais to conect

[Speedup]

does anyone know if the CAT CDMA system is a truly mobile solution that can be used while traveling throughout the country, kinda like a cell phone?

and, im way behind the times when it comes to new technologies....am I limited to the USB modem thingy provided by CAT or are there better, more powerful options out there that can be used?

[kandahar]

does anyone know if the CAT CDMA system is a truly mobile solution that can be used while traveling throughout the country, kinda like a cell phone?

and, im way behind the times when it comes to new technologies....am I limited to the USB modem thingy provided by CAT or are there better, more powerful options out there that can be used?

Dude, I can't make it any clearer than this. If your cell phone works, the Internet will work. Stationary, driving, by bus, by boat, by train, by airplane, by water buffalo. Except in BKK. If you can talk on your cell phone, you can use the Internet. If the cell phone doesn't have a signal, then neither will your Internet dongle. Short of buying your own satellite receiver and dish, this is it.

[woodyleonhard]

Speedup - CAT EV-DO has been the wireless connection of choice in Phuket for more than a year. You can take a look at the international download speeds recorded at http://www.live-access.com/PhuketInternet.aspx/

We now have an experimental 3G/HSPA network running on the west coast of Phuket, but the tests I've run aren't very impressive. That will change at some point, but for now EV-DO technology is as good as it gets for a wireless connection.

EV-DO towers are NOT the same as mobile phone towers. Sorry, but you CAN'T get an EV-Do connection everywhere you can get a mobile phone connection. The wireless connection available over the mobile phone network is called EDGE or GPRS. It's considerably slower than EV-DO.

That said, there are EV-DO towers almost everywhere in Thailand.

As of this moment, the CAT EV-DO dongles don't work in the greater Bangkok area. That's because Hutch has the concession for Bangkok, and Hutch made sure their network only worked with Hutch-sourced hardware. Recently, as noted above, CAT announced that it has bought the Hutch concession. Ultimately, that means CAT EV-DO dongles should work in Bangkok, and Hutch dongles should work outside Bangkok. However, that merging of the networks hasn't taken place yet. So for now, you have to get different hardware, if you need EV-DO access both in Bangkok and "upcountry" (which includes "downcountry" here in Phuket).

There are routers that accept CAT EV-Do cards for the Internet connection. You access the router via regular old WiFi, and the router gets connected to the Internet over the EV-DO connection. I don't know where to buy them in Bangkok, but in Phuket I've sent many people to the folks at www.ThailandCDMA.com . They know their stuff.

Keep an eye on the international download speeds on http://www.live-access.com/PhuketInternet.aspx/ . You'll be able to see for yourself if/when 3G/HSPA speeds overtake EV-DO, at least in Phuket.

Edited April 18, 2010 by woodyleonhard

[dave_boo]

Speedup - CAT EV-DO has been the wireless connection of choice in Phuket for more than a year. You can take a look at the international download speeds recorded at http://www.live-access.com/PhuketInternet.aspx/

We now have an experimental 3G/HSPA network running on the west coast of Phuket, but the tests I've run aren't very impressive. That will change at some point, but for now EV-DO technology is as good as it gets for a wireless connection.

EV-DO towers are NOT the same as mobile phone towers. Sorry, but you CAN'T get an EV-Do connection everywhere you can get a mobile phone connection. The wireless connection available over the mobile phone network is called EDGE or GPRS. It's considerably slower than EV-DO.

That said, there are EV-DO towers almost everywhere in Thailand.

As of this moment, the CAT EV-DO dongles don't work in the greater Bangkok area. That's because Hutch has the concession for Bangkok, and Hutch made sure their network only worked with Hutch-sourced hardware. Recently, as noted above, CAT announced that it has bought the Hutch concession. Ultimately, that means CAT EV-DO dongles should work in Bangkok, and Hutch dongles should work outside Bangkok. However, that merging of the networks hasn't taken place yet. So for now, you have to get different hardware, if you need EV-DO access both in Bangkok and "upcountry" (which includes "downcountry" here in Phuket).

There are routers that accept CAT EV-Do cards for the Internet connection. You access the router via regular old WiFi, and the router gets connected to the Internet over the EV-DO connection. I don't know where to buy them in Bangkok, but in Phuket I've sent many people to the folks at www.ThailandCDMA.com . They know their stuff.

Keep an eye on the international download speeds on http://www.live-access.com/PhuketInternet.aspx/ . You'll be able to see for yourself if/when 3G/HSPA speeds overtake EV-DO, at least in Phuket.

Just to clear something up....

Stating that you can't get EVDO over 'mobile phone towers' is wrong. CAT operates mobile phone towers that use CDMA technology; which AFAIK all offer EVDO. While you obviously can't connect to a GSM based provider with CAT's phones/modems, can you connect to an AIS tower with DTAC or True?

As you pointed out, you can not use the CAT modem on Hutch's network; however you can voice roam on both either way. The reason data roaming wouldn't work is the IMSI tells the telco whether or not your device is allowed....

[fremmel]

Stating that you can't get EVDO over 'mobile phone towers' is wrong. CAT operates mobile phone towers that use CDMA technology; which AFAIK all offer EVDO.

Unfortunately I know of at least one CAT tower that doesn't offer EVDO - the one I'm on. I live about 45 KM outside Udon and have to use the low speed version of CDMA because I'm not near enough to one of the EVDO capable towers. I've been using it for about a year and a half and it works well for what it is but it definitely isn't EVDO. I keep calling CAT every now and then to see if they've upgraded the tower but, so far, no joy.

[dave_boo]

Unfortunately I know of at least one CAT tower that doesn't offer EVDO - the one I'm on. I live about 45 KM outside Udon and have to use the low speed version of CDMA because I'm not near enough to one of the EVDO capable towers. I've been using it for about a year and a half and it works well for what it is but it definitely isn't EVDO. I keep calling CAT every now and then to see if they've upgraded the tower but, so far, no joy.

That's odd...what's your RSSI? I was under the (apparently false) impression that ALL of CAT's towers were EVDO and lack of signal strength was the reason that people couldn't get EVDO and fell back onto 1xRTT.

[Scully]

I am not a tech wizard like some on here but I purchased the CAT CDMA recently and am very satisfied. The product costs 6500 baht first payment but the first three months are free after which it is 790 baht a month. The dongle is a Novatel wireless and doesn't need an installation cd as windows etc detects it and installs it.

I live in the north east in the middle of nowhere but very close to a CAT mast so this was my best option. The product doesn't work in 25 provinces but does in all the rest, as the house I am currently in hasn't a phone line and we may move in the next 12 months then it is the best option (hopefully) for me.

[fremmel]

Sorry for the delay in responding. We had a hellacious wind storm a couple of days ago and repairing the damage took some time.

I routinely have 3 or 4 bars out of 5, sometimes all 5. This is with an external antenna but on a modem that's not EVDO capable. When I first signed up for CAT at their office I was quite insistent that I wanted EVDO if I could get it. They said there was only one EVDO tower in my vicinity and their engineers had tested the signal strength around where my house is and they couldn't pick up the signal. This was a year and a half ago and my reconstruction of the conversation is a bit fuzzy but as best I can recall they said a non-EVDO tower was closer and I could use that for the 1xRTT. Since the EVDO modem and EVDO service were both more expensive it's not like they were trying to steer me to a higher profit item so I had no reason to doubt them.

I have a friend that signed up for EVDO yesterday so while he was there with the EVDO people I tried talk over the phone to them to confirm that I couldn't get EVDO because I connected to a non-EVDO tower and not that I was too far away from a CAT tower. But the phone connection wasn't good and I couldn't understand his Thai well enough so I had to put my wife on the phone. The 3 way conversation didn't provide much information - just that the EVDO signal wasn't good in my area. I'll have to talk to them in person the next time I get into Udon.

[Nana]

Thanks for starting this thread speedup,just what I was looking for as I am at present using a USB EDGE modem and was hoping for a faster connection soon so this may be just the ticket.I live between Pattaya and Sri Racha in the country.

I bought a Cat CDMA usb dongle and signed up for a 790 baht a month unlimited package 3 weeks ago. Works perfect here in Chaiyaphum.

I was under the impression that I could use it almost everywhere in Thailand. So I brought it with me on a holiday trip to Pratchuap Kiri Khan, Kanchanaburi, Bangkok, Chonburi, Rayong, Chantaburi and Trat. I couldn't connect any of these places, and was starting to think that there was something wrong with my usb modem.

When staying on Koh Chang I called CAT and asked why I couldnt connect. I was told that there is not yet any coverage in south east and central Thailand down to Prachuap.

All places where I tried the modem showed full signal strength.

Nana

[nikster]

Sorry for the delay in responding. We had a hellacious wind storm a couple of days ago and repairing the damage took some time.

I routinely have 3 or 4 bars out of 5, sometimes all 5. This is with an external antenna but on a modem that's not EVDO capable. When I first signed up for CAT at their office I was quite insistent that I wanted EVDO if I could get it. They said there was only one EVDO tower in my vicinity and their engineers had tested the signal strength around where my house is and they couldn't pick up the signal. This was a year and a half ago and my reconstruction of the conversation is a bit fuzzy but as best I can recall they said a non-EVDO tower was closer and I could use that for the 1xRTT. Since the EVDO modem and EVDO service were both more expensive it's not like they were trying to steer me to a higher profit item so I had no reason to doubt them.

I have a friend that signed up for EVDO yesterday so while he was there with the EVDO people I tried talk over the phone to them to confirm that I couldn't get EVDO because I connected to a non-EVDO tower and not that I was too far away from a CAT tower. But the phone connection wasn't good and I couldn't understand his Thai well enough so I had to put my wife on the phone. The 3 way conversation didn't provide much information - just that the EVDO signal wasn't good in my area. I'll have to talk to them in person the next time I get into Udon.

Get an EV-DO modem. CAT keeps changing their network around, and once they rolled out EV-DO Rev. A, the EV-DO 1x modems stopped working properly. They were perfectly OK before, then they were bad, and slow. You won't get any info about this from CAT - for the most part they have no clue. Just get an EV-DO Rev A modem. These are backwards compatible so if you can only get 1x in your area, they will switch to that. But at least you can be sure you'll always have the best connection possible on CAT.

CAT network changes I am aware of in recent years:

1 - Switch to EV-DO Rev A modems. Rev A modems way faster than the older ones, but the old modems - CCU-650 and so on - were suddenly worse than before. To the point where they became unusable, or slower than GPRS/EDGE.

2 - Intermittent short interruptions. Wasn't so noticeable surfing the web, but forget about downloading larger files, or connecting via VPN. I complained about this for a few months, then gave up as I couldn't get anyone who actually knew anything. My local CAT tech, who is a pretty good guy, eventually told me to just cancel my subscription. He saw the problem, and understood it but he couldn't do anything about it as the problem was on the central servers in BKK. Then, they fixed this. Took about 6 months though.

3 - Fixed establishing connections. Last year and before, I had to hit the connect button 3 or 4 times on my Mac before I would get a connection. Now, it always works the first time, and it's very fast too.

This is just to illustrate how CAT operates. They change stuff, but nobody really knows what's going on, or at least if there is someone, you can't get them on the line.

Edited April 30, 2010 by nikster

[nikster]

Thanks for starting this thread speedup,just what I was looking for as I am at present using a USB EDGE modem and was hoping for a faster connection soon so this may be just the ticket.I live between Pattaya and Sri Racha in the country.

I bought a Cat CDMA usb dongle and signed up for a 790 baht a month unlimited package 3 weeks ago. Works perfect here in Chaiyaphum.

I was under the impression that I could use it almost everywhere in Thailand. So I brought it with me on a holiday trip to Pratchuap Kiri Khan, Kanchanaburi, Bangkok, Chonburi, Rayong, Chantaburi and Trat. I couldn't connect any of these places, and was starting to think that there was something wrong with my usb modem.

When staying on Koh Chang I called CAT and asked why I couldnt connect. I was told that there is not yet any coverage in south east and central Thailand down to Prachuap.

All places where I tried the modem showed full signal strength.

Nana

The "central provinces" which is Bangkok and Ko Chang, and everything down to Hua Hin and further, are serviced by Hutch. The Hutch network is run by CAT. CAT has actually already bought Hutch operations too - but they haven't merged their accounts yet. That's why you get a signal, but can't connect inside the Hutch zone. It's only a matter of time before it works. Unfortunately, CAT is a very slow mover so I imagine this could take 1 or 2 years. TIT.

[fremmel]

Get an EV-DO modem....

I'd about come to that conclusion. But before I pop for 6,500 baht, try to run down the right antenna connections, cancel my low speed subscription, sign up for EVDO, etc. I'd like to be sort of sure it will work at least some of the time. I do have a full or close to full signal indication on my 1x modem but do you know if that's comparable to what an EVDO modem would see? Or do the EVDO modems have a different scale?

My friend has gotten his EVDO setup working on his laptop and now I'm trying to get him to bring it out here to the boonies to see if it will work here. But since I don't have the connectors to hook it up to the antenna I'm not sure what it will really show.

I noticed those service disruptions you talked about. Even on a 1x connection. Drove me crazy trying to download from non-resumable file servers. But then, suddenly, everything worked again.

[nikster]

Get an EV-DO modem....

I'd about come to that conclusion. But before I pop for 6,500 baht, try to run down the right antenna connections, cancel my low speed subscription, sign up for EVDO, etc. I'd like to be sort of sure it will work at least some of the time. I do have a full or close to full signal indication on my 1x modem but do you know if that's comparable to what an EVDO modem would see? Or do the EVDO modems have a different scale?

My friend has gotten his EVDO setup working on his laptop and now I'm trying to get him to bring it out here to the boonies to see if it will work here. But since I don't have the connectors to hook it up to the antenna I'm not sure what it will really show.

I noticed those service disruptions you talked about. Even on a 1x connection. Drove me crazy trying to download from non-resumable file servers. But then, suddenly, everything worked again.

It's not "even on a 1x connection" - it's only on a 1x connection. They'll usually let you try whether or not you have enough of a signal before you buy the hardware. A friend of mine had them coming to his house and trying it out.

[fremmel]

I finally made it into Udon with enough time to spare to go to the CAT office. This time I managed to talk to someone that said he was an engineer. He said that all the CAT towers are equipped for EVDO. I don't know if that's a recent development or whether I was originally misled, once again, by a sales person that didn't know what they were talking about. Probably the latter.

Given that I have a reasonable signal level for my 1x modem from my external antenna I thought I'd do the one day EVDO trial they told me about when I signed up for the 1x a year and a half ago. Unfortunately, at least in Udon, that offer is no longer available. So, back to trying to get my friend all the way out here with his laptop and try to figure a way to hook my external antenna to his USB modem.