I'm staying at the Nasa Vegas hotel at Ramkhamhaeng / Kamphet Phet 7.

I bought an AIS aircard because the wi-fi in the room was so unreliable, but uggh, 3700 baht down the drain because all I can get is Edge, not 3G.

So what providers actually provide real 3G Internet round here:

DTAC?

True?

Hutch? (Still in operation?)

You ask in shops round here and people just say yes, yes, yes, sale, sale, sale, and I don't want to waste any more money on Edge cards ....

Quick answer if anyone knows

cheers,

All is not wasted. That Aircard should be capable of 2100Mhz and will work with TOT 3G. You can get TOT 3G, which the only 3G that you will reliably get there. I have a 1gb Post Paid sim with them for 199 baht a month. There are other plans and prepaid available also. Go to the TOT service center at The Mall Ramkhamhaeng to get one. If you want a postpaid account you need your passport and work permit. For prepaid you just buy the sim. They have MVNO reseller also, but I found TOT to have the best pricing and the only provider with an English version of their website. Here is their website.

http://www.tot3g.net/en/index.php

All is not wasted. That Aircard should be capable of 2100Mhz and will work with TOT 3G. You can get TOT 3G, which the only 3G that you will reliably get there. I have a 1gb Post Paid sim with them for 199 baht a month. There are other plans and prepaid available also. Go to the TOT service center at The Mall Ramkhamhaeng to get one. If you want a postpaid account you need your passport and work permit. For prepaid you just buy the sim. They have MVNO reseller also, but I found TOT to have the best pricing and the only provider with an English version of their website. Here is their website.

http://www.tot3g.net/en/index.php

ok, thats amazing - so just chuck the SIM out? Fantastic!

All is not wasted. That Aircard should be capable of 2100Mhz and will work with TOT 3G. You can get TOT 3G, which the only 3G that you will reliably get there. I have a 1gb Post Paid sim with them for 199 baht a month. There are other plans and prepaid available also. Go to the TOT service center at The Mall Ramkhamhaeng to get one. If you want a postpaid account you need your passport and work permit. For prepaid you just buy the sim. They have MVNO reseller also, but I found TOT to have the best pricing and the only provider with an English version of their website. Here is their website.

http://www.tot3g.net/en/index.php

ok, thats amazing - so just chuck the SIM out? Fantastic!

And so presumably I can try SIMs from any provider? Only issue I can imagine then is having their horrible software installed ............

Truth be told, you could have tethered the internet from your phone and save you that 3700 baht. But it all depends on what phone you have. Oh well it's too late now. I hope there is reception for 3G in your area.

All is not wasted. That Aircard should be capable of 2100Mhz and will work with TOT 3G. You can get TOT 3G, which the only 3G that you will reliably get there. I have a 1gb Post Paid sim with them for 199 baht a month. There are other plans and prepaid available also. Go to the TOT service center at The Mall Ramkhamhaeng to get one. If you want a postpaid account you need your passport and work permit. For prepaid you just buy the sim. They have MVNO reseller also, but I found TOT to have the best pricing and the only provider with an English version of their website. Here is their website.

http://www.tot3g.net/en/index.php

ok, thats amazing - so just chuck the SIM out? Fantastic!

And so presumably I can try SIMs from any provider? Only issue I can imagine then is having their horrible software installed ............

If the AIS Aircard is made by Huawei you can reflash to stock firmware. Google model number for firmware and instructions.

Truth be told, you could have tethered the internet from your phone and save you that 3700 baht. But it all depends on what phone you have. Oh well it's too late now. I hope there is reception for 3G in your area.

Don't have a phone .... going to go shopping for a nice 3G one, one that works in the apartment. Just "bootstrapping"!!

I am using a True Aircard with TOT 3G. TOT definitely has coverage in that area. There are several 3G Towers in the vicinity of Nasa Vegas. Yes, just like a phone you can just swap sims.

All is not wasted. That Aircard should be capable of 2100Mhz and will work with TOT 3G. You can get TOT 3G, which the only 3G that you will reliably get there. I have a 1gb Post Paid sim with them for 199 baht a month. There are other plans and prepaid available also. Go to the TOT service center at The Mall Ramkhamhaeng to get one. If you want a postpaid account you need your passport and work permit. For prepaid you just buy the sim. They have MVNO reseller also, but I found TOT to have the best pricing and the only provider with an English version of their website. Here is their website.

http://www.tot3g.net/en/index.php

ok, thats amazing - so just chuck the SIM out? Fantastic!

And so presumably I can try SIMs from any provider? Only issue I can imagine then is having their horrible software installed ............

If the AIS Aircard is made by Huawei you can reflash to stock firmware. Google model number for firmware and instructions.

How will "reflashing to stock firmware help"? I only ask because I just whipped out the AIS SIM and whipped in the TOT one and it just ... worked

Its not massively fast:

-----

Download Speed: 422 kbps (52.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 355 kbps (44.4 KB/sec transfer rate)

------

But way better than the AIS Edge crap I was getting yesterday, a few K a second ...

Actually the only problem I had today was I went to The Mall Bang Kapi and asked where the TOT service centre was and was met by cries of "may mii khrap", so either its shut down or The Mall Bang Kapi isn't the same as The Mall Ram

So I ended up buying an "iFox" SIM (reseller of TOT) from the SE-ED store....... package is crap, just 1000MB data transfer for 200 baht plus, but I just really wanted to see if I got 3G here. So a success on that count.

So final question is ..... doe this limit what 3G mobile phone I can buy, currently looking at HTC models .... just plug in a TOT SIM right?

Nasa Vegas is on Ramkhamhaeng Road. Is there another one on Latphrao Road? The Mall Ramkhamhaeng is about 1 km from the Nasa Vegas on Ramkhamhaeng Road (between sois 16 and 17). As you discovered there is no TOT office at The Mall Bangkapi. Depending on your distance from the towers speed varies. I have clocked over 3 Mbps where I work, but only get 500 Kbps where I live. But still way better than Edge.

You said the AIS software is ugly. Reflashing will install the generic firmware which is also not very aesthetically pleasing.

To use TOT 3G the phone must support 3G on the 2100 Mhz band, which many do as it is the standard in most of the World. Just make sure the phone you buy support 2100 Mhz HSDPA before you buy it.

Nasa Vegas is on Ramkhamhaeng Road. Is there another one on Latphrao Road? The Mall Ramkhamhaeng is about 1 km from the Nasa Vegas on Ramkhamhaeng Road (between sois 16 and 17). As you discovered there is no TOT office at The Mall Bangkapi. Depending on your distance from the towers speed varies. I have clocked over 3 Mbps where I work, but only get 500 Kbps where I live. But still way better than Edge.

You said the AIS software is ugly. Reflashing will install the generic firmware which is also not very aesthetically pleasing.

To use TOT 3G the phone must support 3G on the 2100 Mhz band, which many do as it is the standard in most of the World. Just make sure the phone you buy support 2100 Mhz HSDPA before you buy it.

Sorry for not being intimately acquainted with my current surroundings yet. Kind of a rush finding somewhere to live. I know several parts of BKK very well but this isn't one of them. Next time I will go to The Mall Ramkhamhaeng for sure and save me some taxi cash. Though there are lots of hot girls at The Mall Bang Kapi ;-)

Yeah, I am getting about 500 kpbs, which is ok ...... and I have wi-fi in Nasa Vegas which I am in the processing of "upgrading".

Thanks again