C A T Cdma Internet Chiang Mai Is Crap

[Member]

When I got CAT CDMA is was the best internet of Thailand, just above 3.000 Mb a permanent straight line 24/7 that was December 2009. Just the next month suddenly the straight line was gone and from then I got the skyline of the Swiss Alps 24/7, anyway still less worse then the garbage from TTT then called Maxnet then called 3BB I was used to. Just the past weeks it's really Crap 2.0 and sometimes you can't even call it Internet more like the first generation dial up stuff. 'CAT Telecom 2011' it's terrible. I think in the center of the countries second city you may expect a professional network but unfortunately not.

[Member]

And in case you think: 'WOW... Amazing !!! it can't get worse really...'

Yes it can !

[muratremix]

You should have plenty of dsl alternatives in Chiang mai? Cat CDMA is only broadband internet option for most of the Isaan but for big cities, ADSL is a better option.

[BB1950]

Well you may not have to be concerned about it too much longer.

True Move signed a deal a couple months ago with CAT to replace CAT's CDMA network by turning 3,000 CDMA base stations nationwide to 3G HSPA base stations by the end of this year.

ref:

http://www.bangkokpo...at-sign-3g-deal

[up-country_sinclair]

So does that mean my CAT CDMA wireless modem will become useless?

[BB1950]

So does that mean my CAT CDMA wireless modem will become useless?

Looks like it would, unless they offer some kind of trade in or trade up. CDMA and HSPA or two entirely different technologies. It's not clear what CAT is going to do about existing CDMA customers. I read where there are about 1 million customers affected. Some have been customers for 10 years.

[huskymowers]

Good news and Bad news, Personally I would welcome some improvement in my cat telecom cdma internet connection by any means possible. lately it has been 150 kpbs with the occasional burst up yo 1.5 megs. There are some days when I pine for my now non existing dial up. Please keep us posted about progress of the true hookup as I await news with great anticipation and I will willingly forgo my old dongle. I will just put it in the draw with all the other superseded models that I have had over the past years.

[ThaiLife]

Good news and Bad news, Personally I would welcome some improvement in my cat telecom cdma internet connection by any means possible. lately it has been 150 kpbs with the occasional burst up yo 1.5 megs. There are some days when I pine for my now non existing dial up. Please keep us posted about progress of the true hookup as I await news with great anticipation and I will willingly forgo my old dongle. I will just put it in the draw with all the other superseded models that I have had over the past years.

In the years ive been using my CAT USB modem, its been a constant roller coaster ride , but the bumpy ride is still better than my old Dial Up

connection , so its going to be very interesting to see how this all works out , will existing CAT CDMA customers be treated fairly or will

they be cast off like an old pair of shoes , only time will tell , ive got my fingers firmly crossed

[CallumW]

Here in Surin my CAT CDMA connection was perfect.... Until last week!

Before: Constant 1.5mps download speeds any time of day, never a disconnect.

Now: Lucky to get of 256kbps download speed, connection freezes requiring disconnect and reconnect about 20 times a day, 2-3 random disconnects a day.

Oh well, it was good while it lasted, sum num na, time to find a new solution.

[lomatopo]

So does that mean my CAT CDMA wireless modem will become useless?

Looks like it would, unless they offer some kind of trade in or trade up. CDMA and HSPA or two entirely different technologies. It's not clear what CAT is going to do about existing CDMA customers. I read where there are about 1 million customers affected. Some have been customers for 10 years.

I, perhaps mistakenly, assumed that True was merely utilizing CAT's towers (location, power, back-haul) to roll-out 3G (WCDMA/850) quickly throughout the country, rather than replace CAT's existing CDMA equipment service? 3,000 base stations is a nice start but will barely cover 35% of the geography (not addressable market). Once these base stations have been so enabled I guess CAT/Hutch could transition some customers from EV-DO to 3G/850? Those who use EV-DO for fixed broadband, with unlimited monthly access, might not be suitable for WCDMA/850, given true's fair-use policy?

[devdrinker]

I believe the congestion/contention is from the base stations onward? So will really it matter if its CDMA or HSPA for the last mile.

[Tokay]

The demise of CAT has gone hand in hand with elections. My Pattaya connection went from OK to total garbage that is not much better than dial up. I believe the gov is sniffing around around. I see my status bar sometimes hit a gov Thai site before it loads the other site I'm going to. That means it's filtering you, which would result in slowing the connection down.

[ThaiLife]

There's definitely some thing going on , web pages are taking for ever to load , and many just stop half way

I could only get the USA server to test this morning , Bangkok just froze

[nikster]

So does that mean my CAT CDMA wireless modem will become useless?

Looks like it would, unless they offer some kind of trade in or trade up.

ROFL :cheesy:

You are talking about CAT. That's not going to happen in a million years. They are going to offer you to... switch to their new system. That's it. Spent BHT 10,000 on a now-useless CDMA modem? Too bad, but not CATs problem. In my years long experience with them, they are technically competent but for anything having to do with end users they are as clueless as a 3 year old child. Marketing? Heard of it. Customer service? That's the ladies collecting the money, right? Yeah we have those.

Anyway, I didn't realize they want to replace their CDMA network with True 3G networks. That's bad news and that means they're not going to invest a lot of money keeping CDMA working. I also noticed a severe deterioration in quality and speed compared to what it used to be.

The good news I suppose is I won't have to worry about my MiFi's dead battery, the whole MiFi is going to be useless shortly. Going to look at the bright side here

I guess I'll just cancel my contract then.

[4evermaat]

So does that mean my CAT CDMA wireless modem will become useless?

Looks like it would, unless they offer some kind of trade in or trade up. CDMA and HSPA or two entirely different technologies. It's not clear what CAT is going to do about existing CDMA customers. I read where there are about 1 million customers affected. Some have been customers for 10 years.

I, perhaps mistakenly, assumed that True was merely utilizing CAT's towers (location, power, back-haul) to roll-out 3G (WCDMA/850) quickly throughout the country, rather than replace CAT's existing CDMA equipment service? 3,000 base stations is a nice start but will barely cover 35% of the geography (not addressable market). Once these base stations have been so enabled I guess CAT/Hutch could transition some customers from EV-DO to 3G/850? Those who use EV-DO for fixed broadband, with unlimited monthly access, might not be suitable for WCDMA/850, given true's fair-use policy?

me too. I doubt CAT will give up their existing technology. They will keep it and run it alongside True's HPSDA. I like the CAT unlimited policy, as well as the ability to suspend/cancel contract anytime.

The demise of CAT has gone hand in hand with elections. My Pattaya connection went from OK to total garbage that is not much better than dial up. I believe the gov is sniffing around around. I see my status bar sometimes hit a gov Thai site before it loads the other site I'm going to. That means it's filtering you, which would result in slowing the connection down.

Pattaya has CAT CDMA coverage? or you talking about True 3G?

I have noticed a slowdown with CAT about 3-4 months ago in Chumphon. I used to get 3Mb down in Patong Beach and similar when I arrived in Chumphon. Not so now. There was another thread with a soapbox about CAT speeds recently throughout thailand. I think all interested parties should call CAT and log their complaint in. Nothing will change overnight, but it is a start.

[4evermaat]

last night and today I am impressed with CAT CDMA speeds. I get 2.5 Mbps down and 0.3-0.7 up. Maybe they expanded capacity in chumphon?

I often switch from TOT ASDL to the CAT connection if I am experiencing problems. The regular web surfing is no problem, but the ToT is experiencing some noticable lag when I connect to a USA-hosted virtual private server (vps). And the ToT connection is much faster. Any ideas why that would be the case?

[johnnynmonic]

So does that mean my CAT CDMA wireless modem will become useless?

Looks like it would, unless they offer some kind of trade in or trade up.

ROFL :cheesy:

You are talking about CAT. That's not going to happen in a million years. They are going to offer you to... switch to their new system. That's it. Spent BHT 10,000 on a now-useless CDMA modem? Too bad, but not CATs problem. In my years long experience with them, they are technically competent but for anything having to do with end users they are as clueless as a 3 year old child. Marketing? Heard of it. Customer service? That's the ladies collecting the money, right? Yeah we have those.

Anyway, I didn't realize they want to replace their CDMA network with True 3G networks. That's bad news and that means they're not going to invest a lot of money keeping CDMA working. I also noticed a severe deterioration in quality and speed compared to what it used to be.

The good news I suppose is I won't have to worry about my MiFi's dead battery, the whole MiFi is going to be useless shortly. Going to look at the bright side here

I guess I'll just cancel my contract then.

I was just in CAT today and asked about this. The guy at the counter claims they will offer some sort of trade-in for existing CDMA customers who want to upgrade. That would be nice if it's true - the downside is, these will likely be pretty expensive the first year they come out. I remember when the CDMA aircards/usb dongles were first available, those things were like 10,000 baht. Now they have models for 2,200 baht. Think I'll wait.

[DavidMavec]

So does that mean my CAT CDMA wireless modem will become useless?

Looks like it would, unless they offer some kind of trade in or trade up.

ROFL :cheesy:

You are talking about CAT. That's not going to happen in a million years. They are going to offer you to... switch to their new system. That's it. Spent BHT 10,000 on a now-useless CDMA modem? Too bad, but not CATs problem. In my years long experience with them, they are technically competent but for anything having to do with end users they are as clueless as a 3 year old child. Marketing? Heard of it. Customer service? That's the ladies collecting the money, right? Yeah we have those.

Anyway, I didn't realize they want to replace their CDMA network with True 3G networks. That's bad news and that means they're not going to invest a lot of money keeping CDMA working. I also noticed a severe deterioration in quality and speed compared to what it used to be.

The good news I suppose is I won't have to worry about my MiFi's dead battery, the whole MiFi is going to be useless shortly. Going to look at the bright side here

I guess I'll just cancel my contract then.

According to their main office in Bangkok, they won´t start doing this until June 2012 so there is at least one year left.

[DavidMavec]

I am consistently getting approximately 1.5 Mbps speeds almost everywhere on the island of Koh Panghan. I´m quite satisfied with that speed. Only downside is when there is a power outage their towers seem to go down and I can´t connect whereas with DTAC and True the towers stay up.