Internet, Where? No 3G

[muratremix]

Barin,

Whats the brand / model of your 1500 baht evdo modem? It seems too cheap to be true! Does it have socket for external antenna? I wonder where can I buy it from Bangkok to use it in Buri Ram area.

[Barin]

Barin,

Whats the brand / model of your 1500 baht evdo modem? It seems too cheap to be true! Does it have socket for external antenna? I wonder where can I buy it from Bangkok to use it in Buri Ram area.

muratremix,

The name of this EVDO (Revision A) modem is "Flying Fish", model number E1830.

It is made in China by TechFaith company.

It is based on Qualcomm QSC6085 chipset.

I don't think it has an external antenna connector.

But we can use USB extension cable 20 metres long and install this modem under the roof of the house to obtain a better signal in order to extend the range to 30 kilometres from the nearest base station.

Here is the screenshot of speed test in Nongkhai

Please see the attached files for more information.

EVDO USER MANUAL.doc

evdo-200906.xls

Edited July 12, 2011 by Barin

[lomatopo]

Comments on CAT CDMA:

- There are quite a few threads here about the deterioration of the CAT CDMA service in recent months. One of the many threads...

- The OP mentioned Bangkok and I'm not sure CAT CDMA is available in Bangkok.

- True (RealMove) bought the CAT CDMA network and, as far as I know, will transition those base-stations, and customers, to HSPA (3G). I'm not sure I'd buy into this technology going forward?

[thaicbr]

I use EDGE with either DTAC or AIS out here in the sticks as the nearest WCDMA base station to me that I know of is about 70 km away.

I normally use a D Happy card and get 70 hours of internet for around 200 baht + VAT and I certainly don't take 25 seconds to load a page, more like 1 or 2.

Nationwide meaning the whole nation will not be complete by mid 2012 as it is physically impossible to make 12,xxx base stations between CAT and True in that time.

I retired from building cellular networks 2 years ago after 22 years and unless they want to spend a lot of money on contractors they are not going to make it.

Big cities, small cities, big and small towns and the main roads is easy but there is a lot of space in Thailand where True and CAT are not available but AIS and DTAC are.

Dtac have probably the best EDGE network of all the Thai operators. That's the reason why True are trying to screw them over because they know when Dtac do 3g they will do it better than True could even dream of.......... dats wat i think anyway.

[Barin]

The OP mentioned Bangkok and I'm not sure CAT CDMA is available in Bangkok.

Bangkok and Chonburi province are served by Hutch CDMA network. They also have EVDO data service (probably "Revision 0", with maximum download speed of 2.4 Mbps, I am not sure if they have upgraded to "Revision A" or not).

True (RealMove) bought the CAT CDMA network and, as far as I know, will transition those base-stations, and customers, to HSPA (3G). I'm not sure I'd buy into this technology going forward?

No, I don't think so. It is not feasible to convert CDMA2000 1x EVDO network to GSM UMTS network, the UMTS technology is too different.

I am sure CAT CDMA network will remain unchanged. Too much money is already invested in CDMA2000 1x EVDO infrastructure equipment. Nobody wants to waste this money. It would have been crazy (although in Australia Telstra has done it).

[Barin]

I have found an interesting article about 3G. There is a lot of misunderstanding about CDMA, IS95, CDMA2000 1xRTT, WCDMA, UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA, UTRAN, GPRS, EDGE. The article can be found HERE.

Another article is HERE.

Edited July 16, 2011 by Barin

[Barin]

After a few years from now CAT CDMA network may be easily upgraded for EV-DO Revision "B" to offer download speeds as high as 73 megabits per second or to LTE with download speed of 100 megabits per second!

CAT CDMA network in Thailand was the first cellular network in Thailand to provide download speeds of 2.4 megabits per second way back in 2006. At that time all GSM networks in Thailand were able to offer only EDGE with maximum download speed not exceeding 0.23 megabits per second (still this is the best download speed of all GSM networks in Thailand except a very small area in Bangkok, Phuket, Huahin, Korat and Chiangmai where the test operation of HSDPA is licensed).

Edited July 16, 2011 by Barin

[lomatopo]

The OP mentioned Bangkok and I'm not sure CAT CDMA is available in Bangkok.

Bangkok and Chonburi province are served by Hutch CDMA network. They also have EVDO data service (probably "Revision 0", with maximum download speed of 2.4 Mbps, I am not sure if they have upgraded to "Revision A" or not).

True (RealMove) bought the CAT CDMA network and, as far as I know, will transition those base-stations, and customers, to HSPA (3G). I'm not sure I'd buy into this technology going forward?

No, I don't think so. It is not feasible to convert CDMA2000 1x EVDO network to GSM UMTS network, the UMTS technology is too different.

I am sure CAT CDMA network will remain unchanged. Too much money is already invested in CDMA2000 1x EVDO infrastructure equipment. Nobody wants to waste this money. It would have been crazy (although in Australia Telstra has done it).

I honestly don't recall reading about anyone using the Hutch CDMA data service in Bangkok. Any experiences, and detail on pricing might help the OP?

Again, as I understand it, True (subsidiary: RealMove) plan to decommission the CAT CDMA mobile broadband service and replace it with real 3G (HSPA). Customers will be transitioned from the CDMA network to the 3G network, slowly and painfully.

27 Jan 2011

Thailand

Thai cellco True Move and state-run CAT Telecom this morning signed a deal to convert the CDMA network formerly operated by Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia (Hutch) into a W-CDMA/HSPA-based 3G service, according to the Bangkok Post. Under the deal, True Move, which recently agreed to buy Hong Kong’s Hutchison out of the public-private CDMA joint venture, will install HSPA equipment at 1,400 CDMA2000 base station sites in 25 central provinces including metropolitan Bangkok and then allow CAT Telecom to buy or lease the network. Furthermore, CAT has also reportedly agreed to lease additional HSPA equipment from True Move that will be installed at 1,600 CDMA base station sites across Thailand’s 51 provinces (which currently provide 1xEV-DO-based services under CAT’s wholly owned CAT CDMA brand). The network will be open for rent or purchase to rival cellcos including mobile virtual network operators. According to the report, True and CAT want to launch HSPA services over the combined 3,000-site national network by the end of this year.

[Barin]

I honestly don't recall reading about anyone using the Hutch CDMA data service in Bangkok. Any experiences, and detail on pricing might help the OP?

More details can be found HERE.

Yes, TRUE has acquired Hutch CDMA2000 1x EV-DO network. Hutch CDMA network is one of the oldest CDMA networks in Asia, launched in 2003. The infrastructure equipment is old and huge investments may be required in order to upgrade all the base stations and HLR / AUC / AAA to provide EVDO Revision A data service all over the coverage area. As far as I can understand TRUE wants to dump CDMA infrastructure and reuse the towers, antennas, cables, microwave links and even the radio frequency spectrum to migrate from CDMA 800 to GSM 850 with HSDPA just like Telstra in Australia has done.

If TRUE is not able to obtain the 2100 MHz 3G license, they may have an alternative to launch HSDPA 7.2 MBps data service on 850 MHz.

I am not certain if any other country in Europe or Asia is using GSM 850 with HSDPA. As far as I know GSM 850 is used mostly in North America and the United States.

Most of HSDPA capable mobile phones and modems can not work in GSM 850 frequency band. The choice of mobile terminals will be limited and their price will be 50% higher than those for the 2100 MHz frequency band.

Most countries in Asia and Europe including China and Russia are using 3G on the frequency of 2100 MHz. Therefore there is a wide choice of HSDPA terminals that are capable of working in HSDPA mode only on 2100 MHz. These terminals can not work in HSDPA mode on GSM 850 networks like the new TRUE GSM 850 network.

True said in an article in The Nation that,

It would spend between Bt300 million and Bt500 million on upgrading more of the subsidiary's cellular base stations to third-generation technology in order to provide 3G service on its 850MHz spectrum. True Move already provides 3G service on a non-commercial trial basis in Bangkok, Chon Buri, Hua Hin, Phuket and Koh Samui, using the 850MHz spectrum.

CAT CDMA is another CDMA2000 1x EVDO network not to be confused with Hutch CDMA network. This CDMA network was built by Huawei in 2005 and is very modern and advanced unlike the Hutch CDMA network. It has been invested over 7 Billion Baht in this network. So far nobody is prepared to pay 7 Billion Baht for this network. It is not feasible to migrate this CDMA network to GSM HSDPA network. The current status quo should be retained and the clever investors will realize that it's a very good investment anyway to keep this network up and running for 5 years or so and migrating this network to LTE later to have the download speed of 100 Mbps.

In Laos there are 2 commercial GSM HSDPA networks in operation. They are supposed to be capable of maximum download speed of up to 7.2 Mbps. However in the real network environment the download speed is not over 1 or 2 Mbps.

It means that even without any upgrade the current CAT CDMA network with its EVDO "Revision A" data service in many remote areas of Thailand can outperform a GSM HSDPA network. Please see my Speed Test screenshots above in this thread.

And no GSM HSDPA network will offer 100% true unlimited high speed Internet for just 800.- Baht per month!

Such low unlimited rates are only possible in CDMA networks, not in GSM networks!

Edited July 16, 2011 by Barin

[MJo]

Barin, the actual vs theoretical speed is just that you are sharing the bandwidth between the users connected to the base station (tower). CAT CDMA has lot of capacity but very few users. Especially out in rural areas. WCDMA or HSPA also delivers the max if you are only user and close to the tower.

GSM & CDMA are standards, not so much "Qualcomm" technology although they manufacture components and hold related patents. There is good info on Wikipedia and also in GSM Association pages on the present status. Although it is now agreed that 4G can be used in marketing all those 4G networks in the works are not compliant to 4G standard which among other things calls min 100 meg speeds. WiMax is dying out as well and the 4G will most likely to be based on LTE Advanced that is not being deployed in some countries. LTE is "Long Term Evolution" based on GSM or at least that's where it roots lay.

As for True I'm with Lomatopo here. Makes perfect sense to upgrade to WCDMA as part of True network. Very likely to happen providing politics don't interfere. Like government actually opening the Telco sector for competition by granting licences for highest bidders for the 2100MHz band.