Ais 3G ?

[QED]

I was up and down Sukhumvit and Silom last weekend and not a sniff of 3G.

Funny I will be working in Indonesia next week on a remote island, there we can get 3G in the middle of the jungle! I was on an oil rig in West Java last month about 50kms offshore and could get 3G there. Jakarta is 100% covered. Shame Thailand is so far behind its 'less developed' neighbours!

Which equipment and SIM were you using?

AIS (prepaid) Sim with Blackberry Torch. It picks up 3G everywhere else when available, but only EDGE in BKK last weekend.

BlackBerry Torch doesn't appear to do AIS 3G. Only TRUE and/or TOT....unless it's the BlackBerry Torch 9860.

Yes it is a 9860 (I thought all torches were?), and as I said it will pick up all other 3G networks.

I don't understand why or how a particular brand of phone could be locked out of a particular supplier's 3G network?

[lomatopo]

It seems like there are two versions of the Blackberry Torch 9860. (FWIW, it looks like there are many Torch models: 9800, 9810, 9850, 9860.)

Your model supports WCDMA / HSDPA Tri Band (900/1700/2100 MHz) or Quad Mode (800/850/1900/2100).

So you can get AIS which operates on 900 Mhz 3G if your model supports 900 Mhz 3G. If your model supports 850 Mhz 3G then you can get DTAC or Truemove, which operate on 850 Mhz 3G.

My guess: since you cannot get AIS 3G I suspect you have the 850 Mhz model. But who knows? Do you have an AIS SIM? Did you activate a data plan? Do you get EDGE/GPRS?

Based on your initial post it seemed like yours was a self-inflicted problem; what is commonly referred to as "problem exists between screen and chair".

As your phone does not support 900 Mhz 3G it would seem unreasonable to expect AIS's 3G to work with your phone. You can use DTAC or True as both operate on 850 Mhz 3G.

Well the truth has, indeed, set me free. Although I didn't need the help, the CS girl at AIS took me through a 3G set-up procedure for the HTC Desire S. If that phone wasn't supported, surely her info should've told her that.

I'll head back to Truemove and ask that CS bird to give me back the 2 or 3 hours of my life I've spent pissing about with this . . .

You can pop round a 7/11, purchase a Truemove NetSIM or InterSIM, add money, then subscribe to a 3G data plan. This can be done anywhere, in less than 5 minutes. IME, DTAC/Happy has more cost-effective 3G data plans (1 GB for 349 baht, True is 399 baht for 500 MB). With DTAC/Happy I recommend the Invulnerable SIM, 49 baht: rolling expiration date, 0.99 baht per min or SMS.

http://truemove.com/en/prepay-hispeed-net-sim-volumn-base.htm

http://www.truemove.com/en/data-package-volumnbase.htm

http://www.truemove.com/en/Inter-SIM-Prepay.rails

Edited September 3, 2011 by lomatopo

[bubba]

My take on AIS 3G so far:

AIS switched on my 3G service in BKK even before it was officially rolled out, presumably because I have an unlimited iPhone postpay plan. At first, 3G wasn't bad at all. Speedtests on local servers ran 3.5 Mb, and speed was OK on foreign sites, although nowhere near 3.5 Mb.

Today, I get dreadfully slow 3G speeds during a business day. Last week we had an internet outage at the office, and I used AIG 3G with an iPhone personal hotspot to my laptop, so I had a good snapshot of serviceability throughout the day on the same cell. At times, throughput completely stopped. I was unable to load a single page or even check my email. Absolutely worthless. Interestingly, I switched off 3G on my iPhone and reverted to EDGE and was able to at least get some bandwidth, but only enough to check email really. Also, 3G coverage is spotty in Bangkok. Contrary to what AIS say, BKK is by no means fully covered by 3G. Not even close in my experience with driving around.

Conversely, I was in Chiang Mai last week and 3G speeds were decent, even with foreign servers. The 3G service seemed seamless, and I didn't see a single instance of 3G switching over to EDGE. I even drove around listening to internet radio and didn't even experience a single dropout.

Bottom line for me is, I was very excited to see AIS come out with 3G, but at least in Bangkok, the overall service and bandwidth is actually worse than I received before with EDGE. I suppose this is probably due to the AIS 3G network infrastructure being overloaded with too many users. If you are in the market for 3G right now, I would highly recommend that you give AIS a miss and look at True or DTAC. I'm definitely going to switch out of AIS if I can find something better, and was thinking of buying DTAC and True prepay SIMs just to see how those work on 3G.

[bubba]

It seems like there are two versions of the Blackberry Torch 9860. (FWIW, it looks like there are many Torch models: 9800, 9810, 9850, 9860.)

Your model supports WCDMA / HSDPA Tri Band (900/1700/2100 MHz) or Quad Mode (800/850/1900/2100).

So you can get AIS which operates on 900 Mhz 3G if your model supports 900 Mhz 3G. If your model supports 850 Mhz 3G then you can get DTAC or Truemove, which operate on 850 Mhz 3G.

My guess: since you cannot get AIS 3G I suspect you have the 850 Mhz model. But who knows? Do you have an AIS SIM? Did you activate a data plan? Do you get EDGE/GPRS?

Based on your initial post it seemed like yours was a self-inflicted problem; what is commonly referred to as "problem exists between screen and chair".

As your phone does not support 900 Mhz 3G it would seem unreasonable to expect AIS's 3G to work with your phone. You can use DTAC or True as both operate on 850 Mhz 3G.

Well the truth has, indeed, set me free. Although I didn't need the help, the CS girl at AIS took me through a 3G set-up procedure for the HTC Desire S. If that phone wasn't supported, surely her info should've told her that.

I'll head back to Truemove and ask that CS bird to give me back the 2 or 3 hours of my life I've spent pissing about with this . . .

You can pop round a 7/11, purchase a Truemove NetSIM or InterSIM, add money, then subscribe to a 3G data plan. This can be done anywhere, in less than 5 minutes. IME, DTAC/Happy has more cost-effective 3G data plans (1 GB for 349 baht, True is 399 baht for 500 MB). With DTAC/Happy I recommend the Invulnerable SIM, 49 baht: rolling expiration date, 0.99 baht per min or SMS.

http://truemove.com/en/prepay-hispeed-net-sim-volumn-base.htm

http://www.truemove.com/en/data-package-volumnbase.htm

http://www.truemove.com/en/Inter-SIM-Prepay.rails

Do you know whether DTAC and True sell micro SIMs suitable for iPhone at 7/11?

[lomatopo]

Do you know whether DTAC and True sell micro SIMs suitable for iPhone at 7/11?

http://www.happy.co.th/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=417&Itemid=469〈=en

http://www.truemove.com/3g/en/prepay-microsim.html

Possibly. I have seen some uSIMs in 7-11 type shops. However there are a gazillion mobile phone counters in every mall and indoor space here, and many of them have uSIMs.

[HardenedSoul]

You can pop round a 7/11, purchase a Truemove NetSIM or InterSIM, add money, then subscribe to a 3G data plan. This can be done anywhere, in less than 5 minutes. IME, DTAC/Happy has more cost-effective 3G data plans (1 GB for 349 baht, True is 399 baht for 500 MB). With DTAC/Happy I recommend the Invulnerable SIM, 49 baht: rolling expiration date, 0.99 baht per min or SMS.

Cheers, L

Went down to Treumove on Saturday to transfer my number and kiss AIS goodbye. Had the toughest time convincing the drones at Truemovethat the HTC Desire S for the Thai market receives 3G at 850MHz. They were using some mickey mouse website to check specs for various phones and when I finally persuaded them to check the phone's spec on the official Thai HTC site, they were still incredulous. Took me a good 90 minutes of arsing about and being looked at like I was on drugs before I could leave with my new post-pay contract.

[lomatopo]

Went down to Treumove on Saturday to transfer my number and kiss AIS goodbye. Had the toughest time convincing the drones at Truemovethat the HTC Desire S for the Thai market receives 3G at 850MHz. They were using some mickey mouse website to check specs for various phones and when I finally persuaded them to check the phone's spec on the official Thai HTC site, they were still incredulous. Took me a good 90 minutes of arsing about and being looked at like I was on drugs before I could leave with my new post-pay contract.

DTAC was the local launch partner for the HTC Desire S so it's not surprising that Truemove was confuddled.

I think I would recommend people try a service on a temporary basis via pre-paid SIMs before pulling the trigger on a post-paid contract and/or porting a valued number? (Of course I've spent the last 8 months trying everything!)

You can always forward (divert) from an existing number (completely transparent to callers) to a new temporary number, while evaluating on a pre-paid SIM.

Did you try out a Truemove SIM to insure it works with your phone and 3G? I guess the port can take 3 ~ 5 business days? But maybe you are using the new Truemove SIM now? And 3G works fine?

[HardenedSoul]

Went down to Treumove on Saturday to transfer my number and kiss AIS goodbye. Had the toughest time convincing the drones at Truemovethat the HTC Desire S for the Thai market receives 3G at 850MHz. They were using some mickey mouse website to check specs for various phones and when I finally persuaded them to check the phone's spec on the official Thai HTC site, they were still incredulous. Took me a good 90 minutes of arsing about and being looked at like I was on drugs before I could leave with my new post-pay contract.

DTAC was the local launch partner for the HTC Desire S so it's not surprising that Truemove was confuddled.

I think I would recommend people try a service on a temporary basis via pre-paid SIMs before pulling the trigger on a post-paid contract and/or porting a valued number? (Of course I've spent the last 8 months trying everything!)

You can always forward (divert) from an existing number (completely transparent to callers) to a new temporary number, while evaluating on a pre-paid SIM.

Did you try out a Truemove SIM to insure it works with your phone and 3G? I guess the port can take 3 ~ 5 business days? But maybe you are using the new Truemove SIM now? And 3G works fine?

Haven't tried it yet but as I bought the phone in Thailand from a reputable retailer, I've no reason to suspect that the new SIM won't be able to receive 3G. I tried my AIS sim with my old Nokia N86 and I could get 3G no problem. I assumed that if my Desire S couldn't get AIS 3G when my Nokia could, that was all the proof I needed.

[bubba]

Just as an example of what I am getting from AIS 3G, here is a speed test that I just performed. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining or anything - at least I can check my email.

Seriously, this is typical speed for me during the business day, and it is why I am very much looking at DTAC or True and ditching AIS once and for all.

[lomatopo]

Ouch. That looks bad. It seems like something is amiss. Is this typical for any location? What type of phone do you have?

Here's DTAC...

[Phil Conners]

Just as an example of what I am getting from AIS 3G, here is a speed test that I just performed. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining or anything - at least I can check my email.

Seriously, this is typical speed for me during the business day, and it is why I am very much looking at DTAC or True and ditching AIS once and for all.

I used DTAC for years and GPRS/EDGE was so slow that I decided to try AIS, and for me it has been much better (at least for data, voice is not so good, but that's another story). Still no 3G from either DTAC or AIS here in Pattaya so I don't know about that. FWIW and YMMV.

[infernalman7]

I find AIS 3G in Bangkok to be extremely dodgy. It can never be as fast as AIS 3G in Chiang Mai, with speeds of 3Mbps up all the time.

Man, I can't wait to go back to Chiang Mai again. After my internship here in Bangkok is done... I shall be happy again (with the real 3G).

[lomatopo]

I used a Samsung Cooper for a few days and was very impressed with the AIS 3G service in Bangkok. For me it was better than Truemove, but maybe not as good as DTAC. It's only been available for what, 27 days? How dodgy could it be?

[bubba]

Ouch. That looks bad. It seems like something is amiss. Is this typical for any location? What type of phone do you have?

Here's DTAC...

I'm using an iPhone 4, and nothing is amiss. AIS 3G isn't always this bad, but it's routinely this bad during business days, and even worse at times to the point where I get no data down at all. That's exactly what it was like on my drive home from work this evening, when I was sitting in traffic, thought I would check email, but I had nearly zero data throughput. It's not my phone, and I'm not being throttled or anything, because I was in Chiang Mai a couple of days ago and had decent throughput, although nothing like what I have gotten in places like Singapore, UK or USA. I have had snail-like data transfers at numerous places around the city, and it seems to be most common during business days, perhaps when loads of people are out stuck in traffic and killing time doing internet in their cars. And by the way, when AIS first opened their 3G service, it was never like this for me. I'm certain it's a case of inadequate infrastructure.

for

Like anything else, your mileage may vary, and late at night I do get reasonable speeds, but even then, only for connections inside Thailand. I am increasingly frustrated by the lack of servicability of AIS 3G. That's why I am going to try out some pre-paid cards from DTAC and True to see if they are any better. They certainly couldn't be any worse than what I am getting from AIS. If anyone is thinking of buying in to AIS 3G, be forewarned.

[NanLaew]

When my prepaid AIS unlimited data renewed a couple of days ago, I now get

"0 SMS, 0 ISMS, EDGE/GPRS unlimited, 3G 2GB 933MB 950KB, 0 Wifi"

when I interrogate the account (*139#).

There was no reference to 3G last month despite the 3G indicator firing up most of the time. Seems like an auto-update and real 3G connectivity is enabled as prepaid accounts renew or rollover?

[lomatopo]

When my prepaid AIS unlimited data renewed a couple of days ago, I now get

"0 SMS, 0 ISMS, EDGE/GPRS unlimited, 3G 2GB 933MB 950KB, 0 Wifi"

when I interrogate the account (*139#).

There was no reference to 3G last month despite the 3G indicator firing up most of the time. Seems like an auto-update and real 3G connectivity is enabled as prepaid accounts renew or rollover?

It seems like for those with existing data plans, which remained the same (price, volume/hours) when 3G was launched, get 3G added without having to do anything.

[lomatopo]

That's why I am going to try out some pre-paid cards from DTAC and True to see if they are any better.

You can get SIMs for ~ 50 baht, and both Truemove and Happy offer 1-day packages for ~ 50 baht. Although you may want to evaluate the service from each for more than 24 hours?

Just to make it more confusing, you might also consider Truemove H, although this is currently just post-paid.

[4evermaat]

the AIS 3G coverage isnt as full as I would like (nothing great in Wong Wien Yai, mostly nothing at all), I used it at Siam Paragon to skype out and the call was clear.

[MandoDog]

It's crazy. I have unlimited data plan with AIG. Went to the AIS store last weekend and was told the 3G is only a trial and I cannot get 3G activated. <deleted>?

[lomatopo]

It's crazy. I have unlimited data plan with AIG. Went to the AIS store last weekend and was told the 3G is only a trial and I cannot get 3G activated. <deleted>?

You have pre-paid service? The 799 baht/month unlimited data plan? You have a 3G 900 Mhz-capable phone? AIS/One-2-Call kept the same price on the unlimited plan when they added 3G. Based on reports here, those with the unlimited data plans have had 3G added automatically. Maybe best to ring 1175 and ask a CSR for help?

[Phil Conners]

Seems AIS is now providing 3G in Pattaya. Today my phone comes up with "H" (Soi Siam Country Club) and I heard from a friend the same is the case in town.

Still only getting 243kbps down - 375kbps up, but that could be limited by my plan - and still much better than before.

[richsilver]

Seems AIS is now providing 3G in Pattaya. Today my phone comes up with "H" (Soi Siam Country Club) and I heard from a friend the same is the case in town.

Still only getting 243kbps down - 375kbps up, but that could be limited by my plan - and still much better than before.

Wow! Me too. I just checked and I have 3G on my iPhone at View Talay 2, Jomtien. I'll be signing up for a plan soon.

[lomatopo]

Seems AIS is now providing 3G in Pattaya. Today my phone comes up with "H" (Soi Siam Country Club) and I heard from a friend the same is the case in town.

Still only getting 243kbps down - 375kbps up, but that could be limited by my plan - and still much better than before.

This may be the branded "EDGE +", which runs at 384 Kbps. You should be able to get 3G, perhaps with a simple call to 1175 as your existing 2G plan may transition directly to a similarly priced 3G plan, or by subscribing to a 3G plan. You can do this by sending a service command.

* 133 * 23 # SEND , gets you 2 GB for 550 baht/min

http://www.ais.co.th/vas/datatips/th/

[Phil Conners]

Seems AIS is now providing 3G in Pattaya. Today my phone comes up with "H" (Soi Siam Country Club) and I heard from a friend the same is the case in town.

Still only getting 243kbps down - 375kbps up, but that could be limited by my plan - and still much better than before.

This may be the branded "EDGE +", which runs at 384 Kbps. You should be able to get 3G, perhaps with a simple call to 1175 as your existing 2G plan may transition directly to a similarly priced 3G plan, or by subscribing to a 3G plan. You can do this by sending a service command.

* 133 * 23 # SEND , gets you 2 GB for 550 baht/min

http://www.ais.co.th/vas/datatips/th/

Actually I don't need mobile internet that much. Most of the time I am either home or with friends or otherwise in places with Wifi access.

I currently have the 199 baht/month SmartPhone package from AIS with 100MB GPRS/EDGE. This is really all I need. In fact, I might even change to the 50 baht/month Hot Promotion with 20 hours GPRS/EDGE. Of course I'll have to switch GPRS/EDGE on and off as needed but I can live with that.

Of course the few times I need it it'd be nice if it was fast, but for the little I use it, it's not worth the extra cost for me.

[richsilver]

I called AIS this afternoon to sign up for the 350 baht 1G package and the very helpful (excellent English) lady told me that they had not "officially" opened 3G yet in Pattaya even though many people were seeing the 3G on their phones. She said I could sign up for the service (I did) but I might experience some down times as they were still making adjustments.

So far I am disappointed at the speed (about 300 down and 400 up), but hopefully that will improve. I am in Jomtien and I have seen the 3G signal all over Jomtien today.

[Jayman]

I am an AIS 12call customer in Pattaya living on the east side of sukumvit and I have the edge/wifi 250 hr package. Today I noticed I was getting 3G connection and tested the speeds at 360kbps both up/down. Now I don't pay for 3G but I'm certainly happy to know I was getting it and able to use it from my home since not even True 3G works out here. I will be watching for future developments on this.

[bubba]

AIS 3G just seems to keep degrading for me, to the point where it is nearly useless. Was stuck in traffic yesterday evening around 6PM at Asoke-Sukhumvit, with full signal strength and 3G indicated, but \ could not get any bandwidth at all to simply do a reply to a very urgent email. I couldn't load a single web page....nothing...nada. Completely frustrating! About fifteen minutes on, I noticed that my iPhone showed an EDGE connection rather than 3G and I was able to eek out enough bandwidth to send an email, but no more than that.

I seriously need to get switched out of AIS 3G, and be warned if you are thinking of subscribing to them.

[Phil Conners]

AIS only just started offering 3G and is still in the process of rolling it out. Give them a chance. Anyway, if you have a 900 MHz phone you don't have much choice now, do you?

[bubba]

AIS only just started offering 3G and is still in the process of rolling it out. Give them a chance. Anyway, if you have a 900 MHz phone you don't have much choice now, do you?

I have given them a chance. When they first began switching on 3G, at least the speed was workable. It's only getting worse and worse now that they have oversold their 3G service. And it gets so bad that I cannot even send a short reply to an urgent email. What good is that? It's even worse than when we only had EDGE.

As for choice, I do have an iPhone 4, which would give me UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz) and GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), so True and DTAC are definitely possible choices.

[lomatopo]

AIS 3G just seems to keep degrading for me, to the point where it is nearly useless. Was stuck in traffic yesterday evening around 6PM at Asoke-Sukhumvit, with full signal strength and 3G indicated, but \ could not get any bandwidth at all to simply do a reply to a very urgent email. I couldn't load a single web page....nothing...nada. Completely frustrating! About fifteen minutes on, I noticed that my iPhone showed an EDGE connection rather than 3G and I was able to eek out enough bandwidth to send an email, but no more than that.

I seriously need to get switched out of AIS 3G, and be warned if you are thinking of subscribing to them.

I still can't figure out if AIS 3G works for you, with multi-Mega bits per second speeds, in any other locations or at any other times? You've related two instances, and in this latest one; "stuck in traffic at Asoke", it's easy to imagine the base-stations there getting overloaded as there are thousands of people (MRT, BTS, Bus, auto) all saturating one location. I'm not certain DTAC or Truemove would be any better in that situation? But you should try DTAC and Truemove SIMs as it is so easy to do, and if happy you can port your number.

Also, you do get free WiFi, so maybe sort out the username (typically your AIS number) and password, and check for WiFi APs when desperate for connectivity. I am sure AIS and/or 3BB have APs all along Sukhumvit.