Cat Cdma

[muratremix]

I am planning to buy Cat CDMA equipment for internet access in Buriram, Ban Kruat.

However, these 3G plans for rural areas worries me. Will they shutdown Cat CDMA in Isan for 3G in near future?

Is investing in CDMA is bad idea?

[nikster]

It's been extremely unreliable in Chiang Mai as of late. Don't know if it has to do with the 3G shenanigans or not.

But my MiFi 2200 freezes up every couple of minutes. Sometimes it will go for an hour; other times for 5 minutes. Then it loses the connection and won't reconnect until I turn it off and back on.

Cannot recommend ATM. Are you getting AIS 3G? If so that may be a better bet...

[muratremix]

There is no ais or other 3g in our village area. No adsl too

[afarang]

Should be no problem I live in Ban Kruat, .There are about 6 of us using CAT CDMA,in Ban Kruat, still getting our monthly bill. Possibly ,the interest will be IF and WHEN they actually get around to rolling it out. My advice would be to go to the CAT office in Buriram, and ask them. the man who works in the office has pretty good English. None of us has had any communication from CAT.

[muratremix]

What about having an external antenna? Do Cat office in Buriram help with this? Problem is this village is about 10-14 km far from Ban Kruat and CDMA base station. So even if I buy Mifi or USB Evdo device, I will still need external antenna setup.

[CharlieH]

What about having an external antenna? Do Cat office in Buriram help with this? Problem is this village is about 10-14 km far from Ban Kruat and CDMA base station. So even if I buy Mifi or USB Evdo device, I will still need external antenna setup.

I'd be careful about the external antenna, I went and bought one from local CAT office, tried it and whilst it boosted the signal strength it did absolutely nothing for speed or performance so I took it back and got a refund.

[Thaddeus]

What about having an external antenna? Do Cat office in Buriram help with this? Problem is this village is about 10-14 km far from Ban Kruat and CDMA base station. So even if I buy Mifi or USB Evdo device, I will still need external antenna setup.

North, south, east or west of Ban Kruat centre?

And I know where you can get an external antenna if you need one, so does afarang

[afarang]

What about having an external antenna? Do Cat office in Buriram help with this? Problem is this village is about 10-14 km far from Ban Kruat and CDMA base station. So even if I buy Mifi or USB Evdo device, I will still need external antenna setup.

North, south, east or west of Ban Kruat centre?

And I know where you can get an external antenna if you need one, so does afarang

He certainly does

[afarang]

What about having an external antenna? Do Cat office in Buriram help with this? Problem is this village is about 10-14 km far from Ban Kruat and CDMA base station. So even if I buy Mifi or USB Evdo device, I will still need external antenna setup.

I'd be careful about the external antenna, I went and bought one from local CAT office, tried it and whilst it boosted the signal strength it did absolutely nothing for speed or performance so I took it back and got a refund.

The antenna is PURELY ,if you like "to boost signal strength," Is NOT designed to do anything with "speed" It is used ,if you are over about 3 kilometres from your nearest CDMA equipped tower.

[afarang]

What about having an external antenna? Do Cat office in Buriram help with this? Problem is this village is about 10-14 km far from Ban Kruat and CDMA base station. So even if I buy Mifi or USB Evdo device, I will still need external antenna setup.

North, south, east or west of Ban Kruat centre?

And I know where you can get an external antenna if you need one, so does afarang

Do you know which is your nearest CDMA equipped tower?

[Thaddeus]

What about having an external antenna? Do Cat office in Buriram help with this? Problem is this village is about 10-14 km far from Ban Kruat and CDMA base station. So even if I buy Mifi or USB Evdo device, I will still need external antenna setup.

North, south, east or west of Ban Kruat centre?

And I know where you can get an external antenna if you need one, so does afarang

Do you know which is your nearest CDMA equipped tower?

The easy way, as we both know mate, is to give CAT in Buriram your address and they will tell you if you can use CDMA in that area, also if you need the antenna or not.

[afarang]

What about having an external antenna? Do Cat office in Buriram help with this? Problem is this village is about 10-14 km far from Ban Kruat and CDMA base station. So even if I buy Mifi or USB Evdo device, I will still need external antenna setup.

North, south, east or west of Ban Kruat centre?

And I know where you can get an external antenna if you need one, so does afarang

Do you know which is your nearest CDMA equipped tower?

The easy way, as we both know mate, is to give CAT in Buriram your address and they will tell you if you can use CDMA in that area, also if you need the antenna or not.

Absolutely as I mentioned in an earlier post.If he is about ,in his words 10 to 14 kilometres from Ban Kruat ,then he most probably will need an antenna ,UNTIL he determines where his nearest Tower is. Which Buriram will tell him.So, a trip to Buriram is in order. As I have said, the man in the office is quite good in English. Look, mate we all went through this.Take comfort ,you are not the first

[muratremix]

I believe I'm in south ban kruat, somewhere near prasat. I'll pay a visit to Cat office during my next trip to the village.

[afarang]

I believe I'm in south ban kruat, somewhere near prasat. I'll pay a visit to Cat office during my next trip to the village.

Prasat is in Surin, East of Plackonchai, on Highway 24 . South of Ban Kruat ,you are heading for Cambodia.What is the name of your village? Or Tambon?

[george]

You may not be able to purchase CDMA as CAT certainly will retire this service sooner or later. Check with your CAT officer.

[afarang]

You may not be able to purchase CDMA as CAT certainly will retire this service sooner or later. Check with your CAT officer.

Retire? Why?

[BuckarooBanzai]

Although I really doubt the OP would get any reliable information from the Cat office about future service it would certainly be a good idea at least to check before investing 10-12 k baht on a dongle and antenna. I know all of us with Cat are hoping that Cat will "do the right thing" and change us current users over to the new system for free but I am not going to hold my breath. They talk about transitioning which probably means cutting off with no prior notice.

As for antennas a lot depends on your house structure as well as distance. I have a tile roof over steel which sets up a barrier to signals as would a tin roof if you live in a Thai style house. When you have a conductive roof and or supports it is much better to put your receiving end outside the influence of your roof aka an antenna.

But as already mentioned the antenna does not effect speed - just quality (or acceptable level) of signal which may make the difference of being able to use it or not. The Cat signal, for me any way, resembles a square wave - sometimes good - sometimes gone - but I think this is based on the network and not my node as the software just says Z which is short for ZZZZ which is short for excuse me while I sleep for awhile. Just my 2 baht worth - Good luck.

Edited August 1, 2011 by BuckarooBanzai

[BuckarooBanzai]

Prasat is the Tambon south of Ban Kruet Tambon. Of course it is also the city to the north-east and the Amphoe that covers the whole area to the north east. Please correct me if I am wrong but I was curious about the OP's "Prasat south of Ban Kruet".

Edited August 1, 2011 by BuckarooBanzai

[Thaddeus]

Prasat is the Tambon south of Ban Kruet Tambon. Of course it is also the city to the north-east and the Amphoe that covers the whole area to the north east. Please correct me if I am wrong but I was curious about the OP's "Prasat south of Ban Kruet".

The centre of Ban Kruat is Tambon Prasat, south will be Nihkom Prasat.

[afarang]

Prasat is the Tambon south of Ban Kruet Tambon. Of course it is also the city to the north-east and the Amphoe that covers the whole area to the north east. Please correct me if I am wrong but I was curious about the OP's "Prasat south of Ban Kruet".

The centre of Ban Kruat is Tambon Prasat, south will be Nihkom Prasat.

The op says(post 5) that he is 10 -14 kms from Ban Kruat. Confused?

[Colin Yai]

Should be no problem I live in Ban Kruat, .There are about 6 of us using CAT CDMA,in Ban Kruat, still getting our monthly bill. Possibly ,the interest will be IF and WHEN they actually get around to rolling it out. My advice would be to go to the CAT office in Buriram, and ask them. the man who works in the office has pretty good English. None of us has had any communication from CAT.

Yeah AF all in all not too bad a service,I live 12 kms from Ban Kruat and although the speed could be better at times,but in my opinion its still worth the money .

[BuckarooBanzai]

Prasat is the Tambon south of Ban Kruet Tambon. Of course it is also the city to the north-east and the Amphoe that covers the whole area to the north east. Please correct me if I am wrong but I was curious about the OP's "Prasat south of Ban Kruet".

The centre of Ban Kruat is Tambon Prasat, south will be Nihkom Prasat.

The op says(post 5) that he is 10 -14 kms from Ban Kruat. Confused?

Post #14

I believe I'm in south ban kruat, somewhere near prasat. I'll pay a visit to Cat office during my next trip to the village.

Reply - Prasat is in Surin, East of Plackonchai, on Highway 24 . South of Ban Kruat ,you are heading for Cambodia.What is the name of your village? Or Tambon?

On the contrary, trying to clarify the OP's statement as being plausible.

Edited August 1, 2011 by BuckarooBanzai

[lomatopo]

When Truemove took control of the provincial CDMA2000 network from Hutch via CAT they stated that "...CAT president Jirayut Rungsrithong said. Under the contract, expected to be signed by the end of this month --January--, True will replace CDMA infrastructure with W-CDMA/HSPA".

and

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.

So the OP asks a good question. My best guess would be that Truemove H (the new subsidiary) will have to take the existing CDMA network off line, when they turn up HSPA/WCDMA, as they will not have enough power and back-haul capacity to jointly support both networks, at lease not on all existing base-stations. But my guess may be off and maybe they can support both networks for some period of time.

In any event the CDMA network is EOL (end of life), maybe starting December 2011, certainly DAB (dead and buried) by April 2012. Truemove H will likely offer existing customers promotions, probably not as much data as you've been used to, and subsidize some equipment (modems).

If the OP needs network then what choices are there? Sink the cost of the soon-to-be obsolete equipment (maybe look for a used/refurbed device?) and get CDMA now, or survive on EDGE until HSPA is deployed, assuming it will be in wherever he resides.

[ThaiLife]

I know a few people using the CAT VW140 USB modem ( it has an external antenna connection )

CAT - Link

and an external antenna

Antenna - Link

[Gary A]

CAT EVDO may as well end because as of the past few days is truly stinks. I am using AIS EDGE through my cell phone now and although EVDO connects and shows a good signal, it is NOT usable in my area of Loei province.

It has been going downhill for several months and is now at an all time low.

[muratremix]

Do anybody use GSM Antenna for AIS Edge connection in Isan?

Problem is, house in village is renovated with stone blocks and it caused low signal to become worse in home. It is still posible to get some signal in upstairs but not very stable. I never seen a directional antenna for GSM but if there is, it would be pretty good. I also remember there was some GSM amplifiers to redistribute gsm signal in home but I'm not sure if these are legally imported in Thailand or not.

[nikster]

CAT EVDO may as well end because as of the past few days is truly stinks. I am using AIS EDGE through my cell phone now and although EVDO connects and shows a good signal, it is NOT usable in my area of Loei province.

It has been going downhill for several months and is now at an all time low.

I agree with that assessment. It used to work great, now it constantly cuts out in CM to the point where it's almost unusable. Haven't tried it other places but it seems to receive no love from CAT right now.

It doesn't make any sense to me taking it offline when True 3G comes online, but who knows. CAT doesn't necessarily do anything that's either logical or makes business sense.

[afarang]

O.K ,I Have just spent a reasonably unproductive hour on the phone to CAT, BANGKOK (1322). I live in Ban Kruat ,Buriram. CAT tell me it will be at least 2 Years, yes at least 2 years ,before CDMA is disconnected.They also tell me that there will be some form of upgrade, to the "new" 3 G system ,to existing subscribers. But they cannot tell me how it will work. My guess is that CAT, which would have to be the most uncommunicative organisation ,I have ever had contact with,simply DO NOT KNOW what the future holds for their existing subscribers. Or if they DO ,are 100% UNwilling to tell, relay that information to their existing subscribers. I rang our nearest CAT office , in Buriram, who were supposed to ring me back but they never did.In my honest opinion ,I get the feeling that CAT have NO idea , what the future holds for their current subscribers.On a more positive note ,our CDMA is working quite well ,but does go down about once a month. Today ,we were off for about 4 hours.But overall ,it is not too bad. Certainly better than Loxley satellite.

[lomatopo]

I found your "interpretation".

Two years sounds optimistic. As they install HSPA equipment I suspect your CDMA service will suffer "issues".

That CDMA gear is ancient, and Truemove H want to "migrate" you to HSPA. I think, based on public statements, you're looking at April 2012, best case. Not sure about your current pricing/packaging but you should expect fewer mega-Bytes and more baht, going forward. The 'salad days' are coming to an end.

[afarang]

I am only reporting what CAT ,Bangkok told me .I thought i made it plain ,I don't trust CAT.please read my comments a little more thoroughly.With understanding. Of what I said.