Best Gprs Method...

[greenwanderer108]

Currently use the internet on my notebook with the built in 56k modem on an apartment land line

As the apartment connection is crap, I've never gotten more than 38kbps at any given time. Usually it's between 20-30kbps. Often times, I get cut off and have to waiste 10-20 5 baht calls to reconeect. I imagine it's when the server at Jinet gets loaded up, they knock off some people. Also, when it rains hard, the apartment shuts downs the telephones for whatever reason, then I can't dial out at all. I don't think I can get a direct line for broadband in this apartment unless I signed some year contract, which I don't want to do.

Anyway, I'm definately sure that I want to change to GPRS as I can use it pretty much wherever I move. I've done a lot of research on this site about GPRS and think I understand how it works.

Either I need to buy an expensive air card and decide on the pre-paid sim card or post paid service plans, etc.,

Or I just get a blue tooth and/or inferred capable phone and the proper usb piece to interface it with my notebook.

As the aircard is directly hooked to the computer, I imagine it's the better option for data transfer but I wanted to ask those with experience. Can someone confirm, elaborate please?

Is connecting via mobile phone convenient and efficeint using bluetooth/infared. What is exactly the difference between the two technologies? Please explain. What will I have to do? Just get the appropriate sim card, what about set up on the computer and phone, how will I do that?

I guess since it's sending lots of packets of data, I'm worried about constant errors when uploading/downloading files. I understand that this speed isn't for downloading large games and movies,

but will I still be able to download / upload files of many megabytes without problem (i.e. 10 mb pictures, songs, etc.)

When I surf the web on my notebook via GPRS, is it in fact a WEB connection that I can use all the IE options like my land line, not the WAP special internet specific for mobile phones?

Also, what exactly is this super GPRS, 3G or edge? Is this technology only for specific Aircards or is it in the service plan/sim card?

Thanks in advance...

[Crushdepth]

As the aircard is directly hooked to the computer, I imagine it's the better option for data transfer but I wanted to ask those with experience. Can someone confirm, elaborate please?

There is no need for an aircard. Most recent mobile phones have GPRS modems built in that do exactly the same thing. There is some difference in speed (mostly upload) between different phones, look for a GPRS class 10 or 12 device (check the specs).

Is connecting via mobile phone convenient and efficeint using bluetooth/infared. What is exactly the difference between the two technologies? Please explain. What will I have to do? Just get the appropriate sim card, what about set up on the computer and phone, how will I do that?

It's quite efficient. Bluetooth is more convenient as you can leave your phone in your bag, in the next room or wherever and not have to worry about it as its a radio link so line of sight isn't so important. With infrared you have to physically point the IR ports of the phone/laptop at each other.

In terms of speed, there is no difference at all between a bluetooth/IR connection (as they are both hugely faster than the actual GPRS connection itself).

Set up is very easy. Some instructions here (this is for DTAC, but AIS is not a lot different).

I guess since it's sending lots of packets of data, I'm worried about constant errors when uploading/downloading files. I understand that this speed isn't for downloading large games and movies, but will I still be able to download / upload files of many megabytes without problem (i.e. 10 mb pictures, songs, etc.)

You can do anything you would be happy doing with a dial up modem - GPRS is just a fraction slower.

When I surf the web on my notebook via GPRS, is it in fact a WEB connection that I can use all the IE options like my land line, not the WAP special internet specific for mobile phones?

Yes, same as a regular modem dial up, can access any page you like.

Also, what exactly is this super GPRS, 3G or edge? Is this technology only for specific Aircards or is it in the service plan/sim card?

I've never heard of 'super GPRS'. Normal GPRS is generally considered a 2.5G technology, EDGE is 3G (but don't expect too much, its still slow).

[meadish_sweetball]

To be picky, EDGE is in fact not 3G, it is a 'bolt-on enhancement' to the existing GSM 2G and 2.5 G networks.

There are a number of different 3G standards. Thailand has employed the standard CDMA 2000 1x.

[stumonster]

I saw a bluetooth CDMA modem in fortune yesterday - interesting.

A bluetooth GPRS phone is probably the cheapest way , with an AIS or DTAC sim.

though you will need a usb bluetoooth dongle for your laptop if the laptop does not have BT integrated.

the GPRS speed is also limited on the class of the GPRS device in the phone .

and I would hate to be trying to upload a 10meg file .

I use GPRS/EDGE via my nokia 6630 when I am out and about with my axim x50v , its useful but definately not broadband - though with true the last few days its similar.

[whooliggen]

High,

Nothing of a technical nature to add,sorry. Before i pass out i would just like to chime in with the point that - the above replies to the questions that we're posed is what all forums need to take note of. Helpful &unassuming answers. Thankyou very much for your time,it is much appreciated here!

W.

[bkk_mike]

I saw in a KDDi web page in Japan that Hutchison is due to roll out CDMA 2000 EV-DO in Bangkok in first quarter of 2006.

KDDi calls EV-DO CDMA 1x WIN in Japan, and is trying to advertise roaming capability, but the interesting thing is - EV-DO is up to 2.4mbps download, and about 180K upload.

If you're in Bangkok, and they're right with the Hutchison go-live date, you might want to wait a few months as that's about 8 times faster than the existing CDMA2000 1x, and a lot faster than GPRS or EDGE...

CDMA coverage in Thailand (NOT EV-DO)

Click on Thailand on the CDMA website and it says Hutch/CAT to bring out EV-DO in the 1st quarter.

Edited December 1, 2005 by bkk_mike

[solo siam]

2.4 mbps download, lol.

[bkk_mike]

Suddenly it makes sense that CAT has a fatter pipe connecting it to the international internet gateway than Loxinfo or KSC...

[solo siam]

thought it all had to go through CAT!

[Crushdepth]

It does. Like trying to squeeze a house brick through a fishes arse (for a fee, too)

[solo siam]

1 of those ED-VO phones at 2.4 Mbps will take up nearly 1% of the entire internet capacity of Thailand!!!

[udon]

It does. Like trying to squeeze a house brick through a fishes arse (for a fee, too)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There's a lot about IT I don't understand, but that technical description, I do.

[lingyai]

I saw in a KDDi web page in Japan that Hutchison is due to roll out CDMA 2000 EV-DO in Bangkok in first quarter of 2006.

KDDi calls EV-DO CDMA 1x WIN in Japan, and is trying to advertise roaming capability, but the interesting thing is - EV-DO is up to 2.4mbps download, and about 180K upload.

If you're in Bangkok, and they're right with the Hutchison go-live date, you might want to wait a few months as that's about 8 times faster than the existing CDMA2000 1x, and a lot faster than GPRS or EDGE...

CDMA coverage in Thailand (NOT EV-DO)

Click on Thailand on the CDMA website and it says Hutch/CAT to bring out EV-DO in the 1st quarter.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So if I buy the wireless card from Hutch now for their current service and this new service comes out will I be out of luck and have to buy a new card to use the new service?

[udon]

CDMA has been dumped in Aus.

Does anyone know why?

[bkk_mike]

So if I buy the wireless card from Hutch now for their current service and this new service comes out will I be out of luck and have to buy a new card to use the new service?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It will still work. (CDMA 2000 1x EV-DO is backward compatible for CDMA 2000 1x devices). But your speed will still be the same as you can get at the moment.

As for Aus dropping CDMA. It depends what CDMA you're talking about. There's the 2G CDMA (like you get in the US where they've not rolled out 3G, and the operator doesn't do GSM). But when you get to 3G - all the options are CDMA-based. i.e. W-CDMA in the UK, Europe, Japan (Vodafone), and CDMA 2000 in the US, Japan (KDDi), and Thailand.

I wouldn't be surprised if Oz had dropped the 2G CDMA (GSM won the 2G war in Oz). But I'd be surprised if they've not got some form of 3G CDMA around.

(But using Oz as a technical example is not a good idea. If anything, Australia's internet is worse than Thailand's. At least in Thailand, it's cheap with awful speeds, in Australia, it's expensive with awful speeds.)

[udon]

All I know is customers in Rural Aus are pissed off as they will have to buy new handsets.

Telstra say they are going for 3G and 1 million customers will have to buy new handsets.

Google "telstra cdma".

I agree about 'expensive' .

[lingyai]

So if I buy the wireless card from Hutch now for their current service and this new service comes out will I be out of luck and have to buy a new card to use the new service?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It will still work. (CDMA 2000 1x EV-DO is backward compatible for CDMA 2000 1x devices). But your speed will still be the same as you can get at the moment.

As for Aus dropping CDMA. It depends what CDMA you're talking about. There's the 2G CDMA (like you get in the US where they've not rolled out 3G, and the operator doesn't do GSM). But when you get to 3G - all the options are CDMA-based. i.e. W-CDMA in the UK, Europe, Japan (Vodafone), and CDMA 2000 in the US, Japan (KDDi), and Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My next question is then if I buy a EV-DO card could I also use it on Hutch's existing service? Seems like a waste to buy the card they currently offer for 7,900 baht then have to buy another card which I am sure will be at least that amount.

Also I could I buy an eDMA 2000 card and it still work with Hutch?

[greenwanderer108]

I was browsing around Panthip looking at all the latest aircards...

Mainly they had

Sierra Wireless Edge/GSM/GPRS 2.75G 775 (14,900B)

GSM/GPRS ?G 770 (10,900B)

Sony Ericson ??? GSM/GPRS (9,900B)

Hush ??? ???/CDMA (7,900B)

And also, I noticed a few GPRS USB modems from a few different brands....

I decided to wait before my purchase until I find out more. Seems that everyone is claming Hutch's CDMA is much faster than GPRS..The card costs less...But they don't seem to have pre paid, and their plan premotions that I saw were only by the data-transfer...something like 600 baht for 2 mb, and 900 baht for 890 megabytes...

Does hutch only offer such plans. I don't want to pay for bits and bytes. I'd rather pay for hour plans, or better yet, unlimited. Can anyone specify about other plans for Hutch.

I couldn't open the E VDO card page yet but sounds impressive. I'm sure that card will be crazy expensive when it first hits the market.

Most comments/complaints I read about GPRS on the net so far were for class 10 devices. So with the class 12 as for these Sierra Wirless models posted above, is the speed increased, or does it only affect to the upload speed (two extra slots)

Anybody ever use these USB GPRS modems? What are the specs on them...i.e. speed ??G and Edge capadibility??? I'm guessing they're slower than aircards.

Also, I saw a bunch the PCT cards for notebooks which were quoted at 5,900-6,200 baht.

If anyone's ever used this PCT card for internet, can you post your experience/thoughts. I understand they only work in Bangkok, but I was wondering what their real speed is..upload/download, and what type of plans/packages they offer. The box only said like 32 kbps digital speed, whatever that means...And though it's slower technology, can it be faster since i'm guessing much less people are using them for internet (thus less clogged)

Thanks for all the valuable info/experience...

TV forumers certainly seem to know much more than these Thai salesguys.

Yea, ae gawd fast intanet, You see bowchuwa dis one 200 geelobye

Oh really, is this 2.5G technology or...?

No, no, dis wun Jee Pee Aw Es wery good lewy

[Crushdepth]

Most comments/complaints I read about GPRS on the net so far were for class 10 devices. So with the class 12 as for these Sierra Wirless models posted above, is the speed increased, or does it only affect to the upload speed (two extra slots)

It only affects upload speed, and you probably won't notice the difference.

[greenwanderer108]

...

And also, I noticed a few GPRS USB modems from a few different brands....

I decided to wait before my purchase until I find out more. Seems that everyone is claming Hutch's CDMA is much faster than GPRS..The card costs less...But they don't seem to have pre paid, and their plan premotions that I saw were only by the data-transfer...something like 600 baht for 2 mb, and 900 baht for 890 megabytes...

Does hutch only offer such plans. I don't want to pay for bits and bytes. I'd rather pay for hour plans, or better yet, unlimited. Can anyone specify about other plans for Hutch.

Anybody ever use these USB GPRS modems? What are the specs on them...i.e. speed ??G and Edge capadibility??? I'm guessing they're slower than aircards.

Also, I saw a bunch the PCT cards for notebooks which were quoted at  5,900-6,200 baht.

If anyone's ever used this PCT card for internet, can you post your experience/thoughts. I understand they only work in Bangkok, but I was wondering what their real speed is..upload/download, and what type of plans/packages they offer. The box only said like 32 kbps digital speed, whatever that means...And though it's slower technology, can it be faster since i'm guessing much less people are using them for internet (thus less clogged)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Noone has answered these questions yet...

In addition to all these still-unanswered questions, I still have more

GPRS/Edge phones with the USB/Data port/cable--- can we connect to the net (GPRS capability of phone) via our PC/notebooks USB port directly through USB/data cable instead of bluetooth/infared?

In other words can we set up GPRS network using the phone as the GPRS modem connected to our computer via USB/data port of phone?

Or are these ports only made for slow/small transfers??

Hope someone can answer all these questions, as I'm sure others in LOS have wandered the same things

Cheers

Edited December 11, 2005 by greenwanderer108

[stumonster]

GPRS/Edge phones with the USB/Data port/cable--- can we connect to the net (GPRS capability of phone) via our PC/notebooks USB port directly through USB/data cable instead of bluetooth/infared?

In other words can we set up GPRS network using the phone as the GPRS modem connected to our computer via USB/data port of phone?

Or are these ports only made for slow/small transfers??

yes you can use the cable - I have no experience using the cable , but I presume you will be required to run the phone makers proprietry software to be able to connect to the phone - and after my experience with nokia's pc suite its not a route I would prefer.

I have a gprs/edge , BT capable phone ( 6630 ) , which I use to connect my PDA or laptop to the internet when I am out and about ( both have BT ) . a USB BT dongle will set you back less than 400 baht .

[Heng]

(bump)

Been using a GRPS modem for a month now (and am really happy with it and felt like writing a quick review), it's the Solomon GPRS USB Modem (Model SCWi275u) from one of the AIS Telewiz shops for 7,500 Baht. No cables required as the modem plugs directly into one of the USB ports on my aging Toshiba Satellite notebook. Perfect for those with old but not ancient notebooks, have an old mobile phone that doesn't do anything fancier than making and receiving phone calls (no GPRS functions), but would like internet access while on the road.

The "promotion" is still 40 hours a month for 300 Baht with the 1-2 Call Net Sim. More than enough time for my uses as I only need it when I'm at a construction site or in the car between Bangkok and Chonburi, or the rare occasion I'm stuck in Bangkok traffic or get caught offguard and find myself in a parking garage during one of those ubiquitous "midnight sales." There are "unlimited" plans available, but I didn't inquire as to those details. I've heard people say that they unlimited plans are about 1,000 Baht a month... easily affordable for anyone using GPRS for business purposes.

Speed is fine (although I only use it to do online banking and answer emails), very few noticeable slowdowns with about one month into using it. I use Loxinfo and True at home, but I'd imagine you can use this thing with your desktop computer as well.

[uhuh]

so how fast is Edge?

Not in kbps, but really?

To read one email in my yahoo account, it takes (if it works at all, usually it doesn't work at all) - from switching on GPRs until reading the text - 10 to 20 minutes. DTAC staff (the call center and the staff at their customer service center at World Trade) happily told me that I( get normal speed and my Edge works just fine. they told me GPRS would be much slower than this, actually unusable. Now I think, 20 minutes is unusable.

If anybody gets faster internet access with Edge, I would be happy to know how they do it. But I doubt it.

Thank you, but no thank you.

[Crushdepth]

Basically if its working properly, GPRS is slightly slower than a dial up modem, and EDGE is 2-4 times faster than that. I have no problems using EDGE for surfing on my PDA.

Sounds like there is something wrong. Do you have problems opening all pages, or is it just your Yahoo account that is dog slow?

[Heng]

Yeah, sounds unusual. My GPRS connection (not Edge whatever that is)... plain jane AIS 1-2-call + GPRS modem + going 140 kph.... it takes maybe 5-10 seconds to open and read an email, or click and wait for an action/command to take place within online banking. Note all these various graphics are likely cached so that probably helps. More than fast enough.

[stumonster]

uhuh

EDGE is only available in certian areas of bangkok , if the mobile phone tower you are connected to has not been upgraded to handle EDGE you will be using GPRS instead.

If you are using an email client such as outlook(express) which will download the contents of your mail inbox from the server to your machine with all the associated attaachments , you can probably expect it to take a while. ( unless people just send you text emails )

I use prepaid GPRS/EDGE often and find it quite acceptable. I can check my gmail account , check the latest news , browse thai visa , keep current with the cricket scores ( AUST win 2nd test by 184 runs ) , etc etc

[jezchesters]

Currently using a class 10 datacard with 1-2-call prepay...

At this moment I'm sitting on a beach in Ko Phangan getting up/down speeds of 50-80 kbps which is ample for checking email, surfing etc...

Compare that with the 20-30 kbps I get with dialup in Bangkok, I know where I'd rather be!

Jez

[Totster]

I use a SE K500 as a GPRS modem connected to the PC USB with a data cable. I used the software that came with the data cable to make a connection (and load the USB driver and modem driver)

I connect using 1-2-call, bt500 for 200 hours ( they also do a bt900 for 400hrs).

totster

[uhuh]

uhuh

EDGE is only available in certian areas of bangkok , if the mobile phone tower you are connected to has not been upgraded to handle EDGE you will be using GPRS instead.

If you are using an email client such as outlook(express) which will download the contents of your mail inbox from the server to your machine with all the associated attaachments , you can probably expect it to take a while. ( unless people just send you text emails )

I use prepaid GPRS/EDGE often and find it quite acceptable. I can check my gmail account , check the latest news , browse thai visa , keep current with the cricket scores ( AUST win 2nd test by 184 runs ) , etc etc

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dont know what is an email client and I am not using one.

All websites are not as slow as yahoo, yahoo is the fastest, the others are slower.

I am supposed to have EDGE where I am, at least that's what DTAC told me.

I can do none of the things you say you can do. I just tried for fun today to connect to the internet, I could not connect at all. That's the normal state of affairs.

There is no customer service whatsoever from DTAC and none from Nokia (I have tried everywhere) - any suggestion how I can do the same things as you??

thanks a lot

[tjo o tjim]

But when you get to 3G - all the options are CDMA-based. i.e. W-CDMA in the UK, Europe, Japan (Vodafone), and CDMA 2000 in the US, Japan (KDDi), and Thailand.

Where does UMTS fit into everything for Thailand? As I understand it, that is the GSM 3G variant.