CMTourist Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 I'm on DTAC's 199 Baht for 70 hours prepay data plan on their Edge network and a couple of days ago it suddenly started showing 3G and H+ rather than the E I always got before and on a speed test I'm getting 5 meg DL speeds, whereas I was getting 300k before. No notification or anything. Is anyone else getting this, or is it a mistake they'll probably correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobl Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 I doubt it's a "mistake"... They're still busy rolling out 3G to their sites and it's not unusual for it to be "open" for a while when they're doing testing, before they tie everything up and route it through the billing server on the backend... Probably a case of you being in the right place at the right time but I wouldn't count on it staying "open" for very long... Maybe until the end of this billing cycle you'll get "free" 3G then you'll have to subscribe to a 3G plan to get it back... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaamNaam Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 The land of surprises. Hope you get to keep it, you just never know here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slip Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 On DTAC's 800 odd .baht unlimited data package I've been getting 3G in various parts of the country for about 3-4 months now. No notification Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgriffith Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 No, it is not a mistake. DTAC couldn't get their concession provider CAT to upgrade their network to 3G....so they just did it unilaterally on their existing 850 MHz spectrum. But didn't charge their existing customers who only were on EDGE/GPRS any additional. Lot of politics involved with this- CAT is in hot water now over their deal with True; they favored True over DTAC. This DTAC thing happened mid-December in Chiang Mai; maybe you just noticed it recently. I switched to DTAC end of December and have waaaaaayy better speeds than my previous provider AIS, in my specific area. I won't bore you with links to the numerous other threads on this topic that have appeared here in the last few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMTourist Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 No, it is not a mistake. DTAC couldn't get their concession provider CAT to upgrade their network to 3G....so they just did it unilaterally on their existing 850 MHz spectrum. But didn't charge their existing customers who only were on EDGE/GPRS any additional. Lot of politics involved with this- CAT is in hot water now over their deal with True; they favored True over DTAC. This DTAC thing happened mid-December in Chiang Mai; maybe you just noticed it recently. I switched to DTAC end of December and have waaaaaayy better speeds than my previous provider AIS, in my specific area. I won't bore you with links to the numerous other threads on this topic that have appeared here in the last few months. No, I'm online on my phone every day and it was definitely Edge all the time. In any case, the android market and downloads are so different its like night and day. Impossible to miss. Internet and email not so noticeable. I'm tended to go with the previous poster who says its an artifact of the network upgrade that everything is open until they get billing properly synced, rather than everyone on an Edge contract gets 3G at no additional cost. If that were the case they couldn't sell upgrades! Anyway, will find out one day if it stops and goes back to Edge only I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgriffith Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 Only explanation I have for you is that maybe your phone doesn't display "3G" unless it is on the international standard 2100 MHz. Other posters, perhaps with different phones, reported "3G" displayed while using DTAC last December in Chiang Mai. I think one poster was using an iPhone. DTAC's upgrade to their network uses 850, but with HSPA. My aircard displays "UMTS" when a signal is detected, then after I connect it displays "HSPA". Oh, and I have a so-called 3G plan with them. It's just semantics we are discussing here. DTAC upgraded their EDGE/GPRS network to something approaching 3G, but not on 2100 MHz. It is HSPA plus. You're probably right- you might be enjoying a free ride until the billing system catches up. Enjoy it while you can! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMTourist Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 Only explanation I have for you is that maybe your phone doesn't display "3G" unless it is on the international standard 2100 MHz. Other posters, perhaps with different phones, reported "3G" displayed while using DTAC last December in Chiang Mai. I think one poster was using an iPhone. DTAC's upgrade to their network uses 850, but with HSPA. My aircard displays "UMTS" when a signal is detected, then after I connect it displays "HSPA". Oh, and I have a so-called 3G plan with them. It's just semantics we are discussing here. DTAC upgraded their EDGE/GPRS network to something approaching 3G, but not on 2100 MHz. It is HSPA plus. You're probably right- you might be enjoying a free ride until the billing system catches up. Enjoy it while you can! It actually keeps changing from 3G to H to H+. Before it was always E. I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, the DTAC version, although I read a thread here that there isn't a difference as its quad band. Going to be a sad day when the E comes back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobl Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 It actually keeps changing from 3G to H to H+. Before it was always E. I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, the DTAC version, although I read a thread here that there isn't a difference as its quad band. Going to be a sad day when the E comes back! I don't think "E" will come back. At the end of your current package, simply buy a 3g package. If it's going 3g/h/h+ only means you're on the "edge" (no pun intended) of the service area of whatever tower you're locked onto. In which case you might find it's more stable on H+ in some parts of the house than the other... The S2 is a quadband phone btw - GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS 850/900/1900/2100. About the only place it won't work is in the US TMobile's 1700MHz network... I have my S2 on H+ on True-H, but my Blackberry's on DTAC. Haven't seen it go from edge to 3g yet (except when it roamed onto beeline in Lao) but I'm out in the sticks so I'm not holding my breath for them to upgrade this tower... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMTourist Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 It actually keeps changing from 3G to H to H+. Before it was always E. I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, the DTAC version, although I read a thread here that there isn't a difference as its quad band. Going to be a sad day when the E comes back! I don't think "E" will come back. At the end of your current package, simply buy a 3g package. If it's going 3g/h/h+ only means you're on the "edge" (no pun intended) of the service area of whatever tower you're locked onto. In which case you might find it's more stable on H+ in some parts of the house than the other... The S2 is a quadband phone btw - GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS 850/900/1900/2100. About the only place it won't work is in the US TMobile's 1700MHz network... I have my S2 on H+ on True-H, but my Blackberry's on DTAC. Haven't seen it go from edge to 3g yet (except when it roamed onto beeline in Lao) but I'm out in the sticks so I'm not holding my breath for them to upgrade this tower... I'm not going to buy a 3G package. Been perfectly happy on E up to now. It autorenews on the 28th so I guess I'll find out then if it goes back to E or not. I have full bars at all times on my phone so unless the data towers are different towers then being on the edge of coverage isn't the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgriffith Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 Read this for more info on this topic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_shaping Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMTourist Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 Read this for more info on this topic. http://en.wikipedia....Traffic_shaping I know what traffic shaping is. The topic is a different one: Does anyone in Chiang Mai NOT have a 3G data package on DTAC but suddenly began getting 3G? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgriffith Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 From DTAC's web page on data plans: There is no EDGE plan vs. 3G plan. Your time based data plan has been upgraded to include 3G, at the same cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMTourist Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share Posted March 25, 2012 From DTAC's web page on data plans: There is no EDGE plan vs. 3G plan. Your time based data plan has been upgraded to include 3G, at the same cost. WOOHOO! That's great news! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomatopo Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 DTAC/Happy launched 3G in the Chiang Mai area last December, 2011. Typically any exisiting data plan now includes 3G; the 30 day, 70 hour, 199 baht package does as you can see. With an 850 Mhz 3G capable device you should see 5 mbps/1 Mbps. http://www.thaivisa....-3g-now-in-cnx/ http://www.dtac.co.th/3g/coverage.php http://www.happy.co....mid=368〈=en Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMTourist Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share Posted March 25, 2012 DTAC/Happy launched 3G in the Chiang Mai area last December, 2011. Typically any exisiting data plan now includes 3G; the 30 day, 70 hour, 199 baht package does as you can see. With an 850 Mhz 3G capable device you should see 5 mbps/1 Mbps. http://www.thaivisa....-3g-now-in-cnx/ http://www.dtac.co.th/3g/coverage.php http://www.happy.co....mid=368〈=en I'm getting pretty close to that speed. On the time based one can you see how much you get before it switches back to Edge? On the data amount accounts it tells you, but I can't see for the time based ones. I'm loving the higher speed. I can lie in bed watching lectures on the TED app by David Deutsch on quantum physics and Richard Dawkins on evolution and religion with no delay to buffer before it starts or pauses in the middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomatopo Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 (edited) ^ You may want to consider a volume-based plan? You will have to review the terms and conditions of your plan; maybe contact DTAC/Happy? You say you have the 70 hour, 30 day, 199 baht plan, it's not clear to me how much, or how little, of the 70 hours comes at 3G speeds, or if there is any fair-use speed-limit, or what the charges are above 70 hours. 70 hours full on at 5 Mbps seems like a boatload of giga-bytes (157.5 ? not sure that's correct)! Edited to add: Upon further review, the call on the field is reversed. To me it looks like all the time-based plans are supposed to be speed-limited to 384 Kbps (which is a 3G speed, not an EDGE speed, BTW.) Not sure why you are getting multi-megabits per second. Maybe best to contact DTAC to sort this out before it comes back to bite you? (Note the USSD code, *3000# Send to enable 3G/384 Kbps) Edited March 25, 2012 by lomatopo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David006 Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 been showing 3G for a year or more..same old 200+kbs down...sticksville of course ...maybe get 3G when a 3.2 Mazda /Ford arrives... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomatopo Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 been showing 3G for a year or more..same old 200+kbs down...sticksville of course ...maybe get 3G when a 3.2 Mazda /Ford arrives... Not sure what this means? Where exactly is "sticksville"? Do you have DTAC/Happy? Do you have a data plan? What is the exact brand and model of your device? Did you set up the device for 3G, assuming it is 850 Mhz capable? Did you request the free upgrade to 3G? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMTourist Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share Posted March 25, 2012 ^ You may want to consider a volume-based plan? You will have to review the terms and conditions of your plan; maybe contact DTAC/Happy? You say you have the 70 hour, 30 day, 199 baht plan, it's not clear to me how much, or how little, of the 70 hours comes at 3G speeds, or if there is any fair-use speed-limit, or what the charges are above 70 hours. 70 hours full on at 5 Mbps seems like a boatload of giga-bytes (157.5 ? not sure that's correct)! Edited to add: Upon further review, the call on the field is reversed. To me it looks like all the time-based plans are supposed to be speed-limited to 384 Kbps (which is a 3G speed, not an EDGE speed, BTW.) Not sure why you are getting multi-megabits per second. Maybe best to contact DTAC to sort this out before it comes back to bite you? (Note the USSD code, *3000# Send to enable 3G/384 Kbps) Well I'm on prepaid and I've been monitoring my credit and internet hours closely for the last few days and they're not charging me any extra. And since I'm on prepaid there's nothing they can do if they suddenly decide they made a mistake and they want an extra 5000 Baht. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hummingbird Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 It actually keeps changing from 3G to H to H+. Before it was always E. I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, the DTAC version, although I read a thread here that there isn't a difference as its quad band. Going to be a sad day when the E comes back! I don't think "E" will come back. At the end of your current package, simply buy a 3g package. If it's going 3g/h/h+ only means you're on the "edge" (no pun intended) of the service area of whatever tower you're locked onto. In which case you might find it's more stable on H+ in some parts of the house than the other... The S2 is a quadband phone btw - GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS 850/900/1900/2100. About the only place it won't work is in the US TMobile's 1700MHz network... I have my S2 on H+ on True-H, but my Blackberry's on DTAC. Haven't seen it go from edge to 3g yet (except when it roamed onto beeline in Lao) but I'm out in the sticks so I'm not holding my breath for them to upgrade this tower... If the quadband won't work in the US on TMobile's 1700MHz network, do you know if I can get a sim card for any network in the US if I purchase the phone here? Was hoping to be able to use it in both countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobl Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 If the quadband won't work in the US on TMobile's 1700MHz network, do you know if I can get a sim card for any network in the US if I purchase the phone here? Was hoping to be able to use it in both countries. Yes, a quadband phone should work on many of the US networks, quadband's still very much a "world phone". It's the 1700MHz network that's the "odd one out" at the moment. As long as you don't try to use that, you'll be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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