3G Fair Usage Policy In The Isaan

[Dario]

To the moderators: please don't move this topic to Internet or Mobile forum as I would like to reach the Isaan members specifically. Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I live in Northern Surin area about 5km off a provinicial road which connects the two provincial towns Tha Tum and Rattanaburi. I'm living out in the rice fields and there is no cable Internet available as the only provider TOT needs 20 customer in a village to bring in the cable.

But; there is the very much acclaimed 3G and the signal is here in my village as well! The iPhone 4S which I bought at the end of December gets an astounding good signal as long as I'm not over my 5GB limit, something between 3 and 7.2GB. Thereafter, until 2 days ago, I got at least 0.3MB which is a good workable speed. Her is one of the best speeds I got last month:

Before I got my iPhone, I took the only option available: Ipstar from TOT at a whopping 2'782 Baht/month, that's 33'384 Baht a year for a lousy speed. Something it was OK, but half of the time it was really lousy. So, since the iPhone has the Personal Hotspot feature, I used that to feed my PC with Internet. End of February I cancelled Ipstar and I was very happy with my TRUE-H connection. During the first 10-12 days of my billing cycle (which starts on the 10th every month) I got high speed and when my 5GB data is up, I had at least 300Kbps which is nice to work with.

BUT: since more than 2 days I get almost no Internet at all anymore. I thought that TRUE had throttled me down to 64Kbps (as AIS & DTAC do now for their cheapest packages) but this morning when I talked with TRUE-H call center supervisor on duty, Khun Dujau, she confirmed me that I was on 384 Kbps. So I asked her why I now mostly have no Internet, she said. Your bandwith has to be shared by many people, so sometimes the speed drops. So I responded that TRUE has the duty as a provider to put infrastructure in place that serves all their subscribers. Just signing up megatons of subscribers with huge advertising campaigns promising speeds up to 42MB (which nobody needs!) but having poor infrastructure is not fair at all to their customers! We will look into this problem, but it will take some time, she said.

Woaw!!! Look at my "speed" near 14:00 today:

Get the picture? With this "speed: I cannot open anything, It's worse than the 56KB dial-up we had about 12 years back when I lived in Bangkok. Now my question to you TRUE-H, as well as DTAC and AIS users: Have you experienced a similar dropdown in your "fair usage" speed?

[vpi78]

No problem at all with Dtac. Tether my IPad to my Samsung and no perceptible speed or data problems.

[Dario]

No problem at all with Dtac. Tether my IPad to my Samsung and no perceptible speed or data problems.

May I ask what package you're on and are you on 'fair usage" right now (384Kbps)? Do you live in a remote area or in a town? Thanks for your feedback.

[vpi78]

[quote name=vpi78' timestamp='1333616248'

post='5193652]

No problem at all with Dtac. Tether my IPad to

my Samsung and no perceptible speed or data problems.

May I ask what package you're on and are you

on 'fair usage" right now (384Kbps)? Do you live in a remote area or in a

town? Thanks for your feedback.

I am far from a techie so I am just guessing it is fair usage. It is Dtac unlimited 3G package, 500 Baht per month. I just set the tether and the IPad recognizes the WiFi signal coming from the Samsung Galaxy II.

The signal is as good as my 3BB package with a dedicated router in Bangkok.

[Dario]

Then you are still not on "fair usage" right now. Check when you're on fair usage. Note: there is no unlimited 3 G package. The carriers just call it unlimited, although it is not. It's very misleading to most subscribers when they sign up.

[vpi78]

Then you are still not on "fair usage" right now.

Check when you're on fair usage. Note: there is no unlimited 3 G

package. The carriers just call it unlimited, ,although it is not. It's

very misleading to most subscribers when they sign up.

Perhaps, but in the 4 months I have had it, the access has been faultless, the speed of data undetectably different from my Bangkok 9mbd data package and unless you were downloading torrents all day long it seems to be pretty unlimited. there are no other charges from Dtac.

[Dario]

Then you are still not on "fair usage" right now.

Check when you're on fair usage. Note: there is no unlimited 3 G

package. The carriers just call it unlimited, ,although it is not. It's

very misleading to most subscribers when they sign up.

Perhaps, but in the 4 months I have had it, the access has been faultless, the speed of data undetectably different from my Bangkok 9mbd data package and unless you were downloading torrents all day long it seems to be pretty unlimited. there are no other charges from Dtac.

Sounds very refreshing. Where are you located in a remote village or in a town? If you have a tower nearby then things are very different, of course. I'm not downloading any torrents, but my Internet is on all day, I'm doing websites. That might be different with you.

[vpi78]

Then you are still not on "fair usage" right now.

Check when you're on fair usage. Note: there is no unlimited 3 G

package. The carriers just call it unlimited, ,although it is not. It's

very misleading to most subscribers when they sign up.

Perhaps, but in the 4 months I have had it, the access has been faultless, the speed of data undetectably different from my Bangkok 9mbd data package and unless you were downloading torrents all day long it seems to be pretty unlimited. there are no other charges from Dtac.

Sounds very refreshing. Where are you located in a remote village or in a town? If you have a tower nearby then things are very different, of course. I'm not downloading any torrents, but my Internet is on all day, I'm doing websites. That might be different with you.

I am near Erawan which is on the edge of Nong Bua Lam Phu province, near the border to Loei province.

I use Skype a lot on both the Samsung Galaxy II phone standalone and also Skype on the Ipad tethered to the Samsung which acts as the WiFi hotspot. The signal is good, dependable and I have been able to use it both stationary and while traveling all through the North/Northeast.

It's a great way to connect, very cheap, and reliable ... but I don't use it more than a couple of hours continuously per day and don't download much. For a general internet browsing experience in non cable areas of Thailand it is hard to beat for the price. When I had to use Edge I was probably burning through 2000 - 3000 baht per month in charges for a very slow and unreliable connection.

[Dario]

Normally I should also have fair usage speed same as other customers with similar data plans, but I haven't Today we travelled to Pattaya and I checked MANY times my speed. Everywhere it's the same: 20/30/40KB. Nowhere more than that. I checked in Buriram, Nangrong, Nongki, and lots of other towns we passed by. Now we're in Pattaya and it's still the same. I'm still waiting for a follow-up from TRUE-H, but nothing has happened so far and now it's the weekend. I have notified TRUE that I won't settle my bill until I get the speed of 384KB for fair usage which they admit I have right to. They say that I get that speed but my speed tests show very different. I will keep you posted.

[Mischka]

Did you check your phone first? Connection could be changed from 3G- to edge- or gsm-standard. Operating errors made by family... I love it.

[Theboy]

Normally I should also have fair usage speed same as other customers with similar data plans, but I haven't Today we travelled to Pattaya and I checked MANY times my speed. Everywhere it's the same: 20/30/40KB. Nowhere more than that. I checked in Buriram, Nangrong, Nongki, and lots of other towns we passed by. Now we're in Pattaya and it's still the same. I'm still waiting for a follow-up from TRUE-H, but nothing has happened so far and now it's the weekend. I have notified TRUE that I won't settle my bill until I get the speed of 384KB for fair usage which they admit I have right to. They say that I get that speed but my speed tests show very different. I will keep you posted.

There is your problem - you are with True. I had the same problems and dumped them - am on AIS now and am much happier. Stay clear of True as they are certainly the worst of the bunch

[Dario]

Did you check your phone first? Connection could be changed from 3G- to edge- or gsm-standard. Operating errors made by family... I love it.

Connection could be changed >> where ?? Can you explain in detail where somebody could have changed something?

[wpcoe]

Go into settings and reset all network connections, and then re-configure everything. It's a long shot, but it may work.

If you are using an iPhone, go to http://www.truemove-...x#info-product1 and then click on the iPhone and then click on EN.

Chok dii!

[Mischka]

For Nokia this is typical:

Fast downloading: 1. To activate or deactivate HSDPA, select Menu > Tools >Settings > Connection > Packet data > High speed packet access

or

2. to select the network mode you can select Menu > Tools > Settings > Phone > Network>Network mode and mostly in checkboxes: Dual

mode, UMTS, or GSM. Don't choose GSM!

For Iphone:

You can tell iPhone is connected to the Internet via the cellular data network if you see the 3G, EDGE, or GPRS icon in the status bar at the top of the screen. Manual change between 3G, EDGE, or GPRS is not common for Iphone. Iphone does it automatically, if it does not happen you can only reset your iphone.

For Samsung:

Samsung can extend your battery life by limiting your data connections to 2G networks (GPRS or EDGE). This is good for the battery but not for the speed. How to change it:

1. Press Home , press Menu , and touch Settings to open the Settings application.

2 Touch Wireless & networks > Mobile networks and check Use 3G networks.

It can vary by modell, we have only the three above - so I don't know more about it. - Good luck!

[zoolander]

i have the True H 3g Unlimited package in Ubon using an aircard in my PC. Had the package for 3 months and at first it was ok but recently its become very slow. Not opening websites and playing Youtube is hopeless. I would say im getting the same speeds as on Edge.

Normally i would avoid True, had the True Move TV, that was an utter shambles too. Their lackadaisical approach to customer service is <deleted>##ing legendary.

Unfortunately dtac and ais dont have 3g here yet. But i may go back to using Edge as True charge over 1000 baht a month next month after the promotion period and im now getting only getting Edge speeds but paying for a 3g service.

[RegularReader]

We have just come back from 5 days in Udon Thani.

During our stay we traveled around quite a bit - meaning I was able to observe my AIS mobile connection and the results were poor everywhere.

Last time we were there in January 2011, I was amazed at the good speeds I was getting.

As we are considering a move up there in the next few years, I would like to think this snail's pace from AIS is only temporary and that with the coming of 3G (joke) I will get better than very poor Edge service, as I experienced last week.

[4evermaat]

Then you are still not on "fair usage" right now.

Check when you're on fair usage. Note: there is no unlimited 3 G

package. The carriers just call it unlimited, ,although it is not. It's

very misleading to most subscribers when they sign up.

Perhaps, but in the 4 months I have had it, the access has been faultless, the speed of data undetectably different from my Bangkok 9mbd data package and unless you were downloading torrents all day long it seems to be pretty unlimited. there are no other charges from Dtac.

Sounds very refreshing. Where are you located in a remote village or in a town? If you have a tower nearby then things are very different, of course. I'm not downloading any torrents, but my Internet is on all day, I'm doing websites. That might be different with you.

I was surprised at what i consider to be normal surfing (opening maybe 30-100 webpages a day) and viewing a few videos, doing a few light uploads can add up to 100-300MB a day, depending on what content you are viewing. Not all websites "optimize" their sites' graphics/flash files and assume everyone has unlimited high speed. It didn't take too long to meet the 3GB fair use cap on True H. I decided to go over just to see what would happen and sure enough, I got throttled down to 100 Kbps or so. There is a thread in the mobile devices forum about the recent reduction in fair use speeds. But the throttled speeds is supposed to be 384 Kbps. The changes to the ToS that you see on the carrier websites is VERY recent.

At the same time, if you are a casual user, 3-5GB is very easy to stay within. If you have prepaid plan, and you absolutely need more, you can cancel your existing plan when you hit the limit, and re-sign up. you'll get a fresh new amount of bandwidth to use at max speeds. Or I am considering postpaid plan and augment with a spare prepaid sim as needed. It would be easier if you could just layer on extra GB.

I'm located about 15 km from Chumphon Town. Not in the sticks, and about 800 m from the tower. I switched to MyByCat to get an extra 1GB and 220 baht cheaper (MyClick 590 plan). I will be monitoring the situation once I go over 4GB to see the throttle.

I am near Erawan which is on the edge of Nong Bua Lam Phu province, near the border to Loei province.

I use Skype a lot on both the Samsung Galaxy II phone standalone and also Skype on the Ipad tethered to the Samsung which acts as the WiFi hotspot. The signal is good, dependable and I have been able to use it both stationary and while traveling all through the North/Northeast.

It's a great way to connect, very cheap, and reliable ... but I don't use it more than a couple of hours continuously per day and don't download much. For a general internet browsing experience in non cable areas of Thailand it is hard to beat for the price. When I had to use Edge I was probably burning through 2000 - 3000 baht per month in charges for a very slow and unreliable connection.

I agree it is important to first check if you are over the limit. This is difficult to do with MybyCat, but the other carriers have a text/USSD method to check plan details and balance for your existing plan easily.

I thought even back when they had 2g-only plans there were unlimited hours packages from each of the carriers for 6-900 baht prepaid and a bit cheaper if you had post paid.

Edited April 11, 2012 by 4evermaat