Signal Booster?

[billsmart]

I live in the mountains of Phetchabun and no wireline telephone service is available. I need both reliable phone and as fast internet upload/dowload as I can get.

I have an AIS SIM for my mobile phone and it only gets 1 bar, 2 on a good day. I did have a signal booster I purchased in the USA and it pumped up my mobile phone bars to full. It quit working about a year ago and I have not yet replaced it. For internet I initially got by with GPRS but it is of course very, very slow and not really suitible for my needs. I then got a CAT satellite dish for my internet and that was better but somewhat expensive (1500 THB/month). Now I am using a CAT CDMA modem for my internet. An older modem (Huawei EC226 Modem CDMA 2000 1xEV-DO) that has 2 USB connections - one that gives it more power and must help with the reception. It is just barely tolerable: Speednet Measurements: Ping=103, Down=1.28, Up=0.32 . The CAT CDMA modem gets 2 to 3 bars.

I want to buy another signal booster but would like one that would boost BOTH my AIS voice and CAT CDMA signals. The best I can find out is that my AIS voice sim runs at 900 Mghz and my CAT CDMA modem runs at 800/850 Mghz.

My questions are:

1. Are my assumptions correct that AIS uses 900 Mghz and CAT CDMA 800/850 Mghz? If not what is correct?

2. Does anyone know of a signal booster (in Thailand or on availble over the internet) that would handle both bands (800/850 Mghz and 900 Mghz)?

3. Am I correct in assuming that a stonger signal (more bars) would increase my down/upload speed?

4. Does anyone know if the currently sold AIS CDMA modem is anywhere near as good (are as fast/picks up signal well) as my CAT Huawei EC226 Modem CDMA 2000 1xEV-DO?

5. Are telephone numbers (like my current AIS SIM number) portable in Thailand to another company (like to TRUE) if I would decide to change my voice service so I could have both my voice and data services on 800/850 Mghz? - and then could get a signal booster for that Mghz.

If you think of anything I should have asked, or have any other suggestions please let me know.

Thanks...Bill Smart

[email protected]

www.BillSmart.com/BSC

[ThaiLife]

Hi Bill , this may not answer all your questions , I was a CAT CDMA user for many years , until my USB modem stopped working ( model MC727 ) , I was told by my local CAT office that the CDMA service would be terminated nation wide at the end of 2012 , So I decided to give the CAT 3G a try ( My cat ) and so far its been acceptable , So I purchased a USB aircard ( ZTE MF668A ) from a Thai web site and then used an external roof antenna plugged into the ZTE MF668A , which gave me a full signal , I'm about 3Km away from the CAT tower . Ive tried several USB air cards , so far this one has been the best .

My USB Modem is this one ( works on all current Thai 3G networks )

Modem details here - ( my post #4 )

http://www.thaivisa....dongle-to-work/

The external roof antenna ( I used the same antenna that I had for my CDMA set up )

As far as I know the CAT CDMA frequancies are

824..849 Mhz (uplink)

*and*

869..894 MHz (downlink)

I would say that if CAT CDMA is to be treminated soon , then may be look at the CAT 3G option ( or True MoveH as its transmitted from the same CAT CDMA tower )

may be have a look here -

http://www.mybycat.com

[bobl]

The problem you're facing is because of Thailand's mish-mash of standards. Most dualband repeaters are for 850/1900 (call that "US" standards) or 900/1800 (call that "Europe" standards). So finding an 850/900 dualband is pretty difficult. Then there's triband repeaters but they tend to be commonly 850/1900/2100 or 900/1800/2100. Quadband and Pentaband are even harder to find.

There's a couple of threads I've posted in where there's links to at least one starting point for finding repeaters/antenna kits...

[lomatopo]

AIS offers 3G on 900 Mhz this is not CDMA. It does not look like AIS offers 3G in the general Petchabun area but you can review thir 3G coverage maps and/or contact them to see if they have any plans to deploy there.

TrueMove H and CAT My operate 3G on 850 Mhz, this is not CDMA; many Hutch and CAT towers have had 850 Mhz 3G deployed. It might very well be that your serving tower has been lit up. Maybe contact CAT?

TOT operates 3G on 2100 Mhz, this is not CDMA. It looks like TOT has towers in Nai Meuang, Lom Sal, Wang Chomphu, Chon Dean, Nong Phai. The reach on 2100 Mhz is not as broad as 850/900 but maybe you are near one of these towers?

In theory TrueMove, AIS and DTAC will all get 2100 Mhz tranches (3-4-3? each) during the 3G auction in October, 2012 and then re-farm existing spectrum, so having a 2100 Mhz capable device would be a good idea.

My best guess, without any understanding of your exact location, would be that you may be able to get 3G from TrueMove H or CAT My on 850 Mhz (this is the same physical network) and/or TOT (or one of their re-sellers like iMobile 3GX, IEC, NoJo, 365, et al.) on 2100 Mhz. I seriously doubt you can get AIS on 900 Mhz so maybe no need to get a quad-band device?

The Hutch CDMA sites may be shutting down by "mid-year" according to everything TrueMove have been saying publicly, while the CAT CDMA sites are expected to be shuttered by the end of this year.

You can port numbers from/to any provider here, including porting in to TrueMove H from AIS. http://www.truemove-h.com/en//mnp_faq.aspx

Note that TOT, CAT and even TrueMove H are in precarious/tenuous positions currently so I wouldn't rely on any of these for any sort of reliable, longer-term services.

Edited May 26, 2012 by lomatopo

[billsmart]

My thanks to ThaiLife, bobl and lomatopo.

What I've learned so far is my CAT internet solution is short-lived but until the dust has settled after the October autions it might be best for me to just sit tight and see what happens before I jump into anything. And that I can change voice carriers and keep my number (which I've had for 10+ years).

Does anyone have any predictions on which services are going to survive and be availalbe in 2013 and on?

(One correction to my original posting - I had a TOT satellite dish, not a CAT satellite dish)

[muratremix]

Hi Bill , this may not answer all your questions , I was a CAT CDMA user for many years , until my USB modem stopped working ( model MC727 ) , I was told by my local CAT office that the CDMA service would be terminated nation wide at the end of 2012 , So I decided to give the CAT 3G a try ( My cat ) and so far its been acceptable , So I purchased a USB aircard ( ZTE MF668A ) from a Thai web site and then used an external roof antenna plugged into the ZTE MF668A , which gave me a full signal , I'm about 3Km away from the CAT tower . Ive tried several USB air cards , so far this one has been the best .

My USB Modem is this one ( works on all current Thai 3G networks )

Modem details here - ( my post #4 )

http://www.thaivisa....dongle-to-work/

The external roof antenna ( I used the same antenna that I had for my CDMA set up )

As far as I know the CAT CDMA frequancies are

824..849 Mhz (uplink)

*and*

869..894 MHz (downlink)

I would say that if CAT CDMA is to be treminated soon , then may be look at the CAT 3G option ( or True MoveH as its transmitted from the same CAT CDMA tower )

may be have a look here -

http://www.mybycat.com

Can you tell us where did you buy your 3g antenna? How much and how many dbi gain?

[billsmart]

I still think I'm going to go with a signal booster instead of an antenna, and from all these comments I've learned that many of the 3G services will operate/do operate at 850 mghz.

Just a few days ago I purchases a used PC for my wife and if came with a Blue Freedom Fly HSDPA Wireless dongle and 3G Verizon software. I purchased a True Move 3G+ Net Sim for it. It will connect but is slow as molasses in January (for non-USA English speakers, that's very slow). It seems to be more like GPRS. My CAT CDMA card is 10 times faster. Could it be possible that my area does not have True Move 3G and the card reverts to GPRS?

Are all Thai 3G/3G+ cards going to be like this? I hope not.

...Bill!

[ThaiLife]

Hi Bill , this may not answer all your questions , I was a CAT CDMA user for many years , until my USB modem stopped working ( model MC727 ) , I was told by my local CAT office that the CDMA service would be terminated nation wide at the end of 2012 , So I decided to give the CAT 3G a try ( My cat ) and so far its been acceptable , So I purchased a USB aircard ( ZTE MF668A ) from a Thai web site and then used an external roof antenna plugged into the ZTE MF668A , which gave me a full signal , I'm about 3Km away from the CAT tower . Ive tried several USB air cards , so far this one has been the best .

My USB Modem is this one ( works on all current Thai 3G networks )

Modem details here - ( my post #4 )

http://www.thaivisa....dongle-to-work/

The external roof antenna ( I used the same antenna that I had for my CDMA set up )

As far as I know the CAT CDMA frequancies are

824..849 Mhz (uplink)

*and*

869..894 MHz (downlink)

I would say that if CAT CDMA is to be treminated soon , then may be look at the CAT 3G option ( or True MoveH as its transmitted from the same CAT CDMA tower )

may be have a look here -

http://www.mybycat.com

Can you tell us where did you buy your 3g antenna? How much and how many dbi gain?

have a look through here

http://www.kkplaza.com/

[ThaiLife]

I still think I'm going to go with a signal booster instead of an antenna, and from all these comments I've learned that many of the 3G services will operate/do operate at 850 mghz.

Just a few days ago I purchases a used PC for my wife and if came with a Blue Freedom Fly HSDPA Wireless dongle and 3G Verizon software. I purchased a True Move 3G+ Net Sim for it. It will connect but is slow as molasses in January (for non-USA English speakers, that's very slow). It seems to be more like GPRS. My CAT CDMA card is 10 times faster. Could it be possible that my area does not have True Move 3G and the card reverts to GPRS?

Are all Thai 3G/3G+ cards going to be like this? I hope not.

...Bill!

May be contact / have a look here

http://3g.vivaonline...·à¸­-true-dtac/

[alonsun]

I live in Bangkok. You think there should not be any problem with the mobile signal. However In the house right next to Mega Bangna there is no signal inside the house only outside. Is the any device that can fix it? Antenna? Router? Booster? This foe True -H mobile connection.

Thanks

[bobl]

I live in Bangkok. You think there should not be any problem with the mobile signal. However In the house right next to Mega Bangna there is no signal inside the house only outside. Is the any device that can fix it? Antenna? Router? Booster? This foe True -H mobile connection.

Thanks

Sounds like you're in an RF blackspot - RF behaviour strangeness being what it is, that's not unusual...

I've had limited success in Africa with a 'passive' setup - quite simply an outdoor antenna pointed in the direction of the tower, directly connected back to back with an indoor antenna. It's horribly inefficient and shouldn't work, but it did work (went from 0-1 bar unuseable to 1-2 bars useable). Back in the day in a pinch, I've also sucessfully bent 2.4GHz wireless (Breezecom) round a building, with 2 x 24dBi grids back to back one pointing at the host and one pointing at the client.

Good news is if it doesn't work - simply break the connection between the antenna and install a booster (making sure to get the right frequency) inbetween.

[alonsun]

Thank you pita for the quick respond. Now I still need to find the correct anthena and shop.does kkplaza.com have what I need?

thanks

[bobl]

Thank you pita for the quick respond. Now I still need to find the correct anthena and shop.does kkplaza.com have what I need?

thanks

Yes, and pantipplaza also have several vendors for this kind of stuff.

Now might not be the best time to buy. Currently for True-H you'd need 850MHz but that could change to 1800MHz sooner or later. You could hedge your bets and get a pair of more useful wideband antennae not tuned specifically to 850 or 900 / whatever, but that will typically work on anything from 800-2100.

Something like this http://3gstore.com/product/2678_wilson-304475-75ohn-wide-band-directional-antenna.html for outdoors and this http://www.powertec.com.au/store/index.php/antennas/indoor/indoor-dome-antenna.html for indoors.

(Not suggesting you buy either of those, it's just to give you some ideas as to what you're looking for)

[alonsun]

I bought a kit from Top3Gnet.com antena and indoor booster. I will need to install by myself. I cannot see the communication tower. I guess I will have to try first. I will report back on the results. Thanks.

Edited February 11, 2013 by alonsun

[bobl]

I bought a kit from Top3Gnet.com antena and indoor booster. I will need to install by myself. I cannot see the communication tower. I guess I will have to try first. I will report back on the results. Thanks.

Pointing the antenna shouldn't be too critical. RF strangeness being what it is you might even pick up a better signal bouncing off a building or mountain than you do pointing directly in the direction of the tower.

Start off with an educated guess of what direction you think the tower might be, and see how's your reception. Do a coarse adjustment (90 degrees) and check again. Do that until you've found which direction gives you the most bars. Starting from whatever direction that is, you could try doing a finer adjustment but it probably won't be necessary...

Do let us know how you get on and which kit you bought...