Cat Cdma And True Move H

[jbrain]

In my area I can connect to True move H 3G however the signal isn't very strong and I always have the roaming symbol on my screen,from which I understand that I'm not directly connected to a True move H tower.The True move H map at the service center showed my location as excellent signal.

I know some people in my area have had CAT Cdma for years, untill it was discontinued, with very satisfying results.

My understanding is that CAT did the Cdma in the Pattaya area and True in the rest of the country, but that True took over the whole Cdma system from CAT.

Does the roaming symbol on my screen indicates that I'm connected to True move H through a CAT signal tower and that the CAT 3G is within my reach ?

[bobl]

If you're roaming on Truemove-H chances are you've roamed onto True - which (icbw) will still give you 3g in some areas but in many areas you'd end up on edge.

My CAT "My Click" chip has an annoying habit of roaming onto True even though there's a True-H signal, and here I only get edge on True. It happens often but not enough to get upset about. Most of the time I'm on True-H @ 384kbps anyway, having blown my 4GB.

[monty]

Actually the True move-H network is the old Hutch network (hence the H).

CAT never operated in the few provinces Hutch was operating.

Now both CAT and Hutch (nationwide) are merged into True-H

When your phone/dongle shows you're roaming, you are on the regular True Move network. Which I think is only regular hdpa ( 7,2 or maybe 14.4Mbps), whereas the True H net uses hdpa+ at 21/42 Mbps.

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Guest]

Depending of the location, the signal strength can vary a lot even if you move your dongle just 50cm.

There are few options to improve the signal (so that your modem will keep connected to the better basestation).

Get an usb-mifi device which will be placed where the signal is good. Next to the window for example. Mifi connects to the 3G network and shares the connection to your home with wifi.

If you don't wish to go this route, you can get an 5m usb cable and once again, place the dongle where the signal is the best.

I'm still using CAT CMDA (now extended to the end of the year). Here are few things I did to improve my connection latency and speed. Download speed went from 500kbps to up to 2Mbps. Not bad

USB modem put to an aluminium vase and placed under the roof.

Rain proof protection with usb powered cooling fans as the modem suffered with overheating.

[lomatopo]

CAT has installed and turned up more towers than it currently shares with TrueMove H, maybe ~ 7,000 turned up, but only 5,000 shared via TrueMove H.

AFAIK, TrueMove (not TrueMove H) have turned down their "old" trial 3G network in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and those other areas where it existed. I think that was a requirement of the CAT "deal"?

I guess it would help to understand where this is? and what type of phone/configuration you have, and what type of plan you have?

There are some network tools/apps which can help you trouble-shoot issues, in the Android world:

https://play.google....id.telnet&hl=en

https://play.google....3BlbnNpZ25hbCJd

My best guess: you are roaming onto, or getting bounced over to due to inactivity, the TrueMove (not TrueMove H) 1800 MHz legacy GSM network.

[jbrain]

CAT has installed and turned up more towers than it currently shares with TrueMove H, maybe ~ 7,000 turned up, but only 5,000 shared via TrueMove H.

AFAIK, TrueMove (not TrueMove H) have turned down their "old" trial 3G network in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and those other areas where it existed. I think that was a requirement of the CAT "deal"?

I guess it would help to understand where this is? and what type of phone/configuration you have, and what type of plan you have?

There are some network tools/apps which can help you trouble-shoot issues, in the Android world:

https://play.google....id.telnet&hl=en

https://play.google....3BlbnNpZ25hbCJd

My best guess: you are roaming onto, or getting bounced over to due to inactivity, the TrueMove (not TrueMove H) 1800 MHz legacy GSM network.

Thanks for the links, will try them out as soon as possible,however I think none of both apps will show the details of the tower you're connected to.Is that correct?

My location is 10 km outside Pattaya along the highway to Bankok, very close to the Regents school.When I went to the local True move shop they called up my gps coordinates on their computer map and it would show as excellent signal.

I only bought a test package of 70 mb,which is finished by now but the sim still has 2 months validity, as I want to get away from Dtac and the purpose of the net sim is to be used in a usb dongle which sit's in my 3G router.I only notice the roaming symbol when I insert the netsim in my phone to top up.

In the dongle it shows as having a 35% signal strenght, same as my Dtac which is useless however the Dtac signal tower is not more then 1 km from here.While the modem indicates that I'm connected at Dtac Hsdpa+ speed I get download speeds of 30KB and recently around 8900 B/s.

[lomatopo]

Open Signal Maps offers a Google Maps view of the adjacent towers and show which one you are currently connected to, while all of these type of apps do identify the tower by LAC and CID - I just chose not to show that detail in my original screenshot.

What is the brand/model of USB aircard - please be specific? Can you disable roaming? Can you find any documentation on the UI?

So it sounds like you are stationary? It could be something funky with the modem's firmware, or even how changes from from G to E to 3G to H to H+ are presented in the UI.

What data plan are you currently subscribed to?

My best guess is that your state changes as your data usage changes, then maybe you get handed over to the older, legacy TrueMove 1800 MHz GSM (2G) network.

I just noticed the references to DTAC. Which plan do you have with them? Sorry, I'm having a hard time following you. Could you possibly distinguish between bits and Bytes? Kilo-bits per second/Kbps and Kilo-Bytes per second (KBps). Generally it is best to talk in Kilo, or Mega, bits per second.

Edited November 12, 2012 by lomatopo

[monty]

When I get bumped to roaming on Truemove, it still shows H and sits on 850 Mhz, so obviously still 3G.

It is noticably slower then H+ on True-H though.

Strangely enough I often got bumped to roaming even when strong True-H signals were present.

Disabling roaming solved that problem.

Unfortunately for Jbrain, when you use a dongle in a 3G router you don't have access to those settings.

You usually cannot even see what you are connected to.

On my D-link router I can't even see the signal strength ( using a zte dongle).

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Thaivisa Connect App

[jbrain]

Open Signal Maps offers a Google Maps view of the adjacent towers and show which one you are currently connected to, while all of these type of apps do identify the tower by LAC and CID - I just chose not to show that detail in my original screenshot.

What is the brand/model of USB aircard - please be specific? Can you disable roaming? Can you find any documentation on the UI?

So it sounds like you are stationary? It could be something funky with the modem's firmware, or even how changes from from G to E to 3G to H to H+ are presented in the UI.

What data plan are you currently subscribed to?

My best guess is that your state changes as your data usage changes, then maybe you get handed over to the older, legacy TrueMove 1800 MHz GSM (2G) network.

I just noticed the references to DTAC. Which plan do you have with them? Sorry, I'm having a hard time following you. Could you possibly distinguish between bits and Bytes? Kilo-bits per second/Kbps and Kilo-Bytes per second (KBps). Generally it is best to talk in Kilo, or Mega, bits per second.

1. My current Dtac plan is 3Gb/month unlimited and during the 8 months I have it I've never exeeded the 3Gb, which would also be difficult at a 30KB/s download speed.Currently I reach download speeds below 10.000 B/s.These are the speeds as my download manager shows them to me and are from Gmail attachements.

If it are files larger than 1 Megabyte , I most of the time will get disconnected from the internet after 90% download.

I'm using a Huawei E153 dongle but have tried different dongles with the same result, for example a Zte dongle which actually is also a Huawei

2. I'm indeed stationary and using an Huawei E153 dongle with the True move logo printed on it.I would assume that they know which dongles function with their system.And no I don't have the possibility to disable roaming on the dongle.My router is an Intellinet 300N 3G router

But as I said, I only tried a 70 Mb package to test if I could get a better speed as with the current Dtac 3G.I have tried this out twice so far, once about 5 months ago, but then I would get disconnected every 30 minutes or so, and the second time 2 weeks ago after inquiring at the True Move shop.This time I could stay online all the time with the modem indicator light signalling I was connected at Hsdpa+

I could reach 150Kb download speed on Gmail attachements, which I don't consider excellent as the True move service assistant proclaimed it would be at my location.

The roaming signal I see on my phone when I insert the True move H internet sim to top up, and shows at anytime, topped up or not.

So what I try to find out is if the roaming reduces my speed, and if I'm roaming through a CAT tower or a True tower.

A second thing I try to know is, IF I'm roaming through a CAT signal tower, will it improve my signal when I switch to a CAT 3G sim.

Edited November 12, 2012 by jbrain

[lomatopo]

OK, so with a TrueMove H SIM in a phone (make/model?) you notice the "Roaming" indicator? I assume you have properly configured the APN, so my best guess is that you are roaming between the TrueMove H/850 MHz network and TrueMove 1800 MHz GSM networks, But this is a guess and you should of course verify this by using one of the referenced tools.

Are you located in a tallish building? Is your E153 near a window? You may have to get a device which can support an external antenna?

Not sure what to say about the DTAC issue? There are several versions of the E153, one is 900/2100 MHz 3G and the other is 850/2100 MHz 3G. With a True logo one assumes it is 850/2100 but it could be mis-labeled, or of an older vintage from before TrueMove had 850 MHz 3G? Can you closely examine the E153 and provide as much detail that is visible on the device? Or there could be something amiss with the firmware, settings or even your account settings with DTAC. I might update the firmware on the E153, verify the DTAC SIM works with 3G in another device and check with DTAC to make sure your account is properly provisioned.

TruueMove H is a reseller of CAT 3G so if you are on any tower it would technically be a CAT tower. A My by CAT 3G SIM/plan would likely offer the same performance characteristics as a TreuMove H SIM/plan.

Big B = Bytes

little b = bits

[lomatopo]

I had to activate a TrueMove H SIM for a colleague today so did get a chance to mess around with a bit. I did encounter this "Roaming" phenomenon so this is the best explanation I can come up with, again based on my very limited experiences.

When "Roaming" I was definitely on the legacy TrueMove GSM 1800 MHz network. When "Roaming" I could originate/receive voice calls and SMSes. I could not get any data connectivity. I did try several configurations and forces without success. I guess I am surprised that when outside of TrueMove H coverage that you cannot roam onto the TrueMove GSM data network.

When on the TrueMove H network I as definitely on 850 MHz (band 5) with full voice, text and 3G (7.2 Mbps). Moving towards a window and re-booting the phone allowed a TrueMove H/850 MHz.

The TrueMove H SIM created a default APN which was incorrect. The APN name was incorrect, "internet" instead of "Hinternet" and the username was spelled "ture" instead of "True" - maybe that's why the SIM was 49 baht.

I will try to get some neighboring cell detail for subsequent posts.

The 899 baht/ 5 GB plan did not include VAT - the total was 961.93 baht - 1,000 baht was the initial balance, after subscribing the remaining balance was 38.07 baht.

[lomatopo]

Following up...I was able to get onto the legacy TrueMove GSM 1800 MHz network, and get 2G data working by enabling "data roaming" (note this didn't work previously, I had to re-boot the phone, and I am running an Android 4.1.2 custom ROM, although the results leave a bit to be desired.

Where TrueMove H/3G is available the results are OK.

[lomatopo]

Speedtests in the exact same location DTAC on the left, TrueMove H on the right, but with different HW and baseband. I should switch SIMs and retest to be fair?

Edited November 14, 2012 by lomatopo