Jomtien Area 3G Or Wifi

[Gary A]

I have a condo on the south end of Jomtien Beach. I spend most of my time upcountry where Truemove-H has the only coverage. It is pretty good in Loei province but it truly stinks here in Jomtien. I will try another service the next time I am down here and wondered if anyone can recommend a service for this area. Truemove has no WiFi signal here.

[Gary A]

BUMP..........

My Truemove-H Galaxy S3 phone sometimes displays an H,sometimes an H+ and once in a while the 3G icon. Once in a while I get a notice that I have lost my connection because I don't have roaming enabled. If I enable roaming, it tells me that I may incur extra charges. All this is happening while sitting at my desk in my condo. The phone signal shows four and usually five bars of signal strength.

My old Nokia phone has a very old AIS 2G SIM and below the full bar signal strength indicator it shows a 3.5G icon. Does this mean that AIS has a strong 3.5G service available here?

I'm really sick of the Truemove-H pathetic service.

[lomatopo]

With TrueMove H if you enable roaming, and you should, this allows you to roam onto the legacy TrueMove 1800 MHz GSM network for voice, text and 2GPRS/EDGE. You may be just between a TrueMove H and TRueMove tower? You could try enabling WCDMA only but this has drawbacks.

I guess you could put the One-2-Call SIM into the SGS3 to check the 3G signal? And if it looks good subscribe to a data plan? FWIW, I would get a new One-2-Call physical SIM as you may otherwise experience issues, aka SIM Exhaustion. One-2-Call should exchange this free of charge, just tell them you are having connectivity problems.

Edited November 19, 2012 by lomatopo

[Gary A]

I did choose WCDMA and in some places could not make voice calls. I'll enable roaming and auto select when I put the Truemove-H SIM back in.

I got the AIS SIM cut to fit the S3 and it seems to work well but I'm not sure exactly what is working. The S3 icon says H+. I enabled WCDMA only with no roaming and it still shows the H+ icon. It is faster than the Truemove-H SIM. I have no date plan for the old AIS SIM card. It apparently is somehow working off my credit balance.

[lomatopo]

I did choose WCDMA and in some places could not make voice calls. I'll enable roaming and auto select when I put the Truemove-H SIM back in.

I got the AIS SIM cut to fit the S3 and it seems to work well but I'm not sure exactly what is working. The S3 icon says H+. I enabled WCDMA only with no roaming and it still shows the H+ icon. It is faster than the Truemove-H SIM. I have no date plan for the old AIS SIM card. It apparently is somehow working off my credit balance.

Yes, if you choose WCDMA only then you won't roam onto TrueMove 1800 MHz - but you could change the acquisition order to WCDMA UMTS-->GSM, and the RAT to DUAL. This requires accessing the Service Menu - you can Google the code.

I think you are paying 1 baht/min, and getting up to 384 Kbps via UMTS on One -2-Call without any plan selected.

Again, you mentioned you had a very old SIM, so I would definitely exchange that, especially for a new standard uSIM (may require a carrier for use in older phones) as some of these older SIM have a lot of issues. AIS/One-2-Call should echange the SIM for free.

Edited November 19, 2012 by lomatopo

[Gary A]

Thanks for the help. I get surprised all the time. I was quite happy when I found I had a good fast connection out in the boonies with Truemove-H. I would have never suspected that Truemove-H would be so bad down here in Jomtien. My CAT Click service is really not too bad here using the unlimited scaled back speed after the 3G is used up.

Last Result:

Download Speed: 369 kbps (46.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 331 kbps (41.4 KB/sec transfer rate)

Latency: 186 ms

Mon Nov 19 2012 16:51:33 GMT+0700 (SE Asia Standard Time)

Maybe before long all the providers will have improved service here in Jomtien. As it is, I'll save the 899 baht per month by just using My CAT Click upcountry and waiting for a better service provider down here. I'll use the old 2G AIS SIM in my smart phone because I have had this number for many years. The EDGE is usable but pretty slow. It'll do until another service has coverage here and upcountry.

[lomatopo]

I'll use the old 2G AIS SIM in my smart phone because I have had this number for many years. The EDGE is usable but pretty slow. It'll do until another service has coverage here and upcountry.

AIS/One-2-Call will transfer your current existing telephone number to the new SIM; you do not have to give up your number when you replace your SIM. As it is an older SIM I would strongly recommend replacing it, but as they say, up to you.

[Gary A]

I will definitely replace that SIM as long as I can keep my original number. Can that be done on the spot at a Telewhiz shop?

[lomatopo]

Can that be done on the spot at a Telewhiz shop?

Yes, I would think so, but I have been out of the AIS fold for a while so am not sure what TWZ shops currently are capable of re: provisioning. Maybe AIS have a fuller service outlet in one of the malls in the Pattaya area?

[monty]

I do think they can make new sim cards at the telewiz shop.

They will ask a few questions such as the amount of your last top up and last called numbers...

If they can't help you, then the closest full AIS service center is in Sri Racha, close to Robinsons...

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[Gary A]

There is a Telewhiz shop in Tuk Com Pattaya. The nice lady there gave me a couple shells where they cut out the micro SIM's. I wanted to be able to use a micro SIM in a regular phone.

I wonder what genius decided to use the micro SIM. It was likely Apple. Now Apple made the iPhone bigger and now use an even smaller Nano SIM. That strikes me as incredibly stupid. Why Samsung decided to go micro SIM is also stupid.

[monty]

There is a Telewhiz shop in Tuk Com Pattaya. The nice lady there gave me a couple shells where they cut out the micro SIM's. I wanted to be able to use a micro SIM in a regular phone.

I wonder what genius decided to use the micro SIM. It was likely Apple. Now Apple made the iPhone bigger and now use an even smaller Nano SIM. That strikes me as incredibly stupid. Why Samsung decided to go micro SIM is also stupid.

Easy answer, now every apple user can use his/her sim in a Samsung phone!

You could always cut a sim smaller (samsung/most other phones --> Apple), but you couldn't make it bigger (Apple --> other phones) without getting a new sim...

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[Gary A]

Central AIS shop in Pattaya can give you a new SIM card and you can keep your original number. HOWEVER, AIS has no 3G coverage in my area upcountry and no plans to have coverage anytime soon. That's not all. The coverage in my area of Jomtien is very limited and will likely be using EDGE only.

You WILL need your passport to get a new card and a copy of your passport is not be good enough.

It appears that the post paid My CAT is the best service available and that's what I already have. It appears that 3G is still out of reach for MANY areas. TIT!

[Gary A]

I'm back upcountry out in the boonies and have my phone tethered to my computer. The speed is very good here;

Last Result:

Download Speed: 7376 kbps (922 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 3256 kbps (407 KB/sec transfer rate)

Latency: 102 ms

Mon Nov 26 2012 18:37:30 GMT+0700 (SE Asia Standard Time)

[4evermaat]

I'm back upcountry out in the boonies and have my phone tethered to my computer. The speed is very good here;

Last Result:

Download Speed: 7376 kbps (922 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 3256 kbps (407 KB/sec transfer rate)

Latency: 102 ms

Mon Nov 26 2012 18:37:30 GMT+0700 (SE Asia Standard Time)

I think the luck you have in having such a good connection is because the cell tower you are attached to has fewer customers attached, so the appearance is that you have better service (which you do). but a tower with the same capacity but 20 times the subscribers would have a slower response rate.

I'm in a hotel near villa market/major cinema on 2nd road in Pattaya and the My cat is working flawlessly....better than the hotel wifi, which uses a secure login (you have to request unique username/password at front desk which expires after 1-4 weeks)

[Gary A]

I'm back upcountry out in the boonies and have my phone tethered to my computer. The speed is very good here;

Last Result:

Download Speed: 7376 kbps (922 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 3256 kbps (407 KB/sec transfer rate)

Latency: 102 ms

Mon Nov 26 2012 18:37:30 GMT+0700 (SE Asia Standard Time)

I think the luck you have in having such a good connection is because the cell tower you are attached to has fewer customers attached, so the appearance is that you have better service (which you do). but a tower with the same capacity but 20 times the subscribers would have a slower response rate.

I'm in a hotel near villa market/major cinema on 2nd road in Pattaya and the My cat is working flawlessly....better than the hotel wifi, which uses a secure login (you have to request unique username/password at front desk which expires after 1-4 weeks)

I think you're right. Most of the users up here were using CAT CDMA and have been forced to change to 3G CAT. I had to make the change too and now have a post paid My CAT 3G. It is quite a bit slower than the Truemove-H here, I think for that reason. Since My CAT offers a better deal Truemove-H is likely to remain faster in this area because of fewer users. I'll probably keep the 899 baht pre paid Truemove-H for another month to see if My CAT slows down more.

[4evermaat]

I think you're right. Most of the users up here were using CAT CDMA and have been forced to change to 3G CAT. I had to make the change too and now have a post paid My CAT 3G. It is quite a bit slower than the Truemove-H here, I think for that reason. Since My CAT offers a better deal Truemove-H is likely to remain faster in this area because of fewer users. I'll probably keep the 899 baht pre paid Truemove-H for another month to see if My CAT slows down more.

True H and My Cat are the same network, only True resells Cat and it seems like only True H has the prepaid plans. My Cat I found was actually a bit faster than True H, especially with the Fair use limit. Not sure if True H has adjusted their fair use cap, but it got as low as 64kbps, and when I used it at that point, it was worse than edge.

[Gary A]

The Truemove-H unlimited is basically BS. The unlimited part is WiFi which didn't work in Jomtien and certainly has no service here. After I used up the fair usage, they deducted from what credit I had and when my credit was used up, the service just simply stopped. As in nothing at all. NO service at all.

At least the My CAT account has unlimited Internet that is better than EDGE. The unlimited service is actually not too bad as long as you don't want huge downloads. I did download about a 900 MB ROM for my Android phone and even though it took several hours it completed successfully.

[monty]

The Truemove-H unlimited is basically BS. The unlimited part is WiFi which didn't work in Jomtien and certainly has no service here. After I used up the fair usage, they deducted from what credit I had and when my credit was used up, the service just simply stopped. As in nothing at all. NO service at all.

At least the My CAT account has unlimited Internet that is better than EDGE. The unlimited service is actually not too bad as long as you don't want huge downloads. I did download about a 900 MB ROM for my Android phone and even though it took several hours it completed successfully.

Truemove-H does have unlimited.

You just need to subscribe to the proper package.

3GB (3G)+ unlimited wifi =650 Baht

3GB (full speed 3G) + unlimited (3G speed reduced) = 799 Baht.

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[monty]

Just tested on Jomtien beach road, just past soi Chayphruek.

Truemove-H down around 700kbps, up around 300 kbps.

Dtac (full signal on 3 G) down 2.3 Mbps, up 1.1 Mbps...

Might be usefull, Dtac has a 199 Baht 1 week package, 1Gb full speed, then 384kbps till the week is up...

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[Gary A]

Just tested on Jomtien beach road, just past soi Chayphruek.

Truemove-H down around 700kbps, up around 300 kbps.

Dtac (full signal on 3 G) down 2.3 Mbps, up 1.1 Mbps...

Might be usefull, Dtac has a 199 Baht 1 week package, 1Gb full speed, then 384kbps till the week is up...

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That's good to know. I have two free Dtac 3G Sims that came with a MiFi dongle and an aircard dongle. I didn't bother to bring them with me the last trip. I'll take them with me the next trip. Truemove-H is useless.