Users Test Different 3G Speeds

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Users test different 3G speeds
Asina Pornwasin



BANGKOK: -- After the three key cellular operators - AIS, DTAC and True - launched the new third-generation service on 2.1 gigahertz, some people were delighted, but others were not that happy with the speed. So we decided to ask people to run a speed test in different parts of the city, and here are some of the results they shared with us via Instagram.

@linexp uses TrueMove's 3G-Plus service with the iPhone4 package "free-size-Bt599" and ran the speed test at Chaeng Wattana.

@digitalnext ran the test on his #dtac3G on the 850-megahertz frequency. He uses the Bt299 package and was at Big C Bang Pakok.

@bheecatmint tested her True Move H service and @v_victory1 her DTAC service at Muang Thong Thani.

@punataro tested the speed of his iSmart 399 AIS 3G twice, once at the Airport Link's Ratchaprarop station in the afternoon and then at the BTS Phya Thai station at night.

@oweera also tested his AIS 3G 299 package twice - first on Ratchaburana and then on Rama IV Road. @Joe9l9 tested his AIS service near Sathorn Road, while @denpongs tested his DTAC Smart Buffet 600 service at Khon Kaen University. @darund tested his DTAC 3G and @opor_07 tested her True L799 package in Lat Phrao.


-- The Nation 2013-06-01

[Payboy]

So, what were the results?

[Dodobird]

The results ....

[retell]

So, what were the results?

by the looks of that dials about the speed of a hibernating snail

[lomatopo]

Graphic is challenging to read, even on the linked page.

It's not even clear to me that DTAC have even turned up their 2100 MHz service yet.

52003 - AIS 2100 MHz 3G (AWN)

52004 - TrueMove H 2100 MHz 3G (Real Future, I think)

52005 - DTAC 2100 MHz 3G (Tri-NET)

Here are my speedtests for DTAC and TrueMove H, both on 850 MHz 3G in metro-Bangkok (Wireless Road)

[hml367]

AIS 2100 in Chiang Mai on the edge of the 900 MHz coverage. I'm not sure what the new coverage is. I had a hard time getting more than EDGE at this location before being switched.

This screen shot is to Bangkok. Interestingly to me, the previous test, which I didn't take a screen shot of, was to Yangon and was about 4900 down.

[geovalin]

AIS

speed test on May 22 : 5200 kbps

today only 2100

[thaicbr]

This one True H. Halfway between Nakhon Chaisri and Nakhon Pathom at the Mitsubishi garage on Phetchkasem rd.

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE Q6

[dazk]

would be interesting to get results from thai visa members all over the country to compare providers

im of to northeast for a month and was considering a dongle for the lap top question is who supplies the best speed

[tragickingdom]

The test is precisely what you may expect from the Nation. It is BS. Sample size: Too small; Time and place of the test, varies so comparison is impossible. Who is the moron coming up with the ideas, the same ones who run the Thai polling agencies and take care of the National statistics, or is the the Thai White lie man from the ministry of commerce?

[Lammbock]

Pretty good here on Sukhumvit Soi 4 (Nana)

http://www.pixhost.org/show/4775/17056499_img_4232.png

Edited June 1, 2013 by Lammbock

[bangkokstick]

These tests are ridiculous, speed can change from minutes to minutes.

Daily check during 1 month can only bring real results.

[loong]

would be interesting to get results from thai visa members all over the country to compare providers

im of to northeast for a month and was considering a dongle for the lap top question is who supplies the best speed

Probably depends on where you will be going.

I use CAT My, Truemove H uses the same network

As far as I know CAT has the best coverage in Isaan

I am in a village and use an external antenna

I will disconnect the antenna and see if I can do another test without it

[loong]

Surprisingly, not that much difference at the moment

There are times that I definitely do need the antenna though.

[loong]

2 more tests closer together

This one without antenna

[loong]

And this one with the antenna

[dazk]

would be interesting to get results from thai visa members all over the country to compare providers

im of to northeast for a month and was considering a dongle for the lap top question is who supplies the best speed

Probably depends on where you will be going.

I use CAT My, Truemove H uses the same network

As far as I know CAT has the best coverage in Isaan

I am in a village and use an external antenna

I will disconnect the antenna and see if I can do another test without it

thanks for the info

i will be out in sticks near ban bung

your speeds are way quicker than my broadband down here in pattaya i have just run 3 tests and the best was 2.97mbps

how do you connect an Ariel to a dongle

[loong]

would be interesting to get results from thai visa members all over the country to compare providers

im of to northeast for a month and was considering a dongle for the lap top question is who supplies the best speed

Probably depends on where you will be going.

I use CAT My, Truemove H uses the same network

As far as I know CAT has the best coverage in Isaan

I am in a village and use an external antenna

I will disconnect the antenna and see if I can do another test without it

thanks for the info

i will be out in sticks near ban bung

your speeds are way quicker than my broadband down here in pattaya i have just run 3 tests and the best was 2.97mbps

how do you connect an Ariel to a dongle

Those were tests to Bangkok, if out of country the speeds do drop

This is a test to London servers

I have no idea where ban bung is.

If you want to connect an antenna, you will need to buy a dongle with a socket for the antenna, not all of them have one. You can buy a magnetic antenna at Dtuk com that will sit on a car roof if necessary and they are pretty cheap. I have a Yagi rooftop antenna that cost me about 4,000 Bt installed, but not always necessary. My house is in a dip.

If I use the laptop in town, the speeds increase dramatically.

[rmacee]

Just for a bit of fun ..how bad or good can it be ..

Sister house in Ireland - 0.5 MB/s ... they should make Apple pay more corporation tax and pay to improve their infrastructure

South London ... only getting 5.2 MB/s ... need to change my provider

And to highlight how far we are behind some a recent visit to Taiwan / Taipei I clocked the internet at 29.5 MB/s

Nana / Soi 4 at 11.2 .. I think we'd all settle foe that ....

Happy surfing as long as you can get past Thai censorship !!!!

[lomatopo]

how do you connect an Ariel to a dongle

Lots of good posts on this topic, I found some with a quick search...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/613613-usb-extention-for-3g-dongle/#entry6040769

https://www.google.com/search?q=usb+external+antenna+site%3Athaivisa.com&aq=f&oq=usb+external+antenna+site%3Athaivisa.com&aqs=chrome.0.57.8108&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

My by CAT/TrueMove H (same physical network: 3G on 850 MHz) may be available in the nether regions; they have 11,000 - 13,000 base-stations so have the most geographical coverage.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/573846-what-works-where-2g-3g-coverage-maps-thailand/#entry5533511

[JulesMad]

Speedtests are just for 1 moment. To see real numbers you should run this over a longer period, and take averages...

It is just a measurement, does not mean much how good your personal internet connection is... too many variables

But fun to play with

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

It's also not clear, based on a lot of these posts, what networks the posters are actually operating on:

For AIS, it could be their original 900 Mhz or their new 2100 Mhz 3G networks.

For True, it could be their original 850 Mhz or their new 2100 Mhz 3G networks.

For DTAC, as far as I know, they haven't even launched their 2100 Mhz service as yet.

As some others have noted, the exact or even general location, weekend vs. weekday, and a lot of other factors including what network is involved -- all of which is largely unknown in a lot of these followup posts to the OP -- makes drawing any meaningful conclusions pretty much impossible.

Edited June 1, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[SEK]

Hmm...

All operators use reduction of speed when you have used your full 3G speed Gbytes.

All operators also reset the Gbytes counter the 1st of the month, resulting in congested networks in the first half of the month reducing possible speed to many servers.

I started using 850MHz my CAT 5GByte on the 24th of April achieving a downl speed of about 5Mbit/s and upload of 3Mbit/s ping 2-300ms on the Bangkok server. Amazingly speed to server in Singapore downl 13Mbit/s upload 6Mbit/s ping 45ms.

Today I can be happy if Bangkok downl is more than 2Mbit/s and upload more than 0.5Mbit/s and ping under 400ms.

However I am still happy even with with reduced speed 384Kbit/s, normally this can be achieved to a server in any country.

I live in a very small village right on the border between Lop Buri, Chaiyaphum and Korat provinces, so my speed is probably mostly limited by the speed in the fixed network upstream.

If you live in a larger town, the number of subscribers using the same base station will be larger and probably cause (cell breading) cell size decrease and increase with the number of subscribers connected. In the end maybe you prefer to have stable GPRS/EDGE rather than a faster 3G connection that is going on/off all the time.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Hmm...

All operators use reduction of speed when you have used your full 3G speed Gbytes.

All operators also reset the Gbytes counter the 1st of the month, resulting in congested networks in the first half of the month reducing possible speed to many servers.

I don't believe that's always the case about the first of the month reset. For example, and don't ask me why, my billing and use cycle with AIS on postpaid is like 7th of the month to the 6th of the next month.

On the other hand, my wife's postpaid AIS plan does run on a calendar month basis.

[ALFREDO]

In the end maybe you prefer to have stable GPRS/EDGE rather than a faster 3G connection that is going on/off all the time.

You are right, I also in rural Isan, now using TRUE MOVE and I have very unstable 3 G+ Connection after years with D-Tac and AIS GPRS/EDGE Packages.

Speed is TOP, 6 MB Download. and 3 MB Upload, Or much less !

Edited June 1, 2013 by ALFREDO

[sumrit]

Hmm...

All operators use reduction of speed when you have used your full 3G speed Gbytes.

All operators also reset the Gbytes counter the 1st of the month, resulting in congested networks in the first half of the month reducing possible speed to many servers.

I don't believe that's always the case about the first of the month reset. For example, and don't ask me why, my billing and use cycle with AIS on postpaid is like 7th of the month to the 6th of the next month.

On the other hand, my wife's postpaid AIS plan does run on a calendar month basis.

I agree. My AIS postpaid runs from the 17th of each month. My wifes runs from the 16th, I assume because we were in the AIS shop paying my bill the day before it was due when we set up her internet account

[lomatopo]

I am certain most pre-paid mobile internet subscribers have recurring monthly plans which have fair-use limits and re-start on the same number day of the month each month, so monthly rather than 30 days. Given the generally random nature in which most people may have originally subscribed I'm not sure any one number is predominant. That said, given that most here are paid once, at/near the end of the month, it is easy to imagine that subscription dates are skewed slightly towards the beginning of the month, but not so much as to affect bandwidth and resulting speedtests. My DTAC post-paid account runs to the 19th of each month, perhaps as a result of my previous pre-paid/mobile data plan? Although I did make the transition from pre-paid to post-paid on the 18th, in part to avoid any issues.

I am not familiar enough with each service provider's operations to know if most post-paid customers run on the first of the month contracts? I guess I hope they would not, based on a number of potential factors and issues: running accounts, printing bills, mailing bills, dealing with a spike in account-related calls, etc.

I think everyone understands that these speedtests are merely instantaneous snapshots of the potential bandwidth at at one moment. I'd generally use these to verify 3G coverage, that the phone is configured correctly and working properly and that my service provider has me properly provisioned. I'm not sure anyone infers much more, and yes, we all understand that international bandwidth is an issue here which the 3G air interface does not somehow overcome.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Well, in an ideal world, if enough users here posted clear and detailed information on just what was going on with their 3G service and speed test reports, I'm thinking it would at least begin to give some sense of the potential differences among the competing services. But mobile connections are so location dependent and specific, even that might be difficult.

[lomatopo]

There are some apps. which use crowd-sourcing data to assemble coverage maps. Open Signal has this functionality - you can choose coverage map by provider - and suspect there may be others?

[sammycic]

AIS just upgraded me just now here in ubon ratchathani and cannot believe have 3g.

Sent from my GT-N8000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app