Mybycat in Cape Panwa - v. frustrating

[Phuket electrician]

I've got the HUAWEI E3131 HSPA+ USB Stick 'dongle' - and signed up for 3 gig package with CAT it's B650/month++, was under the impression this is a broadband unlimited service.

Statistics - Monthly 'Download data 8.31 GB - Upload Data 3.36 GB.'

It always registers five bars of reception and works Ok, sometimes. Does anyone know <deleted> is going on with this?

CAT CDMA worked perfectly well, I've 2 CDMA modems @ B2500 ea - now redundant of course, same PC, same location - now this pile of poo, it's really is frustrating sometimes:

I have a land line also but that's a complete birds nest for 2 or 3 kms a pile of <deleted>, and not worth the hassel. No mains water here, off the beaten track near Kao Kad view point, 70 + m above sea level.

AAAAAAaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggghhh!

Tried to post this message - network not available. FF sake!

[steelepulse]

I'll add that I have AIS with their unlimited 4 gig plan, but I normally can't connect to AIS at my house and I'm reduced to roaming and edge. For some reason I'm thinking the hspa coverage isn't as complete as it's marketed to be. I seem to be at the edge of their coverage as one minute I'll have h+, then the next the phone loses this coverage and switched to roaming and edge.

[4evermaat]

CatCDMA was the final, unthrottled unlimited 3g wireless internet in thailand that i know of.

The 3gb from MyCat is the high speed usage limit (fair use cap) after you exceed this, the connection is limited to appx 50KB/s . Certainly not blazing, but you can surf the web with it and if you use a download manager, can download larger files unattended at night or when you are not busy.

You need to either up your plan, get more plans (separate sim card). Or combine with a landline cable/dsl internet package. The landline packages are still "unlimited" at full speed (although they do sometimes throttle it during the day).

i'm considering a second sim card myself as an added backup to backup.

"...the 2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from ThaiVisa app (Galaxy Note 2).

[Phuket electrician]

Do you think that this is not a true broadband (BB) service? And in trying to restricted bandwidth their server software doesn't know <deleted> is going on. I say this because it works perfectly, and indicates full reception. Then the network software tries to restrict access. Hench on/off/stop/start. F nose. Sometimes it is flawless 400Mb then stops.

If I disconnect/reconnect it works perfectly then for no reason stops. Madness.

Try explaining this in Thai to the delightful and helpful staff in Phuket town. I feel sorry for them.

My experience of Thailand is that it will all be ok eventually, IF one has the patience of a saint.

Maybe someone here has some expertise.

[Guest]

I have found that the best way to deal with the local ISP's is to contact them and then wait for a day if they can fix the problem. If not, then it's time to collect some data which can be shown to the company technical department.

When I finally got TOT landline, I had quite a few issues with the connection. Some were simple to fix (one of their cables were broken), but some, which included faulty routing to a transparent proxy, was much harder to explain.

I ended up writing a blog entry about the issue and one workaround and sent it to TOT. After that thing started more on their end. Publicity can be effective way to speed up things.

http://oilinki.com/blog/Tunneling-HTTPS-and-SSH-traffic-via-port-53

After using CDMA for years (connection and support were both great) I used CAT 3G for an while. It was not nearly as good. Also their support went down. You might with to try other operators and their packages. I'm using DTAC, which seems to have pretty stable network and works quite well where I live.

[4evermaat]

@Phuket Electrician

Definitely some throttling going on there. They may not admit it openly, but if you see sudden drops in speed for an extended period of time, you are in a fixed location, it's probably throttling. It's not often that it happens now. I think with my 3BB (adsl) they measure the avg download MB in some rolling 24 hour period or during certain parts of the day or from a single IP address. They may also measure the total usage in an area and if certain users are going above a certain limit, you get throttled. I'm just guessing based on some observation, as my speed would be 1.1-1.5 MB/s and then suddenly after an hour it dropped to 100KB/s for hours. But I would visit youtube and the speed was magically restored to 1MB to download the video file. No torrenting; I do direct http-based downloads.

I can say that while I miss the catCDMA's always on ability before, I find MyCat much more portable and the speed is fast when you are under your fair use. The best way to contact is via EMAIL first (you may need to email a signed copy of your passport if it is a billing issue). Include your phone number, contract number, name on billing statement, and a brief description of the problem. Then follow up with a phone call the same day or next day.

[Phuket electrician]

Went along to CAT office in Phuket town today upgraded to 5 Gb package. 750+ vat/month, B100 extra. They are so nice I didn't complain about intermittent service. Paid my bill for last month B471.14. I queried the amount, they said it's correct as I have only had the service for 3 wks, in fact I signed up on 12th July. 5 weeks 4 days, Alai gor dai, Since that date statistics are: download 23.12Gb; upload 9.87Gb.

No complaints except it's on/off/stop/start. When I disconnect/reconnect it works ok.

Without the tec savvy of Oilikni I'll live with it and see what occurs. Sabai sabai.

Thank you v. much for input.

[Guest]

One option for your usage is to buy MiFi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiFi device.

Either one which you can move other locations or the type which will sit on a desk (close by to a window to get an good reception).

Then plug the usb-modem to the mifi and share the connection to your home with wifi and/or network cable.

[Phuket electrician]

My bycat is working much better now I've upgraded to 5Gb package. But I've changed my internet behavior with empirical knowledge that data transfer is recorded and consequentially no longer infinite.

Thank you again for useful input.