If you think mobile Internet is bad .... Try AT&T USA

[skippybangkok]

In Los Angeles, shoved a AT&T sim into my iPhone ....

-$60 - 2 GB

-Had a problem - sorry, tech support only works on certain days and certain hours

- 16 min wait time to get through to support day after

- they don't let you use hotspot capability on iPhone - need a 5Gb plan for that

- data service quite spotty , get a lot of waiting time for things to load ( so called 4g )

As I said on many threads, don't bash Thai mobile Internet services until you have tried some in the west

[skippybangkok]

Here is a sample of good old Made in USA 4G screaming fast Internet.

Screaming yes, fast - a big NO (5.6 meg )

[lomatopo]

I return to the U.S quite often, maybe every 60 days or so. I continue to use T-Mobile pre-paid, since I only stay for a few days I susbcribe to a $3/day unlimited voice, text and data plan. I get 3G from T-Mo on re-farmed AT&T spectrum (1900 MHz). For me it works really well. If I were staying longer I would probably get service from StraightTalk ($ 45/ month, unlimited voice, text and 2 GB of 3G, month to month, on AT&T or T-Mo).

For me T-Mo 3G service in the U.S. is equivalent to DTAC and AIS (2100) and a lot better than TrueMove H.

[skippybangkok]

I return to the U.S quite often, maybe every 60 days or so. I continue to use T-Mobile pre-paid, since I only stay for a few days I susbcribe to a $3/day unlimited voice, text and data plan. I get 3G from T-Mo on re-farmed AT&T spectrum (1900 MHz). For me it works really well. If I were staying longer I would probably get service from StraightTalk ($ 45/ month, unlimited voice, text and 2 GB of 3G, month to month, on AT&T or T-Mo).For me T-Mo 3G service in the U.S. is equivalent to DTAC and AIS (2100) and a lot better than TrueMove H.

Yeh I agree, I think AT&T is on par with DTAC - pretty crap.

On another not, FaceTime also not possible on your 2G prepaid plan. Pretty unbelievable

[lomatopo]

Adding a few comments for the assistance of others traveling to the U.S.:

I think AT&T does include LTE/4G in pre-paid mobile data plans, as of a few months ago.

Your handset would have to support LTE Band 17, so if you have an iPhone 5, model A1429, say purchased in Thailand then that device would not work (on LTE). You’d need the A1428 variant. The A1429 variant would work on AT&T 3G (850 or 1900).

T-Mo has LTE on band 4, so you’d also need the A1428 variant. (A Google Nexus 4 can be hacked to support LTE Band 4.) The A1429 would work on T-Mo/1900 3G in those markets where T-Mo has re-farmed AT&T's 1900 MHz spectrum; t would not work on T-Mo's AWS/3G.

In the U.S. many people have migrated to LTE so there is a fair amount of 3G (spectrum and bandwidth) available, on 850 and 1900, and AWS (1700/2100), as mobile data moves down market. Hence the surge in MVNOs reselling AT&T and T-Mo.

[Pib]

Mobile data plans sure ain't cheap in the U.S. if comparing to Thailand. Like lomatopo mentioned seems StraightTalk for $45/month (plus taxes) is about the cheapest a person can get. My sister in considering going with them, but she says their tower/signal coverage is weak in her area...she has several friends who signed up...compared to Verizon and Sprint which are the major carriers in her area...and which cost a LOT more.

Heck even thought the StraightTalk $45 (approx. Bt1,400) plan comes with unlimited calls, text, and 2GB of mobile data my DTAC Bt539 (less that $17) plan comes with 550 voice minutes (about 3 times more than I really need per month), 2GB of high speed mobile data and then unlimited 384Kb data, but SMSs do cost me 1.5 baht per SMS I think (but I rarely send any SMSs).

Yea, I be happy with the cost of my Thailand mobile data plan which is around one-third the cost of a StraightTalk plan and probably 4 or 5 times cheaper than standard AT&T/TMobile/Verizon/Sprint plans.

[lomatopo]

In the U.S. we pay for both incoming and outgoing calls; here in Thailand we only pay for outgoing calls.

StraightTalk is part of TracFone (which is part of the Carlos Slim empire). TracFone is an MVNO for CDMA providers Sprint and Verizon. There are other Sprint and Verizon MVNOs.

Like many things here in Thailand, telecomms are quasi-government subsidized/price controlled, and competitively priced to address the market. Hard to compare, easy to contrast.

I believe your DTAC plan is heavily promoted/subsidized and linked to a 21,900 hardware purchase. An apple-apple comparison might be more like 899/999 baht,before 7% VAT?

Edited August 27, 2013 by lomatopo

[balo]

During my long holiday in Las Vegas this summer ,I paid $43 for a micro sim card and T-mobile 30 day prepaid plan , unlimited internet so that worked really well with my Samsung S3 .

A few years ago that would have been impossible in the US .

Edited August 27, 2013 by balo

[lomatopo]

A few years ago that would have been impossible in the US .

Meh. There have been relatively cost-effective pre-paid GSM voice services in the U.S. for the past ~ 10 years.

Mobile data is, of course, a bit more recent, but certainly available over the last ~ 5 years.

Probably moot as your SGS3 has only been in the market since what, 15 months ago?

[Pib]

In the U.S. we pay for both incoming and outgoing calls; here in Thailand we only pay for outgoing calls.

StraightTalk is part of TracFone (which is part of the Carlos Slim empire). TracFone is an MVNO for CDMA providers Sprint and Verizon. There are other Sprint and Verizon MVNOs.

Like many things here in Thailand, telecomms are quasi-government subsidized/price controlled, and competitively priced to address the market. Hard to compare, easy to contrast.

I believe your DTAC plan is heavily promoted/subsidized and linked to a 21,900 hardware purchase. An apple-apple comparison might be more like 899/999 baht,before 7% VAT?

Yea, I did buy my Samsung S4 from DTAC shortly after the S4's came out...21,900 was indeed the price...just like all shop's price for an S4 at the time...probably still pretty close to that...just love the phone. I do think my plan was due to buying the phone from DTAC but they had several brands/models of phones you could buy and get the same plan. Yea, your apple-apple example would probably be closer based on DTAC plans available today, but even that plan is approx. 30% cheaper than the StraightTalk plan and still a heck of lot cheaper than the U.S. major carriers. Yea, me be happy with my Thai mobile plan costs.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Pib

[greatjob]

I return to the U.S quite often, maybe every 60 days or so. I continue to use T-Mobile pre-paid, since I only stay for a few days I susbcribe to a $3/day unlimited voice, text and data plan. I get 3G from T-Mo on re-farmed AT&T spectrum (1900 MHz). For me it works really well. If I were staying longer I would probably get service from StraightTalk ($ 45/ month, unlimited voice, text and 2 GB of 3G, month to month, on AT&T or T-Mo). For me T-Mo 3G service in the U.S. is equivalent to DTAC and AIS (2100) and a lot better than TrueMove H.

Lomatopo, it is quite clear you are either working for DTAC or AIS... or you are just an anti-TRUE just for the sake of it....

Truemove H has the best 3G network and the only 4G in Thailand, whether you like it or not.

I have quite a few friends on AIS and DTAC right now and they are pulling their hair out on how slow 3G is on both AIS and DTAC, especially when you are slightly out any major cities.

I have still to find ONE spot where I was not able to have decent 3G with TrueMove-H (haven't tested the 4G yet).

So... to go back on what the OP was referring to, YES I also confirm that we get quite decent speed in Thailand (on True) and, just to compare with one of our so-called developed neighbor Singapore, on StarHub (and I was there last week), I was barely getting EDGE speed on international traffic on full 5 bar of 3G....

GJ

[skippybangkok]

Lomatopo, it is quite clear you are either working for DTAC or AIS... or you are just an anti-TRUE just for the sake of it....

Truemove H has the best 3G network and the only 4G in Thailand, whether you like it or not.

GJ

Yeh, he is just stoking fires as usual. I guess Try-as-U-may-Net is the bees knees. I guess if you stay in less that 20% of the country, you might some Try-Net 3G

I will stick with my 40M 4g

[greatjob]

Lomatopo, it is quite clear you are either working for DTAC or AIS... or you are just an anti-TRUE just for the sake of it....

Truemove H has the best 3G network and the only 4G in Thailand, whether you like it or not.

GJ

Yeh, he is just stoking fires as usual. I guess Try-as-U-may-Net is the bees knees. I guess if you stay in less that 20% of the country, you might some Try-Net 3G

I will stick with my 40M 4g

Exactly, and it is close to Thai bashing in some sense. I wonder what IP address Lomatopo is using to send his anti-True remarks, maybe from the DTAC headquarters?

Yes, TrueMove-H is a real Thai company, not owned by proxies, they are doing great, their 3G/4G network is FAR better than AIS and DTAC and some people are still stuck to last century era when AIS was almost alone, DTAC barely there and True was just starting.

Like it or not, a Thai company is doing a good job and delivering what they promise, Dtac (Norway) and AIS (Singapore) can learn something from them!

GJ

[skippybangkok]

Yeh, seen plenty of them over the years. Foreign good, Thai bad, makes me wonder why they live here to start with.

Anyway - we know who is best for 3G and it ain't AIS / DTAC

[lomatopo]

FWIW I use CAT/TrueMove H 3G, especially in those areas where they are the only 3G provider.

I almost always recommend CAT/TrueMove H first for visitors because they have the most coverage and the fewest customers.

I do not work for, nor have I ever worked for, DTAC or AIS.

All of my ThaiVisa posts come from a True (On-Line) IP address.

My comments re: T-Mo, DTAC, AIS and TrueMove H were more about speed performance. I typically get 3 Mbps/500 Kbps with TrueMove H 3G, with the others ~15 Mbps. Hence my ranking.

I don't consider this to be "Thai-bashing" anymore than the OP's initial post was "American-bashing"? Or his subsequent comments were "Norway-bashing"?

Like it or not, a Thai company is doing a good job and delivering what they promise, Dtac (Norway) and AIS (Singapore) can learn something from them!

TrueMove continues its six year unbroken streak of losing money, so one could argue that they may not be doing such a good job? Meanwhile AIS and DTAC continued their run of profitable quarters. Once TrueMove deals with their debt issue via the planned "infrastructure" fund, and ditches their ~ 18 millions legacy customers, they should, finally, be able to become profitable?

from the news:

True’s losses widen in Q2

However, True Corp’s consolidated net loss for the three months ended 30 June 2013 widened year-on-year to THB3.2 billion compared to THB2.2 billion in Q2 2012

[Pib]

Wow, from some of the posts I didn't know True and AIS were such great companies; maybe they are. But that DTAC company sounds like the anti-Christ.

The Thai wife and I were with TrueMove for about 6 months around 5 years ago...cancelled the service because on our post-paid plans TrueMove couldn't seem to get a bills delivered to our Bangkok home address although TrueVisions and TrueOnline using the exact same address had no problem in getting their bills to our address each and every month....after numerous trips to a True service center and talking to their call center trying to resolve the problem the Thai wife and I cancelled our TrueMove numbers...maybe it was just a glitch in their billing system their well trained staff couldn't resolve...I don't know....but ever since then the mention of TrueMove brings back bad memories for us. We switched to DTAC...been happy since. Your results may vary.

I've got an in-law that works for AIS...she privately tells me (as recently as approx. 6 months ago) that DTAC has the best service and signal...not to imply that means great service and signal at every spot in Thailand. Seems the great, great majority of my in-laws are on AIS and DTAC...only a few I know of use TrueMove...but I will also admit many of these in-laws just use 2G service.

Here's my DTAC 3G speed on this fine Wednesday morning in western Bangkok...I use the STS Group Speedtest.net server; not the Speedtest.net DTAC server to run my speed tests.

P.S. I'm don't work for anyone except when the wife gives me a Honey-Do List to complete...I'm just a farang retiree looking for the best deal and service on my mobile plan....so far it's been DTAC...maybe I'll give AIS a try someday if my in-law who works for AIS approves.

[CWMcMurray]

Have any true Ready SIM?

Will have a 6 day business trip in USA in Oct and was thinking of buying 1 of their 7 day SIMs

Unlimited talk and text an 500mb Data packages for 25 USD

Have IPhone 4S ... Anyone have any experience with this company?

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[CWMcMurray]

Website for Ready SIM below

http://www.readysim.com/products.php

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[lomatopo]

It looks like Ready are an MVNO for T-Mo. Should be OK for voice, text and at least 2G. 3G would depend on location. Assume you have factory-unlocked iPhone?

[CWMcMurray]

Yes I believe so?

Bought I here in Thailand not US, so understand that no issue for swapping out sims

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[lomatopo]

CWMcMurray

Thanks for the heads-up on Ready, I would definitely recommend them for visitors to the U.S. They seem to be the first MVNO which offers self-activating SIMs, and plans targeted at visitors/tourists with 3/7/14/30 day plans. They also include tethering, which some may know, is usually a feature for which one must pay extra. (Note that one may be able spoof tethering detection with a browser user agent switching app.)

There are so many MVNOs popping up in the U.S. it is difficult to keep track of them all, so greatly appreciate you highlighting Ready for us.

If anyone has any questions re: mobile service if traveling to the U.S. feel free to drop me a PM and I'll try to help.

No, I do not work for CWMcMurray. Ready or T-Mobile.

[wpcoe]

Aaargh. Double-post. Mods, feel free to delete this post...

Edited August 28, 2013 by wpcoe

[wpcoe]

I return to the U.S quite often, maybe every 60 days or so. I continue to use T-Mobile pre-paid, since I only stay for a few days I susbcribe to a $3/day unlimited voice, text and data plan. I get 3G from T-Mo on re-farmed AT&T spectrum (1900 MHz). For me it works really well. If I were staying longer I would probably get service from StraightTalk ($ 45/ month, unlimited voice, text and 2 GB of 3G, month to month, on AT&T or T-Mo). For me T-Mo 3G service in the U.S. is equivalent to DTAC and AIS (2100) and a lot better than TrueMove H.

Thanks for that mini-review of T-Mobile. I have been considering getting a T-mobile MiFi device from Walmart on my next visit. The advantage to buying it at Walmart, apparently, is that any package you activate on a device bought from them offers a 60-day period, whereas if you activate the same package on a non-Walmart-purchased device, the period is only 30-days.

$85 T-Mobile MiFi device: http://www.walmart.com/ip/T-Mobile-4G-Mobile-MiFi-Hotspot/20976915

$35 for 3.5GB data (or $50 for 5GB data) isn't a bad deal (for the USA) on a prepaid, no-contract basis: http://mobile-broadband.t-mobile.com/

[lomatopo]

That MiFi device does support AWS (1700 Up/2100-Down) and 1900 so would work with T-Mo where they have 3G and/or LTE. But that is of course a data solution only. That device would be of little use, assuming it is un-locked, and assuming it works on GSM (2G).

Not sure what they mean, exactly, by: Account suspended after 365 days of inactivity.

That leads me to think that you could simply revive a SIM, on an on-going, as needed basis, by paying for a 30 day plan?

[wpcoe]

Yeah, I'm only looking for data.

I'm sure that the "account suspended" does refer to the no-contract, prepaid usage and read it the way you did, that you can revive it as needed. If not, that would render the MiFi device useless, since I don't think there is a replaceable SIM in it.

I *usually* make it back to the USA at least once a year, but I did do a 19-month stint recently where I didn't.

Over two years ago I bought a VirginMobile USB modem device for no-contract, prepaid plans. When I tried to use it this year (in NYC, L.A., and Honolulu) -- breaking my 19 month absence -- I wasn't able to connect. According to the VirginMobile FAQ page, the device is incompatible with Windows 8, so I took that at face value and thought "How rude.". It never occurred to me that they might have suspended my account for inactivity, so I didn't think to call VirginMobile about "reviving" it. I'll call VM next trip to try reviving my account first. Then, if no go, then try T-Mobile.

[lomatopo]

I don't think there is a replaceable SIM in it.

T-Mo, like AT&T, is a GSM-compatible provider so every device would have user-replaceable SIM. That said, my best guess is that it is locked to T-Mo, but could be revived after 366 days with another, new SIM. But I am not certain.