3G DTAC weak signals - external antenna possible?

[balo]

In Chonburi/Jomtien area the 3G signal is sometimes very weak.

Is it possible to connect an external antenna to my Samsung smartphone ?

[Pib]

Probably not. But you'll see on blogs about putting a patch cord antenna on some model phones that have factory antenna test point on the inside...kinda like doing one of those Star Trek modfications to get warp drive back online. You could buy a cell signal repeater but they can get pricey and may be hard to find one in Thailand that covers the DTAC 850/1800/2100Mhz frequencies.

Are you on DTAC "TriNet" yet? If so, maybe your phone is trying to connect to their 2100Mhz signal all the time and in many areas, expecially outside of high population areas/cities, the 2100Mhz signal can be significantly weaker than the DTAC 850Mhz. If you are on TriNet already you could manually selected the DTAC 850Mhz network connection which may help you.

[balo]

I use automatic network mode. It should switch between the modes.

I pay for a smartphone package with 3G speed up to 3 gb , then unlimited speed 384kb .

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Pib]

Yea, I do too...that is, use automatic network switching mode. I use a Samsung S4...so does the wife. However, but, when we got switched to DTAC Trinet last month our phones ended up staying connected to the 2100Mhz signal the great majority of the time and in our western Bangkok area/moobaan the 2100Mhz is weak...like only one or two signal bars. And our 3G speed slowed down...I mean like to half or less the speed we had before when only on 850Mhz due to the weak 2100Mhz signal. However, the DTAC 850MHz signal strength is strong...like 30dbm stronger than the 2100Mhz signal in our area...850Mhz gets 4 bars strength all the time. We also had to turn roaming on to get a 850Mhz connection after being switched to TriNet...we never had to have he roaming turned on to get the 850Mhz connection before. And our S4s always wanted to stay connected to the 2100Mhz signal where ever we went even when the signal level was very low...like one signal bar low even through the 850Mhz signal was very strong...it was like 2100Mhz was the preferred network and it would only switch if completely losing the 2100Mhz. Take a look at my posts in the thread "What this DTAC Trinet all about..." for more of my story/problems. But you may want to start by looking at this post/post number 165 in that thread which summarized my story/problems.

But now after resolving our DTAC Trinet issue of always wanting to be on 2100Mhz our problems are gone. Generally, we are always connected to the strongest signal when using Automatic Network mode...it even switched if we manually selected to 2100Mhz or 850Mhz...and we no longer have to have Roaming turned on to connect to 850Mhz...just like before being switched to Trinet. And while at home, our phones automatically connect to the much stronger 850Mhz in our area/moobaan. TriNet working really good for use now...and the problem seemed to be with our phones doing a bad job in automatically selecting the best network frequency (850 or 2100)...but now they are doing a great job in automatically selecting to/switching back and forth to the best network which is generally the network/frequency with the strongest signal. Once again, take a look at that link I gave above....your results may vary.

To see what DTAC frequency you are connected to right now you should be able to dial *#0011# and it will pull up a Service Screen and near the top it will say what frequency you are currently connected to and down near the bottom it will give you your signal strength. If on 850Mhz and the signal is still weak then I guess you definitely do have weak signal strength in your area since 850Mhz is generally (not always) stronger than 2100Mhz unless you live in a high population area where there is a much higher likelihood of a 2100Mhz being near you. Good luck.

[balo]

Thanks , that was very interesting .

I did a test and my Service screen show 850 band 5 , but suddenly it switched to 2100 , and back again within a few seconds. So maybe that is the reason why it is so unstable here. I will use it manually on 850 now and see if it will give me more stability .

Edited September 14, 2013 by balo

[Pib]

What is your signal level strength in "dbm" for each frequency?

Sent from my tablet

[balo]

When I am in service mode?

I only use 850 now and the signal is good when my phone is near the window.

Edited September 15, 2013 by balo

[lomatopo]

Did you request a change to "Tri-Net"?

Did you configure a new APN?

Did you have DTAC before? Did it work acceptably for you?

I've had to trouble-shoot a few DTAC/Happy Tri-Net problems this week; in almost every case the problem was that the APN was mis-configured.

APN details which appear to work well:

Name: dtac internet

APN: www.dtac.co.th

MCC: 520

MNC: 05

Authentication type: None

APN type: default

I would NOT select "Data roaming".

I haven't switched to Tri-Net yet, I am still on 3G/850.

Edited September 15, 2013 by lomatopo

[Pib]

When I am in service mode?

I only use 850 now and the signal is good when my phone is near the window.

Yes, when in service mode because as far as I know that is the only place you can see what frequency you are connected to. The service mode will also give you the dbm signal reading.

If you just "manually selected" the 850Mhz network which is "dtac" then it "may" only use the 850Mhz (3G) and 1800Mhz (2G) frequencies of TriNet and not use 2100Mhz....but whether it's using all 3 frequencies since you manually selected the 850Mhz will depend on how your phone is handling the network/frequency switching.

After I got the auto switching on my S4 working properly, even if I manually selected dtac/850Mhz or DTAC/2100Mhz the phone would switch between all 3 frequencies and I did not have to have roaming turned on anymore in order to connect to 850Mhz. Got all of that working properly after doing that "attempt to connect to a couple of non-DTAC carriers like AIS, True, etc." which apparently corrected what I think was configuration file problems on my phone. Like today while visiting a few shopping centers my phone was switching to 2100Mhz whenever the signal was adequate/strong...then switch back to 850Mhz when that signal stronger got 5 dbm or so stronger than the 2100Mhz....and just as soon as I drove in my moobaan where the 2100Mhz is weak...like 1 signal bar weak the phone switched to 850Mhz and went 4 signal bars strong...the service mode says a -80dbm strong signal...anything equal to or stronger than a -90dbm signal (ie.., -90, -89, etc) gives me 4 out of 4 signal bars.

I guess what I'm beating around the bush about is if your phone is truly working properly when using "auto selection" you shouldn't have to manually selected dtac/850Mhz....the phone would keep you on the frequency with the strongest signal...or if selecting a frequency signal that was lower in the power than the higher power frequency the lower power signal would should still be very adequate. Get your "auto selection" working properly and it should keep you connected to 850Mhz at your home and then you would still have access to all 3 frequencies when away from your home.

[Pib]

Did you request a change to "Tri-Net"?

Did you configure a new APN?

Did you have DTAC before? Did it work acceptably for you?

I've had to trouble-shoot a few DTAC/Happy Tri-Net problems this week; in almost every case the problem was that the APN was mis-configured.

APN details which appear to work well:

Name: dtac internet

APN: www.dtac.co.th

MCC: 520

MNC: 05

Authentication type: None

APN type: default

I would NOT select "Data roaming".

I haven't switched to Tri-Net yet, I am still on 3G/850.

For me and the wife on our S4s the APN data was correct...like you show above.

As mentioned in my other posts my S4 just magically started switching TriNet frequencies properly after approx. 3 weeks of being on DTAC TriNet...in all my experimenting with network settings I think I must have cleared some faulty data/file data and it started working fine. And as I also mentioned, I got my wife's S4 working by "trying to manually selected some non-DTAC carriers....got the expected no-can-do message", then used Auto Select where it reconnect to the TriNet as expected but the phone then started switching between the 3 frequencies no problem, did not have to have data roaming on to connect to the 850Mhz just like before TriNet, and both our phones have just been working fine on TriNet.

And I can't say for certain that I didn't get my S4 working by mistakenly selecting/fat-fingering the "AIS" network which was right below the "dtac" selection, got the no-can-connect message, and then manually selected "dtac" right above the AIS network selection and then I noticed I didn't have to have roaming on no more. I then used the "Auto Select" it connected to the 850Mhz again with roaming still off, and then while I was in the service menu I noticed it switched to 2100Mhz. I was apparently in an area that had pretty equal in strength 2100 and 850 signals (I was in a Pizza Hut at a small mall waiting for a pizza to take home) and the phone switched back on forth several times over the next 10 or so minutes I was still in the Pizza Hut...and on my drive home I continued to watch my phone switch back and forth between 2100 and 850 as I drove down the road...it was awesome...I was so happy to get the issue fixed. That is when my phone magicially started working on TriNet properly...and maybe I created the magic in fat-fingering a network selection which I didn't notice/remember because I was getting distracting a couple of times in Pizza Hut.

And I was surprised to find out this Saturday when at the mother-in-law's house out in Nakhon Pathom provinice (in the jungle so to say) I was picking up a 3 bars strong 2100Mhz signal....about 10-15dbm stronger than the 850Mhz signal...and even the 850Mhz was significantly stronger than what it use to be. Me thinks DTAC has very recently hung a 2100Mhz radio and maybe tweaked the 850Mhz radio/antennas on the tower on the main road a couple kilometers from the MIL's house. I got a 14.78Mb down/3.63Mb up on 2100Mhz and 3.12Mb down/0.12Mb up on 850Mhz. Before you could only get a 1800Mhz/Edge connection or a weak 850Mhz connection and usually only got around a 200Kb download speed.

[lomatopo]

For me and the wife on our S4s the APN data was correct...like you show above.

I have had to trouble-shoot two SGS4's this past week, both had the APN configured incorrectly. Both user's enabled the APN via a DTAC service message and code.