Help me with my dongle

[canuckamuck]

I am out in the sticks and it has been a struggle to get any kind of consistent internet. However, AIS has upgraded the local tower and apparently we get 3G now.

I can't tell though. When I connect through the AIS software I appear to be connected to something called HSDPA, or occasionally UTMC. I have no idea what that is, but it is better than what there was before. I sometimes am getting a mind blowing 200 KBPS (don't be jealous).

Anyhow, I can darn near hit the tower with a rock from my office window, so I am thinking that I should be getting better then that. 1 mbps would be dreamy.

So since my computer is all new, and the tower is upgraded, the problem must be my dongle. I can't remember the specs for my dongle, it was the cheap one from AIS (three years ago) but it is supposed to get 3G. Probably I could get a better one, but I don't know how to shop for a dongle. You almost never see them in a shop, and when you do they only have a couple types and if I got one I would like it to be one that works with my tablet too. Currently the one I have is not recognized by the tablet.

To make this more complicated, perhaps I don't need a dongle. Maybe I should get a potable hot spot, or maybe I should get a better phone and use it as a hotspot.

But then the internet leaves the house when I do.

Anyhow, are any of you techies up to date on the ways and wonders of dongles and mobile internet?

[RichCor]

At least four elements are going to determine your mobile internet speed:

1. The 'package' you signed up for: You'll get higher speed until you exhaust your package, then be 'throttled-back' to EDGE (100-384 kbps) speeds.

2. The device specs: Radio frequencies, radio speeds, SIM parameters.

3. Service availability in your area. Distance to your service provider towers, obstacles and interference

4. Network congestion and backhaul limits.

What package did you select? Can you check how much Time/Data is remaining? My guess is your past your limit and are being throttled.

Is your SIM card set to use the new 2100 Band? The new towers are probably 2100.

Signal strength?

What are the network speed test results?

EDGE: 100-384 kbps

UMTS

HSPA: (HSDPA/HSUPA -- High Speed Download/Upload Packet Access) support speeds of up to 7.2 Mbits download (in reality speed tops out around 3 Mbps)

HSPA Plus: support speeds of up to 21 Mbit/s download

LTE: Long Term Evolution -- download speeds of 100 Mbps or more (in reality, now measuring between 8 - 50 Mbps an some networks) --- coming soon to a country near you

What speeds are other users in your area getting with AIS / DTAC / True-H?

[canuckamuck]

Thanks RichCor, there was a lot of useful info there.

As far as I can tell I am the only one using mobile internet here. There was village wifi internet from TOT called USO, but it mysteriously disappeared and I was the only one who noticed.

The package i got now only gives me 1 GB of high speed (3G) and then throttles back, but I never got the high speed, it was the same at the start as it is now. I have only had this new sim card for a few weeks.I will start a new month soon so I will check again if 3G kicks in.

The distance to the tower is about 200 meters. Real close.

Edited February 17, 2014 by canuckamuck

[lomatopo]

My best guess(es):

AIS has installed 3G/2100 MHz in your location.

You'll need a dongle which supports 2100 MHz 3G. Your current dongle may not support 2100MHz/3G.

If you do buy a new dongle I'd recommend buying a generic, non-branded device.

You may need a new SIM from AIS, and may need to transfer your "old" account to the new SIM.

You'd need to subscribe to a new AIS/2100 MHz 3G mobile data plan.

Obviously it would help if you could share any details: especially re: your dongle: exact manufacturer and model no. and SIM: new AIS/2100 SIM.

Do you have a mobile phone? If so, please provide the exact make and model.

[RKASA]

The dongle will work as well as a 3g router or a hot spot or even a phone if it connects and the sim is right your good as it gets - I use a router and plug the 3G aircard into it and can use any AIS, true and dtac cards.

I had speed problems with dtac 3G because the sim card was the wrong type with dtac and that works fine now. True is vary good inside Thailand. There can be a ton of reasons it might be slow.

If like dtac they will send a person out to your home and test your dongle and sim card and tell you what is wrong - they would want to know why it is not working also. This is how they finally found I had a bad sim card and was only getting 2g speeds with my dtac - is it also slow everywhere? do you use it just at home? - if like me you only really want to use it at home anyway so getting it fixed is important.

Just ask them at an AIS office to help - do you have dtac trinet in your area - mine works the best of all of them and the AIS tower is on the lot next to my house - I am vary happy with the dtac service now that the sim works, but they did come up to find out why it was not working for me too.

[Chicog]

Does your dongle have a port for an external antenna?

[canuckamuck]

Thanks again for the info.

Here are the specs for my dongle, it seems to have everything I would require.

HSDPA/UMTS (2100MHz)
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900MHz)
Support 7.2Mbps HSDPA services

UpLoad Speed:2.1Mbps
Micro SD Card Slot
Support SMS services
Support data statistics
Receive diversity (900/2100MHz)
Plug & Play
Support Linux, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac Operating Systems

Also the sim card is quite new, So I expect it also supports 2100MHz

It does not have an aerial port, but I hang it out the window, line of sight with the tower, and I have placed a curved piece of tin behind it as a signal booster.

[Chicog]

Well one solution would be to ask them to change it for a model with a port for an external antenna, then buy an external antenna.

[lomatopo]

Did you buy an AIS/2100 SIM? Did the packaging refer to "2100" anywhere on it? When did you buy this SIM? When did you add value? When did you subscribe to a mobile data plan? Which plan, exactly, did you subscribe to? Using what specific code?

Are you getting 200 Kilo-Bytes per second, or 200 Kilo-bits per second? How are you determining this speed?

If you are getting 200 Kilo-Bytes per second then that is 1.6 Mega-bits per second which isn't horrible. If 200 Kilo-bits per second then maybe you exceed your cap, or are really on 2G.

My best guess now would be that you do not have a 2100 MHz SIM, but that's just a guess based on the few details you've provided.

You bought this dongle from AIS? Recently?

The 1 GB/399 baht plan has a fair-use speed limit of 64 Kilo-bits per second, so ma guessing you haven't hit your cap yet?

[canuckamuck]

The dongle is three years old. The sim card I got a couple of weeks ago because my old sim wasn't working.

They gave me a new sim card but I didn't see any of the details. They stuck it in the dongle before I even saw it. I don't know how to get info about the type of sim.

I just got a pay as you go plan with 1 GB of 3G.per month, around 400 baht sounds right. I just did that to try it out. I will have to pay again shortly. Maybe I will try a larger amount and see if that works.

I get the figure 200kbps from the AIS software which shows connection speed on a animated chart. I don't know if it is bits or bytes.

Actually I was watching it today and although it hits 200, it is usually around 150.

[Chicog]

That's ballpark for a 1Mb-2Mb connection.

[RichCor]

384kbps = 48KBps (usually written as 48KB/s ) but many people use 10 as divisor to compensate for communication protocol overhead, so 384kbps = 38.4KB/s

lower case 'b' for bit (represents off/on, 0/1, false/true element)

Upper case 'B' for Byte ( Byte = 8 bits, ie: 0100001 can represent the alphanumerical data letter 'A' )

k or K = kilo/Kilo (x1000 or x1024 depending on usage)

--

Does the AIS connection software tell you what AIS network (MCC/MNC [520 / xx] ) your SIM is programmed to use?

520 01 GSM 900 / UMTS 900

520 03 UMTS 2100 3G service

520 23 GSM 1800

[manarak]

the ongle of the dongle...

My guess is your dongle is fine.

If I was AIS, I would throttle connections... maybe that's what they are doing.

Another possibility is that your connection speed is capped for whatever other reason, for example because of the plan you subscribed - this is best verified at an AIS shop "telewiz"

[canuckamuck]

Thanks for all the tech info, where do you guys learn this stuff?

Anyhow, Perhaps this is as good as it gets for now. Not fast enough for Youtube and 300 mb torrents are about 2 days to 2 weeks to complete.

I don't know how to tell which network my sim is programmed to use. I imagine if I asked at Telewiz they would look at me like I was from Mars and then ask me a question about something they understand better.

[MichaelJohn]

I personally wouldn't get excited about the speed. It's whether it works satisfactorily or not.

I have 2 SIM's and a multi-frequency dongle that will get either True or AIS 3G. I never get above 1MB, according to the speed indicator on the software, but I can run a VPN experience the same graphics/speed as on a 10Mb fixed line in BKK so ...................

[canuckamuck]

If I turn on a VPN I can get coffee between clicking a link and seeing the result,

[ravip]

If the network supports, the Dual Carrier HSPA+ Huawei E372 can reach up to 42Mbit/s

Edited February 17, 2014 by ravip

[lomatopo]

Form the original post:

When I connect through the AIS software I appear to be connected to something called HSDPA

which seems to indicate that the serving base-station has 3G. Further, AIS has just completed an accelerated turn-up of 20,000 3G/2100 base-stations, covering 97% of the Kingdom, so I'm guessing the serving base-station is 2100 MHz/3G, and the SIM is a AWN/2100 MHz-compatible SIM.

My best guess now would be a provisioning issue on AIS's side which is only allowing 2G/EDGE or 384 Kbps max. on 3G, although there could be a back-haul constraint. Maybe the subscribed plan is un-capped, but with a 384 Kbps speed limit - there is a 7 day plan like this, but I can't find a 30 day/1 GB plan like this?

At this point maybe best to revisit the point of purchase and ask for guidance.

I'm not sure how applications like bit torrent would be expected to work on mobile connections?