DTAC starts its 4G service on 1800MHz bandwidth

[webfact]

DTAC starts its 4G service on 1800MHz bandwidth
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- TOTAL ACCESS Communication (DTAC) Monday kicked off 4G cellular service on its existing 1800-megahertz band to complement its 4G service on its 2.1-gigahertz band.

DTAC is the first in the country to roll out 4G-1800MHz, starting with downtown Bangkok, which has the heaviest data traffic, accounting for half of all 4G areas in Greater Bangkok.

Prathet Tankuranun, chief technology officer, said Monday the new service uses 10MHz of bandwidth on 1800MHz, the widest used frequency for 4G worldwide. The company's 4G-2.1GHz service uses 5MHz.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/DTAC-starts-its-4G-service-on-1800MHz-bandwidth-30272090.html


-- The Nation 2015-11-02

[RichCor]

Interesting. DTAC has 50MHz of bandwidth available at 1800 under concession from CAT, but currently only deploy equipment to use 25MHz.

So they're probably shrink the current 2G/3G service on 1800 (25MHz) to make room for the 10MHz 4G/LTE service.

Surprised they received permission to deploy 4G/LTE as previously CAT prevented it, but probably one of the allowances in the latest CAT/Telenor (DTAC) Joint Venture Agreement.

CAT expects DTAC network JVs to launch 2016; DTAC, AIS plan tower sharing

TeleGeography | Comms Updata | 13 Aug 2015

[KC 71]

All the companies true,ais,dtac etc gave me and family members free 3g sims today.My wife said if we didnt get it, maybe our phones might not work soon !

[RichCor]

DTAC (and possibly TOT) will be the only company continuing to provide 2G service since there's is the only 2G concession left still in play to 2018. ...that is if they continue to offer it. This notice reveals them shrinking their current 2G/3G 1800 25MHz service down by at least 10MHz to make way for 4G/LTE clients.

Yea, all the others players are hurriedly trying to notify and transition their remaining 2G customers to 3G with the new new cutoff date of February 2016.

Final 2G phase-out periods agreed in Thailand

TeleGeography.com | comms update | 2 Jul 2015

Oh, and if you still have an old 2G only phone, your provider might be willing to give you a free 3G-capable phone for agreeing to transition.

[spidermike007]

Tremendous progress. Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, and Singapore have 4G. So does Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Belize, Ethiopia, Iran and Tanzania. Thailand lags way behind the technology curve due to bitter political infighting. They may still be a few years away from having nationwide 4G coverage. Meanwhile, many countries are already putting into place 5G. Congrats Thailand. Way to go.

[2008bangkok]

Should concentrate on getting 3G outside main towns and even in towns increase speed,

[SoiBiker]

I was wondering why I'd suddenly started getting a 4G service here in Bangkok. So far I'm getting a decent signal with some impressive speeds.

[chubby]

i just signed up for a plan at DTAC phone and internet 3gb of data for 430baht/month, it seems the speed is 54megabits/sec ? which the guy there said is not 3G but also not LTE, which apparently is "next year" and is 120megabits/sec?

though, often the LTE flashes on my phone as if I was getting LTE.

is this a good deal,? does "4G" mean LTE or is LTE just an enhanced version of LTE ; I'd swear earliert in the year DTAC was advertisting they had 4G and I had 4G ; but now they seem to be calling it 3G , fwiw :

I have a Nexus 5 , US version

[RichCor]

i just signed up for a plan at DTAC phone and internet 3gb of data for 430baht/month, it seems the speed is 54megabits/sec ? which the guy there said is not 3G but also not LTE, which apparently is "next year" and is 120megabits/sec?

though, often the LTE flashes on my phone as if I was getting LTE.

is this a good deal,? does "4G" mean LTE or is LTE just an enhanced version of LTE ; I'd swear earliert in the year DTAC was advertisting they had 4G and I had 4G ; but now they seem to be calling it 3G , fwiw :

I have a Nexus 5 , US version

Technically the 'G's don't have any specifications assigned to them, they're just used as a simple marketing moniker to give the idea that a speed breakthrough has been achieved.

The 'G's are little easier for handset users to understand than trying to teach them the meaning and speed potentials of each network technology GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS/W-CDMA, HSDPA/HSUPA, HSPA+, LTE, etc.

The same marketing people have tried to differentiate their handsets by further defining the network technologies as 3G, 3.5G, 3.75G, 3.9G, 4G ...and even if 4G is the 50mbps barrier, some marketers have taken their 42mbps-capable handsets and 'rounded up' the 3.9G to 4G and forced the handset software to display '4G' rather than '3G' or even 'H+'.

According to Wikipedia 4G entry

G Technology Name Download / Upload Speed Mb/s (Megabits/second)

3G UMTS/WCDMA 0.384 - 14.4 / 0.384 - 5.76

3.5-

3.9G HSDPA+ 14, 21, 42, 84 / 5.8, 11.5, 22

the HSPA+ standard, which is commercially available since 2009 and offers 28 Mbit/s downstream (22 Mbit/s upstream) without MIMO, i.e. only with one antenna, and in 2011 accelerated up to 42 Mbit/s peak bit rate downstream using either DC-HSPA+ (simultaneous use of two 5 MHz UMTS carriers) or 2x2 MIMO. In theory speeds up to 672 Mbit/s are possible, but have not been deployed yet.

4G LTE 100 Cat3, 150 Cat4, 300 Cat5 / 50 Cat 3/4, 75 Cat5 in a 20MHz Bandwidth

LTE-Advanced update expected to offer peak rates up to 1 Gbit/s fixed speeds and 100 Mb/s to mobile users.

So just like your FaceBook relationship status, it's complicated.

[chubby]

thanks for responding so very thoroughly to the 'G' part.

so I'm guessing that this means that when "LTE" flashes on my Nexus 5 , that means i'm breaking the 50Mb/s mark, but is not "LTE" , as LTE doesn't exist yet in sukhumwit or thailand?

and what i get on DTAC is as good as say AIS something around 52 Mb/s ?

i just signed up for a plan at DTAC phone and internet 3gb of data for 430baht/month, it seems the speed is 54megabits/sec ? which the guy there said is not 3G but also not LTE, which apparently is "next year" and is 120megabits/sec?

though, often the LTE flashes on my phone as if I was getting LTE.

is this a good deal,? does "4G" mean LTE or is LTE just an enhanced version of LTE ; I'd swear earliert in the year DTAC was advertisting they had 4G and I had 4G ; but now they seem to be calling it 3G , fwiw :

I have a Nexus 5 , US version

Technically the 'G's don't have any specifications assigned to them, they're just used as a simple marketing moniker to give the idea that a speed breakthrough has been achieved.

The 'G's are little easier for handset users to understand than trying to teach them the meaning and speed potentials of each network technology GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS/W-CDMA, HSDPA/HSUPA, HSPA+, LTE, etc.

The same marketing people have tried to differentiate their handsets by further defining the network technologies as 3G, 3.5G, 3.75G, 3.9G, 4G ...and even if 4G is the 50mbps barrier, some marketers have taken their 42mbps-capable handsets and 'rounded up' the 3.9G to 4G and forced the handset software to display '4G' rather than '3G' or even 'H+'.

According to Wikipedia 4G entry

G Technology Name Download / Upload Speed Mb/s (Megabits/second)

3G UMTS/WCDMA 0.384 - 14.4 / 0.384 - 5.76

3.5-

3.9G HSDPA+ 14, 21, 42, 84 / 5.8, 11.5, 22

the HSPA+ standard, which is commercially available since 2009 and offers 28 Mbit/s downstream (22 Mbit/s upstream) without MIMO, i.e. only with one antenna, and in 2011 accelerated up to 42 Mbit/s peak bit rate downstream using either DC-HSPA+ (simultaneous use of two 5 MHz UMTS carriers) or 2x2 MIMO. In theory speeds up to 672 Mbit/s are possible, but have not been deployed yet.

4G LTE 100 Cat3, 150 Cat4, 300 Cat5 / 50 Cat 3/4, 75 Cat5 in a 20MHz Bandwidth

LTE-Advanced update expected to offer peak rates up to 1 Gbit/s fixed speeds and 100 Mb/s to mobile users.

So just like your FaceBook relationship status, it's complicated.

[RichCor]

DTAC and TrueMove H have provided an LTE Network for over a year, and AIS just started up their LTE Test/Trial after securing 1800 MHz.

Unlike the use of a 'G', 'LTE' is a registered trademark so it's very unlikely marketeers will misuse it.

But just because you see 3G, H, H+ or LTE on your display it only means that the network protocol is available and being used. The actual speed of the data connection is not guaranteed, and is constantly negotiated by the handset and the tower, based on reception and clarity of the digital signal.