Is WiFi possible only with 3G signal at home?

[Dario]

Dear all,

here's my situation: at our upcountry home in the deep Isaan cable Internet is still not available, although we're currently writing the year 2016. My PC is fed with the hubspot of my iPhone 3G signal. Among other 3 G phones we also have 2 Samsung Note 8 tablets, I have one which can be connected to 3G, but my daughter has a wifi version. My question:

Is there any possibility to create wifi at home only with a 3G signal? So far, whenever my daughter would like to add any apps, we have to go to our computer shop in a small town about 14 km away. Is there a device available to create wifi at home with only a 3G signal?

[changnoi101]

Dear all,

here's my situation: at our upcountry home in the deep Isaan cable Internet is still not available, although we're currently writing the year 2016. My PC is fed with the hubspot of my iPhone 3G signal. Among other 3 G phones we also have 2 Samsung Note 8 tablets, I have one which can be connected to 3G, but my daughter has a wifi version. My question:

Is there any possibility to create wifi at home only with a 3G signal? So far, whenever my daughter would like to add any apps, we have to go to our computer shop in a small town about 14 km away. Is there a device available to create wifi at home with only a 3G signal?

There are a few vendors like Huawei, TP-Link and some low cost Chinese products:

I bought a few months those cheap one and it works perfect, there is no Slot for a simcard, you need but an external simcard for this device.

Just Google for 3G WiFi Router with sim card slot and you will find a lot of Information.

Edited April 13, 2016 by changnoi101

[Somtamnication]

Or use the phone as a hotspot.

[RKASA]

If you want to use your phone and connect to wifi (i.e. router) rather then make your phone the wifi - then you need a router or another phone - I have a dlink-112 router and use a 3g aircard sim which provides wifi and lan ports in the house. about 1600 baht plus you need another 3g package and sim. You still pay for 3g coming or going only diff is an aircard tab sim is often cheaper 3g more 3g and 385k when 3g is used up. Been doing this for years. there are other routers that work also just make sure it is a 3g usb port the dlink will connect automatically without set up it reads the sim card rom and connects when plugged in.

[Somtamnication]

The only thing with 3g is that data goes quick. It is not unlimited by any means.

With my laptop (with wifi), I also use connectify and use my laptop as a hotspot, totally encrypted between my phones and the laptop.

[RKASA]

The only thing with 3g is that data goes quick. It is not unlimited by any means.

With my laptop (with wifi), I also use connectify and use my laptop as a hotspot, totally encrypted between my phones and the laptop.

He has no cable and I found many aircards won't share to the wifi connection of the laptop only the eth port or at leaast I had that problem with mine.

Yes before I had a router I used an old laptop with aircard and shared the eth port to a switch that gave me 4 ports for the desktop etc. but then no wifi in the home.

Just having a portable device type router or another phone to hotspot works too but limited often by number of devices that can connect, but the real router has more wifi range and better control panel for port forwarding and all the normal stuff you like to have in a home LAN. It is a pain to spend half of each month at 385k internet, but you adjust to it. torrents etc are not even on the table.

If you don't have a cable internet your not getting around the use of 3g at home - you can check into airnet type systems with ToT or maybe AIS which they never had around my place - it sets up an internet connection via a tower but is full time internet not really a typical 3g connection - don't use Ipstar sat - it is slow expense and before we had cell towers I used it - painful painful painful.

[Dario]

The only thing with 3g is that data goes quick. It is not unlimited by any means.

With my laptop (with wifi), I also use connectify and use my laptop as a hotspot, totally encrypted between my phones and the laptop.

He has no cable and I found many aircards won't share to the wifi connection of the laptop only the eth port or at leaast I had that problem with mine.

Yes before I had a router I used an old laptop with aircard and shared the eth port to a switch that gave me 4 ports for the desktop etc. but then no wifi in the home.

Just having a portable device type router or another phone to hotspot works too but limited often by number of devices that can connect, but the real router has more wifi range and better control panel for port forwarding and all the normal stuff you like to have in a home LAN. It is a pain to spend half of each month at 385k internet, but you adjust to it. torrents etc are not even on the table.

If you don't have a cable internet your not getting around the use of 3g at home - you can check into airnet type systems with ToT or maybe AIS which they never had around my place - it sets up an internet connection via a tower but is full time internet not really a typical 3g connection - don't use Ipstar sat - it is slow expense and before we had cell towers I used it - painful painful painful.

The Winet option would be the best solution. We have gone to TOT That Tum (Surin province) many times. They won't help us. They want a number of people to sign up in our village before they would decide to move. I had their lousy Ipstar for 2 years 3 or four times the price of a decent cable Internet connection. Mostly we had less than 1 MB.

Sad to say that I trade on the SET every trading day ... via 3G.

[RKASA]

The only thing with 3g is that data goes quick. It is not unlimited by any means.

With my laptop (with wifi), I also use connectify and use my laptop as a hotspot, totally encrypted between my phones and the laptop.

He has no cable and I found many aircards won't share to the wifi connection of the laptop only the eth port or at leaast I had that problem with mine.

Yes before I had a router I used an old laptop with aircard and shared the eth port to a switch that gave me 4 ports for the desktop etc. but then no wifi in the home.

Just having a portable device type router or another phone to hotspot works too but limited often by number of devices that can connect, but the real router has more wifi range and better control panel for port forwarding and all the normal stuff you like to have in a home LAN. It is a pain to spend half of each month at 385k internet, but you adjust to it. torrents etc are not even on the table.

If you don't have a cable internet your not getting around the use of 3g at home - you can check into airnet type systems with ToT or maybe AIS which they never had around my place - it sets up an internet connection via a tower but is full time internet not really a typical 3g connection - don't use Ipstar sat - it is slow expense and before we had cell towers I used it - painful painful painful.

The Winet option would be the best solution. We have gone to TOT That Tum (Surin province) many times. They won't help us. They want a number of people to sign up in our village before they would decide to move. I had their lousy Ipstar for 2 years 3 or four times the price of a decent cable Internet connection. Mostly we had less than 1 MB.

Sad to say that I trade on the SET every trading day ... via 3G.

You had 1m with IpStar? - that would have been nice I could not even apply for that - I paid 2600 for 512k and got 128k at best between 8am and 10pm and 256k late nite - when I had cheaper 256k everything was twice as bad as 512k. I could never send an email over 25k in size and it had to be pure text or the smtp server would fault even using gmail online for some reason, but could receive them.

When dtac put in 2g I had a good 256k 24/7 at half the price. When they upgraded to 3g it was like going to heaven to have 385k when the 3g runs out. Now we have 3bb or have paid first month and the cable is on the pole outside the house on the road - hope to be cooking with 10m @ 590 a month by end of next week or at least before May - only took 18 years to get here - but it is here.

Go find your 3bb people and see if they have plans for your area coming up - ask them to put up signs and start a list of callers. I gave lists of people to ToT year on year and it never made a difference - was never enough.

Good luck - hope it gets better I know what it is like.

[KhunHeineken]

Have you considered a WiFi 3G router?

I couldn't find information about them on the DTAC website so I just Googled for it. This link was on the first page and it has good photos of them. They can have several devices connected at the same time. I am not sure of their range as I don't own one.

http://www.freeware.in.th/review/2410

Something like this would probably have a longer range.

http://www.totalaircard.com/products/Loopcomm-LP%252d7616M-3G-Router-WiFi.html

Edited April 14, 2016 by KhunHeineken

[NanLaew]

The only thing with 3g is that data goes quick. It is not unlimited by any means.

With my laptop (with wifi), I also use connectify and use my laptop as a hotspot, totally encrypted between my phones and the laptop.

It is "unlimited" if you purchase a high quota option such as AIS's 799 baht+tax a month which compares quite favorably with 'wired' internet packages.

For wifi at Mrs NL's restaurant, I have an AIS USB aircard with a data SIM on the above package plugged into a TP-Link portable LAN/3G router.

Latest pricing I have seen on both of these devices is around 900 baht each.

Latest package rates. I have been using this for years and only a couple of times did I exceed the 4Gb allowance. Unless there's some serious downloading and/or streaming going on, it should suffice for fast and adequate internet access. The caveat is AIS's network quality in the OP's neck of the woods. Generally speaking AIS does have the widest nationwide network but maybe good to check if DTAC or True have a better speed reputation locally. I think rates are fairly comparable across these operators.

Edited April 17, 2016 by NanLaew

[richard_smith237]

True have pretty good 3G coverage around Thailand.

In the past I have used a Shared Wifi / Aircard which worked... Although, as one poster mentioned, the plans are not exactly unlimited, instead your speed drops after your limit (5 GB in my case) is reached - I worked around this by using 2 SIM's - when one ran out after 2 weeks I switched to the other one. After a further 2 weeks I was able to re-charge the first SIM with a new 5 GB package.

http://store.truecorp.co.th/shopping/14

It wasn't great, but it was the best temporary option I could find at the time (2 months) a couple of years ago. Perhaps there is a better longer term post-paid option.

[AgentSmith]

Actually most modern wifi routers have a USB port that also accepts 3G/4G dongles (or aircards as they're called in LOS). Standard wifi hardware has much better range than those portable ones. It's usually meant as a fallback option in the router settings, for when the fixed WAN fails to function.

If the router does not support it out of the box - although I think most of them do - then you can always opt to flash DD-WRT which has built-in support for aircards.

[NanLaew]

Yes, the Thai marketers have latched onto the aircard label despite the fact that the original PCMCIA aircards have long been consigned to the recycle bin.

Try asking for a USB 3G modem in any local IT mall and watch the blank stares that preface the 'no hab' statement. But in the next breath, ask the same sales person for an aircard and they know exactly what you want... and say 'no hab.'

My point here is where to buy the latest AIS 3G 21 mbps aircard (USB modem) since they already have slipped into obscurity with the growing sales of hot-spottable' smartphones. I need to replace mine that was 'borrowed'. The few places I tried said either no hab, special order, mai-mee or tried to sell me an unlocked universal one for twice the price of a co-branded one.

Anyone with a link to an AIS online purchase for the cheaper option of these two current offers would be appreciated.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

My point here is where to buy the latest AIS 3G 21 mbps aircard (USB modem) since they already have slipped into obscurity with the growing sales of hot-spottable' smartphones.

That's what I was wondering about... why everyone's talking about routers and aircards when the simpler solution is just to use a 3G or enen 4G/LTE capable smartphone or tablet that's capable of serving as/becoming a wifi hotspot. The OP mentioned having a Samsung Note 8 with 3G, dunno if that's capable.

If not, easy to purchase an inexpensive smartphone just for purposes of using it as a 3G/LTE wifi hotspot. Probably a lot easier than dealing with routers or trying to find aircards. A decent 3G connection will serve just fine in terms of creating a wifi capability in a home, especially if there's only one or two users at any given time.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

If any of your 3G devices have wifi hotspotting capability, it's going to be an option listed under your device's Settings / Mobile Networks section. This is what the menu on my Asus Zenfone looks like

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Yes, the Thai marketers have latched onto the aircard label despite the fact that the original PCMCIA aircards have long been consigned to the recycle bin.

Try asking for a USB 3G modem in any local IT mall and watch the blank stares that preface the 'no hab' statement. But in the next breath, ask the same sales person for an aircard and they know exactly what you want... and say 'no hab.'

My point here is where to buy the latest AIS 3G 21 mbps aircard (USB modem) since they already have slipped into obscurity with the growing sales of hot-spottable' smartphones. I need to replace mine that was 'borrowed'. The few places I tried said either no hab, special order, mai-mee or tried to sell me an unlocked universal one for twice the price of a co-branded one.

Anyone with a link to an AIS online purchase for the cheaper option of these two current offers would be appreciated.

toohk.jpg

paeng.jpg

I have USB modems that I no longer utilise, but I'm not in Thailand until June.

[NanLaew]

Yes, the Thai marketers have latched onto the aircard label despite the fact that the original PCMCIA aircards have long been consigned to the recycle bin.

Try asking for a USB 3G modem in any local IT mall and watch the blank stares that preface the 'no hab' statement. But in the next breath, ask the same sales person for an aircard and they know exactly what you want... and say 'no hab.'

My point here is where to buy the latest AIS 3G 21 mbps aircard (USB modem) since they already have slipped into obscurity with the growing sales of hot-spottable' smartphones. I need to replace mine that was 'borrowed'. The few places I tried said either no hab, special order, mai-mee or tried to sell me an unlocked universal one for twice the price of a co-branded one.

Anyone with a link to an AIS online purchase for the cheaper option of these two current offers would be appreciated.

toohk.jpg

paeng.jpg

I have USB modems that I no longer utilise, but I'm not in Thailand until June.

Aha! And neither am I. I'll PM you.

[AgentSmith]

My point here is where to buy the latest AIS 3G 21 mbps aircard (USB modem) since they already have slipped into obscurity with the growing sales of hot-spottable' smartphones.

That's what I was wondering about... why everyone's talking about routers and aircards when the simpler solution is just to use a 3G or enen 4G/LTE capable smartphone or tablet that's capable of serving as/becoming a wifi hotspot. The OP mentioned having a Samsung Note 8 with 3G, dunno if that's capable.

Mobile hotspots don't provide the same range as proper indoor routers do. They also don't handle multiple clients very well. Mobile hotspot on a smartphone is also a huge battery drain. I wouldn't call them longterm solutions for all these reasons.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Concerns noted. However, if you're using the mobile hotspot feature at home with a smartphone or tablet, presumably, you're going to be able to keep the phone plugged into an electric outlet the entire time, making battery use irrelevant.

Plus, in the OP's case, it sounded like he was trying to setup the wifi capability for a single intended user.

Edited April 19, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[KhunHeineken]

A few posts suggesting using a smartphone with a hotspot feature, but what if the OP want to go out and take the phone with him?

Why buy a smartphone, just so it's permanently plugged in and left at home, when this is the specific job 3G routers, and are portable as well?

[AgentSmith]

Guys I believe by now the OP knows his options perfectly well. It's up to him to make a choice. There's no right or wrong here.

Edited April 21, 2016 by AgentSmith