StoneSoup Posted July 2, 2003 Report Share Posted July 2, 2003 For those with laptops, a great new capability is now accessible in Thailand. You can purchase a Sierra Aircard from Hutch, insert it into your laptop, and enjoy 112K "broadband" connectivity whereever you go. An acquaintence of mine in Bangkok has set up a business to help ex-pats and visitors get comfortable (and test drive) this technology - see LOGCORP One-time cost is 18,900 for Aircard, then between 1,400 and 2,000 baht monthly, depending on how much content you put through the pipe (300 to 500 MB per month). Proprietor of the business can even set this up in a desktop PC, for folks who have some constraint about availability of fixed dial-up lines. I'll vouch for this guy and his operation - his office is in the same serviced office complex as my Indo-Siam business, near Saladaeng Station on Silom. StoneSoup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2003 Report Share Posted July 3, 2003 Would this technology only work where there are dedicated 'hotspots' or could I buy a card and get online where I live in south-west buttfuck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneSoup Posted July 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2003 This is not as restricted as short range Wi-Fi, but I believe that it it does use a similar frequency spectrum. All of Thailand is not yet "wired", but I understand that in most of the big cities, plus the Eastern Seaboard area, coverage is almost universal. The folks at LogCo could probbably address your specific geographical situation. Cheers! SS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2003 Report Share Posted July 3, 2003 Interesting technology. Obviously this is a marketing press statement so I'll add a few comments to balance the offering: Is it appropriate to call this broadband? Don't think ISDN is called that and your standard 128kbps ISDN is faster than this. 300/500MB packages a month is the absolute lowest amount of bandwidth I have ever heard of offered. If in fact it is so rare as they make it sound to need more, then why in fact are the limits set so dang low? And why does it cost so much to go past these limits (300 baht/hour)? It would be interesting to know how many percent of their customers find themselves paying the surcharges. What's the ping like? Not mentioned; not a good sign. But if it does give you untethered 100kbps, that's pretty cool! For a mobile guy who wants mail access, sounds nice. For me, I'm spoiled by the USA where for 1000 baht a month you get 512kbps, always on (no time limit), no bandwidth limit, free install, free cable modem, excellent ping. Until someone figures out how to offer these type advantages in LOS, I'll stick with 250 baht a month dialup. So far, it's been a few years waiting and counting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adikgede Posted July 3, 2003 Report Share Posted July 3, 2003 Broadband is generally anything besides dialup, This Thai service is a CDMA radio network. i.e. cellphone. So in terms of cell air time costs its not outrageous. Last time I was in the US (about a year ago) I was being quoted USD20/mo for 5mb of data via GPRS (ATT). You shouldn't compare radio network prices to fixed line network prices. They also have CDMA service in Indonesia for Bali, Surabaya, Jakarta, Batam, and a few other places. It being promoted as a replacement for fixed line home service and being sold cheaper than fixed line for voice. Data is free att the moment but they will certainly start charging. GPRS was free for almost a year but now it costs about USD1/MB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coops Posted July 9, 2003 Report Share Posted July 9, 2003 i understand DTAC are offering a GPRS service for approx 1000B/month - can be used for laptop or desktop internet access with some hardware naturally.... not sure about speeds, believe it to be a bit slow at moment but future is or should be way faster. DTAC GPRS coverage is supposedly very wide (Bangkok post Database section tested and reviewed the service). AIS also can provide GPRS, mainly Bangkok so far. coops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adikgede Posted July 9, 2003 Report Share Posted July 9, 2003 There is a thread about the GPRS service elsewhere. My guess is that Hutch is CDMA (2000 1X) which has a designed limit of 153Kbs. But expect 40-70Kbs. GPRS (GSM 2.5) is 115Kbs but expect 40Kbs. 3G will offer 384Kbs (I think) but I wouldn't wait for it. My experience with GPRS is that it doesn't handle a lot of users very well because it uses a lot of network resources. I don't know what a newer spec for CDMA for data speed I guess the practical difference is the cost of a CDMA phone or modem or a GSM hand phone that you may already have and then the difference between 1000Baht and 2000Baht weighed against the speed difference and your usage pattern. Down here they are offering CDMA home phone service for less than a land line, so we may switch when handset price come down and we know the price for data service (free during the promotion) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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