3G : check your phone/tablet frequency

[hetepatat]

My advice when you're abroad is always to buy a simcard from a local operator.

Or use WIFI as much as you can.
But there are days when you want to use internet on your phone, i guess. Anway : i do !
Just to look something up when on the move or traveling on a train or waiting at airports or

any place..   Even in a restaurant when the group is not really your thing.

If you would want to consult some smaller websites (mobile websites are great for this) or email

or some apps on your phone (weather, rates of baht, etc), you will do fine with 2G.
2G priceplans are usualy more cheap.
 

Watch out for 3G :

DTAC is using 850 MHZ for 3G.

AIS is using  900 Mhz for 3G.

Ais is rolling out 2100 Mhz network now. They just announced they started the outroll a few days ago.

DTAC announced that they will start 2100 Mhz outroll at the end of June.

 

Some phones will not support the right frequency on 3G, so you will be tied up with 2G/Edge in that case.

Iphone : no problem, supports both 850 and 900 Mhz.

Don't know what your phone has ?
See the website of gsmarena.com .    They can show all the specs for your phone, even when it's an older one.

 

 

(source : always internet sources, networks, newspaper websites, etc)

[losworld]

good tips

[hetepatat]

Thanks for the appreciation Losworld !

I could add a few things for the 'lovers' of using their own cellphone there :

I found for DTAC that they use 800 and 1800 Mhz for 2G.
AIS seemed to use 900 and 1800 Mhz but all this is old information and could have changed.

 

Don't forget that you also need the right pricing plan or an option on your pricing plan to make internet affordable.

Websites of AIS and DTAC have enough English text to get you going about that. Better : ask where you buy your simcard (airport or others).
Be aware of two things : not all options on the pricing plans for internet will give you access to 3G usage. Sometimes, only 2G/Edge are included.
Also note that when you do have 3G, the bandwith can be limited to <400kbps so that will mean it's still not too fast.

When you see mobile phone operators advertise the speed they can deliver, consider it's a theoretical maximum that you will probably

never be able to have yourself. Also because many older phones have a limit of 7.2 Mbps while DTAC and AIS talk about 42 Mbps.
If you would really get 1 or 1.5 Mbit per second, count yourself lucky. You are not standing next to the antenna and you are not the

only user in this place.

Note that 7.2 Megabits per second (always advertised like this by operators) is in fact less than 1 MEGABYTE per second.

To know how many, you can easily divide by 8 and then it's about right, more or less.
So 400 kbps (kilobits per second) means 50 kilobyte per second.      A 2 Megabyte website will load in about 40 seconds, if all goes well.
The theoretical 384 kbps can be guaranteed a little more cause it's a limited speed. The network can handle more on 3G. It is just

limited to this speed to avoid saturation.

 

You need an unlocked phone. If you got a phone for a promotional price in your country (maybe even for free in your pricing plan or with

a large deduction), it is possible that your phone would not work on any other network in the world. Simple test : insert a sim from an other

network in your own country or just ask your operator or point of sales.

 

Hope this will help you guys out a bit while preparing for a trip to any destination in the world, especially Thailand.

[Jerboa]

It's easy enough to get phones unlocked, at home or once in Los, some mobile networks will unlock your phone over the air for a small fee.

[BadWingman]

Also buy the right sim. A 12call net sim will only allow you edge speed. A 12call 3g net sim will of course give you 3g.

[KuhnKarl]

 

Watch out for 3G :

DTAC is using 850 MHZ for 3G.

AIS is using  900 Mhz for 3G.

 

Ais is rolling out 2100 Mhz network now. They just announced they started the outroll a few days ago.

DTAC announced that they will start 2100 Mhz outroll at the end of June.

 

The carriers are rolling out the higher frequency band to support more customers at a higher throughput speed.  However there is a catch...  the coverage.   In general it can take 2 to 3 times the cell sites to cover same territory as at the 850/900 Band.   Now that is ok in high density population centers as they need the capacity; but outside those areas don't expect much.   It is the standard business model of cell carriers world wide..   just Thailand is a bit slower in adoption.

 

For those with a techie interest, here is the inside of a Verizon 4G LTE (USA) equipment rack.  High density is the word of the day. 

 

 

 

 

For those looking to take own phone to the LOS, may I make an economical suggestion.   Buy a phone a generation off of current, either used or refurb; then if stolen or lost you are not out a lot.  

 

My favorite is the Apple iPhone 3GS as it is many system compatible.  It still has the ability for apps (IOS 6.) and can be found at reasonable price on ebay or amazon.   Just be sure it is unlocked, not jailbroke.,, and the GSM SIM version (not CDMA)

[Para]

The carriers are rolling out the higher frequency band to support more customers at a higher throughput speed.  However there is a catch...  the coverage.   In general it can take 2 to 3 times the cell sites to cover same territory as at the 850/900 Band.   Now that is ok in high density population centers as they need the capacity; but outside those areas don't expect much.   It is the standard business model of cell carriers world wide..   just Thailand is a bit slower in adoption.

 

For those with a techie interest, here is the inside of a Verizon 4G LTE (USA) equipment rack.  High density is the word of the day. 

 

 

4 G Verizon Cell site.JPG

 

 

For those looking to take own phone to the LOS, may I make an economical suggestion.   Buy a phone a generation off of current, either used or refurb; then if stolen or lost you are not out a lot.  

 

My favorite is the Apple iPhone 3GS as it is many system compatible.  It still has the ability for apps (IOS 6.) and can be found at reasonable price on ebay or amazon.   Just be sure it is unlocked, not jailbroke.,, and the GSM SIM version (not CDMA)

 

 

Was in BKK yesterday and could not help but laugh at the adverts for LTE. They still don't have a 3G solution but are already pushing LTE......

[hetepatat]

And by the way : you havent got 2100 mhz access until you register for trinet, if you are a dtac customer.

No idea if it costs extra.  

For Patt : no need to do so if your phone is ok for 850 mhz. It works just fine ! Especially now / soon that part of capacity is free by people making use of 2100 mhz.

 

Para : same thing happens in europe too  man. Some networks starting 4G without nationwide 3G coveragea. If an antenna serves 100 customers on average and produces 3 calls a day, there is no technology upgrade and it just stays 2G. In cities where max capacity is often reached, they upgrade first. It is often the place where most people aare and most 4g phones will be found.