Anyone has experience with EDGE (AIS offer 100 hours for 350B or 250 hours for 590B) or CDMA with CAT Telecom at 590B or something like that around Udon province?

Any idea on real connection speed?

I live near Nong Han and have TOT Ipstar but not happy and expensive at 1605B/month for a bad service as compared to ADSL I had living in Udon Thani.

I will visit CAT Udon next week and ask around, but do not expect too much, used to get close to useless answers from Thai businesses

You could give EDGE a testdrive via your mobile phone at standard rates, if you like the speed you can sign up for either service offered by AIS.

Your mobile phone needs GPRS/EDGE technology and can be connected to your computer via usb or bluetooth.

Sometimes I use the AIS GPS service but it is hideously slow. It reports a speed of 112 kbps. It can be okay for basic surfing but even at that the pages take a while to load especially if heavy on graphics. I haven't used it in about 3 weeks or so as I was tearing too much hair out. I go to a wi-fi hotspot and do what I have to do in the morning or afternoon. When you get used to hi-speed it is difficult to put up with how slow GPS is.

Unless EDGE is a faster version???

also have AIS GPRS, using edge in phone. again, hideously slow. i think that 112 speed is from phone to computer. i've tested connection speeds, and on a good day, it doesn't even come up to 28 modem. if i hit 20, i'm thrilled. so slow many sites, like hotmail, won't even open at times, more times not, than opening. i use it in the morning with coffee. ok then, but i open pages while reading other pages. then after everything opens, 10-20 pages, i disconnect and read. then hop back on if wanting to respond to anything. good in early morning to noon, then so useless, i don't even bother. if needed to send large email, i stop at POP POP INTERNET, or harrass Eddy at NONG'S while sipping tiger beer and using free wireless.

Ipstar but not happy

surprised, when i had, way back when, at least couple yrs, it was very good, but very expensive. then i think overmarketed, started to slow down abit, but still very good and dependable.

I've got CDMA, I wouldn't recomend it if you have any other choice to be honest. I have it for emails mainly and for that purpose it's fine, viewing websites with it can be very frustrating to say the least. I chose it due to TOT satellite being twice the price added to a 6 week waiting list. Also the wife prefered not having a big red dish on the side of the house!
It's not so unbearable I'd rather pay for TOT but only because it fits my needs for now.

Well I ask because a friend living in Pattaya bought a Solomon EDGE USB card a few days ago for 6900 baht and surfes happily at 460 Kbps, which is close to ADSL 512 Kbps.

I think via mobile phone you don't get all the speed. I read so much on the subject with an overloaded mind as a result, thus I trust nothing but real experiences.

To test this out I would need to borrow such a card for a few days.

I will visit that friend over the new year and check his claimings and possibly find a trial early Januari.

Will keep you guys posted.

As for Ipstar I vcan not connect half of the time, very frustrating and it is sporadically faster than POT (Plain Old Telephone) forget downloading anyting over 1 MB, stops before you get there

I use GRPS, or GPRS (can never remember) through AIS. 500 Baht plus VAT for 250 hours a month.

Reasonable speed up until 9am and then frustratingly slow. I use a bluetooth connection.

W. Wombat Esq.

I recommend you visit the CAT office in Udon on Hwy 2, about 2 lights north of the Clock Circle on right side. Large building. They are the primary source of internet in Udon... providing service for both TOT and TT&T. They have equipment for wireless connection and it seemed to work quite well but I couldn't use it because I have a Macintosh... their equipment is Windoz only.

FYI, Pop Pop gets his connection directly from CAT. I'm quite happy with my ADSL from TOT but would have gone with CAT if they were Mac compatible.

pakawala good to know that cat internet is not imac compatable since I am planning on buying Imac in jan/feb 08 I have TTT adsl I wish i was happy with it but I am used to it now LOL

There are two competing technologies: EDGE in GSM networks (DTAC, AIS, etc.) and 1xRTT in CDMA networks (CAT CDMA, Hutch, WinPhone, etc.).

The maximumum theoretical speed in EDGE is 384 kbps, however in the real GSM network environment the EDGE speed is much lower. EDGE in Thailand is available all over the Kingdom from DTAC, AIS and possibly TRUE. If your mobile phone supports EDGE you can use it anywhere in Thailand but it is quite costly.

I prefer to use 1xRTT technology in CAT CDMA network instead, the speed is very stable at 153 kbps, nevertheless the performance is similar to EDGE, sometimes even better. I have been using CAT CDMA in Nong Khai with excellent results. I believe this is the best value for money if you don't need to download huge files like streaming video and audio, it is quite adequate for e-mail, MSN and Skype chat, even for web browsing, the lattency is relatively small, websites are opening nearly as fast as with TOT ADSL connection. This 1xRTT connection is very reliable and stable, I can stay online for a few days non-stop and the connection is never dropped. The biggest advantage of this Internet connection from CAT CDMA is its cost: I am paying only 199.- Baht per month, this price generously includes 1,024 Mb of traffic (1 Gb).

There is a CAT CDMA office in Nong Khai. I paid only 99.- Baht to buy a SIM card, inserted this SIM card into my CDMA modem (which I bught in some small shop in Nong Khai for about 2,000.- Baht) and immediately I was able to use Internet anywhere in Isaan and some neighbouring areas of Laos including Vientiane.

Please see the screenshots of the speed tests.

ive had ais 3g slow as.cat cdma at 6500baht and 850 baht a month is quick as any wifi around nong khai.doesnt work in pattaya and bangkok i believe. my ais 3g was useless.the cat dongle is the go