This week I have discovered that Thailand has fantastic mobile internet access. If you have a newish phone and DTAC SIM card, you can connect your laptop to your phone and surf the internet from anywhere with reception at decent download speeds. No need for wifi spots or wired connections again.
One of the big headaches for me about moving to Koh Tao was how I could get a decent internet connection to use in my home. Koh Tao is a tiny island in the Gulf of Thailand and there are very few houses to rent on a long term basis, and even fewer with a telephone line preinstalled for broadband internet. I didn’t want to spend my time looking for wifi spots or using internet cafes.
The solution is using the mobile internet service available from Thailand’s DTAC phone network. You can get internet access using a pre-paid SIM card – no need for contracts etc. You connect your laptop to your phone, install some software, and then you can surf the Net at remarkably fast speeds. The connection I’ve been getting this week on Koh Tao is almost as fast as my (pretty flakey) broadband internet connection in Bangkok.
I tried DTAC’s main rival, AIS, as well, but their download speeds were painfully slow, so I gave up on them. Here’s the step by step process of how I got online.
1) Get a Nokia E51 or other EDGE (compatible phone. (Search for your phone model + Edge if you’re unsure). It has to be an EDGE phone otherwise you won’t get the speedy download rates – you’ll be restricted to worse than dial-up speed. The Nokia E51 has received almost universal rave reviews for its build quality and ease of use, and I’ve had no complaints in the couple of weeks I’ve had it. (Follow the links to find the Nokia E51 for sale on Ebay).
2) Get a pre pay DTAC sim card from any mobile phone shop (they’re everywhere) and get a top up card with it for 400 baht. Call *1678 and ask the DTAC operator to give you the 100 hours GPRS package (which is 374 Baht per month). You can choose cheaper packages with less hours if you wish – just ask the operator. (see my previous article How to install a Thai sim card in your phone for more info).
3) Install Nokia PC Suite on your laptop from the disc in the Nokia E51 phone’s box, or download it from the Nokia website. (If you have a Mac, sorry – I’m not sure if the software is compatible or if there is an alternative available).
4) Connect the phone to the laptop using the USB connectivity cable in the Nokia box
5) Check the phone – if it prompts you to choose between PC Suite and Data Transfer, choose PC Suite. Make sure the keypad on the phone is left unlocked
6) Open PC Suite on the laptop and select the Connect To The Internet icon
7) Click Connect on the One Touch Access panel that opens up
8 ) The phone should then connect to the network and provide you with internet access. A pop up will appear saying “Nokia GSM Phone (OTA) is now connected” and indicate a download speed of 115kbps.
9) Go surfing. Remember to disconnect when you’re done as you are paying per hour of connection.
On the Nokia, the phone will indicate it has an EDGE connection – rather than just a standard, much slower GPRS connection – by showing a small E in at the bottom of the reception bar. EDGE stands for Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution.
Here is Nokia’s complete list of EDGE compatible phones. You can also browse cheap Nokia phones that are EDGE compatible on Ebay.
A cheaper, but less flexible option instead of buying a new phone is to buy a Sierra Wireless Aircard. This connects the DTAC sim directly to the computer via USB or PCMCIA slot. Sierra Wireless Aircards are the most commonly found, but there are several other brands like Solomon that do the same thing. Sierra are more expensive than other brands but tend to work without any fuss – my friend Ayesha uses the Sierra Wireless Aircard 875 also here on Koh Tao and has found it to be problem free.
I spent a lot of time researching this setup and found a couple of threads on ThaiVisa to be invaluable in recommending the Nokia E51 and recommending DTAC over AIS as the better network.
The big issue is how long DTAC will maintain such good download speeds as more and more people come onto the network. There’s little that customers can do about that – it’s just a case of crossing fingers and hoping that the network will hold up as it becomes more popular.
The other problem is that there is no accurate, comprehensive map showing the full extent of EDGE coverage throughout Thailand on the DTAC network – it does seem to be pretty universal but there is no definitive map showing coverage. Up in the north of Thailand coverage may be patchy.
For now, however, I am really pleased with how well it’s working. I can open lots of sites in tabbed browsing and they load fairly rapidly. A 2 MB PDF attachment downloads in around 10 seconds. It’s not super speedy but it’s not frustratingly slow either, but then, my broadband connection in Bangkok was always pretty mediocre.
If you have first hand experience of using other phone models/makes to connect your laptop to the internet, do leave a comment so other readers can get an idea of what else works as well as the Nokia E51.
Nokia E51 on Ebay:
[Not an Ebay registered user yet?
]
 |
 NEW NOKIA E51 BLACK GSM UNLOCKED 3G WIFI PHONE + 6GIFTS  US $232.12
|
 Nokia E51 (Unlocked) *Free Shipping!* AT&T/T-Mobile US $56.99
|
 Nokia E51 Quad Band/WiFi/SIM Unlocked Mobile Phone M... US $273.30
|
 Nokia E51 NEXT-G MOBILE PHONE AS NEW UNLOCKED, BLACK !! US $9.57
|
 USED Nokia E51 Silver US $47.74
|
 Nokia e51 black used in good condition,very low price. US $.99
|
 ++ Nokia E51 (Unlocked) Wifi 3G Tmobile ATT Rogers Fido US $.99
|
 Nokia E51 GSM Unlocked WorldWide Phone AT&T T-Mobile US $150.00
|
 New Nokia E51 BLACK UNLOCKED WIFI 2M GIFTS +F.S TO USA US $249.99
|
 NOKIA E51 UNLOCKED 3G WiFi SIP VOIP Camera Cell Phone US $118.59
|
 NEW IN box Nokia E51 (Unlocked) GSM JAVA WLAN 2MP BLACK US $252.65
|
 NEW NOKIA E51 BLACK GSM UNLOCKED 3G WIFI PHONE + GIFTS US $249.99
|
 Nokia E51 - original factory unlocked US $239.90
|
 100% Original Nokia E51 GSM 3G 2G US 850 SIM Free Gift US $258.95
|
 NEW Nokia E51 Unlocked Cell Phone Smartphone Silver 3G US $274.12
|
 NEW Nokia E51 Unlocked Cell Phone Smartphone Silver 3G US $279.99
|
 NUEVO Nokia E51 Libre teléfono móvil Silver 3G US $279.64
|
 NEW Nokia E51 Unlocked Cell Phone Smartphone Silver 3G US $277.99
|
 NOKIA E51 BRAND NEW UNLOCKED GENUINE WITH ACCESSORIES US $282.40
|
 NEW NOKIA E51 SILVER GSM UNLOCKED 3G WIFI PHONE +GIFTS US $244.30
|
 NEW NOKIA E51 SILVER GSM UNLOCKED 3G WIFI PHONE + GIFTS US $232.30
|
 NEW Nokia E51 Cell Phone Smartphone Mp3 Black / Silver US $271.99
|
 NEW Nokia E51 Unlocked Cell Phone Smartphone Silver 3G US $281.82
|
 New Nokia E51 BLACK UNLOCKED WIFI 2M @@FREE SHIPPING@@ US $249.99
|
 NOKIA E51 MOBILE PHONE UNLOCKED BLACK AND SILVER US $153.99
|
 NEW NOKIA E51 BLACK GSM UNLOCKED 3G WIFI PHONE + GIFTS US $239.99
|
Stay In Touch With Travelhappy!
If you enjoyed this post, sign up by Email or RSS to be notified of future updates. You can also follow me on Twitter - I'm @travelhappy
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent, just the kind of information I needed for administrating my website from Thailand. Thanks.
After reading this info and subsequent advice I thought I would drop a line to say that I am now successfully set up for web browsing both on my phone and my laptop via my DTAC sim and it was super easy. This is how I did it….
1. Took my handset to a DTAC store and the efficient staff there did the rest. First I purchased a sim for 49 baht (the Happy simple tariff I believe which is what the girl recommded as I won’t be making a huge number of calls.
2. Once the sim was installed I could decide on which GPRS package I wanted – there are various plans for several hours browsing a month right up to 999 baht per month for unlimited browsing. They currently have a great offer whereby if you buy the 50 hours a month package you get an additional 50 hours free. As I was in the store I just paid cash and she topped up my sim with the credit but in the future I just need to ensure I have enough credit on my phone each month and DTAC will deduct accordingly. This happens automatically but she said if I was out of the country for a month I just need to suspend it and then re-activate on my return.
3. I took my laptop with me so the staff in the shop set everything up for me. I have an HTC handset which is EDGE/GPRS and also bluetooth. Therefore they set up a partnership between my phone and laptop so they only need to connect via bluetooth and no cables are required. Once they are “talking” to each other, the internet is connected.
As mentioned the speed isn’t amazing but I am fairly impressed (before this I was in Kathmandu and the so-called broadband wifi there was a similar speed most of the time!). It certainly allows decent web browsing and email downloads.
Although wifi is available in many places I am chuffed to bits with the flexibility this will give me to mobile. I am currently in Chiang Mai where the coverage is good but haven’t yet tested it in more rural areas in the north.
Anyway, thanks for your initial assistance and hope the update may be a tiny bit useful for someone!
PS for some reason I had problems accessing this web page – just this thread everything else is fine but have been chucked out of this particular article a few times?!
Hi Kirsty – thanks for the extra info and glad the guide was of use. Can you give me some more information about how you are getting “chucked out” of the page – what exactly happens? If you can let me know I can try and track down the problem – thanks,Chris