Afghanistan

[giordano]

Greetings All,
If this post is not in the right location, please feel free to move it.

I am stationed in Afghanistan and we are frequently dealing with limited or no internet access. We do, however, frequently have cell phone service. Since we are in remote areas, we have to communicate with our families and order necessaities of life through the internet for delivery. There is a company in my area that offers GPRS internet service through cell phone.

My understanding is that people can connect to their laptops through a bluetooth connection and gain internet access on the laptop using the cell phone as a modem.

I further understand that their are wireless air cards that also function in this manner.

What experience does anyone have with these setups using GPRS inetrnet services.

What phones would be useful for these purposes, or air cards. They sell phones here, but if an air card would work better or a different phone works better, than I can get one sent form the U.S.

The local cell phone company will provide a sims card with my service. They will also help with the settings. For obviuos reasons, I cannot simply go downtown and shop at the local cell phone store.

Thank you for your help.

[hillbilly44]

giordano;

You can try GSMWorld to see who the providers are in Afghanistan, so you'll need an unlocked aircard more than likely with a local SIM (it has to be a GSM aircard). The air card should come with the software to make it work, but if it's a Sierra Wireless Aircard you can use the Watcher Software from Sierra ( just download it from their website) to make it work .As far as networks I'm pretty sure that they have EGPRS coverage there so you're through-put should be around 50-150kps. Good luck over there and come home safe. Thanks for all you do for us!

[RadioRaiders]

Hi giordano,

You can connect your phone to your laptop and use it as a modem. You can do this via Bluetooth, infrared or USB (doesn't matter, just as long as your laptop and phone can communicate). To use your phone as a modem, you'll need to download some drivers from the phone manufacturers website to get it working. Assuming you use Windows, you should then see the modem in Control Panel -> Phone and Modem Settings. To dial-up usually the number to dial is *99# or *99***1#. Or ask your service provider.

...but I would say using a "air card" is easier. An "air card" can be a USB stick, a PCMCIA card or embedded in your laptop. They cost around $50-100. The biggest makers are: Sierra Wireless, Option and Novatel. Seach ebay for them, and make sure it says UNLOCKED so it can be used with any SIM card. An dmake sure it has the correct freq bands (Afghanistan should be 900/1800 for GSM and 2100 for 3G, if they have it)

Here's one that's $40, unlcoked and will work on all GSM bands world-wide:

UNLOCKED AT&T Option GT Max 3.6 7.2 3G PCMCIA Aircard - eBay (item 250367294196 end time Apr-03-09 13:11:08 PDT)

Good luck! If you need more info PM me or contat me via my website (see my signature)

[giordano]

How do I know if it's a GSM sim card?

It seems that if I get an air card thats unlocked and is 900/1800 frequency capable, I should be ok.

My computer has a "slot" on the side with a plastic filler thats is sort of "L" shaped. The filler card says expresscard/54 on it. I would probably prefer to use a card because I only have two USB ports.

On the other hand, the same specs are required for a gprs capable phone 900/1800. The phone however, must also have a cable, infrared, or bluetooth to talk with the Laptop.

My laptop does not have bluetooth built in so I would also need an adapter?

Finally, I've seen some articles about building an antenna out of stuff laying around....well....this place is full of stuff laying around, so I may ba able to do that also. Can anyone help with that?

Thanks so much.

[RadioRaiders]

I put a picture of a SIM card below. A SIM card is given to you by the wireless provider and contains your phone number and all other info relevant to your account. .It is used for GSM and 3G. Without it, your phone is basically dumb and useless.

If your laptop doesn't have bluetooth, you can buy a USB to Bluetooth adapter for about $20. Or you can buy a USB to phone cable and just plug your phone directly to the laptop. If you need more USB ports, buy a USB hub for $10.

[giordano]

Thank you for the picture. That sims card is exactly what I have, except from a different company of course. I have a guy checking in town for me as to the local costs of the equipment.

Do you know anything about the home made antenna? or some type of better antenna or booster? Also what kind of cards work with the express type port I have.

I have emailed sierra, but thus far have not received a response.

I will keep you all posted on my results.

Giordano

[RadioRaiders]

Your laptop has the Express 54 slot? Then you can not use the full sized PCMCIA card (68-pin) that I posted earlier. You'll need to find an express-sized card (26-pin), like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/In-Box-UNLOCKED-...3%3A1|294%3A50

...and the matching external antenna would be useful:
http://cgi.ebay.com/12-EXTERNAL-ANTE...3286.m20.l1116

...oh, stay away from trying to make any kind of home-made antenna or booster. If you need a booster or repeater of some type, look into Wilson, they seems to make some decent ones, from what I hear (I never used one tho)...but they can be expensive and maybe not necessary in your case. I'd try the express card with the external antenna...

[RadioRaiders]

You can see some coverage maps of GSM in Afghanistan here. Only MTN and AWCC have plots, and of the 2, looks like MTN has a bigger network and better coverage country-wide, but also check who has better coverage locally (ask some other people who they use in your local area). Coverage maps can be outdated, and doesn't say anthing about the quality of the connection..

GSM Coverage Maps | Afghanistan


Here's some price info from MTN:
http://www.mtn.com.af/sub.aspx?ID=51...stParentID=250


AWCC mentions about GPRS in their FAQ, but no mention of prices...but at least they do offer it..
http://www.afghan-wireless.com/index.php?page=en_FAQ

..sometimes data is only offered on subscription basis (ie: monthly contract) because some pre-paid billing systems don't support data. I'm not sure how they have it set up there in Afghanistan, but you should ask before buying a pre-paid package if you can use it with data...