Here, there and everywhere (K2 #81)

Question of the Week
I bought the Galaxy Grand Duos smartphone but found out that it does not work in Bhutan. What can I do? Will it help if I “root” the device?
— Samten Dhendup, Sr. Survey Engineer, NLC

Answer
The Galaxy Grand Duos model that is sold in India supports the 3G bands of 900, 1900, and 2100. The bands used for 3G by Bhutan’s operators are 850 and 2100. Thus, wherever 850 is used (Thimphu, Paro and a few other locations), your phone will not be able to use 3G. This is a limitation of the phone’s hardware, and “rooting” the phone – which means gaining complete control of the smartphone’s software – will not help. In fact, it often means voiding the manufacturer's warranty as well as running others risks, including making the phone totally unusable. Due to BICMA’s user-unfriendly decision to use the North American band of 850 instead of the standard Asian 900 band, quite a few other Bhutanese customers are in your situation and will need to buy new, expensive phones; if it’s any consolation, they say shared sorrow is half a sorrow.

Question of the Week
Is the Sherig Collection available online? How can I download it?
— Yeshi Choden

Answer
The Sherig Collection is a set of educational resources for teachers and students in Bhutan. It includes offline Wikipedia, thousands of educational videos, Dzongkha dictionaries, e-books, audio books, exam banks and more. It can be installed on any Windows computer - no Internet required. The size of the collection is pretty big - it’s about 25 GB, and it is not available online. Why? Given the speed and stability of broadband Internet in Bhutan, it would take days to download the Collection (assuming that the connection or the power did not drop half way, in which case you’d have to start all over again…). The only practical way to get the software is by copying it using an external hard drive or a 32 GB pen drive. You can get the software in many schools in Bhutan. For more information, register at sherig.rigsum-it.com.

With the new school year starting soon, let me take the opportunity and wish all teachers, students and parents a happy year of learning!

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Readers are encouraged to submit technology-related questions to boaz@thimphutech.com

Bhutan's 3G band: the saga continues

I have written before on the questionable selection of the 850 MHz for use with 3G in Bhutan, instead of the more consumer-friendly 900 MHz which is used in India and other SE Asian countries. Recently, Kuensel reporter Gyaltshen K. Dorji ran a comprehensive story on this topic, An iffy 3G-frequency choice?, in which I was quoted.

iPhone 5 and 4G (K2 #74)

Question of the Week 
Will my unlocked iPhone 5 support 4G in Bhutan?
— Dr. Bruce W. Bunting, Bhutan Foundation, USA

Answer

Dear Dr. Bruce,

Bhutan Telecom recently launched their 4G service in Thimphu. 4G, also known as LTE, promises speeds faster than 3G and fixed-line broadband. Different LTE networks around the world use different frequencies, also known as bands. The trick is that your phone must support the network’s frequency in order to be able to connect to it. The frequency that will be used by Bhutan Telecom’s 4G network is 1800 MHz, also known as “band 3”. This is the 4G band used in most of Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. Picking this band was a wise decision: 4G phones and data cards that are available in the Indian market - Bhutan’s main trading partner and the source of most phones in mobile shops in Bhutan - will work here. But it also means that 4G phones for the north American networks (which do not use band 3), will not necessarily work in Bhutan (or in other networks in SE Asia, for that matter).

Finally, to your question: Apple manufactures two iPhone 5 models: A1428 and A1429. The latter supports “band 3”, while the former does not. To check the exact iPhone 5 model you own, look for the model number in tiny letters on the phone’s back cover. If it says “A1429”, your phone is good. But keep reading...

Even if you own the iPhone 5 model A1428 which does not support 4G in Bhutan, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Firstly, 4G is only available in selected parts of Thimphu, and you wouldn’t be able to use it outside Thimphu anyway. Secondly, for most purposes - casual browsing, email, etc. - 3G is good enough, and you don’t really need 4G. Thirdly, Bhutan Telecom’s 4G network does not currently support voice or SMS, so even if your phone connects to 4G, you will not be able to make and receive phone calls or use texting. Can I assume you wouldn’t like that? Lastly, by the time 4G supports voice and the network is available nationally, there’s a good chance that you will have moved on from your iPhone 5 to a shiny new device.

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Readers are encouraged to submit technology-related questions to boaz@thimphutech.com

Is a BICMA decision impacting Bhutan's inflation?

As a country's radio spectrum is a limited and highly-valuable resource, governments pay a lot of attention to its management and allocation. I already wrote a few posts about BICMA's decision to allocate the north American 850 band for 3G networks in Bhutan (in addition to 2100) instead of the SE Asian bands of 900/2100. But I have not touched on its effect on the country's economy. Here are a few points to consider:

• Stale Inventory: 3G phones available in Bhutan's mobile shops are imported from India. While roaming a little around town yesterday, I found that many 3G phones do not support the 850/2100 bands, and are thus as good as 2G phones. Many dealers are not aware of the frequency issue (why?), so the wrong phones were/are imported. Some savvy consumers are deciding not to buy these phones. Others find out that their new phone doesn't support 3G and exchange it with a more expensive phone. Dealers in Bhutan are now stuck with lakhs-and-lakh-of-rupees worth of obsolete inventory which was (or perhaps still is) imported from India. Given the rate with which new phone models are launched, the value of these phones is constantly dropping.
• Trade Balance: 3G phones supporting 900/2100 can now be bought for less than Rs 5,000 (for example, the Nokia 208 Dual SIM). In contrast, Indian-imported phones that support 850/2100 are much more expensive, usually starting at around Rs 20,000. The result: more rupees leaving the country.
• Inflation: Mobile phones are now part of Bhutan's Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket. More and more people are switching from 2G phones to 3G phones. For many in Bhutan, a mobile phone is their most valuable asset. Instead of buying a 3G phone for Nu 5000 to Nu 10,000, many consumers now spend Nu 20,000 and above for a phone that supports 3G in Bhutan. People are spending more on 3G phones than they should have. While I do not have the details of the weight of mobile phones in the new CPI basket, the net result is that there's a good chance BICMA's decision has contributed to Bhutan's inflation.

Phone buyer, beware!

Planning to buy a phone soon? Watch out. Many of the 3G phones sold today in Bhutan can only be used as 2G phones. Why? Most phones sold in Bhutan are imported from India, where the 3G frequencies are 900/2100. However, the frequencies used in Bhutan are 850/2100. This is unfortunate. Many of the smartphones imported from India only support 3G at 900/2100. These phones will not be able to use 3G in locations where 850 is used, such as Thimphu, Bajo, and more. In addition, TashiCell's 3G network is also using 850, and so these phones will not be able to take advantage of this upcoming alternative to B-Mobile's 3G network.

Here is a photo I took today of a typical display window in a mobile shop in Thimphu.

Do (NOT) buy me!

Here are the 3G specifications of these phones.

• Samsung Galaxy Music Duos: 3G at 900/2100
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos: 3G at 900/2100
• Samsung Galaxy S Duos: 3G at 900/2100
• Samsung Galaxy Grand: 3G 900/1900/2100

(The Samsung REX 60, 80 and 90 do not support 3G at all)

All the 3G smartphones in the above photo do not support 850. If you plan to use them to connect to the Internet, you are wasting your money. A similar situation exists in other shops in Thimphu. Shops are packed with 3G phones that will not work in Thimphu. You will need to search carefully and make sure that the phone you buy supports 3G at 850. They are not easy to find: the selection is relatively poor, and their prices are high.

Does the Samsung Galaxy Grand support 3G?

Following my last K2 column, I got a lot of queries regarding the highly-rated, relatively affordable Samsumg Galaxy Grand smartphone: Will it support 3G in Bhutan?

Well, if we look up the phone's specification on gsmarena.com, we'll find the following (the snapshot is from the Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos I9082 (dual-SIM) version; the I9080 (single SIM) 3G specs are identical):

Looking carefully, one sees two different specs for the 3G network bands: the first line shows 850/1900/2100, the second has 900/1900/2100.

From the research I've done, the reason is simple: Samsung has released two Galaxy Grand variants. One version is mainly for the Asian & European market (900/1900/2100) market, the other mainly for the US market (850/1900/2100).

The bands used for 3G in Bhutan are 850 and 2100. While all 3G phones sold in India support 2100, most of these phones do not support 850, as India uses 900 and 2100. If you got your Galaxy Grand in India, it will NOT support 850 3G in Bhutan.

The phone's packaging will show the exact bands supported, as you can see below. In this case, the phone supports 900, but not 850 - so it will NOT support 3G in Thimphu and and a few other locations in Bhutan.

3G Phones (K2 #73)

Question of the Week 
Will the new Micromax Canvas 4 phone support 3G in Thimphu?
— Namgay Rinchen, JDWNRH

Answer
Dear Namgay,

The Canvas 4 is the best Micromax yet,
but no 3G in Thimphu for you!

Had you asked me this question a year ago, my answer would have been an earsplitting “yes”. But today, surprisingly, the answer is a painful “no”. Let’s see why. As people cannot even reach a consensus on paper size (A4 vs. Letter), it won’t come as a complete shock that four different 3G bands are used around the world. The most popular is 2100 MHz. The other three are 1900, 900, and 850 MHz. Most phones support the popular 2100 band, and often support one or more of the other three.

Once upon a time in the Kingdom, the only band used for 3G was 2100, and this meant that 3G phones as well as 3G data cards (and their owners) were kept happy. Then, in November 2012, Bhutan Telecom decided to change the band used for 3G in Thimphu to 850. This was done to improve reception in urban areas (the lower the frequency, the better the signal penetrates buildings). But it also meant that many existing phones and data cards that did not support the 850 band were suddenly rendered useless, and their owners became quite unhappy. I found this move baffling, as telecoms and other utility companies are commonly required – and usually make a special effort – to ensure that their upgraded systems will be compatible with existing equipment used by customers. Imagine BPC suddenly changing the voltage to 110V! In the case of Bhutan Telecom, they could have perhaps kept the old band (2100) alongside the new one (850) in order to ensure that their users’ investment will not be lost. But all that is ancient history. Currently, Thimphu (as well as Bajothang, according to a BT representative) use the 850 band, while other locations in the country that support 3G use the 2100 band.

Oops! 3G on the Micromax Canvas 4 can only operate on 2100.

To check whether a phone will support 3G in Thimphu, you need to verify that it supports the 3G 850 band (this is different from the 2G 850 band). You can look for the information on the phone manufacturer’s website. Or use gsmarena.com, a very popular phone comparison website: Select the phone manufacturer on the left bar. Then, click on your desired phone and see whether the 850 band appears under “3G Network”. As you can see in the attached screenshot, the Canvas 4 supports 2100, but not 850. Thus, the Canvas 4 will work in many 3G locations, but not in Thimphu. Unfortunately for Micromax, TashiCell’s upcoming 3G network will also be using the 850 band, and thus the fate of the Canvas 4 phone in Bhutan has been sealed.

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Readers are encouraged to submit technology-related questions to boaz@thimphutech.com

What about backward compatibility?

A few months ago, B-Mobile decided to change the band used for its 3G mobile broadband service in Thimphu from the standard 2100 MHz to the less-popular 850 MHz. Reducing the frequency improves reception and speed. 2100 MHz (known as Band I) is the original and still most popular 3G frequency being used in the world. All smartphones and data-cards with 3G capabilities support 2100 MHz. In contrast, many existing devices do not include 3G support for 850 MHz (known as Band V).

While I was waiting today at the Bhutan Telecom office for a technician, a number of customers arrived, complaining that 3G no longer works on their phone in Thimphu, although it does work in Paro. One lady was carrying a Blackberry phone. It has become useless in Thimphu. Another was carrying a Nokia phone. A third was using Samsung Galaxy S. My own Huawei E160G data-card is not working anymore - it does not support 850 MHz. I am sure that there are many more customers who will now need to replace their mobile phones or data-cards.

Imagine BPC changing the voltage in your home's sockets from 220V to 110V. Time to replace your refrigerator and rice cooker! A mobile operator must ensure that existing devices will continue working, even in the face of network upgrades. A provider cannot expect its customers to lose their investment. The good news is that a solution is available: mobile operators can provide dual-carrier technology, where both 2100 MHz and 850 MHz work side-by-side. That will enable existing users to keep using their old equipment. I am not sure while B-Mobile did not choose this graceful route.

Upgrading the network is commendable. And 850 MHz is indeed an improvement over 2100 MHz. But providers must ensure that their customers' existing investment in equipment will not go down the drain.

4G coming to Bhutan

While Bhutan Telecom recently launched 3G in Bajo town, making it the fourth locality with mobile broadband (the others being Thimphu, Paro, and Phuentsholing), this announcement was made yesterday at the Mobile World Congress 2013, held in Barcelona:

European telecom equipment maker Ericsson said on Wednesday that it will deploy the 4G (LTE) network for Bhutan Telecom (BT) this year and pilot commercial services will be initially launched in the country’s capital Thimphu... As part of the 4G deployment, Ericsson will provide Bhutan Telecom with LTE equipment in the 1800 MHz spectrum band

4G (Fourth Generation) LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a mobile broadband technology with a theoretical peak download speeds of 300Mbps. Actual speeds will be lower, but have the potential to be an order-of-magnitude faster than 3G. Such speeds enable super-fast browsing and downloading as well as smooth video calls. Taking advantage of these technologies requires smartphones with LTE support at the right frequency (1800 MHz). Most, if not all, existing mobile phones and data-cards in Bhutan will not support the new standard, and will need to be replaced in order to use BT's upcoming 4G service. 2G and 3G will still be offered alongside the new technology.

It's Time for Prepaid 3G Plans

Mobile prepaid subscribers who use their phones to access the internet have to pay exuberant fees when using their phone to surf the web, send email, or stream videos. B-Mobile, for example, charges Nu 3000 per GB for their "pay as you go" plan - the only one available to prepaid phone subscribers.

With the improvement in Bhutan Telecom's 3G services, it is now time to move on to the next logical step: offering affordable prepaid 3G plans to mobile users. Currently, 3G plans are available for postpaid data-cards only, costing between Nu 200 to Nu 300 per GB, depending on the plan. These rates should also be available to smartphone users. For many users, these 3G prepaid plans will be their gateway to the Internet, thereby helping to narrow the growing broadband gap.

P.S.: With 3G prepaid plans, many subscribers will also find that carrying a data-card becomes unnecessary, as many smartphones can be tethered to a laptop, acting as de-facto data-card. This will reduce the number of mobile devices, which can help reduce the load on the mobile networks.

Will the new iPhone 5 work in Bhutan?

"I need it, and I need it NOW!"

Two years ago we wrote one of our most popular posts ever, "Will the new iPhone 4 work in Bhutan?". That post still gets plenty of hits. Visitors to the Kingdom are eager to know whether they should pack their unlocked smartphone before that hair-raising landing in Paro. The answer to that question was a definite yes - one just needs to chop the B-Mobile (or TashiCell) SIM card down to the micro-SIM size.

The iPhone 5 was launched yesterday. It has a bigger and taller screen, a sharper camera, more processing power, as well support for LTE 4G, which is a high-speed data network (currently unavailable in Bhutan). One 'upgrade', however, will affect Bhutanese subscribers. The iPhone 5 uses a nano-SIM. The nano-SIM is even smaller than the micro-SIM:

SIM evolution according to Darwin

In theory, one could carefully cut a SIM (or a micro-SIM) down to a nano-SIM, since the physical contact sizes are the same. Nano-SIM cutters are already selling on E-bay. However, there is a caveat: In addition to being smaller, the nano-SIM is also thinner than the previous SIMs (0.67mm compared to 0.76mm, which is about 15% less), and so there is a chance that a cut-down SIM will be too thick to fit into the iPhone slot.

Update (24/9/2012): Cut down SIMs fit the iPhone 5 tray.

A nano-SIM cutter

As far as I know, B-Mobile and TashiCell have not put out orders for nano-SIMs. The only option left for iPhone owners is to shave off that extra 0.09mm of plastic, perhaps using sandpaper. Whether this is possible without affecting the internal circuitry remains to be seen. The best strategy is not to jump and order an iPhone 5 (yet), but wait until more information is available. Watch this space for updates!

3G Available in Paro

Will we soon see tourists surfing the Internet while riding on mules up to the Taktsang Palphug monastery?

According to a recent tweet by photographer Gelay Jamtsho, speedy 3G is now available in Paro. It is still not officially announced by Bhutan Telecom, so perhaps it's still under testing. If you're in Paro with a 3G data card or smartphone, check it out and let us know!

P.S.: Gelay is offering stunning monthly desktop wallpapers here. January, February and March are already out. Be sure to check them out!

© 2012 Galey Jamtsho

Finally, 3G is Available Beyond Thimphu

Bhutan Telecom has turned on the 3G switch in P/Ling. This is an important event. Fast mobile broadband is an effective way of closing the rural broadband gap. With 3G, people will have access to faster Internet wherever they are. While P/Ling is still an urban centre, this serves as a good proof of concept. Hopefully, 3G will eventually reach all B-Mobile customers.

While the theoretical maximum 3G download speed is 3.6Mbps (almost 4 million bits per second), which makes it possible to download a 3-minute song in about 10 seconds, it remains to be seen what the actual speed will be. Many factors affect the speed, including network congestion. For the time being, the bottleneck is Bhutan's international links. Once these are upgraded, we can expect higher download and upload speeds to international websites (Google, Facebook, BBC, etc).

How to test your speed? Check one of the following websites:

• Go to speakeasy.net/speedtest, then select one of the cities (e.g., New York)
• Go to  http://www.speedtest.net/, then click on the "BEGIN TEST" button

Google Services, Facebook outage in Bhutan

Starting at around 8pm this evening, it seems that broadband and mobile users in Bhutan cannot access many Google services, including Search, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Sites, Google Apps, and more. Blogger is also out, so many popular blogs - including this one - are currently not accessible. And, worst of all: Facebook seems to be inaccessible as well!
Good thing Bhutan's economy is not ICT-centric, or the financial consequences of such an outage would be substantial.

Update: At around 10pm, the problem seems to have been fixed. It would be nice to get an update from Bhutan Telecom regarding the causes of this major outage.

3G: From Theory to Practice

About a year ago we wrote about the importance of a wide-coverage 3G network. Apparently, things are starting to change. According to recent news articles (Kuensel, Bhutan Today) coverage is about to increase, starting with Paro, Gelephu and Phuentsholing.

Broadband for education

The impact of the Internet on education is profound. One of the biggest promises is distance learning. Here's a recent example: Stanford University, consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the world, will be offering an online course, "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence", for free, worldwide . The course will be conducted by two global experts on Artificial Intelligence. More than 70,000 people have already enrolled. Click here to read more about this unique online course and see how it will work. Most of the course content will be video based, and thus a high speed internet connection is recommended. Click here for more courses available for free from Stanford Engineering Everywhere.

This is just one incredible example of the learning opportunities created by the Web. For small, isolated countries with limited educational resources like Bhutan, distance learning holds an incredible promise. If not for any other reason, the government of Bhutan should make fast, cheap and reliable broadband, including 3G for remote areas, a top priority.

Subscribers or users?

The MoIC recently released the 2010 Annual Statistics Bulletin. According to the bulletin, there were 84,458 mobile broadband subscribers in Bhutan in 2010. This figure has also been reported by the Kuensel. Mobile Internet technologies include GPRS (very slow), EDGE (slow) and 3G (sometimes fast). The latter is only available in Thimphu. Out of the 84,458 subscribers, the bulletin reports that around 2% (1,998) are 3G subscribers, and the other 98% (82,462) are GPRS/EDGE users.

3G Cheaper than DSL

B-Mobile has recently slashed down the tariff of mobile Internet access (see announcement here). It has also added an "unlimited data" postpaid package for Nu 999/month. This is a terrific deal, and I won't be surprised if this is the cheapest unlimited 3G package in the world.

Remember that the Bhutan Telecom broadband plans (DSL) do not include "unlimited data" plans. So if you're using fixed-line broadband and consuming more than 5GB or so of data per month, it might make sense for you to switch to 3G. This will also add the capability of being able to use the Internet away from your office or home. There are a number of caveats, however: The initial price of the cellular modem is high (around Nu 5000); you will only get 3G-speed in Thimphu (in other Dzongkhags the speed will be slower); and the connection is technically harder to share if you have multiple computers in the office, although it is doable.

Mobile Internet across Bhutan

Returning from a trip to the East, I'd like to share great experience using Bhutan Telecom's mobile Internet infrastructure. Using the 3G modem purchased at BT, I was able to connect to the internet from every place where there was BT mobile network access. Trongsa, Bumthang, Mongar, Trashigang, and even in the guesthouse at Rangjung, north of Trashigang. In Thimphu the speed is fastest (3G technology), whereas outside of Thimphu it is slower (GPRS/EDGE technology). The latter enables reading email and surfing the web, but a bit too slow for Skype phone calls.

To get mobile Internet, you must purchase a modem (around Nu. 5000, available in 12 installments), and then get the data plan (starting at Nu. 149/month with the new rates). For further details see the Bhutan Telecom webpage. Note, however, that the new rates are not yet updated on that page and can be found here.