Andine

You don't say where you are located, but outside the Bangkok and central/eastern seaboard region I'd go for CAT/CDMA mentioned before which offers higher speeds via USB interface or a mifi adapter, ok for torrent downloads but streaming video might be a bit jerky. Unless you've got mega bucks it would be cheaper to live closer to a terrestrial transmitter than install a personal satellite receiver. The USB devices you have tried are indeed pretty useless except for low bandwidth internet as most areas still stuck with GPRS data.

Thanks for the response ! It seems that a lot of the terestial based stuff here is very flakey!

I'm still in Bangkok .. Near Rama 5 bridge . I have imported a campervan .. and I'm just finalising a few things .. then I intend to cruise around wherever fancy takes me! Thats retirement! ( and I fancy it will!)

It turns out that there are heaps of world wide solutions which include services here as well as in other countries. The BGan thing works with such a tiny ( and very convenient ) plate type antenna because the satelite system (Three birds ) that has been put in place carries a 10 metre antenna and is focused on 100 or so locations at 18 deg .. giving reasonable signal strength. The speeds are pretty slow, and I think it may be very expensive in operating costs .. Its run from Poland of all places!

I think its aimed at journalists and the military ... and other spooky people!

Here is a link to a site which shows a lot of options ... including the BGan thing ... But I think it has not been updated for a while ...

http://www.satsig.net/ivsat-asia.htm

I'm still exploring stuff .. Its possible that I may be able to find something that is not prohibitively expensive, and will give me the ability to connect from almost anywhere I can see the sky!!

I remember seeing a sat dish advertised in Oz some time ago ... which unfolded in a series of "petals" in a circular fashion! .. There is a lot of innovation out there. I have been talking to a friend in OZ who was in outback rescue services .. They had such a system .. and by moving the dish they could get free TV from other satelites! Out in the middle of nowhere in Oz!

Research can be fun!!

Regards ... Andine!

Ok ..... Just came across this site!

http://www.ts2.pl/en/Satellite-Internet/Thailand

This is pretty stunning ! ... I'm just waiting for a reply regarding the cost etc!

Check out the videos on the home page!!

Andine !!

Hi there!

Same problem ... I have just run out of the stuff I brought from Australia ...

Gatoraid, and Staminade and similar are not to be trusted .... We had some near death experiences in MTB racing in OZ> One of them was comatose for 4 days, and we only just got him back!

My son in Oz is sposored by Torq .. They make gells and the like, but I think they also have a sports drink mix .. I will find out ... I have a feeling that its British, and they don't realy have electrolytes for that climate. There are numerous drink mixes available in Oz .. and I could import some of those ... I know there are some good ones.

I have tried the above mentioned drink available from drug stores here .. It seems OK .. Orange flavour .. seems to have salt, porassium and magnesium .. I have those in pill form and I usually add quite a bit in this climate. That may be the best solution untill we find something better. I too would like to get a large tub of it instead of small sachets.

The last Bangkok Hash House ride last w/end ... we did about 55 to 60 ks on Sat followed by 30 ks on Sunday .. http://bangkokbikehash.org/ If you want to do a bit with a great crew. Check out the piccies. Next ride will be at the end of August.

Andine !!

I've been using the abovementioned orange stuff available from the chemists, for a few bike rides now ... It seems to serve the purpose well enough! It has heaps of salt ( which I need ) and is not too bad .. I use two sachets per drink bottle .. So far have evaded cramps on a 60 k rides with the Bangkok Hash House Bikers .. The stuff is not available ( so they say ) in large tubs .. So Sachets are the go for now.

I find that if I stay on the formula I'm ok ... If I have a few soft drinks at drink stops I get into trouble ..

Andine!!

Hi there!

Same problem ... I have just run out of the stuff I brought from Australia ...

Gatoraid, and Staminade and similar are not to be trusted .... We had some near death experiences in MTB racing in OZ> One of them was comatose for 4 days, and we only just got him back!

My son in Oz is sposored by Torq .. They make gells and the like, but I think they also have a sports drink mix .. I will find out ... I have a feeling that its British, and they don't realy have electrolytes for that climate. There are numerous drink mixes available in Oz .. and I could import some of those ... I know there are some good ones.

I have tried the above mentioned drink available from drug stores here .. It seems OK .. Orange flavour .. seems to have salt, porassium and magnesium .. I have those in pill form and I usually add quite a bit in this climate. That may be the best solution untill we find something better. I too would like to get a large tub of it instead of small sachets.

The last Bangkok Hash House ride last w/end ... we did about 55 to 60 ks on Sat followed by 30 ks on Sunday .. http://bangkokbikehash.org/ If you want to do a bit with a great crew. Check out the piccies. Next ride will be at the end of August.

Andine !!

Thanks for responding !

Where are you Semoa? ... I didn't know we had CDMA here ... Thanks for the knowledge.

Hi there Ausie doug ! I got a At&T USB .. with a 3g type sim card .. it seems to connect in some places and not in others .. When conected the service is stiill spasmodic .. It sometimes drops out .. The telstra conection at home works better that this does here.

ah well .. we get what we get!

Andine !!

I contacted the local IT guy ... He came to fix ... He connected up a router with a meter of Cat 5 cable to my computer ... See it runs @ 100 meg! ... WoW!

Just about the 100 Mbps: it's the Ethernet connection from your computer to the router. If you have a 1 Gbps NIC in your computer, it would show: 1 Gbps (1000 Mbps)!!

Yes ... that is what I was refering to!

I contacted the local IT guy ... He came to fix ... He connected up a router with a meter of Cat 5 cable to my computer ... See it runs @ 100 meg! ... WoW!

And you used to be in comms??????

Ok .. from the router it goes into a shared phone line flat cable ( no twists ) and then down to the basement ... About 100 meters easy! ... No wonder it does not work!

I pointed this out ... So he moved my house phone to the Throne room ( the only other line he could find ) .. Then he conected the flat phone cable to The local WIFI ( Which also does not work well) ... cat 5 cable to go to the other system ... !!

Nearly all droplines between the houses and the distribution boxes are untwisted copper pairs. A DSL signal will easily travel over 5km of untwisted copper, it's just more susceptible to electromagnetic interference than twisted-pair cabling.

Is it possible to get a satelite dish ( there used to be a folding one available ) .. and get a connection that way?

Are you serious?

Thank you for your response ..!

Yes I was in comms about 20 years ago .. These days I'm retired.

I actually wanted a bit of help ... Had I wanted ridicule I would have asked for it!

To explain ... I do understand that just because the router tell my computer that it is running at 100 megs .. this does not signify that the link is doing that .. The man installing that was trying to tell me so. Obviously your comms knowledge ( which I do not doubt ) exceeds your knowledge of the english language!

This building was wired many years ago .. and I'm unsure of the standard of the wiring .. It probably runs in the same ducts as power cables as it was likely only intended for telephone use.

The through put of the link varies from about 1.5 megs to 4 megs as measured by speed test .. The ping test shows a large variation in the results for "Dithering"

1.5 megs would be fine for what I do .. but during the day the link varies in how often it disconnects .. so sometimes its connects and disconnects rather a lot, and becomes highly degraded. Trying to download anything at that time is pretty useless.

As to satelite dishes .. There are plenty of those available for mobile homes in europe, and they supply a variety of uses, including the internet. I was wondering if anyone here had experimented with that solution.

Best regards

Andine !!

This is more like what I want!

http://www.gesatcom.com/en/solutions.htm

I will see what this sort of solution costs ...

Andine !!

Hi there!

I'm a newby on this forum ... Used to be in comms long ago ... in OZ.

I'm in a condo at Nonthanburi .. Riverine towers . The computer link is mad .. it switches on and off willy nilly.

I contacted the local IT guy ... He came to fix ... He connected up a router with a meter of Cat 5 cable to my computer ... See it runs @ 100 meg! ... WoW!

Ok .. from the router it goes into a shared phone line flat cable ( no twists ) and then down to the basement ... About 100 meters easy! ... No wonder it does not work!

I pointed this out ... So he moved my house phone to the Throne room ( the only other line he could find ) .. Then he conected the flat phone cable to The local WIFI ( Which also does not work well) ... cat 5 cable to go to the other system ... !!

That kluge resulted in a bit more through put! It still switches on and off ... listening to my home radio station is sort of spasmodic .

A fair amount of this stuff goes by Microwave ( I think ) as it drops out when there is a rainstorm, and direct visibility is impaired.

The ping test shows a high dither rate .. I'd surmise that SNR is very poor.

Question ... I'm about to launch into a bit of traveling .. Is it possible to get a satelite dish ( there used to be a folding one available ) .. and get a connection that way?

I could just point it at the sky from the car !!

Now that would be one-upmanship!

Andine !!

Yes .. this is what I have found ... The 3 G service works marginaly well in some areas .. but not in others. Even with full conect bars ... it switches on and off all the time .. and so does the throughput. Out of the city 3G does not exist .. I wanted to put some more money in my 3g ..123 connect card .. but out of town they do not sell refils for it .. only 2g or GPRS ... So I had to buy another sim card for that .. Course I could have used the one in the mobile phone as well.

Hit send on an email ... and go make a coffee!

The ADSL or wifi connections in Nonthaburi also leave a lot to be desired ... I got connected here with a router ... 100 mbs ... Plugged into the computer with a peice of Cat 5 cable ... BUT ... using a phone flat cable which is over 100 met long down to the basement .. The man said in triumph .. see it run @ 100 mb ... NO .... it just sees the router thats all .. the rest is well beyond specs .. Rubbish!

The wifi did not have enough transmitters .. so it barely connected at all ... Also rubbish ... The bloke came to fix it ... he fired up his Compac and claimed victory as he could connect ... Told me that my new Toshiba needs replacing. I said No .. so he offered me a compac on loan ...

I said OK .. but I'm going to format the drive after I finish using it to do my banking .... He was horrified!

Thick as four short planks!!

Andine !!

Hi there!

First of all .. I'll introduce myself .... I am a new starter here .. ( this will be my first post )

I arrived from Australia in March. I'm a retiree, and it is my intention to spend some time exploring the country .. which includes going to places north ( where its a bit cooler).

I have tried a USB type device .. I have an AT&T one which takes a variety of sim cards ... I cannot say that it is reliable ... It does not connect at all in some places ..

It says it connects to 2G or 3G ... It does ... but the through put is pathetic at times and it switches on and off all the time.

The internet in the condo I'm in currently is pretty poor as well.

My question is this !

Is it possible ( and afordable ) to get a folding type satelite dish, and to get decent internet that way? Does anyone have experience with this here in Thailand?

How big a dish would I need ? ... I'd be happy with a two meg service if it stays on ... That is enough to watch news casts, listen to radio and watch TV streaming ( like Tour de France)

As an aside ... Does anyone know why "Le Tour" is blocked? Are all those lovely men in lycra pornographic? ... or am I missing something?

Andine !!