Shadowfyr61

Review: SmartZone High-Speed Internet in Thailand - Worth it or Not?

After Struggling for Almost Two Years, I Say Give This Company a Miss and Here's Why

Cassandra James, Yahoo! Contributor Network

Jan 5, 2009 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

MORE:ThailandHigh Speed InternetCornflakes

Flag

In Thailand, most apartment buildings now have internet. The more expensive apartment buildings in Thailand choose True high-speed internet services, as this is a company that will offer you unlimited connection with a strong signal. Many of the other apartment buildings use cheaper services and many of them use SmartZone high-speed internet. My apartment building has had SmartZone high-speed internet for almost 2 years. Would I recommend it? Absolutely not. SmartZone high-speed internet is the worst internet service I've ever used, bar none, and here's why.

Getting Connected By SmartZone - I buy SmartZone high-speed internet cards in Bangkok that offer unlimited connection for 30 days. The cost? Around $14.50. Cheap right? Yes, it's cheap but getting connected is a different story. Every time I try to get onto the internet, it takes at least five attempts. Other times, there's no connection at all even though the signal is showing as 'Good'. I call the management of my building at least ten times a month asking them to please call SmartZone internet and ask them to come and fix their internet connection in my building. The one good thing? They do come out right away, but with reliable internet I shouldn't have to call so many times.

Staying Connected by SmartZone - Every other place I get internet in Thailand (except my office, which is a different story entirely), I have reliable, high-speed internet that stays connected. With SmartZone high-speed internet, most times when I connect, the connection will stay for 2-3 minutes then it's gone. It takes another 4-5 attempts before I can connect to SmartZone internet and stay connected. I waste at least 30 minutes every day making many attempts at consistent connection before I get it. Sometimes, like last night, after two hours of trying to connect, I never get it.

SmartZone Blocks Websites - Thailand's websites are often blocked, either by the government or by overly zealous internet companies. Thailand is a country that is rife with censorship and it seems to be getting worse every month. SmartZone high-speed internet goes above and beyond its duty though, and blocks the most ridiculous websites. For a long time, I couldn't access anything written on Associated Content by Timothy Sexton (his name has 'sex' in the word, so I can't read that!). I still cannot access most articles about rabbits, or even read my own articles about rabbits. Rabbits apparently are a threat to the Thai government, so they're not allowed either. Yesterday, anything about cornflakes was blocked. Yep, cornflakes. What's wrong with cornflakes? They're making people too strong and they might rise up and take over the government? Who knows? Stupid, eh? Other internet companies in Thailand block websites but not to the extent SmartZone internet does. Sometimes it's an exercise in futility trying to get to websites I need for my job, and yes, I'm paying for this.

Fast Customer ServiceBut Is It Reliable? I must admit, SmartZone does have fast customer service. If I, or the management in my building, call to complain the internet is down again, they usually have somebody out trying to fix it within two hours. It does get fixed but usually doesn't stay fixed for longer than 24-48 hours, before it's down again. Yes, it's fast, but it's not reliable because it still continues not to work.

If you are in an apartment building in Thailand that offers SmartZone high-speed internet, run screaming from it. Many of the better apartment buildings offer True Internet services, which are excellent and very reliable. SmartZone might be cheap (although not much cheaper than True internet), but the amount of frustration you will go through trying to stay connected is likely to cause you to spend the money you would have saved on medications just to calm your nerves. SmartZone internet? You can keep it!

Internet here at apartment really sucks! Smartzone Internet. Stay away if you need Internet.2012 into 2013 and the article posted below still hold true today.