Hi,

i was thinking about getting a real internet connection, be it fiber, dsl or docsis

1. As far as i know there are 4 internet providers in Thailand: 3BB, True, AIS, ToT. Are there any others?

 

2. From what i could see now, usually these are contracts for 1 year, sometimes they charge a setup fee, sometimes not. Is it possible to make a contract for less than a year?

 

3. How is the general availability of these providers across the country, do all providers offer their services nationwide? Probably in the cities fibre, outside just dsl?

 

4. Now in my condo here at the walls i have outlets for cable tv and phone, can i just book fibre and they somehow install this here? Does the owner of the condo have to agree to this?

 

5. What happens if i move? Possible to take the internet with me? Do i have to pay a fee for this? Do i still have to pay even if i don't live there anymore? Let's say at my current location i get fibre internet, but then move somewhere where fiber is not available, what happens?

 

Thailand is a large country and until we know where in Thailand you are located you are just wasting Bits and Bytes 

At the moment in Udon, but will probably move in a few months, hence my question about moving.

Because you ask where i am, i can assume that not all providers work nation wide? I'm not really sure yet where i will move, so which of these providers work nation wide?

When i went outside i made a stop at the office at the condo here and asked them about this, they mentioned already that fiber is not possible here which answered my question number 4.

And by looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_Thailand i saw that i forgot CAT as provider

The simple answer..you have to ask the condo management office which ISP are available for your condo as they have to install some equipment in condo to provide the service..after you know what  are the available ISPs for this condo then you can choose

On 1/5/2018 at 10:26 AM, jackdd said:

1. As far as i know there are 4 internet providers in Thailand: 3BB, True, AIS, ToT. Are there any others?

Those are the 'national' providers. There are several more Fiber and Cable Internet providers that are 'regional' serving larger city populations.

 

On 1/5/2018 at 10:26 AM, jackdd said:

2. From what i could see now, usually these are contracts for 1 year, sometimes they charge a setup fee, sometimes not. Is it possible to make a contract for less than a year?

Some Cable Internet providers may offer shorter or even month-to-month contracts. But most people on the board have found they need to use a Mobile Internet provider if they want shorter contract times.

 

On 1/5/2018 at 10:26 AM, jackdd said:

3. How is the general availability of these providers across the country, do all providers offer their services nationwide? Probably in the cities fibre, outside just dsl?

The national providers have been rolling out Fiber for the last few years. Some have even notified their customers that their DSL subscriptions will be ending and need to re-sign for Fiber. 

 

As to service availability, it depends on population density of the area. If there are enough willing subscribers the providers will sometimes agree to service a new area. Othertimes they either refuse, or provide an outlandish quote to provide new service.

 

On 1/5/2018 at 10:26 AM, jackdd said:

4. Now in my condo here at the walls i have outlets for cable tv and phone, can i just book fibre and they somehow install this here? Does the owner of the condo have to agree to this?

Internet providers don't like running new 'drop lines' unless it's easy. 

If your Cable Operator provides Internet they just add the service to the existing line.

Fiber can sometimes be run to the lower floors without major install issue, but higher floors may not be offered service. The alternative, depending on who has jurisdiction over the copper phone lines, is for the provider to 'convert' the Fiber media to VDSL service and reuse the existing copper phone lines (with little to no discernible loss in speed). 

 

On 1/5/2018 at 10:26 AM, jackdd said:

5. What happens if i move? Possible to take the internet with me? Do i have to pay a fee for this? Do i still have to pay even if i don't live there anymore? Let's say at my current location i get fibre internet, but then move somewhere where fiber is not available, what happens?

Once you sign a contract, you are obligated to fulfill the contract. If the provider serves the new area you move to they *may* agree to continue the existing contract at the new location. Yes, there may be additional fees to accommodate the service move and new installation.

Thank for your answer.

Today i had some free time and did some own research (consulting the hotlines and also visiting their shop)

Here at the condo fiber is just not available at all, also not using some tricks like dsl in the building

Today i talked with 3BB, ais and true.

VDSL is generally possible here with 30/10.

 

Currently AIS and True offer very similar packages for fiber, including reduced setup fee (650 thb) free router, free tv, free mobile simcard. 3BB charges a higher setup fee, no free router, no tv, but provides a higher speed for the same monthly price and generally more upload.

They all refuse to make a contract shorter than 12 months, as a foreigner if you want it on your name you have to pay the full 12 months ahead.

I asked a bit more about fiber, and i'm not sure about it, but it seems to me that if any provider built a fiber line in your street / to your house you can book fiber from any other provider as well, it seems they have some internal contracts to be able to provide service on another provider's line.

 

True said from making a contract until you can use the internet it takes 3 days, 3BB said 1 week.

True says it's possible to move the contract to another address for free (as long as true is available there), with a 3 day setup time moving seems to be quite easy, i don't know if they refuse to do this if you move every month. 3BB says they charge 420thb to move (if available at the new address).

They say it's also possible to switch between fiber and dsl, if the one that you originally booked is not available at a new address. (I forget to ask what happens if i book for example the 1990thb fiber package and then move to a place where they only offer the 599thb vdsl, if i still had to pay the 1990 or if they would even lower the price)

 

 

We are building a small condo block at the moment and are discussing what internet cables to put in. 

If we go ahead and install fiber optic cables all over the building can those who do not want fiber optic connections still use VDSL or whatever, or are they forced to use fiber optic from the provider?

 

As yet, we haven't chosen the main provider, but both AIS and True are the main options.

8 minutes ago, petedk said:

We are building a small condo block at the moment and are discussing what internet cables to put in. 

If we go ahead and install fiber optic cables all over the building can those who do not want fiber optic connections still use VDSL or whatever, or are they forced to use fiber optic from the provider?

 

As yet, we haven't chosen the main provider, but both AIS and True are the main options.

If there is only fiber of course they are forced to use this. But if you have fiber available there is no reason why you would want to use VDSL, so there is no need for telephone lines. In a new building you should definitely put fiber in every condo.

What you also should do is having cable TV in the rooms. This way people who don't want to book an internet package (many people in Thailand don't do this, because their mobile internet is good enough for them) can still watch TV. And of course if somebody wants this, it would be possible for them to book internet over cable.

Thanks.
Yes we are putting cable tv in every condo.

My confusion was that if we put a fibre optic lan cable connecting the rooms in the condo and the tennant connects to VDSL, can they use the fbre optics?

I am not technically minded on this matter. I know most devices now are based on wifi and maybe no need for LAN. We just want the options to be there.

Anyway, after having talked to most of the owners, it seems they agree on having AIS fiber optic cables.

Sent from my BLL-L22 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

VDSL is using copper telephone lines, submitting electric signals

Fibre is using glass to submit light signals

These are two completely different systems

 

Maybe you got confused by what RichChor said above "is for the provider to 'convert' the Fiber media to VDSL service"

He was talking about "FTTB", If you want to understand about this you should look this up on google for further details:

FTTC - Fibre-to-the-Curb
FTTB - Fibre-to-the-Building
FTTH - Fibre-to-the-Home

 

But that's not really relevant for you, in a new building you definitely want fibre going into the condos (FTTH)

 

I didn't ask the providers about this because it wasn't relevant for me, but i'm quite sure that it's no problem to change an existing VDSL contract to fiber when the people move into the condo, if you want to be sure about this you should ask them directly

54 minutes ago, petedk said:

Thanks.
Yes we are putting cable tv in every condo.

My confusion was that if we put a fibre optic lan cable connecting the rooms in the condo and the tennant connects to VDSL, can they use the fbre optics?

I am not technically minded on this matter. I know most devices now are based on wifi and maybe no need for LAN. We just want the options to be there.

Anyway, after having talked to most of the owners, it seems they agree on having AIS fiber optic cables.

Sent from my BLL-L22 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

I suggest you talk to the ISP's available in your area. It is not always practical for an ISP to split a fiber service at a condo building and they will often suggest a copper solution for each client. One must remember that fiber services dont have unlimited splitting capability.

As maxpower suggested above, talk to the local ISPs (Cable, Fiber, VDSL/DSL providers). See what their requirements are for a condo and what pre-installed infrastructure they will and won't work with.

 

The perfect solution would be to run large-ish conduit with 'sweep' corner turns to each condo unit so a vacuum and a string can pull anything the condo occupant needed down the line. But that isn't always practical, so pre-installed Cat 5 or Cat 6 copper pairs, Fiber Optic, and RG-6 Cable dedicated runs to each unit are usually considered.

 

As this infrastructure is owned or managed by the condo operator, the Internet providers may need you to provide a standing agreement or per-install permission to use your conduits, may require you to provide intermediate equipment to service to each condo, or may refuse to service unless they make the complete run themselves.  So talk to them before you run anything.