I'm going to spend 6 months in north Jomtien from October and wonder how to connect my laptop to the net from the condo I'll be renting. I don't want to pay more than say, 1500Bt a month. Seems my options are:

1 - ADSL. There is probably no live phone line, so I would have to install one (installation fee?). Same for ADSL. Is it worth it for only 6 months?

2 - GPRS/EDGE. (No UMTS available right?). My current phone does not have EDGE, but I might get a new one before October. But if the main bottlenecks are between Thailand and the rest of the world, may be the difference in speed between GPRS and EDGE is not so big.. Anyone in the area who could run a test from the Copenhagen server on http://www.speedtest.net/ first with EDGE and then plain GPRS?

Could get CDMA wireless through CAT I would think (we can here I am told its most place)..

Wireless card is 12+k but then its only 590 per month.. 400 - 600 kbps wireless..

I don't think the fast CDMA network (EV-DO) is available in tha Pattaya/Jomtien area. This new technology is being implemented by the area's where CAT controls the CDMA network.

In the Pattaya area (and pretty much of the East of Thailand) the cdma network is controlled by Hutch, which still uses cdma 1X, allowing speeds of up to 144kbps.

The Edge network offered by both AIS and Dtac would be probably faster (and just as unstable )

I'll test the speed to the Copenhagen server tomorrow (don't have my laptop handy) but only Edge. Both Dtac and Ais are Edge enabled here, and you can't force it to only use gprs...

No I guess you can't force it to only use gprs, to test the Gprs speed you would have to use a non-edge mobile phone as modem.