Which ISP (or 4G maybe)?

[ed79]

Hi all, I'm after some advice on choosing an internet provider in Thailand.

 

I've just arranged a 1 year lease on a condo.  In the past I've only ever visited Thailand for a month or so at a time so I've always just used whatever ISP was already live in the apartment or Airbnb I stayed in.  This time I'll have to arrange things myself.  

 

The letting agent said there was a choice of 3 ISPs -  CAT, 3BB and Surf internet (the condo reception said there had been some connection problems on Surf so probably best to choose an alternative).

 

1) Is there anything about a particular condo building that would limit me to just those ISPs mentioned above?  (I'm not sure if it IS only those 3 as something may have got lost in translation).  Was thinking about AIS fibre maybe?

2) In the UK I've sometimes used 4G instead of FTTC which is often around the same speed and price.  Is it worth considering an LTE router and 4G or 5G sim card instead?  It appears my address in Pattaya is covered by 5G,,,

 

[JetsetBkk]

I have 3BB 1GB/500MB. It does what I need but a friend reckons that True have the "best" service (whatever "best" means).

I don't know much about 4G, 5G and my phone is an old OnePlus2 phone running Android 6! So I don't think I can be of much help...

 

I'm surprised more phone-savvy people haven't replied.

 

[ed79]

10 hours ago, JetsetBkk said:

I have 3BB 1GB/500MB. It does what I need but a friend reckons that True have the "best" service (whatever "best" means).

I don't know much about 4G, 5G and my phone is an old OnePlus2 phone running Android 6! So I don't think I can be of much help...

 

I'm surprised more phone-savvy people haven't replied.

 

Thanks, 3BB looked good from their website but the reviews on their facebook page weren't great. 

 

I'll check back later and see if anyone else has left any feedback.

[JetsetBkk]

12 hours ago, JetsetBkk said:

I have 3BB 1GB/500MB

Lets get the units right: I have 1Gbps/500Mbps. 

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, ed79 said:

Thanks, 3BB looked good from their website but the reviews on their facebook page weren't great. 

 

I'll check back later and see if anyone else has left any feedback.

I have had 3BB up here in the jungle for several years, upgraded to fibre to my router last year 1000/500 Gb/s, Bht 749 per month. Have the odd problem when there has been a bad storm, customer service tip top. But their GigaTV box is 5hite!

[fdsa]

On 10/21/2021 at 11:11 PM, JetsetBkk said:

a friend reckons that True have the "best" service 

I've never used a wired internet from Truemove so can't comment on that, but as a happy user of True unlimited SIM I could tell: <deleted> NEVER EVER THINK ABOUT BUYING THAT PIECE OF ...!

Go with DTAC or AIS instead.

Thankfully the prepaid year of my Truemove SIM is coming to its end in the nearest days and I'm changing the provider.

[Ralf001]

14 minutes ago, fdsa said:

Thankfully the prepaid year of my Truemove SIM is coming to its end in the nearest days and I'm changing the provider.

Its prepaid.... you already spent the coin so swap when ever you want !!

[fdsa]

6 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Its prepaid.... you already spent the coin so swap when ever you want !!

It's prepaid for a year :)

[KhunBENQ]

Mobile internet is a nice addition but nothing beats a wired fiber connection.

Have 3BB 1000/500 for two years or so.

No relevant outages, never felt the need to call customer service.

Consider "investing" in a good VPN SW to circumvent throttling/country based locks etc.

[ed79]

On 10/22/2021 at 11:39 AM, KannikaP said:

I have had 3BB up here in the jungle for several years, upgraded to fibre to my router last year 1000/500 Gb/s, Bht 749 per month. Have the odd problem when there has been a bad storm, customer service tip top. But their GigaTV box is 5hite!

Thanks, generally whenever I've heard people mention 3BB it's always been positive, but then I checked the FB reviews and was lots of complaints about outages.  But I guess people usually only leave reviews when they've had a problem.

 

 

On 10/22/2021 at 2:37 PM, fdsa said:

I've never used a wired internet from Truemove so can't comment on that, but as a happy user of True unlimited SIM I could tell: <deleted> NEVER EVER THINK ABOUT BUYING THAT PIECE OF ...!

Go with DTAC or AIS instead.

Thankfully the prepaid year of my Truemove SIM is coming to its end in the nearest days and I'm changing the provider.

Right now I'm having to use my DTAC sim for an iphone hotspot.  Seems to manage around 10Mb down but only about 2 up.  Fine temporarily but I'm eating through huge amounts of data despite being careful ????

 

On 10/22/2021 at 2:59 PM, KhunBENQ said:

Mobile internet is a nice addition but nothing beats a wired fiber connection.

Have 3BB 1000/500 for two years or so.

No relevant outages, never felt the need to call customer service.

Consider "investing" in a good VPN SW to circumvent throttling/country based locks etc.

Thanks, this has put my mind at rest about choosing 3BB I think.

[ed79]

Thanks for all the replies - gonna go with 3BB I think.

 

Can I ask a real newbie question though - how do I actually order it?  The condo reception told me if I go with 3BB I need to pay them (the condo) a 1000 baht install fee.

 

But do I order online, go into a 3BB shop?  Do they send an engineer to activate or is it done remotely?

Edited October 22, 2021 by ed79

[Ralf001]

1 hour ago, fdsa said:

It's prepaid for a year ????

Nothing like a early entry penalty stoping you from changing providers.

[KannikaP]

6 minutes ago, ed79 said:

Thanks for all the replies - gonna go with 3BB I think.

 

Can I ask a real newbie question though - how do I actually order it?  The condo reception told me if I go with 3BB I need to pay them (the condo) a 1000 baht install fee.

 

But do I order online, go into a 3BB shop?  Do they send an engineer to activate or is it done remotely?

Go to a 3BB shop or helpline is 1530, ext 9 for English.

[JetsetBkk]

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

Consider "investing" in a good VPN SW to circumvent throttling/country based locks etc.

Any suggestions for a Windows 10 based VPN S/W? 

 

Also, I didn't realise that a VPN would help with throttling... ???? 

Can you explain or give a link to an explanation?  (My IPTV buffers sometimes - I'm assuming it's throttling.)

 

Cheers.

[KhunBENQ]

19 hours ago, JetsetBkk said:

Any suggestions for a Windows 10 based VPN S/W? 

I use Nord VPN and satisfied with it.

 

Throttling, I can only give you an example regarding youtube videos.

Playing or downloading high quality can become erratic at peak times (6 to 8 PM typically). If I connect to a Singapore VPN playing is always smooth.

Download also smooth (not as fast as best case without VPN but still better than erratic).

 

 

 

[KhunBENQ]

19 hours ago, ed79 said:

But I guess people usually only leave reviews when they've had a problem.

There is always a chance of local/regional problems.

But from years of reading here, there is worse than 3BB.

And AIS fiber which is highly praised is not available for you.

[Bruno123]

22 hours ago, ed79 said:

Thanks, generally whenever I've heard people mention 3BB it's always been positive, but then I checked the FB reviews and was lots of complaints about outages.  But I guess people usually only leave reviews when they've had a problem.

 

 

Right now I'm having to use my DTAC sim for an iphone hotspot.  Seems to manage around 10Mb down but only about 2 up.  Fine temporarily but I'm eating through huge amounts of data despite being careful ????

 

Thanks, this has put my mind at rest about choosing 3BB I think.

 

 

You wouldn't have to be careful if you were utilising an unlimited 10 Mbps pack with DTAC in the first instance. A mere 200 baht per 30 days with any new SIM.

If you want symmetrical; go with AIS at the same price.

[ed79]

1 hour ago, Bruno123 said:

 

 

You wouldn't have to be careful if you were utilising an unlimited 10 Mbps pack with DTAC in the first instance. A mere 200 baht per 30 days with any new SIM.

If you want symmetrical; go with AIS at the same price.

Ah interesting.  I started with 30 days / 40GB data for something like 100 baht.  I think the first 10GB was full speed and the rest limited to 4Mb/sec.

 

I've got thru 30 GB in 13 days so 75% done already.  Will have to find something to top with soon.  Best I've seen so far is 

75 GB, 30 day, 150baht.  That should last until I can get Fibre installed.

[Bruno123]

1 hour ago, ed79 said:

Ah interesting.  I started with 30 days / 40GB data for something like 100 baht.  I think the first 10GB was full speed and the rest limited to 4Mb/sec.

 

I've got thru 30 GB in 13 days so 75% done already.  Will have to find something to top with soon.  Best I've seen so far is 

75 GB, 30 day, 150baht.  That should last until I can get Fibre installed.

Just get a new SIM and add an unlimited 10 Mbps pack for 200 baht... If you want higher speed then a new AIS SIM and an unlimited 20 Mbps pack for 300 baht.

 

[Bruno123]

19 hours ago, ed79 said:

Ah interesting.  I started with 30 days / 40GB data for something like 100 baht.  I think the first 10GB was full speed and the rest limited to 4Mb/sec.

 

I've got thru 30 GB in 13 days so 75% done already.  Will have to find something to top with soon.  Best I've seen so far is 

75 GB, 30 day, 150baht.  That should last until I can get Fibre installed.

 

Those are speed capped AND data capped packages. Capped to a maximum of 4 Mbps.

As suggested, go for an unlimited data pack with a higher capped speed; as opposed to limited data and a low capped speed.

 

[D2Pipes]

On 10/22/2021 at 10:20 AM, JetsetBkk said:

Any suggestions for a Windows 10 based VPN S/W? 

 

Also, I didn't realise that a VPN would help with throttling... ???? 

Can you explain or give a link to an explanation?  (My IPTV buffers sometimes - I'm assuming it's throttling.)

 

Cheers.

VPNunlimitedted: $40 Lifetime from https://bit.ly/3nvYAzV and I have had them for over 5 years with no issues.

You can read a review here: https://bit.ly/3hf7Vry

and for streaming IPTV you need to use the Wireguard protocol. You can read all about Wireguard here: https://bit.ly/2Z39V0w

cheersD

[D2Pipes]

I have been with 3BB for many years and they are vgood.

Our next door neighbour had cable TV installed but their installers cut our fibre.

3BB had me up and running in under 2 hours????

I have 1Gb/s down 100Mb/s up for B600/m and this is all I need. The usage is unlimited and the speed consistent. I use over 300GB each month because I stream IPTV. If you want an IPTV recommendation then message me ????

3BB will supply a DTAC 10GB data SIM at DTAC's max speed which I have not been able to work out but believe it is 100Mb/s on 4G for an extra B100/m

I kust remembered, you are in a condo and, unless things have changed, 3BB will only install fo up to the 4th floor. You need to check this as if you are on a higher floor you may be forced towards the LTE router.

 

AIS have a 5G unlimited 1Gb/s symmetrical up/down speed for B1200/m and will throw in a 50GB SIM free of charge. I feel the choice between an LTE 5G router and fibre is now a close call. I am considering adding an AIS 5G unlimited data connection to my 3BB fo so that is how close the call is. If you wnat any further into message me ????

cheersD

[Bruno123]

25 minutes ago, D2Pipes said:

VPNunlimitedted: $40 Lifetime from https://bit.ly/3nvYAzV and I have had them for over 5 years with no issues.

You can read a review here: https://bit.ly/3hf7Vry

and for streaming IPTV you need to use the Wireguard protocol. You can read all about Wireguard here: https://bit.ly/2Z39V0w

cheersD

 

Why all of these stupid short links? Then people cannot see on what they are clicking. They should be banned from the forum.

Please do not disguise your links; it just looks dodgy.

[CharlieH]

There is nothing in the rules that I am aware of that states links must be of a certain type. Only that they go to where they say they do. Now, as these dont proclaim to go anywhere website wise,it is up to the individual to decide to follow them or not.

I have followed ALL of those posted with NO ISSUE and see no problem.

 

You make your own decision.

 

Members may find this of use/interest:

https://safecomputing.umich.edu/be-aware/phishing-and-suspicious-email/shortened-url-security

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JetsetBkk]

2 hours ago, CharlieH said:

There is nothing in the rules that I am aware of that states links must be of a certain type. Only that they go to where they say they do. Now, as these dont proclaim to go anywhere website wise,it is up to the individual to decide to follow them or not.

I have followed ALL of those posted with NO ISSUE and see no problem.

 

You make your own decision.

Top left of my browser - a link to Bit.ly. Always handy when you want to share a long URL.

 

 

[Bruno123]

53 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

Top left of my browser - a link to Bit.ly. Always handy when you want to share a long URL.

 

 

 

 

Exactly. Two points. Why would a URL be long in the first place? That is usually because the person sharing is either not smart enough to remove the affiliate/tracking info from the link prior to sharing it or they are deliberately trying to hide the fact that they are sharing affiliate/tracking links. 

 

But in this case the links aren't that long; so there was absolutely no reason for the poster to shorten the links.

 

Either way, it reduces the number of people who would be interested in what you are trying to sell; as many people will simply refuse to click on hidden links.

 

 

[fdsa]

On 10/25/2021 at 8:53 PM, Bruno123 said:

Exactly. Two points. Why would a URL be long in the first place? That is usually because the person sharing is either not smart enough to remove the affiliate/tracking info from the link prior to sharing it or they are deliberately trying to hide the fact that they are sharing affiliate/tracking links. 

 

But in this case the links aren't that long; so there was absolutely no reason for the poster to shorten the links.

 

Either way, it reduces the number of people who would be interested in what you are trying to sell; as many people will simply refuse to click on hidden links.

I'd give this post two likes if I could. I hate those url shorteners and treat them as malware.

 

 

On 10/22/2021 at 2:37 PM, fdsa said:

I've never used a wired internet from Truemove so can't comment on that, but as a happy user of True unlimited SIM I could tell: <deleted> NEVER EVER THINK ABOUT BUYING THAT PIECE OF ...!

Go with DTAC or AIS instead.

Thankfully the prepaid year of my Truemove SIM is coming to its end in the nearest days and I'm changing the provider.

ok so I've switched to AIS and ping times to european servers dropped from 250-350ms on Truemove to 190-240ms on AIS, very happy so far.

Also I was experiencing frequent disconnects with Truemove (up to 10 times daily), will report later if I will have them with AIS.

 

P.S.

However the speed is very unstable - ranging from 17mbps (tariff advertised as 10mbps!) down to <1mbps, average is 6mbps.

Possibly it has something to do with the signal quality - modem reports 19-22% but it was much better with Truemove and is much better with DTAC on my phone. Possibly there is a low coverage by AIS in my area.

[Bruno123]

7 hours ago, fdsa said:

I'd give this post two likes if I could. I hate those url shorteners and treat them as malware.

 

 

ok so I've switched to AIS and ping times to european servers dropped from 250-350ms on Truemove to 190-240ms on AIS, very happy so far.

Also I was experiencing frequent disconnects with Truemove (up to 10 times daily), will report later if I will have them with AIS.

 

P.S.

However the speed is very unstable - ranging from 17mbps (tariff advertised as 10mbps!) down to <1mbps, average is 6mbps.

Possibly it has something to do with the signal quality - modem reports 19-22% but it was much better with Truemove and is much better with DTAC on my phone. Possibly there is a low coverage by AIS in my area.

 

Did you already mention elsewhere why you did not go with DTAC, as opposed to AIS? All networks currently have a 20 Mbps offer, with DTAC being the cheapest at just 1500 baht for the year.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Bruno123

[D2Pipes]

On 10/22/2021 at 10:20 AM, JetsetBkk said:

(My IPTV buffers sometimes - I'm assuming it's throttling.)

and I thought the same but after spending an inordinate amount of time investigating I have sussed the root cause of my buffering and for the last two days my 3BB and IPTV connections have not missed a beat.

 

I have to take my hat off to 3BB because I have maligned them in error when, in fact, they are maybe the very best ISP in Thailand at the moment????

cheersD

[fdsa]

2 hours ago, Bruno123 said:

Did you already mention elsewhere why you did not go with DTAC, as opposed to AIS?

for redundancy purposes - I have DTAC SIM in my phone and if the DTAC network goes down I will need some different way to access the Internet, that's why I used Truemove first and AIS now.

If I needed a single SIM then I'd go with DTAC as I think it is the best mobile internet provider in Thailand. And Truemove is definitely the worst.