How Can I Get A Internet Connection On Phangan

[MickeyHolland]

Hi there..

Next month i will move to Koh Phangan to live and work there.

Now i am looking for a long term appartment on the island but i cannot figure out what the possibilities are concerning getting an internet connection..

I hear/read about WiFi/adsl/telephone... but what would my appartment need exactly to get an internet subscription ?

As i will need internet to make a living this is the most important thing my future home will need to have..

As i'm a little bit on a tight budget the first couple of months it is no option to stay in an expensive bungalow/appartment/hotel..

If there's someone out there who can give me some advise, please reply !!

Thanx !

[sbk]

It would depend on where you live on the island. Any idea of location yet?

mac.wheeler is selling his CAT cdma internet modem. You might want to give him a PM and see if its still available. Anyone on Koh Phangan need an internet connection

[MickeyHolland]

Well, it really depends where i can find the right combination of accomodation and internet access..

I prefer to stay in the Thong Sala/Ban Tai/ Ban Kai area..

[sbk]

Nearer to Thong Sala is your best bet for an ADSL line, you can get a TOT line fairly easily near Thong Sala and from that, ADSL. Your best bet would be really to come and look for a place while here. You can never be sure that you are getting what you want until you see it with your own eyes.

[girlx]

i have looked at a lot of places in ban tai in the past week and none of them are able to get broadband because they are not close enough to the signal. so really, your best bets are thongsala, wok tum, srithanu, and thong nai pan. the problem even in those areas is that if there is not already an existing phone line, you might have to be on a long waiting list to get one installed. thong nai pan is actually the easiest place to get a new phone line now. & even if you do find a house with a phone line, you have to call (TT&T) and have them test the line to see if it can get the ADSL signal. many can not.

[sbk]

Actually, many places in Ban Tai have broadband internet. Even as far as past the 7-11 so not sure where you checked. Perhaps you meant Ban Kai.The difference being, of course, the availability of phone lines. TT&T have very limited phone lines available in the Ban Tai/Ban Kai area so getting a number would be difficult and in some places, impossible. Thong Sala and Nai Wok are TOT so, as Stevethongsala found out, getting a phone line in is merely a matter of days.

[girlx]

yeah some places might have it, but i have tried 6 separate places in ban tai this week that did not. one was the big white house next to wat po. there are some near wat khao tom. and there are a couple down on the beach side.

[sbk]

I guess I meant its not that they can't get a DSL signal, its possible to get it in Ban Tai but many places do not already have DSL and/or phone lines in place and if no phone lines are available for that area then it is not possible at all. But there is most definitely ADSL signal in Ban Tai.

PS Wat Po is in Ban Nok not Ban Tai

[MickeyHolland]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the input but i still not understand what the different possibilities are for getting an internetconnection on the island and what the requirements are for each possibility.

Anyone who can shine some light over this please ??

Thanks !!!

[sbk]

OK, there is DSL, which requires a phone line and a signal. Thong Sala has the strongest signal but as girlx and I both listed other areas, it is available in other places. Not many houses for rent will have a phone line or may not even be able to get a phone line, so that is something to be aware of. If it doesn't have a phone line but you can get one for the house (like near to Thong Sala which is TOT and phone lines are readily available) then you will have to pay to get the phone line in. I think stevethongsala paid a thousand baht or so to get his phone line in (again he was TOT) TT&T prices will vary as to how far the phone box is from the house. From there you sign up for a DSL account which runs about a 1000 baht a month or so.

No point in going with a dial up connection since you need it all the time and dial up here is horrible.

Then there is mac.wheeler's CAT CDMA solution, which if you read the post I linked to, can be used anywhere on the island. Its not as fast as DSL but way better than the dial up, requires no phone line, no phone line installation etc.

Then, the final and most expensive solution is a dedicated CAT DSL line to your house. You would need to talk to the CAT guy in the main Post Office in Nathon in Koh Samui about where it is available, but it is possible in Ban Kai as well as Ban Tai and Thong Sala. Other areas I don't know about so you'd have to ask the CAT guy. I am not sure what the installation costs (not too expensive tho) but the monthly internet fee is 2500 baht. This is a very high speed line.

Hope this helps clear up any confusion

[MickeyHolland]

Thank you !! Much clearer now..

I send mac.weeler a message but no response yet..

His solution would be the best for me i guess..

Is this CAT CDMA something you can buy and install on your laptop anywhere ?

Or is it something he created himself ?

I looked on the internet about this but there is very lttle to find..

[sbk]

Read through this thread here where mac talks about his connection Does Anyone Have The Number For The Cat Shop On Samui?

[anthos]

btw there was no cat cdma coverage on tong nai pan up to this January

other beaches ok

[sbk]

Well, it looks like there won't be a CDMA option anymore ....

CAT Telecom Ready To Abandon CDMA, Mobile network will switch over to GSM

[Prasert]

CAT Telecom is at this moment working on ADSL (and later this year SDSL) on Phangan. The manager from CAT Samui told that initially they will provide CAT Hinet, 2Mbps down and 800kbps up for 2800 per month (exc VAT), setup fee 3500 baht (exc VAT). Contention ratio 1:10 !

This should have been completed 3 weeks ago, but they ran into the same problems TOT is having, so the technical setup is being changed as they want to outperform TOT and steal as much from their market as they can.

Judging from the performance of SDSL on Samui, CAT is 4 to 5 times as fast compared to TOT on international websites (and no, I'm not talking about P2P or bittorrent but Skype / mail / webbrowsing).

Expensive option, but probably worth the money.