Speed Of Cable Internet Good Enough For Work?

[Gnarpjohan]

Considering going to Thailand for a six-month period to work and renting a house or apartment and working from there. For this, I need a decent enough internet connection. Basically, I need to be able to check news, mail and download pdf-files and some spreadsheets. I feel some mobile GPRS/EDGE-type solution may be too slow.

So far I have checked out some ads of apartments and houses in the Hua Hin area (which I like for living, Bangkok is not really my taste) and they often seem to be equipped with "cable internet". Is this usually a decent enough internet connection? Typical speed and reliability? Alternatively, would I be able to install a DSL connection (assuming there is a phone line already installed and that the building is located close enough to the phone station). Fiber is only available some places in Bangkok I guess?

In principle I could move to work anywhere in Thailand, but a well-functioning internet connection must be there for work.

Edit: just found a useful site here Internet in Hua Hin. Seems that there are some ADSL options there, no info on cable internet however. Premium ADSL might do the trick...

Edited January 5, 2009 by Gnarpjohan

[nikster]

Yeah, it works. Been doing it for a while now, and there are enough options available to deal with outages and such.

Depending on your needs you can just do what I do which is one DSL line, and a CAT CDMA mobile connection as backup. The CAT is almost never down, the DSL regularly is and so would not be "good enough" for work. Prior to that I had DSL and GPRS/EDGE for backup, that worked OK as well.

You could get two DSL lines from different providers for backup as well. Depending on where you move to, there might be actual decent internet connections available. Where I am it's TOT only and so DSL is pretty crappy. But business lines with TT&T or CAT have a pretty good rep here on the forum.

The advertised internet lines in apartments are useless - tried only one admittedly, but it was worse than GPRS - certainly not worth BHT 300/month. In separate houses, they might very well be DSL lines or Cable, both are pretty good.

Short answer: It can be done

[neverdie]

Forget GPRS....it is very very slow, not worth the frustration.

I have TOT internet & it is aweful. I don't know what you expect from your provider but if you like to have intermittent internet connections, go days without any internet connection AND get really poor service when you ring up to find out whats going on with it, go for TOT.

[bkkmick]

Not a very trendy thing to say on this forum, but, I use True ADSL both at home and at work (in Bangkok) and the speed's great. Very little downtime (can't remember when it was last down).

Edited January 6, 2009 by bkkmick

[Gnarpjohan]

Great guys. Will go for DSL with some wireless backup.

Does it take a long time to get DSL installed?

[Chivas]

Forget GPRS....it is very very slow, not worth the frustration.

I have TOT internet & it is aweful. I don't know what you expect from your provider but if you like to have intermittent internet connections, go days without any internet connection AND get really poor service when you ring up to find out whats going on with it, go for TOT.

Sorry have to totally disagree with the TOT connection.

As a dial up service in Khorat you are never going to get a fast connection but is totally suitable if you are web browsing,emailing etc.

Yes of course its not suitable for downloading Youtube etc etc but have a completely stable 2 hour connection, for 3 baht every time.

Chivas

[neverdie]

Forget GPRS....it is very very slow, not worth the frustration.

I have TOT internet & it is aweful. I don't know what you expect from your provider but if you like to have intermittent internet connections, go days without any internet connection AND get really poor service when you ring up to find out whats going on with it, go for TOT.

Sorry have to totally disagree with the TOT connection.

As a dial up service in Khorat you are never going to get a fast connection but is totally suitable if you are web browsing,emailing etc.

Yes of course its not suitable for downloading Youtube etc etc but have a completely stable 2 hour connection, for 3 baht every time.

Chivas

I'm not using dail up, I'm using ADSL & I can tell you from my experience in the last 6 months, it has been very painful. You never know from one minute to the next if its working or not. I'm in Bkk.

[nikster]

Great guys. Will go for DSL with some wireless backup.

Does it take a long time to get DSL installed?

Nope. Not at all.

And if you give them some extra money they'll drop all other work and come right with you

[Langsuan Man]

Don't make any decision on Internet availability in Thailand until you get here and try it yourself. If you cannot do that then determine where you are going to live and then find someone that lives in the same general area and get their take.

The differences in ADSL coverage in Thailand can be all over the map depending where you are located, the quality of the phone line, distance from the DSLAM (switching station), which company (TOT, TT&T, CAT, TRUE) services your area.

Do many more searches here at TV to get an idea of what you can run into here.

Certainly make sure that you can have reliable service before you make the jump.

I personally would never trust my livelihood on ADSL in Thailand.

Trust me, being from Sweden you will feel that you are back on dial up when you get to Thailand.

[Gnarpjohan]

Certainly make sure that you can have reliable service before you make the jump.

That seems like good advice. I'm in the financial industry and need internet for information, can live with a connection that is not super-fast but it has to be functional.

[LivinLOS]

Forget GPRS....it is very very slow, not worth the frustration.

I have TOT internet & it is aweful. I don't know what you expect from your provider but if you like to have intermittent internet connections, go days without any internet connection AND get really poor service when you ring up to find out whats going on with it, go for TOT.

Sorry have to totally disagree with the TOT connection.

As a dial up service in Khorat you are never going to get a fast connection but is totally suitable if you are web browsing,emailing etc.

Yes of course its not suitable for downloading Youtube etc etc but have a completely stable 2 hour connection, for 3 baht every time.

Chivas

ha ha ha.. Dial up TOT ?!?! As a suitable 'work' connection.. How 80's !!

Well it just shows that we need to define whats 'acceptable'.. a 5KB line speed is OK for some, but thats not working for me.. I have moved house for better net speeds before, spent 15k a month on faster net, etc etc.. I get piossed if my USA speedtests come down under 2Mbit actual measured. And stillt hats barely acceptable. TOT dialup !!!

[Pib]

Forget GPRS....it is very very slow, not worth the frustration.

I have TOT internet & it is aweful. I don't know what you expect from your provider but if you like to have intermittent internet connections, go days without any internet connection AND get really poor service when you ring up to find out whats going on with it, go for TOT.

Sorry have to totally disagree with the TOT connection.

As a dial up service in Khorat you are never going to get a fast connection but is totally suitable if you are web browsing,emailing etc.

Yes of course its not suitable for downloading Youtube etc etc but have a completely stable 2 hour connection, for 3 baht every time.

Chivas

I'm not using dail up, I'm using ADSL & I can tell you from my experience in the last 6 months, it has been very painful. You never know from one minute to the next if its working or not. I'm in Bkk.

Ditto regarding TOT internet...I'm in Bangkok also. After being on the TOT Goldcyber 2MB package for about two months I became very frustrated with the TOT speed variations...from OK-fine to very slow, especially for international web sites. I switched to the JI-NET BizConnect 2MB package about six weeks ago and although I'm paying more, my speed is now steady/fast.