Fast & best price high speed internet

stopper · September 10, 2003

For those of you who are always looking for the best price high speed internet, I just signed up for the TA Express High Speed Internet ADSL Home package. Everyone has a differnet need, but for me this is the best that I have seen so far in Thailand. My new package is 512/256k for 2,300B for 30 hours. Each additional hour is 30B. I use 130 hours per month so my total monthly charge with be about 5,300B. This package includes unlimited LocalNet. My previous internet package with this same speed cost me 18,000B per month with 300MB download package back in April of this year (which I cancelled because it was too expensive).

TA Express also offers 256/128k for 1,650B per month for 30 hours with 19B per hour extra charge and 128/64k for 1,200B per month for 30 hours with 13B per extra hour. The package includes the monthly price of the line into your home, 30 hours of international internet access, and unlimited LocalNet. Before this promotion which started last month, TA was charging 1,000B per month for the LINE ONLY for 128k/64k and 1,400B per month for 256k/128k. This cost was just the line into your home and didn't include the internet service part. So you can see that the prices are dropping.

The install price is 2,000B without modem or 2,500B plus VAT for modem & installation. I paid 8,000B for install back in April for my previous package. It takes one week for install and is limited to the metro Bangkok area.

I looked at the other ISPs but this was the best for my situation. I liked IPStar because of the cheap price (3,000B for 750MB download per month) but the top speed is 256/128k and you have to deal with possible outage with the rain. I would use about 1,500MB download per month and I would pay 4,500B per month for that so it's better for me to pay 800B more for double the speed with TA Express. But if you cannot access ADSL in your area, IP Star will work for you, even on an island or on a boat.

http://www.telecomasia.co.th/taexpress/solution/index_2.html

"For information to be useful, it must be shared"

phazey · September 10, 2003

I'd just like to touch on the point about IPStar.

You can expect to see the maximum download rate to jump up quite considerably without a huge price impact. The satallite which is dedicated to service the region (Thaicom4) launches in 1st qtr 2004 (according to the last information i had) - it'll supposedly be able to cater 40gbits of data up there.

I've personally had an ipstar terminal up to 2.2mbits and know it can go quite a bit higher, but then things like reflector size come into play then....

just FYI

./P

singa-traz · September 10, 2003

Good Info Stopper.

How do they make the difference between a LocalNet (I understand by this, web site hosted in Thailand), and international access ?

How do they keep track of your Logon conenction ?

Do you have two ids ? one for localnet and one for international access ?

Butterfly · September 10, 2003

Thanks for the info. Interesting.

Still expensive. $150 per month for decent Internet coverage is not cheap.

How does it work ? do you have to get a new number from TA ? my building was NOT compatible with TA and I was told I couldn't get a ADSL line. Is that still the case ? or can you use TOT as the fixed line provider and have ADSL on the top of it ?

ADSL in Thailand is still a nightmare to setup.

singa-traz · September 10, 2003

ADSL Promotion from TOT.

http://www.tot.co.th/broadband/isdn/adsl_promote.html

The pricing may be only for the ADSL Connection, and not the ISP charges.

You then need to find the ISPs ...

stopper · September 10, 2003

TA Express has two log-in IDs, one for LocalNET and the other for international internet. Yes, $150 is expensive for ADSL but in April I was paying over $400 for the same speed. I am sure TA Express will not work for everyone. But for my needs, it works great. I am also sure that the price will continue to drop. In Singapore and South Korea you pay less than $50 for twice the speed. But can you eat a nice dinner in Singapore for under $2? That's the trade off.

Butterfly · September 10, 2003

ADSL Promotion from TOT.
http://www.tot.co.th/broadband/isdn/adsl_promote.html

The pricing may be only for the ADSL Connection, and not the ISP charges.

You then need to find the ISPs ...

Great. Thanks.

Yes but the real killer is the ISP charge.

singa-traz · September 11, 2003

But can you eat a nice dinner in Singapore for under $2? That's the trade off.

Actually, yes. You can have dinner for around two dollars in Singapore (Not everywhere, but possible).

Food is not that expensive in Singapore compare to Thailand (we are talking about Hawker Center and not restaurant ...).

Internet and Broadband access costs are doomed to go down in Thailand ... as by 2006, the Telecommunication Sector needs to be liberalised as per WTO commitment.

(http://www2.itu.or.th/coe/tm/mainframe_Bground.html, or do a Google Search with Keywords: Thailand WTO 2006 Telecom)

September 19, 2003

Thanks stopper for your info. I have a client on the moat in Chiangmai. No ADSL available. Tonight is my get into thai tech night. They know nothing.

If the cable isn't in yuor street, forget it. Wait. Ask when it is due and good luck getting an answer.

I am in the middle of a major fight with CS Loxinfo over misleading and deceptive advertising. If the cable was in the necessary streets I would change them in a heart beat. Fact is, they aren't and based on long term planning among the natives, where tomorrows lunch is well in the future, I am not holding my breath.

Wait for ADSL by all means, but don't lt your life hang while you wait. If you need high speed access for voice, forget CSLoxinfo satellite. They aren't (currently) worth a tinkers ####.

dokbua · September 21, 2003

I'm surprised nobody has mentionned Ji-Net: 128/64 kbps ADSL for 3,000B flat rate - unlimited time and traffic.

Add 500B monthly for TOT (+ 1,000B setup)

Add around 5,000B for the router ("modem")

You may think that with such a low price the service may be bad, but in fact Ji-Net works fine. The problem is TOT! TOT has a lot of problems getting their routers and networks to work, I have many daily disconnects which for my type of usage (shell access) is extremely inconvenient. Unfortunately TTT is not avialable in my area.

I'd be curious to hear of detailed experiences with IPStar (Satellite Internet).

Since the main reason for the outrageous broadband costs in Thailand is the monopoly of CAT I've been looking for alternatives such as ISatAsia. I also found a reference to Hong Telecom providing satellite internet service to Malaysia which could probably be picked up in Thailand. I'm sure there must be other alternatives. Anyone who can add anything to this?

September 21, 2003

I looked at the other ISPs but this was the best for my situation. I liked IPStar because of the cheap price (3,000B for 750MB download per month) but the top speed is 256/128k and you have to deal with possible outage with the rain. I would use about 1,500MB download per month and I would pay 4,500B per month for that so it's better for me to pay 800B more for double the speed with TA Express. But if you cannot access ADSL in your area, IP Star will work for you, even on an island or on a boat.

That's fine (IPSTAR) if you don't want to use VoIP, which appears to be filtered out. Something to do with CAT I believe.

As a service it works well though, for everything else.

monty · September 29, 2003

I use IPTV from CSLoxinfo as I don't have any serious uploading needs. At 1500 Baht/month for 750 Mb it's certainly worth the money. They almost always provide their advertised 256k download speeds. Biggest drawbacks is losing your connection when it rains. You can however always fall back on your modem by just disconnecting your VPN link to netturbo. A possibility you obvious don't have with IPSTAR.

MaiChai · September 29, 2003

When is Takins new satelite going up? I was led to believe it would offer broadband both ways (unlike the current offering; download only).

It only a matter of time before broad band is available in Thailand. A lot of people want it (including Thais), and it has become defacto standard in the UK now.

Question is how long will CAT/TOT drag their heals before they start offering it at a decent price? Me thinks more competition in the domestic market would get things moving.

Thailand can't be seen to be lagging behind the rest of the world in terms of technology. You would think Taksin and co would be pushing it? Whats the point of giving people cheap PCs if they spend all day waiting for websites to load on dialup?

phazey · September 29, 2003

When is Takins new satelite going up? I was led to believe it would offer broadband both ways (unlike the current offering; download only).
It only a matter of time before broad band is available in Thailand. A lot of people want it (including Thais), and it has become defacto standard in the UK now.

I've heard (from an educated source) that Thaicom 4 (iPSTAR) will be up 1st quarter next year. That was a while ago so may not be entirely accurate.

Ipstar is 2 way, always has been, and so was the first vsat service (forgot the name, but cscoms done one with Gilate equipment). Perhaps you are thinking of the CScoms ubc-satallite return system.

AFAIK, there is "broadband" in Thailand, *DSL, Wireless and VSAT...sure its not mbits & mbits, but its faster than modem.

Cheers,

./P

francois · October 3, 2003

hi'

I had an offer from TT&T,(my line is TT&T), ADSL 128/64 @

1,400/months + ji-net @ 3,000/months all this unlimited

this a nice offer, for a line 256/128 you pay 1,900 baths/month

to TT&T, same to ji-net

but in Chiang Mai, the cable expension is a real problem

either for tv or for internet ...

patience required ::

sushi · October 4, 2003

For those of you who are always looking for the best price high speed internet, I just signed up for the TA Express High Speed Internet ADSL Home package. Everyone has a differnet need, but for me this is the best that I have seen so far in Thailand. My new package is 512/256k for 2,300B for 30 hours. Each additional hour is 30B. I use 130 hours per month so my total monthly charge with be about 5,300B. This package includes unlimited LocalNet. My previous internet package with this same speed cost me 18,000B per month with 300MB download package back in April of this year (which I cancelled because it was too expensive).
TA Express also offers 256/128k for 1,650B per month for 30 hours with 19B per hour extra charge and 128/64k for 1,200B per month for 30 hours with 13B per extra hour. The package includes the monthly price of the line into your home, 30 hours of international internet access, and unlimited LocalNet. Before this promotion which started last month, TA was charging 1,000B per month for the LINE ONLY for 128k/64k and 1,400B per month for 256k/128k. This cost was just the line into your home and didn't include the internet service part. So you can see that the prices are dropping.

The install price is 2,000B without modem or 2,500B plus VAT for modem & installation. I paid 8,000B for install back in April for my previous package. It takes one week for install and is limited to the metro Bangkok area.

I looked at the other ISPs but this was the best for my situation. I liked IPStar because of the cheap price (3,000B for 750MB download per month) but the top speed is 256/128k and you have to deal with possible outage with the rain. I would use about 1,500MB download per month and I would pay 4,500B per month for that so it's better for me to pay 800B more for double the speed with TA Express. But if you cannot access ADSL in your area, IP Star will work for you, even on an island or on a boat.

http://www.telecomasia.co.th/taexpress/solution/index_2.html

"For information to be useful, it must be shared"

Dear Stoper

I saw you comment about Asianet TA-express ADSL.

On the time you were writing this it seamed like were just up to subscribe with them? You have experience rapport to share with us?

Prices are as per 4th October still the same as you quoted:

512/256kbs fro 2'300thb + 7% VAT for 30hrs

min. contract 6 months

+ Extra 30thb/hour

+ USB Modem 2'500

+ Installation 1'000 (last month you saved on that one)

As far as I have been told as I didn't subscribed yt.

As I'm also thinking to join AsiaNet (Loxinfo seams to be dam expensive for ADSL) can you tell me if you had so far good experience with

Asianets:

- overall-service?

- Promised Kbs performance?

- outages?

- Are you also forced everytime you log-in to go through there stupid marketing home-page (same as TA's Click Easy)

Would be very nice to hear from you

Nice week all, enjoy the rain. :laugh:

Andy

Never Never land · October 4, 2003

:cool:

As you can see in http://www.unblockthailand.tk they are blocking websites. That makes the website MUCH slower beucase we have to trough the filter.

Soon www.matrikinternetcafe.tk in pratunam going to have free internet 24/7 come on by and drink some coffe i will let you know when it opens.

Never never land

kernow · October 16, 2003

I've already broadband that came with my apartment, but it blocks the port I need for my VPN connection back to my company in the UK. So I'm looking for a dial-up ISP I can use purely for VPN access.

Not interested in speed, just cheapness, can any one recommend a dial-up ISP for this purpose?

Ideally the ISP will be free with the ports too, as would also like the connection just for testing some webserving software also.

francois · October 17, 2003

ther are some good isp, in rtc connection, I use Ji-Net by now, it's going ok.

this mean, download speed 20mb/hr, which is not bad for here.

loxinfo, was not bad, but it's gooing slower by now, too many customer? may be

Ji-Net have package 88hrs for less than 500baths, don't use the 1222 phone number, it's far too slow

use the provincial phone-number instead, check this first

good surf ::

milez · October 17, 2003

After trying virtually every service provider for broadband in Thailand I am thoroughly disappointed. From what I can gather CAT (communication Authority of Thailand) holds the reigns on the network here. They even have a policy that only they can give you an ISP license. What does this mean? It means consumers get stuck paying rediculous prices for ADSL speeds that are 1/5th of the speed of connections anywhere else, including Malaysia, SG, Korea, China, JP etc. Have you ever noticed how silly slow speeds are outside the CAT network? Have you seen the rediculous prices posted for iPSTAR satellite internet feeds? have you noticed every ADSL/Cable modem provider in Thailand has the same rediculous prices. This is CAT at work.

I could rant for hours about how bad the ADSL/broadband connections are from EVERY provider in the Kingdom from every angle:

1. Service is laughable with unskilled technicians fielding huge amounts of calls from customers they have no possibility of actually helping, Thai or English speaking.

2. Getting charged by the hour on a pppoe connection which limits your bandwidth to 25k/s! My bill is in excess of $300 USD every month from TA ADSL and I have yet to download faster than 25k/s.

3. If you want to change your 'promotion' they make you pay another $2500 baht setup fee. FOR WHAT?!?! If you move locations you have to pay the setup fee again! No negotiation.

4. The guy who installed my ADSL took 6 hours with no success. He had no business setting up this rediculously simple system and had no basic networking skills whatsoever. I had it working 30 mins after he left the house.

5. Thailand is one of the only countries on the planet with no access to local public FTP's for free Linux distributions, BSD, Unix'es etc. Don't get me wrong there is a couple ftp's but they are outdated and for that reason useless. One pub even has old warez on it (this is on a major Thai ISP's FTP site!).

6. My ADSL modem cost me $10,000 baht (6 months ago). It retails in America for around $80.

7. Some really lame ISP's started blocking some ports to protect against recent outbreaks of msblaster worm. Now that everyone has patched their OS most competent ISP's have reopened those ports. This is why on my $300 USD internet feed I can no longer ping, tracert, nslookup, use my VPN back home and a miriad of other DNS issues. Do the service people even respond to me emails and phone calls? #### no!

8. 3 phone calls to my ISP's 'help desk' have yielded confusion and 'I will call you back' responses to my simple question: What is the address to your news server. No calls back.

Anyways, I could go on and on but the fact is, if your planning to work in Thailand, and you require broadband that actually IS broadband, think again. I have now started to look outside Thailand for satellite feed internet from another surrounding country that has no rediculous government sponsored monopoly on its network. I refuse to pay any more cash into this retarded and infantile local system.

The greed and selfishness of the people who have monopolized Thailands Internet market (if you can even call it that) have done terrible damage to the youth of the country. Because of their foolishnesss they have pushed the local IT infrastructure back 10+ years and its painfully apparent when you browse literally ANY Thai websites or IT businesses. Truly sad.

Please post if you have had a different experience...

thermo4 · October 18, 2003

Agree 100 %

I have now started to look outside Thailand for satellite feed internet from another surrounding country that has no rediculous government sponsored monopoly on its network.

please let us know what did you find after research.

thermo4

Luma · October 19, 2003