Wifi Mafia In Kosan Road(few Free Spots)

[BugJackBaron]

Whatdaya think?

In my weekend exploration of Ko San I was only able to find ONE

FREE WIFI spot..(Coffee World)

The rest seem to be part of a wifi mafia that wants people to subscribe to a plan.

Or am I wrong?

By the way I was, overall, impressed by Ko san..I'll start a separate thread about that.

[K9 in Krabi]

Whatdaya think?

In my weekend exploration of Ko San I was only able to find ONE

FREE WIFI spot..(Coffee World)

The rest seem to be part of a wifi mafia that wants people to subscribe to a plan.

Or am I wrong?

By the way I was, overall, impressed by Ko san..I'll start a separate thread about that.

You must be a backpacker that is from the social republic of Europe that expects everything for free, provided by the Government.

[chalks]

I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to, but perhaps it is this...

Thailand has a law that all internet users must be registered with ID and all traffic logged and tracked to that ID. For tourists this means passport. Whether there is a charge beyond that is up to the internet provider (coffee shop or whatever). There is a hefty fine attached for non-compliance, as it is designed to allow the police to track down terrorists and other nefarious perpetrators. If I remember correctly it is of the order of 500,000 baht plus jail time!

As of a year ago most internet cafe owners in Khao San were completely unaware of the law and giving access without registration. If this has changed since then then I'm surprised... it requires a substantial investment beyond the usual adsl+wifi setup to have that kind of traffic logging and tracking.

But as the above poster mentioned, perhaps you're just expecting someone else to pay for your internet without even registering, and nobody (except Coffee World) is willing to break the law to do that for you? Even with registration, a business internet package is pretty expensive here and with a lot of businesses going under or expecting to go under in the next few months it would be a tough decision for a business owner to offer free internet. (rents in Khao San are ridiculously high, so most businesses still make a loss in a "normal" low season, never mind a low low season like this. OTOH, good time to buy in a few months if you're optimistic)

(PS: that law is exactly why my company has no internet access points in Thailand, and why connecting through VPN is so painful for me to use every day)

[dillman]

Whatdaya think?

In my weekend exploration of Ko San I was only able to find ONE

FREE WIFI spot..(Coffee World)

The rest seem to be part of a wifi mafia that wants people to subscribe to a plan.

Or am I wrong?

By the way I was, overall, impressed by Ko san..I'll start a separate thread about that.

You must be a backpacker that is from the social republic of Europe that expects everything for free, provided by the Government.

You'd have a point if the rest of se asia was like that but i agree, ksr is tighter than a virgin on prom night when it comes to offering free wifi while most places Ive been in Vietnam and Malaysia are more like an aging porn star on her last leg respectively.

*I'd expect everything to be free as well with those kind of tax rates, the US is heading that way as well now.

[tw25rw]

If you have a phone that can work as a modem, you can just use a 1-2 call sim. I bought 100 hours for 350b.

[Jimjim]

I thought this thread was going to be about thieves who track secure transactions over unsecured, free wifi spots and get people's private info enabling them to steal money from people's bank accounts, etc. So, paid, secure wifi is a good thing, not a bad, man. It's not a mafia action to require people to pay for a service. Get real.

[phetaroi]

Whatdaya think?

In my weekend exploration of Ko San I was only able to find ONE

FREE WIFI spot..(Coffee World)

The rest seem to be part of a wifi mafia that wants people to subscribe to a plan.

Or am I wrong?

So let's see, when I'm at home in the U.S., I pay for my internet service.

When I'm traveling, I pay for the wifi service through the hotel nightly rate. It's not really free.

Why exactly do you feel you entitled to free internet?

[DP25]

I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to, but perhaps it is this...

Thailand has a law that all internet users must be registered with ID and all traffic logged and tracked to that ID. For tourists this means passport. Whether there is a charge beyond that is up to the internet provider (coffee shop or whatever). There is a hefty fine attached for non-compliance, as it is designed to allow the police to track down terrorists and other nefarious perpetrators. If I remember correctly it is of the order of 500,000 baht plus jail time!

As of a year ago most internet cafe owners in Khao San were completely unaware of the law and giving access without registration. If this has changed since then then I'm surprised... it requires a substantial investment beyond the usual adsl+wifi setup to have that kind of traffic logging and tracking.

But as the above poster mentioned, perhaps you're just expecting someone else to pay for your internet without even registering, and nobody (except Coffee World) is willing to break the law to do that for you? Even with registration, a business internet package is pretty expensive here and with a lot of businesses going under or expecting to go under in the next few months it would be a tough decision for a business owner to offer free internet. (rents in Khao San are ridiculously high, so most businesses still make a loss in a "normal" low season, never mind a low low season like this. OTOH, good time to buy in a few months if you're optimistic)

(PS: that law is exactly why my company has no internet access points in Thailand, and why connecting through VPN is so painful for me to use every day)

Your company must be the only one in Thailand following this 'law.' You can easily get unregistered internet by walking in to any net cafe in the country, or buy simply buying a sim card at 7-11. There are also free wifi access points all over Bangkok. Just not in Khao San Road, all them are passworded and they want you to sign up for a service. Plenty of pubs around the city offer free wifi though, and sometimes you can find open networks in other places.

[dragonfly94]

I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to, but perhaps it is this...

Thailand has a law that all internet users must be registered with ID and all traffic logged and tracked to that ID. For tourists this means passport. Whether there is a charge beyond that is up to the internet provider (coffee shop or whatever). There is a hefty fine attached for non-compliance, as it is designed to allow the police to track down terrorists and other nefarious perpetrators. If I remember correctly it is of the order of 500,000 baht plus jail time!

As of a year ago most internet cafe owners in Khao San were completely unaware of the law and giving access without registration. If this has changed since then then I'm surprised... it requires a substantial investment beyond the usual adsl+wifi setup to have that kind of traffic logging and tracking.

)

As far as I see nobody is taking any notice of this law at all, never seen any registration in a cafe anywhere in the country. Even when we got internet at home were just asked for a name and wife just gave her nick name, no ID asked for. Like many things in Thailand this is just a joke, hel_l we even bought beer at 4PM in a 7-11 last week

[PatinBKk]

If you have a phone that can work as a modem, you can just use a 1-2 call sim. I bought 100 hours for 350b.

Telewiz do the same 100 hours for 200 Baht.great connection just a little slow if you wanna send pics

[dageshi]

Gentlemen this is the chinese school of law enforcement, you have a ridiculous number of silly laws on the books that are utterly impractical but you only ever enforce them when someone pisses you off. That's why you can't go through life in most asian countries without breaking half a dozen laws because if the powers that be (or their brother in law) want to put some pressure on you they then have the means.

[BugJackBaron]

I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to, but perhaps it is this...

Thailand has a law that all internet users must be registered with ID and all traffic logged and tracked to that ID. For tourists this means passport. Whether there is a charge beyond that is up to the internet provider (coffee shop or whatever). There is a hefty fine attached for non-compliance, as it is designed to allow the police to track down terrorists and other nefarious perpetrators. If I remember correctly it is of the order of 500,000 baht plus jail time!

As of a year ago most internet cafe owners in Khao San were completely unaware of the law and giving access without registration. If this has changed since then then I'm surprised... it requires a substantial investment beyond the usual adsl+wifi setup to have that kind of traffic logging and tracking.

)

As far as I see nobody is taking any notice of this law at all, never seen any registration in a cafe anywhere in the country. Even when we got internet at home were just asked for a name and wife just gave her nick name, no ID asked for. Like many things in Thailand this is just a joke, hel_l we even bought beer at 4PM in a 7-11 last week

Quite right, I live near Victory monument and for a while

there were one or two Internet cafes recording names but now nobody cares. To answer another poster, no I am not a backpacker - just someone who happens to like free wifi spots. By the way you do have

to pay for at least a coffee or drink in such places.

To another poster - Secure internet can be free! yes, as long as you have a key.

Edited June 2, 2009 by BugJackBaron