What Is The Cheapest Broadband Connection In Thailand ?

[lucien62]

I'm looking for the cheapest broadband internet connection.

I'm not interested in speed since, for my opinion, here it doesn't really matter which connection you get it's always quite slower than expected/paid for.

Any suggestions ?

[Pib]

It's going to depend on what phone company provides your phone line. But most of the phone companies has a 2Mbps ADSL plan at around 490 Baht/month plus cost of phone at approx 100 Baht/month if you don't have a line already. Add 7% VAT to above costs and you have the cheapest plan that is widely available across the country.

[NHJ]

best comprise between price and speed is 3bb 4Mg for 632 baht including vat, no need to have a phone number .

[gotglue]

TRUE Hi-speed (ahem) 3mb 599 month, just been bumped up to 4mb. As you rightly say, the whole speed thing doesn't mean jack in thailand anyway. However with true you do get great technical support ( in english i might add) and they may well be the only company just now in a position to upgrade the server base if and when needed. Only downside to true is they have been known to give in to government requests on blocking sites where as other ISP's haven't....yet.

[carnac]

It's going to depend on what phone company provides your phone line. But most of the phone companies has a 2Mbps ADSL plan at around 490 Baht/month plus cost of phone at approx 100 Baht/month if you don't have a line already. Add 7% VAT to above costs and you have the cheapest plan that is widely available across the country.

3bb is very good and reasonably priced. Speed stays at 4mbps and they have good customer service and speak English.

[blanco]

I likes the CNN chanel on Tv. I likes that very much!!!!!!

[DMC1]

It's going to depend on what phone company provides your phone line. But most of the phone companies has a 2Mbps ADSL plan at around 490 Baht/month plus cost of phone at approx 100 Baht/month if you don't have a line already. Add 7% VAT to above costs and you have the cheapest plan that is widely available across the country.

3bb is very good and reasonably priced. Speed stays at 4mbps and they have good customer service and speak English.

3BB - very happy with it (4Mb / 632 Baht p/m) - . Couple of teething troubles in the 1st month (to be expected) but since then good service.

[azcrilez]

cheapest price by ISP. (excluding vat)

3bb

4Mbps 590 baht

http://www.3bb.co.th/product/adsl/4mb.php

True

4Mbps 599 baht

http://www.trueonline.com/en/package.aspx

TOT

2Mbps 490 baht

http://www.tot.co.th/index.php?option=com_...806〈=en

CAT

2 Mbps 690 baht

http://www.contactcenter.cattelecom.com/th...t_promotion.asp

[nikster]

cheapest price by ISP. (excluding vat)

3bb

4Mbps 590 baht

http://www.3bb.co.th/product/adsl/4mb.php

True

4Mbps 599 baht

http://www.trueonline.com/en/package.aspx

TOT

2Mbps 490 baht

http://www.tot.co.th/index.php?option=com_...806〈=en

CAT

2 Mbps 690 baht

http://www.contactcenter.cattelecom.com/th...t_promotion.asp

Good list. But I believe TOT adds another 100 baht for the "phone line" whether you want a phone or not. So they're probably the same price as the others in the end.

BTW I can hardly believe that 4Mbps is now the lowest speed you can get. Thailand really has come a long (long!!!) way.

[aussiebebe]

I've had True for the past 3 years and I would recommend it. True, 4Mbps 599 baht, http://www.trueonline.com/en/package.aspx

I think with 3bb you need to check whether the stated speeds apply only to Thai-based websites, as a sales girl I questioned once said they didn't.

I've always paid the same 641b (inc VAT) and True automatically increased from 2Mbps (3 years ago) to 3mbps (last year) and 4Mbsp (recently). I always use the www.speedtest.net where you can test on worldwide servers and the speed is always as-advertised. Good website; I was surprised that South Korea has the fastest broadband in the world, and never realised before that speeds of upto 160Mbps are avaliable in Japan if you pay for an optical cable connection. For some reason, a particular discussion I had with a colleague while watching 9/11 unfold on TV always sticks in mind. He insisted that to stream movies online would take 'a thousand years' and at the time, the present speeds were inconcievable. Tech develops at an alarming rate and LOS isn't that far behind, say, the US where average speeds are 8Mbsp.

[Pib]

I think what Thailand is behind when considering all the ISP providers "as a whole" in its the international bandwidth/speed and associated charges.

I based my opinion on the fact/understanding that many (not all) Thai ISPs are still milking the "cash cow"/charging high prices for good international speed because of limited competition.

It's too bad that each company providing a physical phone line (i.e., TOT, TT&T, True, etc) are not required by law to let "any" ISP provider access to that line at a non-ripoff charge. Now, the phone companies only allow certain/a few ISP providers to provide service on their lines and usually this ISP has to pay a high/healthy concessionaire cost to the phone company which significantly raises the interent plan cost. It's almost weekly that we see a news report in how the mobile phone operations (AIS, DTAC, True, etc) are complaining/challenging in court the high concessionaire/inter-network connect charges required by CAT, TOT, etc., for cell phone service, data/internet service, etc.

More competition and govt deregulation in the telecommunication industry would help a lot, however, but, This Is Thailand and it probably ain't going to happen anytime soon.

[azcrilez]

actually compared to other asian countries, I think thailand international speeds isn't that bad.

speed history from youtube

http://www.youtube.com/my_speed

Japan

Thailand

Malaysia

Korea

Singapore

Philippines

[Pib]

YouTube.com speed tests!!!...Heck, on my current TOT 4Mb package and my previous JI-NET 2Mb package it's/was rare when a YouTube video did not spend more time pausing than just playing smoothly... and I've read on the ThaiVisa forum of many, many (let me say that one more time, many) more expats experiencing the same YouTube/video streaming problem.

You sure the Korea chart is right as it shows an average speed below the world average and it's well known Korea has one of the fastest/the fastest internets in the world based on their country-wide fiber optics investments over the last decade.

A problem with many of these internet speed rankings by country is they also consider/measure/average-in the truly high speed leased lines coming from universities, businesses, government, etc., and not just the speed of the average home user. However, Speedtest.net provides several rankings which also "excludes" universities/schools, businesses, etc.

In this 4 Jun 10 link Speedtest.net (probably the best know internet speed testing site) web site ranks Thailand as number 62 out of 178 countries when "including" schools and corporations (the leased/truly high speed lines) with Korea being number 1. When "excluding" the schools and cooperations Thailand comes in number 72 with an average speed of 0.82Mbps (barely beating out Cambodia and the Philippines) while Korea is 18.88Mbps. Check out the full list/rankings at http://www.speedtest.net/global.php#0,4 Be sure to look at both lists.

And for all you expats with your 6-16Mbps high speed DSL which really works fast (and I am jealous of your speed), when considering all the locations/cities and internet home users in Thailand, you are the small, small exception in having truly fast internet in Thailand, especially for international speed. Count your internet blessings that you live in just that right Thailand city/area for an ISP to provide some high speed internet service, for in-Thailand and international web sites. Cheers.

[aussiebebe]

What's the insulation charge for 3bb? it sound remarkably good value. I forgot to mention that I have my home phone and mobile through True also, which obviously have line-rental charges

[Pib]

This probably means you have to go with a True internet plan or a ISP who has a concessionaire with True.

[Pib]

YouTube.com speed tests!!!...Heck, on my current TOT 4Mb package and my previous JI-NET 2Mb package it's/was rare when a YouTube video did not spend more time pausing than just playing smoothly... and I've read on the ThaiVisa forum of many, many (let me say that one more time, many) more expats experiencing the same YouTube/video streaming problem.

You sure the Korea chart is right as it shows an average speed below the world average and it's well known Korea has one of the fastest/the fastest internets in the world based on their country-wide fiber optics investments over the last decade.

A problem with many of these internet speed rankings by country is they also consider/measure/average-in the truly high speed leased lines coming from universities, businesses, government, etc., and not just the speed of the average home user. However, Speedtest.net provides several rankings which also "excludes" universities/schools, businesses, etc.

In this 4 Jun 10 link Speedtest.net (probably the best know internet speed testing site) web site ranks Thailand as number 62 out of 178 countries when "including" schools and corporations (the leased/truly high speed lines) with Korea being number 1. When "excluding" the schools and cooperations Thailand comes in number 72 with an average speed of 0.82Mbps (barely beating out Cambodia and the Philippines) while Korea is 18.88Mbps. Check out the full list/rankings at http://www.speedtest.net/global.php#0,4 Be sure to look at both lists.

And for all you expats with your 6-16Mbps high speed DSL which really works fast (and I am jealous of your speed), when considering all the locations/cities and internet home users in Thailand, you are the small, small exception in having truly fast internet in Thailand, especially for international speed. Count your internet blessings that you live in just that right Thailand city/area for an ISP to provide some high speed internet service, for in-Thailand and international web sites. Cheers.

My correction/clarification on the 0.82Mbps for Thailand...that was the corrrect "upload" speed; the download speed was actually around 3.88Mbps putting Thailand around number 62 in the world for download speed. I read the wrong column. I also now think these stats still include some large businesses with leased/truly high speed lines. Please note the speedtest.net web link is constantly being updated so your view may be different depending on the day/time you look at it. Cheers.

[Supernova]

my previous JI-NET 2Mb package it's/was rare when a YouTube video did not spend more time pausing than just playing smoothly...

<snip>

My experience has been the opposite. Most slow downs (if any) occur on week days during work hours; although it's very inconsistent... It happens, but not all the time. Overall, my experience streaming YouTube videos has been a positive one. I have no complaints there.

Being a longtime JI-NET subscriber, the one thing I noticed while streaming YouTube videos is a speed cap of around 60 KB/s.

[azcrilez]

YouTube.com speed tests!!!...Heck, on my current TOT 4Mb package and my previous JI-NET 2Mb package it's/was rare when a YouTube video did not spend more time pausing than just playing smoothly... and I've read on the ThaiVisa forum of many, many (let me say that one more time, many) more expats experiencing the same YouTube/video streaming problem.

my speed on youtube (true 10M)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-1fuJKHZoE

[azcrilez]

You sure the Korea chart is right as it shows an average speed below the world average and it's well known Korea has one of the fastest/the fastest internets in the world based on their country-wide fiber optics investments over the last decade.

Korea has fastest "localnet" in the world but for international speed it's not as fast as everyone thought. (and youtube's servers aren't located in korea.)

korea = fastest local net

japan = fastest internet

[Pib]

You sure the Korea chart is right as it shows an average speed below the world average and it's well known Korea has one of the fastest/the fastest internets in the world based on their country-wide fiber optics investments over the last decade.

Korea has fastest "localnet" in the world but for international speed it's not as fast as everyone thought. (and youtube's servers aren't located in korea.)

korea = fastest local net

japan = fastest internet

That explains it...thanks.