Is This Possible: 2 Bed Apartment With Kitchen And Fast, Reliable Internet Connection?

[eyver]

Hey everyone,

Is it possible at this time of year to find a 2 bedroom apartment with full kitchen (we prefer to shop and cook for ourselves) and fast, reliable internet for a month? A friend and I have been in Bangkok for the last month and are looking to move on to an island somewhere to get work done (from our computers - we work online, thus the need for reliable, fast internet). Our definition of fast internet is being able to hold a Skype video chat without any problems.

We're thinking on either Koh Samui or Koh Tao, although we're open to any other suggestions. We keep getting different responses - "the internet is too slow," "it will be too expensive" (we've been living in Bangkok for a month - don't know if it gets too much more expensive!), "you're asking too much," "oh, that's easily possible," "tons of stuff like that is available"...

Hoping to get the word from anyone who is actually on those islands and can verify if this is possible or not, and if we should trek on down that way in the next day or two!

Thanks for any tips or ideas!

[gotlost]

The apartment is no problem but the fast reliable Internet is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. We all want that in this country and it is not hear.

[eyver]

The apartment is no problem but the fast reliable Internet is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. We all want that in this country and it is not hear.

I thank you for taking the time to respond to my posts!

This is the first time I've heard 20,000 baht for an internet connection for a month, though. There aren't places that rent apartments with internet pre-wired? There aren't other ways to get internet access - for example, using a USB modem and 3G signals?

This is just the first time I've heard such a huge estimate for internet access, and I'm looking to get second opinions.

We're in Bangkok at the moment and while the internet is not very good, it is acceptable. (We can do basic, low-quality video chats on Skype.) Acceptable internet like this doesn't exist in Koh Samui or Koh Tao?

I only point this out because I understand our definition of "fast" internet may be very different from someone else's. We're looking to find an amazing place to live for the next month, and don't want to skip out on it entirely because our definition of fast, reliable internet did not match someone else's.

Again, thank you for taking the time to respond to my posts. I am going to continue being an optimist, though, and hope that someone has more information!

[smokie36]

The apartment is no problem but the fast reliable Internet is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. We all want that in this country and it is not hear.

I thank you for taking the time to respond to my posts!

This is the first time I've heard 20,000 baht for an internet connection for a month, though. There aren't places that rent apartments with internet pre-wired? There aren't other ways to get internet access - for example, using a USB modem and 3G signals?

This is just the first time I've heard such a huge estimate for internet access, and I'm looking to get second opinions.

We're in Bangkok at the moment and while the internet is not very good, it is acceptable. (We can do basic, low-quality video chats on Skype.) Acceptable internet like this doesn't exist in Koh Samui or Koh Tao?

I only point this out because I understand our definition of "fast" internet may be very different from someone else's. We're looking to find an amazing place to live for the next month, and don't want to skip out on it entirely because our definition of fast, reliable internet did not match someone else's.

Again, thank you for taking the time to respond to my posts. I am going to continue being an optimist, though, and hope that someone has more information!

You can rent a decent 2 bed house for 10-15k a month with Wi-Fi internet included in the price.....but expect to lose the connection occasionally sometimes for a whole day. When it works it is about the same as you described in Bangkok.

[NHJ]

i work in the IT field in koh samui and i can give you an advice regarding internet, before taking the house, check who's the provider, if it's TOT, don't take it, if it's TTT or 3BB(same company) and of course not sharing the connection with disturbing neighbours(p2p comes in mind) then it'll be enough for your needs.

internet isn't that bad in here, the uptime is more than 99% from the provider, the other % comes from electric power loss and isp problems.

[bluechipit]

The apartment is no problem but the fast reliable Internet is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. We all want that in this country and it is not hear.

Fast Reliable Internet is definitely here!

I was running speed-tests of 7Mb to San Franciso this morning and downloading world cup football matches from iPlayer in the UK at 800kB/s

Matt.

[bluechipit]

internet isn't that bad in here, the uptime is more than 99% from the provider, the other % comes from electric power loss and isp problems.

Definitely agree there! NHJ knows his stuff.

Our wireless systems use APC UPS's on all our routers/access points to give a minimum 4 hours of use in case of a power outage.

We're also lucky enough now to have automatic diesel generators on our primary and backup authentication servers.

Matt.

[gotlost]

The apartment is no problem but the fast reliable Internet is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. We all want that in this country and it is not hear.

Fast Reliable Internet is definitely here!

I was running speed-tests of 7Mb to San Franciso this morning and downloading world cup football matches from iPlayer in the UK at 800kB/s

Matt.

Congratulation on being in the One percent of fast and reliable Internet users. WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER 99% THAT DO NO HAVE.

[bluechipit]

Check out my signature, we might be able to help you...

Here's a download being made at 9.50pm tonight from the UK. See attached.

Matt.

[Birdman]

Congratulation on being in the One percent of fast and reliable Internet users. WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER 99% THAT DO NO HAVE.

didn't you know that? With smoke signals and Morse codes we contact our middle man and he posts using our names.

[NHJ]

one thing many people seems to ignore is the quality of the line, attenuation and snr margin, if those values are bad for any reason you'll be disconnected often or even for few hours.

just because you have a connection at the moment doesn't mean it"s gonna be rock solid 24/24, there are technical limitations/issues if your line is bad.

[bluechipit]

one thing many people seems to ignore is the quality of the line, attenuation and snr margin, if those values are bad for any reason you'll be disconnected often or even for few hours.

just because you have a connection at the moment doesn't mean it's gonna be rock solid 24/24, there are technical limitations/issues if your line is bad.

TOT & TT&T have been installing more mini DSLAM's around the island like crazy, connected with fibre optics - which has improved things tenfold The DSLAM is where your phone line ends up. Even if you have a bad SNR, say a reading of 10 (below ten and you're on dodgy ground...) a good modem like the Thomson Speedtouch 536 (I consider these the best out there) will hold the line steady.

I used to be live out a Chansuwan, Lamai and had a 4km line ran for me to my house. I had a 3mb line an SNR of 6 and ATT of 60! - With the Speedtouch it held steady even in the worst of the rain (the SNR would drop to 3 sometimes!) Remember a modem will only connect at the fastest speed possible the line can provide and a decent one will drop the line speed to cope with the SNR. It's like driving your car down a bumpy road, you'd slow down for the bumps.

One thing to check is your junction box outside, these corrode inside pretty badly due to the sea air and bad fitting. Open this up, undo the nuts, remove wires and give it a good clean with the wire brush then put it back will help. Also check your internal wiring as that's where a lot of faults lie.

If you just have a modem and no telephone, remove that adsl filter, you don't need it - it's only to filter the adsl sounds out from the phone line so you don't hear them when having a conversation.

Also DOUBLE check and I mean DOUBLE check it has the correct grounding wire connected to the centre nut and the ground wire goes down in to a grounding rod in the ground. If it doesn't, call them out to install it, or do it yourself. I can't stress enough this is essential to save your equipment in a nearby lightning strike. Also make sure your phone line goes in to the telephone surge protector of a grounded UPS before it goes to your modem - and don't let any idiot engineer remove this!

I've lost a hundred thousands bahts worth of wireless equipment because an engineer unplugged the phone line from the UPS and plugged it straight in to the modem bypassing the anti-surge. I wasn't on site when they checked the line and decided to do this. That night there was a close lightning strike (sods law!) and the surge went up the phone line in the modem, out of the modem in to a switch, then out in to 3 sets of very expensive wireless equipment. It was toast.

The firmware on the old modems wasn't great either, they used to set the ADSL modulation to ADSL2 all the time, when really D.GMT or (ITU-T G.992.5) is the most stable for connections up to 8Mb.

Changing this for clients made a huge difference, or swapping their cr*ppy modem for a Speedtouch worked wonders. The Speedtouch always selects ITU-T G.992.5

I run all my modems in bridge mode (to do the ADSL part) and have a network platform running the PPPoE which means if the line drops out, no more physically resetting the modem, the network platform remakes the PPPoE connection automatically. I also run a good quality UPS on all my modems/installs. APC is the only brand to use.

I hope this might have helped some people, the speeds here are improving all the time. These are some tests from my 8mb line outside of Thailand. I'm having 16mb lines fitted a week on Friday at a few of my new sites, so I'll drop some speed test results from them.

Matt.

[notime]

What's your budget? We have an "amazing place" here that are up-market 3 bedroom villas with private 2-person Jacuzzi and shared pool. Very centrally located in Chaweng. The Wi-Fi Internet (Premium plan with 3BB) is included in rent and it's quite fast as long as there is power in the grid keke. The only problem is that I could only offer you one house from 3rd July since we're fully booked before.

[Rooo]

Please PM OP with offers of residences.

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Bungalows, Houses & Apartments For Short & Long Term Rental - Thailand Forum