Fast Internet Connection For 3 Month Stay

[tm8747a]

Hi all,

I plan on spending 3 months in Bangkok (I'm favoring Sukhumvit area) in the near future and am not sure about how to best approach the internet situation. I'll be working remotely and need to connect to US based computers a lot, so a fast and stable connection is a must. By fast and stable, I mean a bandwidth of at least 2mbps (yeah, I know, technically bandwidth isn't speed, but you get the point) and a connection that doesn't drop all the time and doesn't keep getting slow in patches because somebody decided to download the Star Wars trilogy in 1080p. And when I say I'll be working remotely, I mean 8 hours a day, every week day, so full-time work. Budget-wise, I'm looking at around 40,000 baht/month I'd be willing to spend for apartment/electricity/water/internet.

The options I've considered are the following:

1) rent a studio with ADSL or where ADSL can be setup

2) Stay at a serviced apartment that offers internet that is fast enough

3) Find internet cafe with fast connection where I can use my laptop

4) Get some kind of Wi-Fi access (I saw True seems to offer it, but seems rather expensive, not sure if there are alternatives)

#1 would be my preferred choice, but I'm getting the impression that renting an apartment for 3 months only may turn out to be a challenge. #2 is fine too, but some of the places I've looked at don't seem to necessarily offer a fast connection, some say capped at 512kbps. I'm clueless about #3, don't know if there are internet cafes where I could comfortably work all day and that are affordable. Same for #4, I'm pretty clueless.

Any help/advice is appreciated. If you know of a place that would fulfill those requirements, I'd love to hear about it. If my expectations are unrealistic, let me know and I guess I can readjust. As for the reas, while I'm favoring that area, I basically want to be in a place where there's a lot going on, restaurants, bars, shopping, etc.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[CharlieH]

Dont forget your work permit ! or do you like fish head soup ?

[lomatopo]

I think you've already identified the options and the potential issues. Finding a 3-month rental with DSL would be challenging, and might require a large-ish deposit. Sharing WiFi presents the obvious challenges. And you don't want to hang out in an internet cafe/bar/coffee shop for 8 hours every day. And unless you are adjacent to a paid WiFi hotspot that wouldn't work. That said, smaller, family-owned/operated apartment buildings might offer a better choice, but not sure about your other requirements?

You might also add 3G to your list. With a tethered Android or iPhone, or a MiFi device you could get excellent pre-paid 3G service for ~ 500 - 1,000 baht per 30 days.

[tm8747a]

I think you've already identified the options and the potential issues. Finding a 3-month rental with DSL would be challenging, and might require a large-ish deposit. Sharing WiFi presents the obvious challenges. And you don't want to hang out in an internet cafe/bar/coffee shop for 8 hours every day. And unless you are adjacent to a paid WiFi hotspot that wouldn't work. That said, smaller, family-owned/operated apartment buildings might offer a better choice, but not sure about your other requirements?

You might also add 3G to your list. With a tethered Android or iPhone, or a MiFi device you could get excellent pre-paid 3G service for ~ 500 - 1,000 baht per 30 days.

I actually don't mind a large deposit as long as I get it back! I don't even necessarily mind paying the 3 months in advance for the right place. Do you know of any sites where there are apartments for short-term rent listed? As for the smaller, family operated apartments you mention, is there any good place to look into those? AS for requirements, they can be adapted. I'm sure everybody's always looking for beautiful/perfect location/cheap, but sometimes it's just not gonna happen. The musts are that it be safe, have good internet, and be reasonably located. The rest are nice to haves.

As for the 3G, I'd be concerned about speed and bandwidth, as well as price. I checked out some of the ones you listed in that thread, but there's no speed listed, and 3G speeds vary a lot between providers. But I will see what else I can find out, I do have an iPhone I could try to use, though I'd hate to put all my chips in that basket.

Thanks for the reply, I will continue my search, if you have any other info/ideas I'm all ears!

[keeniau96]

Deposit refunds can be a major hassle in Thailand. The 3G phone option is probably the simplest and surest for your specs.

[sulasno]

hunt for accommodation where there is a Family Mart around; 3BB wifi hotspot is availabe for 100 Baht a month at 3M download

speed is decent if you surf before 6 pm

[Nisa]

Call True Internet. You will be prompted to press a number when calling to speak to an English operator.

They can get you hooked up in a couple days after calling. They have a number of packages and specials available (http://www.trueonline.com/th/package.aspx ) and am sure can hook you in any building as long as their is a physical phone line running into the room. In addition to the prices quoted in the above link, if there isn't already an active phone number in the unit, you have to pay like an additional 100 baht.

Right now they have a 7 Mbs / 512k package for 599 a month or 9 Mbs / 1 Mbs for 899 a month. I just can't remember if there is a 1-year contract or not for these specials.

Consider too that 99% of users wouldn't see any difference between either package connecting to the US. My guess is there wouldn't even be a problem getting you hooked up in a serviced apartment that already has existing internet. Give them a call and see what they can do for a 3-month contract, it should really open up your options on where you can stay as there really is no intrusiveness to the building owner and after you leave everything is wired back to the way it was before.

[lomatopo]

As for the 3G, I'd be concerned about speed and bandwidth, as well as price. I checked out some of the ones you listed in that thread, but there's no speed listed, and 3G speeds vary a lot between providers. But I will see what else I can find out, I do have an iPhone I could try to use, though I'd hate to put all my chips in that basket.[/size][/font]

Thanks for the reply, I will continue my search, if you have any other info/ideas I'm all ears!

You could expect ~ 2.5 Mbps down and ~ 1 Mbps up on 3G, with 600 MB - 1.1 GB aggregate over 30 days for 500 - 800 baht. True have HSPA turned on on most base stations, so 7.2 Mbps max, while TOT seems to have it turned on on some base stations, so 3.6 Mbps max. without HSPA. Your iPhone would work with either True or TOT. Personally I find 3G as reliable as DSL; I have True 3G, iMobile 3GX (TOT), True DSL (3x) and TOT DSL (1x).

Call True Internet. You will be prompted to press a number when calling to speak to an English operator.

They can get you hooked up in a couple days after calling. They have a number of packages and specials available (http://www.trueonline.com/th/package.aspx ) and am sure can hook you in any building as long as their is a physical phone line running into the room. In addition to the prices quoted in the above link, if there isn't already an active phone number in the unit, you have to pay like an additional 100 baht.

Right now they have a 7 Mbs / 512k package for 599 a month or 9 Mbs / 1 Mbs for 899 a month. I just can't remember if there is a 1-year contract or not for these specials.

Contracts run 12 months with significant early termination penalties. I have my doubts if a foreigner, on a tourist visa, can sign up for True but I've been told it can be done. Of course finding a place which is already wired may be challenging, new installations can take a lot of time and cost a lot of money. TOT and True do not cover every locale with DSL. Maybe you could find a sub-let with existing DSL but the concern is that, with a telephone line, a tenant can run up a huge bill. A landlord in my area got stuck with a ~ 60,000 baht telco bill in a similar situation.

Edited June 22, 2011 by lomatopo

[tm8747a]

You could expect ~ 2.5 Mbps down and ~ 1 Mbps up on 3G, with 600 MB - 1.1 GB aggregate over 30 days for 500 - 800 baht. True have HSPA turned on on most base stations, so 7.2 Mbps max, while TOT seems to have it turned on on some base stations, so 3.6 Mbps max. without HSPA. Your iPhone would work with either True or TOT. Personally I find 3G as reliable as DSL; I have True 3G, iMobile 3GX (TOT), True DSL (3x) and TOT DSL (1x).

This looks interesting, though I think my data usage may kill this option. I'm connected via Remote Desktop pretty much all the time, and I think 1GB/month may be too little for the kind of work I have to do. I did try to look into it, found the True and 3GX sites to be a bit confusing. For TrueMove 3G, the prices seemed to be along the lines of what you stated, but under the conditions the first thing was this:

"This promotion is applicable to TrueMove Post Pay individual (non-corporate) subscribers who have bought an iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 from TrueMove or True Distribution & Sales Co., Ltd. (“TDS”) and wish to subscribe to this promotion under TrueMove sole consideration during the period from 16 January to 31 July 2011 or until stated otherwise."

So I'm not sure if I'm eligible for those kinds of prices. Guess I'll have to look some more. I did find some serviced apartments that seem to offer 2mbps or more, though I also read Tripadvisor reviews of people complaining about the internet, which is a bit worrisome to say the least.

[thedistillers]

Forget about using the Internet connection of a serviced apartment building; I've had issues with every Internet connection I tried in Thailand. I'm sure there are people who experience no issue, but it's not worth taking a risk if you are working full-time. The worst was in Chiang Mai where the string "avi" was banned (to stop people from downloading .avi movies), so you couldn't even type "David" in google as it has the "avi" substring. Awful.

I would simply consider another country. My Internet connection in Taiwan was fantastic, and I think the Internet in SK is great too.

Edited June 22, 2011 by thedistillers

[lomatopo]

You could expect ~ 2.5 Mbps down and ~ 1 Mbps up on 3G, with 600 MB - 1.1 GB aggregate over 30 days for 500 - 800 baht. True have HSPA turned on on most base stations, so 7.2 Mbps max, while TOT seems to have it turned on on some base stations, so 3.6 Mbps max. without HSPA. Your iPhone would work with either True or TOT. Personally I find 3G as reliable as DSL; I have True 3G, iMobile 3GX (TOT), True DSL (3x) and TOT DSL (1x).

This looks interesting, though I think my data usage may kill this option. I'm connected via Remote Desktop pretty much all the time, and I think 1GB/month may be too little for the kind of work I have to do. I did try to look into it, found the True and 3GX sites to be a bit confusing. For TrueMove 3G, the prices seemed to be along the lines of what you stated, but under the conditions the first thing was this:

"This promotion is applicable to TrueMove Post Pay individual (non-corporate) subscribers who have bought an iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 from TrueMove or True Distribution & Sales Co., Ltd. (“TDS”) and wish to subscribe to this promotion under TrueMove sole consideration during the period from 16 January to 31 July 2011 or until stated otherwise."

So I'm not sure if I'm eligible for those kinds of prices. Guess I'll have to look some more. I did find some serviced apartments that seem to offer 2mbps or more, though I also read Tripadvisor reviews of people complaining about the internet, which is a bit worrisome to say the least.

That covers post-paid, contract plans. You'll be getting pre-paid.

http://www.truemove.com/en/data-package-volumnbase.htm

And there are plenty of TOT options via their re-sellers, example.. http://www.iec3g.com/web/page.php?page=pro_prepaid&prepaid=

So for 428 baht (399 + 7% VAT) you get 45 days, and 3.0 GB of data; rinse/repeat.

It would help if you knew how much data you'd be pulling/pushing. Remote desktop really doesn't consume all that much data.

1 GB/199 baht http://www.i-kool.net/en/prices_pro_detail.php?pricepro_id=16&pro_name=i-Kool%201000MB%20199%BA%D2%B7〈=en

iMobile 3GX 399 baht, 2.5 GB. http://www.i-mobile3gx.com/main/3gx_prepaid1.php

Again, plenty of options.

Edited June 22, 2011 by lomatopo

[tm8747a]

That covers post-paid, contract plans. You'll be getting pre-paid.

And there are plenty of TOT options via their re-sellers, example..

So for 428 baht (399 + 7% VAT) you get 45 days, and 3.0 GB of data; rinse/repeat.

It would help if you knew how much data you'd be pulling/pushing. Remote desktop really doesn't consume all that much data.

1 GB/199 baht

iMobile 3GX 399 baht, 2.5 GB.

Again, plenty of options.

Good thing I have some guidance, because those pages are all confusing, even more so with the sometimes weird Google Translate results. 428 baht for 3GB of data??? Really? That's amazing, I could only dream of something this cheap over here. I mean, if I can just get that times 2, with 6GB a month plus the serviced apartment wifi as a backup in case I start running out of data, I should be good. Are you sure all those plans can be had without long-term commitment, without being a resident, etc.? Because this is looking pretty good.

I don't have any absolute data on Remote Desktop data usage, but I've read some people say they've had it use around 20MB for about an hour. Multiply by 8, you have 160MB per day. Multiply by 20 weekdays, you're over 3GB already, so I'd rather play it safe.

Again, thanks a lot for all the info, this is proving most educational.

[tm8747a]

I would simply consider another country. My Internet connection in Taiwan was fantastic, and I think the Internet in SK is great too.

I gotta admit I got a laugh out of this one. "Dude, what you doing going to Thailand? Just pick another country." hehehe

[wood]

Hi there,

I went through all this some 5 months ago.

I have a river side apartment which we use for 2 months each year, so the internet contract option is a non starter, believe me it's too much trouble for a short period, every shop seems clueless.

My way around this, since we as a family need to download iTunes movies, was to buy a Huawei sim modem, it picks up 3 G or the better HSPA in Bangkok, it creates a wifi access point in the apartment for 5 units (or wherever you care to take it), it is small.

It's very new in BKK so you will have a few confused looks, but it is spot on, speeds hitting 7 mbps with the movies download.

When it runs out, simply top up, no contracts, You can check out my earlier post for some detail.

It is a dream .

Also have a brand new fully furnished 2 bed 125sqm apartment on the river central BKK if it's of any interest for you, it's a good 4 star contemporary and secure place.

Pm me if you want more Info on the Mifi above.

Wood

[lomatopo]

My way around this, since we as a family need to download iTunes movies, was to buy a Huawei sim modem, it picks up 3 G or the better HSPA in Bangkok, it creates a wifi access point in the apartment for 5 units (or wherever you care to take it), it is small.

Wood

The OP has an iPhone which can be 'tethered', i.e. turned into a 5-port MiFi device. But if you need to use the phone to talk then a MiFi device is an option if you have more than one end-point (PC, tablet, smartphone) which requires connectivity. If you just have one PC then you can get a less expensive air-card.

Recommendations:

1. MiFi, Huawei E5836 (sometimes referred to as 5836s), 4,000 - 5,000 baht (Truemove sells it unlocked for 4,900), this device supports UMTS 850/1900/2100 so would work with Truemove and any/all of the TOT MVNOs.

2.) Air-card: DWM-156, 1,600 baht, this device supports UMTS 850/1900/2100 so would work with Truemove and any/all of the TOT MVNOs. Link to my review.

[DP25]

40,000 is a lot of money if you only want a studio, you can easily find what you want. You don't need to spend near that much for just a studio. Most apartment buildings have internet and you pay a small monthly fee (maybe 500 baht or so) for access to it. I've always had good speeds doing this and I download a lot of stuff (movies, Steam games, etc). Try looking around mrroomfinder.com in the area you want. Then when you get here just go around and check them out, try out their connection, etc.

Don't bother with internet cafes, that'd be miserable sitting in one 8 hours per day. Mobile just use if you decide to travel, or if you need smartphone access.

[tm8747a]

Hi there,

I went through all this some 5 months ago.

I have a river side apartment which we use for 2 months each year, so the internet contract option is a non starter, believe me it's too much trouble for a short period, every shop seems clueless.

My way around this, since we as a family need to download iTunes movies, was to buy a Huawei sim modem, it picks up 3 G or the better HSPA in Bangkok, it creates a wifi access point in the apartment for 5 units (or wherever you care to take it), it is small.

It's very new in BKK so you will have a few confused looks, but it is spot on, speeds hitting 7 mbps with the movies download.

When it runs out, simply top up, no contracts, You can check out my earlier post for some detail.

It is a dream .

Also have a brand new fully furnished 2 bed 125sqm apartment on the river central BKK if it's of any interest for you, it's a good 4 star contemporary and secure place.

Pm me if you want more Info on the Mifi above.

Wood

Thanks for the reply. This is starting to sound like a good option for me. I checked out the TOT3G site, it's as confusing as any of the Thai mobile provider sites I've seen. I saw in your other post that you mentioned unlimited data, I didn't see that option, I saw 6GB for 799 baht, which is still awesome. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place? Looks like I can't post links yet, but I'm looking under Promotions > Pre-Paid > On Net on the TOT. Will PM you regarding the apartment, though just seeing 125sqm makes me think it'll probably be overbudget for me!

[lomatopo]

I saw in your other post that you mentioned unlimited data, I didn't see that option, I saw 6GB for 799 baht, which is still awesome. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place? Looks like I can't post links yet, but I'm looking under Promotions > Pre-Paid > On Net on the TOT. Will PM you regarding the apartment, though just seeing 125sqm makes me think it'll probably be overbudget for me!

http://www.iec3g.com/web/page.php?page=pro_prepaid&prepaid=unlimitedsim

[tm8747a]

The OP has an iPhone which can be 'tethered', i.e. turned into a 5-port MiFi device. But if you need to use the phone to talk then a MiFi device is an option if you have more than one end-point (PC, tablet, smartphone) which requires connectivity. If you just have one PC then you can get a less expensive air-card.

Recommendations:

1. MiFi, Huawei E5836 (sometimes referred to as 5836s), 4,000 - 5,000 baht (Truemove sells it unlocked for 4,900), this device supports UMTS 850/1900/2100 so would work with Truemove and any/all of the TOT MVNOs.

2.) Air-card: DWM-156, 1,600 baht, this device supports UMTS 850/1900/2100 so would work with Truemove and any/all of the TOT MVNOs.

Yeah, I'll likely go the iPhone route. Might not even need to tether, I could probably set it up as a hotspot. Can't remember if they already have that feature or if it's coming up in iOS 5, but regardless I'm gonna have to jailbreak to unlock the phone and there are apps that do it, so should be easy enough. Regardless, I'll look into the other options as well, just in case. Thanks for all the info. As I was typing, just saw you provided me with yet another good link, thanks!

[tm8747a]

40,000 is a lot of money if you only want a studio, you can easily find what you want. You don't need to spend near that much for just a studio. Most apartment buildings have internet and you pay a small monthly fee (maybe 500 baht or so) for access to it. I've always had good speeds doing this and I download a lot of stuff (movies, Steam games, etc). Try looking around mrroomfinder.com in the area you want. Then when you get here just go around and check them out, try out their connection, etc.

Don't bother with internet cafes, that'd be miserable sitting in one 8 hours per day. Mobile just use if you decide to travel, or if you need smartphone access.

Yeah, on the one hand I thought 40,000 was a lot and would make things easy, but that was before I started noticing that I couldn't actually just rent a regular apartment easily on a short lease. Most of the places I've favored are service apartments and the prices I've gotten are around 40k, even for a studio. Granted, I'm looking at pretty nice places in the Sukhumvit area, I'm sure there are cheaper places but I'm kind of set on being in that part of town. I will have a look at the site you recommended, I already ran a search and the results did seem to bring up considerably cheaper options, so I'll investigate some more. Thanks a lot for the feedback.

[tm8747a]

It's been a while and I figured I'd post an update here. After doing some research, I was able to contact the manager of a serviced apartment (The Royal President) and he told me that for long-term stays like mine they could setup a direct internet connection (ADSL) in my room so that I didn't have to share WIFI with other people. Since I was looking into staying there in the first place, that settled it for me and I decided to give that a try. That way, I have the ADSL line to start with, and I can have 3G as a backup in case this doesn't seem to work out. So for anybody else with that concern, you can always try this approach, contact the manager for the place you're interested in and maybe they can accomodate you in a similar way.

[thaiphoon]

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