Internet Connection

[nicelee808]

Hello,

Has anyone got any recommendations to how I would recieve the internet in a remote village in the Isaan area, the cheapest options would be better, my wife says there is a telephone box in a nearby village but not in our village, I would Imagine that there must be some sort of connections in our village, but not sure about this at the moment.

do i need a land line or satelite? who are the suppliers? what are the average rates for broadband?

Any info would be great.

Lee

[sbergin]

ToT IpStar satellite service (2Mb) will probably be the best you can do.Go to the ToT website...

[klikster]

ToT IpStar satellite service (2Mb) will probably be the best you can do.Go to the ToT website...

I suffered for 2 years with IPStar. It is expensive as hell and -- good 5% of the time, terrible 75% of the time, and down the other 20%.

If you have a CAT tower nearby, go to the CAT office and sign up. Better most of the time --and cheaper all of the time -- than IPStar.

"EDGE" system is next best, IMO.

[Gers1873]

DTAC. True, and others have 'aircard' options which are simple to install and use. If you only require access for browsing and email you should find these options sufficient. I believe they all use EDGE network technology.

Google 'aircard' and your choice of provider.

Good luck

[wpcoe]

I would second the idea of "mobile internet" options from True, DTAC, or AIS. (CAT, TOT, too?)

If you can get at least EDGE speed now, that's a good start. Hopefully, if you are not in TOO remote of an area, you can look forward to faster 3G speeds in the future. Coverage areas for 3G have been expanding rapidly in the last year. e.g. Map of TrueMove 3G (Click on the area map closest to where you are, and then you can zoom in/out and move the map by dragging it to adjacent parts of the country.)

If you are not familiar with how it works, you buy a mobile phone SIM which includes internet access. Then you buy a USB thumb drive-type device (often called a dongle or air card) and put the SIM in it. After installation, you use that USB device like a modem. OR, with some mobile phones, you can put the SIM in the mobile phone and use the phone as a modem -- it's called "tethering" -- either via WiFi or a cable between the mobile phone and your computer.

[jacnl2000]

I would second the idea of "mobile internet" options from True, DTAC, or AIS. (CAT, TOT, too?)

If you can get at least EDGE speed now, that's a good start. Hopefully, if you are not in TOO remote of an area, you can look forward to faster 3G speeds in the future. Coverage areas for 3G have been expanding rapidly in the last year. e.g. Map of TrueMove 3G (Click on the area map closest to where you are, and then you can zoom in/out and move the map by dragging it to adjacent parts of the country.)

If you are not familiar with how it works, you buy a mobile phone SIM which includes internet access. Then you buy a USB thumb drive-type device (often called a dongle or air card) and put the SIM in it. After installation, you use that USB device like a modem. OR, with some mobile phones, you can put the SIM in the mobile phone and use the phone as a modem -- it's called "tethering" -- either via WiFi or a cable between the mobile phone and your computer.

Maybe this tip will save some money. In stead of an usb dongle, I would consider buying a simlock free MiFi router like the newest Huawei E586 to create a mobile hotspot for all of your WiFi devices up to a maximum of five. Currently I have only seen excellent reviews. Your WiFi devices especially at home in your village will not only be capable of all sharing the use of only one single sim card but you will also have a connection e.g. inside your car and to a provider indepent of what’s happening on each of the via WiFi connected devices. It prevents also buying more usb dongles. Believe it or not, but that is important especially for those machines which are running an in my opinion a still much too sensitive Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bits operating system and have been connected to the internet via usb dongles. I do have one Acer laptop over here which stopped in the middle of december 2011 to acccept usb dongles (giving me while setting up a dialup connection constantly error 720 messages when registering the computer on a providers network), but via the same usb port (then not a dialup, but second lan connection) and/or via wiFi is still working wonderfully well in close cooperation with the MiFi E586. Resetting all network interfaces does not seem to help that laptop. It probably needs a complete reinstall of the operating system for getting usb dongles to work again (having only recovery disks but no suitable restore points) or need professional help from the Microsoft helpdesk. That is the main reason I have switched over from usb dongles to the MiFi E586. Now I feel less urge to solve the error 720 problem immediately on that laptop and have time to wait for future system updates. Just a tip, nothing more.

[terryq]

Its ok talking about dongles, tethering etc but the op did not say if any mobile phone service was available in his village.

If it is, which providers signal is the strongest ? and if not how far away is the nearest tower. An external antenna on an aircard may be possible but probably best to borrow equipment for a test before buying things.

IPStar is a possibility or two miles of wet string to the nearest phone box.

[nicelee808]

Thanks for input everyone,

you can get a mobile signal in the area, but my plan is to have the internet in the home for up to 4 or 5 computers, I have been to the ToT website but the satelite internet for my requirements seems to be around 3000 bt per month for an average speed, I think my best bet is to hope that I can get a landline for around 200-300 bt a month plus an average to hi speed internet for up to 5 computers for a further 600-700 bt per month. any further input would be great.

Lee

[Satcommlee]

There's no real need for Satellite (VSAT) in Thailand unless you are off the cellular networks.

I was very surprised to find High Speed 3G in the wifes village in the middle of nowhere.

If you need very high quality or high speed internet, it may be cheaper to move house.

[nikster]

If you're in a remote village and there's a telephone box in the next village...

- CAT CDMA might be there (They're everywhere even in very unlikely places. Everywhere except Bangkok that is, but that's another story)

- True-H might be there as it's run by CAT. Very fast 3G but has a usage cap of 2GB / month- so no downloading torrents. Then again, you couldn't even download that much data on EDGE or Satellite so no loss in this regard. CAT CDMA is truly unlimited but quite a bit slower than True H.

- Check whose telephone box this is - probably TOT but maybe CAT - and ask at their office if they can do a line to your house. DSL works up to 5km from the box.

- Generally - go to the nearest TOT office and *ask*. Here in Pai TOT offers fiber optic connections which they will feed to your house, you just have to pay for the cable; which costs a few baht / meter. And fiber works up to 20km from the exchange so that's a pretty good distance.

Forget about the satellite - pretty much anything is better. AIS / Edge will be better & there are ways to make it into a WiFi hotspot.

On Mac and I think also Windows 7, you can plug a USB card into the computer, then make the computer act as a WiFi hotspot for all other devices. Macs have WiFi built in, a in a desktop Windows PC you might have to install a cheapo WiFi PCI card. Then there are dedicated WiFi routers that accept a USB dongle and make a local WiFi network. You have quite a few options.

Forget about satellite. It's very expensive and works very badly.

[nicelee808]

thanks nikster,

some useful info there, will check the nearest phonebox to find supplier, its only about 3km away, so hopefully wont be too expensive to get connected.

Lee

[BlackJack]

is there a device like an outside arial that can connect to a 3g modem (if there is one) and then feed the main computer in my house

I am in Pattaya

the reason is that i pay 2 x ADSL and then the 3g package and its approx 2000 baht per month

I am sure i dont need both if i can hook up the arial, modem for home

then when i am out i can connect via my nokia as it shows 3.5g on it.

any advice

[bobl]

Then again, you couldn't even download that much data on EDGE or Satellite so no loss in this regard.

Nonsense. With a little determination you could do 30Gb/month on EDGE.