Advice Needed On Internet

[Troyron]

Hi guys and gals,

moving to Bkk within a month, and are in need of an internet line that is quick enough to give stable signals for running skype to Europe and uploading large documents (10 MB). What up load speed would you recommend and maybe you have a provider that you are happy with. Download speed must also be above 10MBps.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

PS! Is there any company out there that provides both tv and internet, maybe true fiber optic?

cheers

troyron

[Troyron]

Thinking of using skype for video meetings with clients, so its important that the quality is alright. And therefore the need for a high up load speed.

[ExpatOilWorker]

You can get a 10M/1M True connection for 599 baht/month.

Is 10 MB really a large file in 2012?

[Spoonman]

Is 10 MB really a large file in 2012?

Not really, can send them via email.

[LDNBKK86]

I have True's 12 MB service. I use Skype on a daily basis and have never had any issues. I uploaded 60 GB worth of photos without any issues (it took a while but it got there in the end)

10 MB files will be easy.

Word of caution, I used to have 3BB and found that service levels were poor. The connection dropped often and speeds varied. My suggestion is the 12 MB package with True.

Added benefit is that you can also get TV (Truevision) and Mobile SIM (Truemove) all together by getting a Truelife package.

I wouldn't get the optic package, I have heard mixed reports.

(.... Make sure that when you get the 12 MB package you are actually getting 12 MB speeds, I was only getting 7 MB so I called True, they come round, played with the phone lines in the street for 10 minutes and then I got 12 MB)

[innerspace]

It depends how important the calls are on whether you want speed or quality.

We used to have a 3Mb Cat line (good quality) and a 9Mb 3BB line (poor quality) but kept having issues with skype (we run a call center).

Now we have a 2Mb fibre leased line which is 10 times better than either of the others (admittedly 10 times the cost).

For skype quality and latency are important, not speed. 128kbps is plenty speed for skype.

Downloading documents speed is not that important, unless you get onto 100MB+ files.

With uploads most providers give a far inferior upload speed unless you take their top packages.

Have a think about your requirements based on this, your priorities may be different to your initial perception.

Having been in your situation I would take a slower quality line over a fast unstable one anyday.

[CharlieH]

BE WARNED ! as with most things in Thailand what is stated can vary from area to area and sometimes within a hundred yards so its entirely dependent on your final and actual location.Just because its available doesnt mean you'll be able get it.

Edited February 19, 2012 by CharlieH

[Pib]

BE WARNED ! as with most things in Thailand what is stated can vary from area to area and sometimes within a hundred yards so its entirely dependent on your final and actual location.Just because its available doesnt mean you'll be able get it.

BE WARNED ! as with most things in Thailand what is stated can vary from area to area and sometimes within a hundred yards so its entirely dependent on your final and actual location.Just because its available doesnt mean you'll be able get it.

Yeap, a plan that rocks in one part of town can suck in another part of town. Getting good internet service in Thailand can be somewhat of a crap shoot. I'm been on the True Cable (DOCSIS) 20Mb/2Mb plan here in western Bangkok for 8 months now...been very happy with the speed and reliability. It does streaming video and VOIP just fine since I get steady, consistent throughput which is critical to streaming video/VOIP. True cable internet plans range from 7Mb to 100Mb download speeds, but to most international sites don't expect the international speed on the 100Mb plan to be any better than the 7Mb due to True throttling/international bandwidth limitations....all Thai ISPs have this international bandwidth issue. And when it comes to ping time/latency even if you got a 100Mb plan, it's still going take 200ms and up for round trip internet electron travel to the US/Europe until we can overcome the speed of light barrier and signal delays.

My True internet connection has only went down two times for a total of 12 hours. First time a few months after I got the cable TV & internet service from 10am to 6pm...both the TV and internet signals were dead...True said it was a wide-area outage and being worked...at 6pm both the TV and internet came back on. Second time about two weeks ago when only the internet signal went down from 2-6pm...called True...they took the troublereport...at 6pm the internet stared working again. In late 2011 during the floods when I had 50cm to 1.5 meter high flood waters in my moobaan for about 4 weeks the cable TV and internet never went down....can't say the same for the TOT ADSL internet many of my neighbors still had since the near-ground level junction boxes got flooded....no ground-level junction boxes for cable TV/internet....all electronics high all the pole at least in my moobaan. Yeap, knock on wood, I've been very happy with my True cable internet. Your results may vary (or my future results).

[Troyron]

Thanks guys. Plenty of good advice. I guess 10 MB is not that much, just realize many of my clients have that as a max limit for what the can recive per email. Skype will be essential for me, as I need to make allot of calls. My wife also recommends true, but who can trust gals in this kinda matters But I will look into what they have.

One question, what does Innerspeed mean with this: For skype quality and latency are important, not speed?

[Pib]

One question, what does Innerspeed mean with this: For skype quality and latency are important, not speed?

"Inter-speed" is short for International Speed in the way I've seen Thais use it. Thais will use just the first part of the word International when talking about calls to other countries, international speed to international web sites, traveling between countries, celebrities working/traveling to other countries, etc. Just a slang word for international.

For the quality and latency, quality would relate to low data packet loss/low jitter....and latency to ping time/round-trip data travel time. When it comes to streaming video and voice over internet protocol (VOIP) data flow (which all Skype is) a smooth, consistent data flow is critical to prevent pausing images, missing words/distorted words. A person could have an internet plan/connection that may pull a 5Mb average download speed when using one of those speedtest-type programs like Speedtest.net, but if that 5Mb "average" speedtest result was due to 5 seconds of 9Mb download speed and 5 seconds of 1Mb download speed that is not smooth, consistent data flow...that is jerky/spikey data flow...and unfortunately that is the kind of international data flow you get from many Thai ISPs due to their limited international bandwidth, having to go through many hops/servers to reach far off websites, etc.

Edited February 22, 2012 by Pib

[Jayman]

I have true ADSL in Pattaya 9M/1M for 899 per month. I am very happy with this service and use skype video all the time without issues. After reading that others have true 10M/1M for 599 I am calling TRUE to see if I can have my service changed. This is quite typical with Thailand that they change promotions and unless you call and ask then you will stuck with the old speeds/pricing.

EDIT: Just talked to them and the 10M/1M service is the fiber service and not ADSL and even though we have had the fiber line hanging on our pole since the middle of last year I'm told that the network is not yet completed and the service is not available in my area. Guess I will need to wait and see. I'm more than happy to switch over to the fiber service and combine the internet and cable TV into 1 plan. Would save much money in the long run.

Edited February 22, 2012 by Jayman

[Pib]

I have true ADSL in Pattaya 9M/1M for 899 per month. I am very happy with this service and use skype video all the time without issues. After reading that others have true 10M/1M for 599 I am calling TRUE to see if I can have my service changed. This is quite typical with Thailand that they change promotions and unless you call and ask then you will stuck with the old speeds/pricing.

If you are still under a 12 month contract they may not provide you the reduced price/change your plan until the 12 month contract is up, especially if they lose revenue. Varies from Thai ISP to ISP as to how they handle this...but you can be sure they are all after maximum profit.

[Jayman]

I have true ADSL in Pattaya 9M/1M for 899 per month. I am very happy with this service and use skype video all the time without issues. After reading that others have true 10M/1M for 599 I am calling TRUE to see if I can have my service changed. This is quite typical with Thailand that they change promotions and unless you call and ask then you will stuck with the old speeds/pricing.

If you are still under a 12 month contract they may not provide you the reduced price/change your plan until the 12 month contract is up, especially if they lose revenue. Varies from Thai ISP to ISP as to how they handle this...but you can be sure they are all after maximum profit.

You are correct and some will not change you but I have had both TOT reduce prices and increase speed as well as True increase my package without any issues. In this instance, it's a different service (ADSL vs Fiber) that is not yet active in my area. Once the service becomes active they will happily switch me over.