Northern Thailand Internet Help

[irlguy1]

Hello oh wise ones

I am heading to Phayao in a few weeks and will be taking my Iphone and need to get some kind of internet sorted for the two weeks.

My girlfriend has an aircard dongle with unlimited 3g but the signal is slow at best.

Anyone know what my options if any are and where I can source it preferably in Swampy as I am stuck there for 5 hours between transfers. I also have an unlocked mifi dongle that takes a sim card so I can turn 3g to wifi but again its all down to 3g speeds and who is fastest.

Helpppppppppppppppp.

Thanks

[rod2011]

I have had some sucess with True in some of the larger towns BUT . . . . in most of Issan I got 2G at best.

[jubby]

True and Cat appear to be using the same 3G service. I've heard good things about the CAT service from a Guy out in the sticks.

Got to be close to a CAT Tower. All CAT and True offices should have access to a list of Towers . Find out if there's a tower close to you, less than 2kms. I've tracked down my closest towers and they are over 3.5 kms unfortunately. They also use an unusual frequency, I have a MIFI myself but its on the wrong frequency. Is there no one in the Village on a fixed line TOT or 3BB Internet Service who will be willing to give you there WIFI Key for a small price ?

[bahnhof]

Two weeks without e-commo. That could be paradise.

[jubby]

Two weeks without e-commo. That could be paradise.

I think so two bahnhof. Just some Sticky Rice, and some Egg Omelete is all he really needs. spend the day fishing in the Local Klong and the evenings catching Grasshoppers to deep fry for breakfast.

[mistephenso]

irlguy1,

You are going to struggle (badly) if you are expecting good '3G' coverage anywhere in Phayao (or outside the very centre of any large city in Thailand, to be honest) while using a dongle I'm afraid.

You don't mention where you are staying in Phayao? Is it fairly close to the centre of town (Amphur Muang) or further out...?

My wife uses DTAC to get online when she isn't using our wifi connection and it's not too bad. However, downloading large files could be a problem for you!

You can check out DTAC coverage here; with TrueMove coverage here (they do not cover Phayao by the looks of things) and AIS coverage here. Things may have improved a bit since those websites were last updated (which could be years ), but I wouldn't expect them to have changed that much?!

Like Jubby says, if you can 'piggyback' someone's wifi connection you will be much better off. Also, Chiang Muan (which is part of Phayao province) appears to have the highest number of DTAC phone masts for reasons unknown to me - maybe you should stay around that area to get a good signal??

Hope this helps a bit. If you are in the centre of town and need a decent internet connection for a short time (to get large emails or other files), it would almost be worth you visiting one of the internet shops and throwing them 20/40 baht to use their wifi connection for 20 minutes or so...?

Have fun anyhow...

[ripstanley]

I am in a village on the other side of the lake to Phayao town. I use TOT but have a back up DTAC aircard. It works where I am. It is a bit slow compared to TOT but it does work.

[ripstanley]

I forgot to say that there are many internet shops in Phayao. It is very cheap to use them.

[irlguy1]

irlguy1,

You are going to struggle (badly) if you are expecting good '3G' coverage anywhere in Phayao (or outside the very centre of any large city in Thailand, to be honest) while using a dongle I'm afraid.

You don't mention where you are staying in Phayao? Is it fairly close to the centre of town (Amphur Muang) or further out...?

My wife uses DTAC to get online when she isn't using our wifi connection and it's not too bad. However, downloading large files could be a problem for you!

You can check out DTAC coverage here; with TrueMove coverage here (they do not cover Phayao by the looks of things) and AIS coverage here. Things may have improved a bit since those websites were last updated (which could be years ), but I wouldn't expect them to have changed that much?!

Like Jubby says, if you can 'piggyback' someone's wifi connection you will be much better off. Also, Chiang Muan (which is part of Phayao province) appears to have the highest number of DTAC phone masts for reasons unknown to me - maybe you should stay around that area to get a good signal??

Hope this helps a bit. If you are in the centre of town and need a decent internet connection for a short time (to get large emails or other files), it would almost be worth you visiting one of the internet shops and throwing them 20/40 baht to use their wifi connection for 20 minutes or so...?

Have fun anyhow...

Thanks mate for all that info ,I kinda expected the answer. I am heading to Chun so reckon I got no hope lol. My fianc饠has the 3G air card and gets signal enough to email and do Facebook etc so I won't be stranded but I am so conditioned to having my wifi and a serious amount of bandwidth here at home that I panic when without 555

Every other time I have been over its usually in a city or close to city this is my first visit to her family home so will just have to suck it up.

[irlguy1]

I forgot to say that there are many internet shops in Phayao. It is very cheap to use them.

Not in Chun 555