400,000 free wifi spots for Thailand next year

[webfact]

400,000 free wifi spots for Thailand next year
By English News



BANGKOK, Aug 10 – The Information and Communication Technology Ministry (ICT) will provide free wifi service at more than 400,000 spots nationwide by next year, the minister announced.

Anudit Nakornthap said the ICT Ministry has installed over 270,000 free wifi spots throughout the country in the last two years while 150,000 spots will be added next year with a Bt950 million budget to be allocated by the research fund of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC).

At least 7.7-10 million people will have access to the ICT free wifi and the state-owned TOT Plc has been in charge of providing wifi equipment, managing and maintaining the network.

People can register for free use of ICT’s 2Mbps wifi for a six-month period and each access lasts 20 minutes, at a total of two hours a day.

Several public and private agencies have been assigned to install the ICT’s wifi system. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2013-08-10

[TackyToo]

Tablets, smart phones for the village chiefs and here comes the next handout. Reminds me on a Bruce Cockburn song- They call it democracy. One line of the lyrics says: 'Kill the best and buy the rest.'

Edited August 10, 2013 by TackyToo

[hhiser]

Wow, Thailand seems to be trying to commit economic suicide before the ASEAN integration.

Edited August 10, 2013 by hhiser

[stoli]

Free Wi-Fi will become common throughout the world. Do you want it now, or do you want to be last to have it?

[o2eZy]

can't see it being free in australia where telstra would miss out on their usual ripoff

[geovalin]

It looks like I read this news every year since 2007.

[puukao]

The internet will be free; however, there will be a small fee to use the land. only 30 baht an hour, but you get free internet!!

[GrantSmith]

can't see it being free in australia where telstra would miss out on their usual ripoff

It's not free nor would it ever be free, it's called a government subsidy, which, in other words, is some small part of your taxes being put to use...

Unless you're not paying tax in Australia - which has sweet f*** all to do with the ICT and Thailand - then the free wifi hotspots in McDonalds, Circular Quay in NSW and Queensland Rail trains in QLD for example are, for want of a better word, free.

[hellodolly]

Sounds like a super duper can't fail idea to be implemented after they bring in a decent connection to Thailand.

In the 7 years I have been here they have not really improved a heck of a lot since the dial up on the phone lines.

I had better service in Canada 10 years ago. Watch the service deteriorate and we have to pay for them to do it. I wouldn't mind spending a little to improve it. But this bunch of nitwits want to see it deteriorate at are expense.

[jbrain]

They even can't get the paid version working properly.

[HerbalEd]

Sounds like a super duper can't fail idea to be implemented after they bring in a decent connection to Thailand.

In the 7 years I have been here they have not really improved a heck of a lot since the dial up on the phone lines.

I had better service in Canada 10 years ago. Watch the service deteriorate and we have to pay for them to do it. I wouldn't mind spending a little to improve it. But this bunch of nitwits want to see it deteriorate at are expense.

I've had a different experience. My Thai internet service has definitely improved in the past ten years. Even in the past five years. It's gotten faster and I it seldom fails anymore.

Edited August 10, 2013 by HerbalEd

[HerbalEd]

They even can't get the paid version working properly.

Mine works great. Sorry your's doesn't.

[HerbalEd]

Tablets, smart phones for the village chiefs and here comes the next handout. Reminds me on a Bruce Cockburn song- They call it democracy. One line of the lyrics says: 'Kill the best and buy the rest.'

Yeah. Just like those handout roads, traffic lights, sidewalks, firefighting, etc. It's down right socialists communism. A bunch of bleeding-heart liberals.

[sonar6ca]

I wonder when will this government ran out of BS stories?

[tominbkk]

Sounds like a super duper can't fail idea to be implemented after they bring in a decent connection to Thailand.

In the 7 years I have been here they have not really improved a heck of a lot since the dial up on the phone lines.

I had better service in Canada 10 years ago. Watch the service deteriorate and we have to pay for them to do it. I wouldn't mind spending a little to improve it. But this bunch of nitwits want to see it deteriorate at are expense.

I've had a different experience. My Thai internet service has definitely improved in the past ten years. Even in the past five years. It's gotten faster and I it seldom fails anymore.

Same here. Very fast and stable.

[lomatopo]

I'm not familiar with the specifics of this implementation here but suspect it might be straight-forward as equipping any government facility (province, district, sub-district, police, school, etc.) which currently has internet, with WiFi. Seems simple enough, and not all that costly. Assume you'd need a Thai ID, usage somewhat limited and speed/performance also limited. Not sure this announcement is indicative of the decline of civilization here?

In the U.S. some municipalities do offer free WiFi, FCC has proposed free nationwide internet (on spectrum they control) and even Google has made some in-roads with free WiFi: Starbucks, City of Mountainview, CA, Google Balloons.

Edited August 11, 2013 by lomatopo

[Payboy]

They even can't get the paid version working properly.

Nor anyone of their current 270,000 spots.

[wpcoe]

From OP: People can register for free use of ICT’s 2Mbps wifi for a six-month period and each access lasts 20 minutes, at a total of two hours a day.

I'm curious who their intended target is. Twenty minute sessions? Two hours max per day?

[Satcommlee]

I managed to get on free Wifi in Pattaya, it was through TRUE.. I have no idea where the access point was but when I connected it gave me the option to register for free Pattaya Internet.. It was only 2 Mbps but pretty handy as a back-up.

I'm convinced that unwitting TRUE subscribers are hosting this service through their routers as I was in a moo-ban where there was no logical reason to install a public access point for wifi.

[NCC1701A]

there is no such thing as "free" when the government provides it for you.

[Phronesis]

Great...my girlfriend will have even MORE access to her Facebook account.