Cable Tv/adsl Services - Combined?

[Steve2UK]

Hi all. I'm about to rent (sub-lease) a house in the old city for about 4 months. Apparently there is an existing landline telephone but no ADSL or cable TV service; I want both while I'm at the house and the main lessee wants to keep the ADSL service when he returns to take back the house, but he won't want the TV service.

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend which of the available services to go with..... either as a combined cable TV/ADSL package or separately (e.g. presumably it would be possible to upgrade the telephone landline to ADSL?). Regarding the ADSL, I'm not looking for super-fast - anything generally around 512 download would be fine

Given that it's only short-term, I'm not too bothered about the cost as long as it gets me a good package of TV channels (range of English-language or sub-titled movies, documentaries, BBC/CNN etc news channels with the usual Thai channels - I'm not bothered about sport).

Can the cable (TV) services be contracted on a monthly/quarterly basis - or only annual? I'll be moving to another long-term rented house (when I find one) after this short-term rental - could I/should I take the contract with me?

Thanks in advance for any helpful comments.

[p1p]

You can certainly upgrade your telephone to ADSL. Just contact the company concerned. TOT seem to have the best deals at present.

UBC Satellite is easy to install and can be taken with you when you move. Contact their office next to Electronic Plaza.

Cable TV is not as easy to install or take with you.

[Steve2UK]

p1p - thanks for the satellite tip.......... sounds like a useful/versatile way to go. Am I right in thinking that a decent-sized dish in Chiang Mai can pick up a range of signals according to (possibly motorised) alignment and relevant decoding?

[The Dan Sai Kid]

You can certainly upgrade your telephone to ADSL. Just contact the company concerned. TOT seem to have the best deals at present.

UBC Satellite is easy to install and can be taken with you when you move. Contact their office next to Electronic Plaza.

Cable TV is not as easy to install or take with you.

From what I've seen of WETV you're better off with Thai TV!

[Steve2UK]

You can certainly upgrade your telephone to ADSL. Just contact the company concerned. TOT seem to have the best deals at present.

UBC Satellite is easy to install and can be taken with you when you move. Contact their office next to Electronic Plaza.

Cable TV is not as easy to install or take with you.

From what I've seen of WETV you're better off with Thai TV!

WETV?

BTW - is it true that the satellite pic breaks up any time there's significant rain?

[The Dan Sai Kid]

You can certainly upgrade your telephone to ADSL. Just contact the company concerned. TOT seem to have the best deals at present.

UBC Satellite is easy to install and can be taken with you when you move. Contact their office next to Electronic Plaza.

Cable TV is not as easy to install or take with you.

From what I've seen of WETV you're better off with Thai TV!

WETV?

BTW - is it true that the satellite pic breaks up any time there's significant rain?

WE-TV is the local Chiang Mai cable company - aside from the news channels it is very low quality - it is only 350 a month - but IMHO it's a big pile of poo!

[too true]

When WETV first came out it was better, I think. But since then, they've been slowly replacing their English channels with crap Thai channels.

Does anyone know anything about what seems to be the new UBC package? 340 baht/month? We got a flyer about it a while back, but I'm wondering if anyone's tried it, or knows anyone who has? And, it looked like there might be a new cable company out on Mahidol road. Magic cable, or something like that? We're definitely looking for a new cable provider. The regular UBC package is a bit expensive for us, but anything's gotta be better than WETV these days.

Cheers,

TT

[Ajarn]

You can certainly upgrade your telephone to ADSL. Just contact the company concerned. TOT seem to have the best deals at present.

UBC Satellite is easy to install and can be taken with you when you move. Contact their office next to Electronic Plaza.

Cable TV is not as easy to install or take with you.

From what I've seen of WETV you're better off with Thai TV!

WETV?

BTW - is it true that the satellite pic breaks up any time there's significant rain?

Yes, sometimes even before it rains, or if there is significant cloud cover...

[meadish_sweetball]

p1p's advice about TOT for ADSL is spot on for your situation.

For long term stayers anywhere from Nimmanheimin down to the river, TRUE cable modem is the way to go - but you are only there for a short time and so will not benefit from the 2000 baht + installation fee. So for you, ADSL will be better, and TOT are currently giving more bandwidth for your money than TT&T.

[Ajarn]

For places along Mae Jo road, the information I got this morning from TOT is that there is a two -month wait for ADSL service...

[tigerbeer]

For places along Mae Jo road, the information I got this morning from TOT is that there is a two -month wait for ADSL service...

hope the two month wait includes an upgrading of their servers. otherwise its just a wait for congested internet surfing.

[Ajarn]

For places along Mae Jo road, the information I got this morning from TOT is that there is a two -month wait for ADSL service...

hope the two month wait includes an upgrading of their servers. otherwise its just a wait for congested internet surfing.

C’est la vie, I know it'll be faster and cheaper than my dial-up!

[p1p]

p1p - thanks for the satellite tip.......... sounds like a useful/versatile way to go. Am I right in thinking that a decent-sized dish in Chiang Mai can pick up a range of signals according to (possibly motorised) alignment and relevant decoding?

Sorry to take a while to reply. My TOT went down for a couple of days!

We currently only use UBC, but are considering moving to a motorised system. However, from what I have seen, the non-UBC systems offer a huge number of channels in Chinese, Bhasa, and other local languages, but not much in English.

When WETV first came out it was better, I think. But since then, they've been slowly replacing their English channels with crap Thai channels.

Does anyone know anything about what seems to be the new UBC package? 340 baht/month? We got a flyer about it a while back, but I'm wondering if anyone's tried it, or knows anyone who has? And, it looked like there might be a new cable company out on Mahidol road. Magic cable, or something like that? We're definitely looking for a new cable provider. The regular UBC package is a bit expensive for us, but anything's gotta be better than WETV these days.

Cheers,

TT

We used to use WETV in our restaurant in town. It was very good value and equivalent to UBC. Haven't seen it for a year though, so things may have changed.

I have Thai friends who use the cheap UBC package. From what I have seen, it is not for me as none of the channels I normally watch are available. The children like Cartoon Channel - Not Available. Documentary Channels, (NGC/History/Animal Planet/Discovery) - No. Most film channels and my preferred current afairs channel are blocked too.

C’est la vie, I know it'll be faster and cheaper than my dial-up!

That is certain. Hope you can get it soon.

[Diablo Bob]

For places along Mae Jo road, the information I got this morning from TOT is that there is a two -month wait for ADSL service...

Ajarn

I am looking at a place out at Land & House on Maejo Rd. Are you aware of any ADSL service in this area?

[Ajarn]

For places along Mae Jo road, the information I got this morning from TOT is that there is a two -month wait for ADSL service...

Ajarn

I am looking at a place out at Land & House on Maejo Rd. Are you aware of any ADSL service in this area?

Not sure, but I'd assume about the same situation as mine. Land & House is just past my muubaan.

Maybe T&T has something I'm not aware of...

[Steve2UK]

Many thanks to all for their input........

On the TV side of the equation, it seems to boil down down to a choice of a] getting a dish and be able to take it with me when I move after 3-4 months - but put up with a poor signal when the weather interferes and not get much else of interest in addition to UBC or b] bite the bullet and pay the cable TV installation fee even though I'm out of there at the end of September and the regular occupant doesn't want ANY kind of TV when he moves back in......

Reading the other "ADSL in CM" thread in parallel with this one, it looks like TOT is the way to go for my long-term ADSL needs when I move to a near-permanent house. Short-term, I'm probably in the hands of the landlord to upgrade the existing phone line.

Once again, many thanks all.

[sleepyjohn]

Hi Steve

welcome it seems you made it.

Don't pay too much attention to the rain stopping the UBC signal.

In my experience the downtime is only in the very worst weather.

Sleepyjohn

[Steve2UK]

Hi Steve

welcome it seems you made it.

Don't pay too much attention to the rain stopping the UBC signal.

In my experience the downtime is only in the very worst weather.

Sleepyjohn

Hi again SJ,

Haven't made it quite yet - still have about 5 weeks of renovations to my UK place to see through but hoping to start rooting in CM by about mid-June

I quite like the idea of surfing strange channels (i.e. via a motorised dish) even if I can't follow the languages 100%. I'll look into this a bit more online and maybe post in the "Internet etc" sub-forum to get a better idea of what's available in LOS - presumably not much different in CM compared to the south - BKK etc?

Meanwhile, if any CM-based satellite afficonado's have any comments/tips about which supplier or package to go with, I'd appreciate getting them.