.

I know this subject has been l-o-n-g debated in the Forum, but I'd really like to have the *latest* info, because the info/situation changes (or seems to change) from month-to-month.

I'll be moving permanently to Chiang Mai at the end of the year, and I'd like to have a land-line internet connection at home for e-mail, world news, and You Tube. [if I were greedy I would also include streaming of NFL games].

Could you please tell me *this* month's recommendations ? ( - I intend to pass on your recommendations to my Thai in-laws, so that I will already have a working system in place when I arrive).

As always - where are you? People near you will give you the low down - CM is too big a place to give anything meaningful.

As always - where are you? People near you will give you the low down - CM is too big a place to give anything meaningful.

I'm sorry for not being sufficiently specific -- Baan Wangtan.

I've recalled good times with 3BB Premier. I changed to True Internet 50Mbps now and don't see how a typical speed is faster. 50Mbps I'm currently using shows its superiority only when I use download managers and torrents.

I live near Ban Wangtan - Friends have 3BB which they say is good - I have ToT (mostly because I'm tied ion with the phone as it's a business number and don't want to pay for two lines) which is OK, but gets really hit at that 6pm-11pm slot when everyone is home from work and downloading. True has been doing a lot of work in the area lately with new boxes and advertising etc - if I had a choice to move I would go True now.

Yes, this topic has been long debated and the answer never seems to change -- ask your neighbors, because the quality of internet varies by neighborhood. Also, everyone I know who has to have 100% reliable service has more than one internet service provider. There was a time when we had both the AIS dongle thingy plus a True line running into the condo and, boy, that was really convenient. AIS was an expensive way to go, but when True was down it was very handy to be able to use the AIS dongle to stay connected with the outside world. Eventually, we gave it up, especially once we discovered a restaurant a few paces from our condo has good, free wifi for the price of a beer or smoothie and they aren't using True!

It depends exactly where you live but in my opinion if you want a strong reliable internet then buying a fibre optic connection is the best option. If you do not intend to stay in one place a long time, this option is not cost-effective. i can only use TOT where I am and a 20 Meg fibre optic connection gives me a constant 20-22 Meg.

It really depends on why you need the internet . If it's to watch Youtube, answer personal emails, check Facebook postings from friends, keep up with World news -- then I'd say you don't really "need" the internet -- you're just seriously hooked and you can get by with signing up for a couple of 800 baht/month services so if one goes down, you have the other.

Otherwise, if you run an internet business, do on-line trading where seconds count, conduct business meetings on-line, build websites, develop videos, etc -- then you have a serious need to use the internet and should install a fiber optic line.

Last year I lived in Jed Yod, now I live a bit south of Baan WangTan. Had 3BB in both places and it's been shockingly reliable. Around 1000B/month. The bandwidth isn't super high, something like 10-12Mb, but reliability is far more important to me. Can recall only one outage that lasted more than an hour.

Having a backup connection is the key, and ideally it's a 3G data connection. Personally I just use a 400B/month prepaid data plan for my phone with DTAC. Power goes out, tether my phone to the laptop, send out that important email while sitting in the dark.

Many thanks to all of you for taking the time to reply to my question.

- I now have a better idea of the options available to me.