Need the best solution for internet in the sticks

[canuckamuck]

Been up on this mountain for three years now and have been quite patient with the speed of progress. First internet here was an AIS simcard in a thumb drive, got me a non 3G data signal but was dead slow. Many sites wouldn't even open before time out.

Then I discovered the village had a USO setup sending a wifi signal my way. All I had to do was pay some money online to TOT for a 60 day unlimited account. The problem with this were assorted. As in; the headman would frequently turn it off, like every evening. and the signals would come and go, despite me being in a straight line of sight with the antennae. But it was good enough until we had that big hailstorm in April and thing went down and hasn't been fully repaired yet.

It was a tremendous challenge by the way to get them to even begin to fix it because apparently I am the only one using it. Yet TOT wouldn't talk to me about it because it wasn't mine. The headman is a nice guy, but he didn't want to have anything to do with it.

I finally pulled it down and took it to town myself. They took care of it from there but still waiting on a part to complete.

Anyhow. I need something better. I run my computer on my phone's hot spot now, and this week the signal has become intermittent.

Don't tell me about 3G, I get 3 gigs a month currently, which gets you a little more then one high def movie download and then wait a month.

A while ago a similar thread was running and one guy set he had hooked up some sort of box on a fiber optic line and was getting something like 20mb speeds. I believe he said it came from CAT. I have two fiber optic lines 20 meters from my office so I should be good to go. But if I go to CAT they look at me like my head is filled with moon cheese if I begin to describe it, and my wife isn't much of a help.

Does anyone recall the product? or failing that, is there anything out there that may bring me past 1994 era internet speed

[RichCor]

Who is providing the Fiber Optic lines? CAT, TOT, 3BB are the usual providers rolling it out.

Have you asked TOT, 3BB, etc, if they offer residential Internet in your area?

If they won't or can't wire your place up directly, you could try finding someone nearby (and in line-of-site to your house) who would be willing to let you pay for a Fiber Optic Internet subscription (with the agreement they can use what you leave over) and then purchase, install and maintain a PAIR of Wireless Outdoor Point-to-Point Ethernet Links to get it to your house.

invadeIT (a ThaiVisa Sponsor) carries TP-Link Wireless Access Point / CPE

TP-LINK 5GHZ 150MBPS OUTDOOR WIRELESS ACCESS POINT (TL-WA7510N)

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TP-LINK 2.4GHZ HIGH POWER WIRELESS OUTDOOR CPE (TL-WA5210G)

[canuckamuck]

Thanks for your response. The closest broadband is 15 km away in another valley. The lines/poles are clearly marked CAT but it appears True has it's own fiber-optic line as well. At least it says True on the hardware. The cell towers are True and AIS

Please explain why I would need to involve another house to get an access point?

any idea on costs?

[Gonsalviz]

Apparently you are not nearly as far out inthe sticks as I am. Cat 3G. Works as you said but it does work, mostly.

[RichCor]

If you can't get Directly Cabled Internet, or Wirelessly Delivered Internet (WiNet / AirNet where an ISP has placed special Multi-point base station on a mobile phone tower), then your options are usually limited to 3G connection, sometimes with external antennas.

If the ISP can't/won't come to you, it may be possible for you to go to them by using radios that provide a Point-to-Point wireless Ethernet link. In this case you either involve another location you own or have control over, or somewhere you have a contract that would allow you to subscribe to the desired Internet Service and then use the line-of-sight radio link to provide the final hop to your physical location.

If you don't control the other location, it still may be possible to get the service by paying the owner a fixed amount to subscribe to the service on your behalf, then installing the necessary radios on both ends to complete the final hop (link).

The links I provided give descriptions and costs on the radios, though you may need to talk to someone to put an entire 'kit' together for you.

[Utley]

TOT offers a satellite connection from Ipstar.

[Iamemjay]

Until 3BB ran their line to our village recently we were dependent on CAT 3G. As long as you have access to a CAT (or True) tower you can have 3G. I tired of the restrictions it brought but when there was nothing else I was very thankful.

[RKASA]

TOT offers a satellite connection from Ipstar.

Had that for years before 3g came where I live. Don't touch it 3g is far better - get an aircard with 7 gigs post pay and use 385k (better then 512k tot ipstar ever was) after it runs out. Get two cards cheaper then tot ipstar and use one first then the other but use the 385k for downloads overnight and bank the remaining 3g on the other card. If you don't have cable, or winet then 3g is the last best bet. Ipstar 2600 a month for 512k was running avg 100k 80% of the time and that was the best they could do. I could never send an email over 25k of text without smtp time out and they never fixed that ether. For less then IpStar you can get two 7gig 3g sims per month post pay. and use the 500baht saved over ipstar to pay for plat.GMZ sat tv.

[canuckamuck]

TOT offers a satellite connection from Ipstar.

Had that for years before 3g came where I live. Don't touch it 3g is far better - get an aircard with 7 gigs post pay and use 385k (better then 512k tot ipstar ever was) after it runs out. Get two cards cheaper then tot ipstar and use one first then the other but use the 385k for downloads overnight and bank the remaining 3g on the other card. If you don't have cable, or winet then 3g is the last best bet. Ipstar 2600 a month for 512k was running avg 100k 80% of the time and that was the best they could do. I could never send an email over 25k of text without smtp time out and they never fixed that ether. For less then IpStar you can get two 7gig 3g sims per month post pay. and use the 500baht saved over ipstar to pay for plat.GMZ sat tv.

Well my solution currently is basically your suggestion except I am not getting the 7Gbs. when when my 3g runs out, I use my wife's 3G for internet surfing that otherwise ends in unloaded pages and timeouts. I wish it was easier to manage the 3G, just use it when you need it, like bluetooth or something, but no. You get 3G till its gone, no saving it up. At least that is my dim understanding.

[canuckamuck]

If you can't get Directly Cabled Internet, or Wirelessly Delivered Internet (WiNet / AirNet where an ISP has placed special Multi-point base station on a mobile phone tower), then your options are usually limited to 3G connection, sometimes with external antennas.

If the ISP can't/won't come to you, it may be possible for you to go to them by using radios that provide a Point-to-Point wireless Ethernet link. In this case you either involve another location you own or have control over, or somewhere you have a contract that would allow you to subscribe to the desired Internet Service and then use the line-of-sight radio link to provide the final hop to your physical location.

If you don't control the other location, it still may be possible to get the service by paying the owner a fixed amount to subscribe to the service on your behalf, then installing the necessary radios on both ends to complete the final hop (link).

The links I provided give descriptions and costs on the radios, though you may need to talk to someone to put an entire 'kit' together for you.

There is nowhere in line of sight of my place that has access to anything other than mobile data (True or AIS) nearest broad band is 15 km away on the other side of a mountain ridge.

I love your avatar by the way. Brilliant.

[Crossy]

As RKASA notes the only way to 'save up' 3G is to have two SIMs, one with the cheapest 'unlimited' data package which you use for normal surfing at 384 k or thereabouts, the other for 'best' which is used when the cheapie just won't cut it.

Have you sounded out AiS, TOT and True for their WiMax type solutions, they work remarkably well?

[canuckamuck]

Thanks Crossy, I think I am going to have to make a trip to few providers and see what they say. It all comes down to who you get to talk to. some of the people in desks are very unaware of the technology they offer. We have tried a couple of years ago and all we got was, can't help you sorry.

Wimax was one word I was forgetting, thanks for the reminder

[RKASA]

As RKASA notes the only way to 'save up' 3G is to have two SIMs, one with the cheapest 'unlimited' data package which you use for normal surfing at 384 k or thereabouts, the other for 'best' which is used when the cheapie just won't cut it.

Have you sounded out AiS, TOT and True for their WiMax type solutions, they work remarkably well?

and you need the type of aircard tab account that gives the 385k speed - some go down to as low as 64k. I also noticed having had both true and dtac for months at the same time that dtac around here beat true hands down in reliable international speeds. Both towers are clear line of site less then 800m from house. true did not allow torrent apps to connect ether as well as other shaping and at times the 2g connection was missing days at a time. Most of the better options are for post pay accounts only. Would love to see the next step up like a cable or WiMax etc but getting by better then ever at present by managing 3g accounts.

[Crossy]

TOT call it WiNet, Ais call it AirNet, not sure about True but they do offer a similar service.

http://www.ais.co.th/airnet/th/why_superBroadband.html

[Retired Pilot]

TOT call it WiNet, Ais call it AirNet, not sure about True but they do offer a similar service.

http://www.ais.co.th/airnet/th/why_superBroadband.html

Living in the mountains 45 K west of Chiang Mai there is now excellent service using True move H with ZTE 21Mbps model ZTE MF65.

It gives me a shared wifi signal and will handle our 3 connections with no problem -so far. Can finally watch streaming videos after 6 years of waiting.

Works on the 2100Mhs.& I got a deal for 1 year 5G/mo for a discounted payment of 499TB/mo. 3 weeks into this now I am still less than the monthly limit of up/download 5 G , after which the speed will go to 384kbps.

Good luck where you live. Gotta love these 21degree C days in the mountains and now with decent internet connection.

[Tuskfish]

I've recently been through a similar saga.

We moved into a house 5km out of the city and no provider would install broadband despite TOT being less than 2km away. They initially said 30,000 - 50,000 baht to install the line. I considered it for a minute although they then said if I was to only house using the line that the monthly fee would be 3000-5000 instead of the normal 600-1200. Broadband lines, regardless of whether they are ADSL or Fibre, do depend on having other people sharing them. Thankfully in our situation we were only renting and have since moved closer to the city.

If there are no providers who are willing to install cable for you (even if you chip in some/all of the cost) then I would certainly back up the comment above from Retired Pilot on the True Move SIM card based devices.

Good luck

[rampagetrooper]

Maybe you should check all recent offers of the 3g/4g providers like dtac, AIS, TRUE, and i think there are some others.

I use dtac on my phone, so I know some of their pre-paid data packages.
They are for use on a phone though, but maybe its still helpful to you.
I thought you might be interested in those 3:
1. Double Net Package 799 baht / month:
'Able to use 3G at maximum speed 42Mbps. Usage greater than limited volume will be subject to speeds of no greater than 384 Kbps','unlimited 12 GB'
2. Unlimited Happy Internet 59 baht/week, 'Able to use 3G at maximum speed of 512 Kbps'
-> I think there is no limitation on how much you download in this package. I had this package's predecessor, which was tad more expensive and a tad slower, so they certainly have a better offer now
3. Unlimited Happy Internet 9 baht/day, 'Able to use 3G & at maximum speed of 512 Kbps'
-> seemingly same like number 2, but just on a day to day basis. so it might be cheaper a bit if used wisely.
Source: http://www.dtac.co.th/en/prepaid/products/Happy-internet-package.html
You should take a look, they have a lot of different packages.

I am not sure what speeds you will get, but it might be worth a try.
You can also use your smartphone to share your connection via wifi, usb or maybe bluetooth even (but i always have probs with bluetooth) to another device(s), at least mine has these options available.
Also if you have a smart phone which can use 2 sims, you could conveniently implement a strategy like someone said above. Just use the high speed whenever you need it and use the slower speed at other times. But maybe they 12GB package alone will already do for you.

[Tuskfish]

SPEED TEST

http://www.speedtest.net/

If you're getting less than 5mbps on your download speed these days many websites are going to perform poorly + video calls like skype are going to be pretty crap

There are a number of 3G providers which can give speeds like this but it does depend on your device also.

i.e. you can use your smart phone (android or apple) via tethering OR you can use a wireless router device with its own SIM card.

The best performance you will get it with a wireless router device which is capable of 2100mhz

Our fibre connection gives 50mbps. We also have a backup service which is a Trumove Wireless Router 2100mhz which gives us 8-10mbps. If I remember correctly the device was only 1-2k to buy which gave 5 or 6GB of download.

There are of course other factors to consider when trying to get the absolute best performance.

Make sure you clear your cache in your browser regularly + ensure you don't have too many background programs running (e.g. you could be getting frustrated that your 3G is slow when in the background Windows or Adobe is doing an auto-update)

[rampagetrooper]

Considering getting the best performance: if you are on Windows 8/8.1 you might also want to set your connection as a metered connection, and then configure what windows isnt allowed to do on a metered connection, updates or cloud sync for example. When i shared my phones connection via USB i wasnt able to set this connection as metered though, but it worked when i shared it via wifi.

Also you could try using Opera with it's turbo feature (also on Windows)

http://www.opera.com/turbo

You could also try configure video sites like youtube, on the site itself or with browser scripts and extensions (for example Youtube Center for Firefox has options to set default quality or also to buffer the whole video beforehand)

Or even by just using a slimmer front end to youtube. I kind of like this one: http://youtubelister.com/

Also other browser plugins will come handy, blocking ads etc, just load flash on demand, etc etc.

I am not sure whats the exact reason, but sometimes a VPN also seems to help getting better connections from Thailand. It might be some government firewall/filtering or whatever. I am not sure. but sometimes a VPN seems to help to improve the connection. But maybe it s just in my head. haha

I am using earthvpn, its cheap, has many server locations and works good enough for me so far.

[Tuskfish]

"I am not sure whats the exact reason, but sometimes a VPN also seems to help getting better connections from Thailand. It might be some government firewall/filtering or whatever. I am not sure. but sometimes a VPN seems to help to improve the connection. But maybe it s just in my head. haha"

I don't think it's in your head at all! However I don't think the speed difference would make much different for the OP who is likely to end up with a mobile data connection.

Hang tight OP... I'm pretty impressed with the recent improvements being rolled out by True. They are fast leaving the other guys behind in many areas.

[canuckamuck]

Thanks for all the answers so far guys.

But no one has heard of a device from CAT that they can install on fiber line and the little box broadcasts to your house on wifi?

I am sure someone here said they got one.

[Tuskfish]

There are such things as Fibre Signal Boosters Amplifiers.

Mate, you really need to talk to the providers directly because your options will depend purely on your house.

[canuckamuck]

Yes we will have another run at it, but we only get to town once a week. generally it some girl at the desk that doesn't know and doesn't want us to know that either.

[RKASA]

If you go into a central type plaza they have cat shops ToT shop, AIS and all the others and they all have English speaking persons to help. Bring a googled map of your location.

[Sayonarax]

TOT call it WiNet, Ais call it AirNet, not sure about True but they do offer a similar service.

http://www.ais.co.th/airnet/th/why_superBroadband.html

Living in the mountains 45 K west of Chiang Mai there is now excellent service using True move H with ZTE 21Mbps model ZTE MF65.

It gives me a shared wifi signal and will handle our 3 connections with no problem -so far. Can finally watch streaming videos after 6 years of waiting.

Works on the 2100Mhs.& I got a deal for 1 year 5G/mo for a discounted payment of 499TB/mo. 3 weeks into this now I am still less than the monthly limit of up/download 5 G , after which the speed will go to 384kbps.

Good luck where you live. Gotta love these 21degree C days in the mountains and now with decent internet connection.

5GB? I've used 1.5TB of data in the last 6 mnths

[GinBoy2]

Trouble with all the 3G providers is the fair usage speed cap. I have 7GB/month from True, which gives great speed and good coverage (for where I live, I don't need a 'true sucks' tirade), but it's still only 7GB of 3G speed until that drop to 285kbps.

I use my data almost exclusively for streaming radio while I'm driving and at the gym, generally about 3-4 hours a day. That plus the background sync of emails, facebook etc easily rip through my 7GB.

So anything you want to do that involves download/streaming of video on 3G is pretty much a non starter, unless you're ready to rip through the cap in a couple of days a month. For reference here's the Netflix stance on usage from their help section

Watching Netflix uses about 1 GB of data per hour for each stream of standard definition video, and up to 3 GB per hour for each stream of HD video. This can create headaches for Netflix members that have a monthly bandwidth or data cap on their Internet service

....a headache indeed!

Edited September 26, 2014 by GinBoy2

[rampagetrooper]

Trouble with all the 3G providers is the fair usage speed cap. I have 7GB/month from True, which gives great speed and good coverage (for where I live, I don't need a 'true sucks' tirade), but it's still only 7GB of 3G speed until that drop to 285kbps.

I use my data almost exclusively for streaming radio while I'm driving and at the gym, generally about 3-4 hours a day. That plus the background sync of emails, facebook etc easily rip through my 7GB.

So anything you want to do that involves download/streaming of video on 3G is pretty much a non starter, unless you're ready to rip through the cap in a couple of days a month. For reference here's the Netflix stance on usage from their help section

Watching Netflix uses about 1 GB of data per hour for each stream of standard definition video, and up to 3 GB per hour for each stream of HD video. This can create headaches for Netflix members that have a monthly bandwidth or data cap on their Internet service

....a headache indeed!

The dtac offer i posted above had 12 gigs/month until drop to 384 kbps. In theory you could also use 2 sims which would give you 24 gigs/ month Thats not too bad I guess. but also will cost you 1780baht total for the 2 sims. O_o

recently i got nice speed from dtac here in Bangkok (i think according to one ookla speed test i did with their android app i got about an average 7.5 mbps download and 1.26mbps upload ), up in the mountain I dont know how the speeds will be though.

the other dtac offer i posted officially gives speeds up to only 512kbps, but i think you can download as much as you like.

I think when I was on a 384 kbps package before I actually i was quite able to watch youtube videos (music videos) in lower quality on the pc i shared my connection too.

For a test if that can be true i tried to see how big a youtube vid of about one hour is. i found one documentary about 1h long and let do http://en.savefrom.net/ it's magic:

Title: Duration: 58:45 Source: youtube.com/watch?v=w21oNLcOX9I

MP4 360p

Size: 197.78 MB File format: quicktime

FLV 240p

Size: 141.81 MB Video: flv, 25 fps, 426x240, Sorenson H.263, 265.64570157318 b/s Audio: flv, 22050 Hz, 16 bits, 2 channels, stereo, mp3, 63 kb/s File format: flv

WebM 360p

Size: 267.17 MB Video: vp8, 1000 fps, 640x360, -127405 b/s Audio: vorbis, 44100 Hz, 32 bits, 2 channels, stereo, 125 kb/s, ABR File format: matroska

3GP 240p

Size: 94.87 MB File format: quicktime

Above is what the info buttons to some of the listed quality settings showed me. Seems a lot of the formats are reencodes from the original youtube one, but must be really fast reencodes. (?).

I made calculations for the 360p mp4. My calculations say real 460 kbps of download speed would be enough to watch that video in that quality. but i think of course actual video bitrate would fluctuate throughout the video. so some parts might would demand more than the 460kbps average.

I suspect the WebM 360p might be equal to the 360p one youtube originally offers on its site. If thats true 512kbps wouldnt be enougth, but youd need about 621kbps in average.

So my cloncusion is that 512kbps could be enough for 360p but in some case you might want to prebuffer the video, or download it beforehand. 240p videos seem no problem though. I tried watching that sample vid on youtube in 240p and it's watchable quality. but of course sometimes one wants enjoy higher quality video though.

Also there will be 360p videos that have higher quality and higher bitrates i suppose, after seeing youtube's recommended encoding settings:

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en

I dont know about netflix. but if 1 hour standard video is 1gig, the only choice would be to download or prebuffer the vid. and even then it would take about 4.5 hours on 512kbps. in other words it would be a real pain

A side note: Depending on the user's profiler one might also be interested in the dtac packages that give unlimited facebook, whatsapp, line.

will this work if sharing to pc? i guess it should when not using a vpn or other kind of tunneling on said pc.

(I know it s a lot of dtac stuff up there , being a customer myself I know their offers best. i am not trying to bash other providers or offend anyone)

[Toany]

Call TOT help desk and see if they can supply you with WiNet. I suffered for 6 years with only an EDGE connection. After I chatted to them they came to days later and stuck up a 12 meter pole with a receiver on top.

someone on TOT care 1100 will speak English to you.

Or maybe you have already tried this. In which case, ignore this post :-)

[canuckamuck]

What did you pay for that Toany?