Internet options for living in the Village

[ryanhull]

Hey All,

Our house is nearly finished being built in the village, I am worried we will be without the internet as TOT have not been too great on confirming if they will fit a line for us, they do have TOT phone boxes in the village so I would have thought it would be easy but maybe I am wrong and it runs off a completely different line, either way they are being hazey on if they would do it and I cannot be without the internet.

I was wondering what are my options in regards to mobile internet out in the village? unfortunately my TV runs off the internet along with our ipads/laptops etc so its a bit tricky.

I am told by the mrs AIS has good signal in the village for 3g... I am thinking my only option at first would be to get an aircard/mobile dongle and strap an 3g antenna on the roof to give my maximum signal... yet I also think the maximum package I can get is 12gb? then it drops down to a really slow speed?

I think just the TV alone would use 12gb in a week, never mind downloading/uploading large files.... does anyone know if there is a completely uncapped mobile package or are they all capped off at a x gb?

Also has anyone bothered with an external 3g antenna and does it improve signal much?

Thanks

[CWMcMurray]

What about satellite? Have never used it, but TOT has the service on their webpage

It's more expensive than other options ... But...

http://www.tot.co.th/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=345:tot-satellite&Itemid=707〈=en

[Jiu-Jitsu]

http://www.ais.co.th/fibre/en/

[ryanhull]

What about satellite? Have never used it, but TOT has the service on their webpage

It's more expensive than other options ... But...

http://www.tot.co.th...mid=707〈=en

From reading on the forum, I see the satellite option offers very poor speeds, from your link am I right in thinking for a 1mb connection its 4,900 bhat per month? given thats 1/10 of the speed I am on now that seems ridiculous! plus 1mb is slow and not enough for even a skype call?

http://www.ais.co.th/fibre/en/

I would not get this out in the village

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I have a Huawei unlocked modem, I was thinking about buying this http://www.lazada.co.th/antenna-3g-800-960-mhz-cable-20-m-13dbi-9e-white-441451.html and strapping it to my roof, I would assume I would then get top 3g signals at all times? I mean in the village using my mobile the speeds arent too bad but given im using a crappy inbuilt phone antenna I cant expect much... I am thinking of getting said antenna combined with the mobile wifi device which would at least give me good speeds, then id have to consider the data usage from what I can see AIS offer the best package in terms of amounts?

Anyone tried one of these antennas hooked up to a mobile broad band modem? do they make a different?

Cheers

[RichCor]

[...] they do have TOT phone boxes in the village so I would have thought it would be easy but maybe I am wrong and it runs off a completely different line[/font][/color]

According to TOT:

A high-speed internet service by ADSL technology (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) via an existing phone line [can provide] Maximum 20 Mbps download speed and 2 Mbps maximum uploading speed in always-on connection, unlimited internet access , with the transmission speed varying upon the distance and the quality of the lines.

A single telephone connection using a pair of copper wires can be used to provide simultaneous ADSL Service and Voice Calls at the same time, with the ADSL connection utilizing frequencies that are not used by a voice telephone call. ADSL can generally only be distributed over short distances from the telephone exchange (the last mile), typically less than 4 km (2 mi), but has been known to exceed 8 km (5 mi) but at vastly reduce speeds.

Options for Internet:

Satellite Internet is expensive, slow, with very limited data caps.

3G/4G/LTE Mobile Internet can be fast, but it's expensive and has data caps.

Wireless Internet (via TOT WiNet or AIS AirNet) might be an option if they provide that service in your area. Fast, no data caps.

ADSL if you are close to the telco exchange. Usual 10Mbps or lower depending on distance from exchange and condition of telephone line.

Coaxial Cable TV can deliver Internet via DOCSIS. Doubtful in your area.

Fiber Optic Internet is the latest offering, with the major players running new trunk cables throughout the country. Coming Soon?

AIS is currently offering a POSTPAID promotion: 799 Baht/month Internet speed for 4 GB (Net x3: 12 GB).

You could use multiple SIMs and rotate them if they won't let you renew before the end of the month.

[KhunBENQ]

Satellite is a desperate last call!

Check all other options before looking for that.

A surprise that it is still offered.

AIS fibre: very unlikely that you get that in a village where even ToT will not easy confirm to supply you a line.

How far are you from the next main road, where power lines and probably fiber optic lines run along?

ToT: stand on their feet and let a good bundle of 1000ers look out your pocket.

For a price they will fix a new line individually for you if you don't live extremely remote.

But be prepared for a 5 digit price for setup.

(I paid 25000 for the line and home installation)

Most of it goes for the line and so depends on the distance (500 m, 1 km. 2 km?).

Within the usual distances there is no limit for optical fiber length.

WiFi: ask ToT about the availabilty of their wifi system (public wifi tower somewhere).

It requires a setup also with a directional antenna.

CAT also has its wireless internet system.

Last time I checked with ToT they had a flatrate. No to fast (2 Mbit?) but unlimited volume.

Wireless via mobile phone network: yes, will empty your pocket if you are up for IPTV etc.

Edited July 5, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[apetley]

Best option in our village is TOT Wi-net. Several houses use it with good results. You can get a survey first, before you commit, to make sure the signal is good. Unfortunately there are some substantial trees between our house and the tower which blocks the signal so I have to make do with 3g.

[billd766]

Best option in our village is TOT Wi-net. Several houses use it with good results. You can get a survey first, before you commit, to make sure the signal is good. Unfortunately there are some substantial trees between our house and the tower which blocks the signal so I have to make do with 3g.

I live in a small village in rural Thailand.

I have had TOT WiNet for nearly 3 years now and at one time I thought of telling them to take it awat as it was rubbish.

So far this year TOT has crashed 15 times for periods ranging from 2 or 3 hours to a maximum of 5 days. I bitched to to local (65 km away) office and to TOT central and actually got a refund of 75% of May's bill. They have also re-routed the WiNet link and (touches wood) and I have had no problems since 25th of May.

Last month I bought a 21 Mbps AIS Aircard for 999 baht and a prepaid package of 3Gb. The difference in speed was incredible matched only by the speed that the 3Gb disappeared.

I had it running 24/7 and the 3Gb vanished in 4 days.

TOT say that I should get a broadband fibre connection sometime in 2017/18 and AIS tell me their AirNet will be about the same though they may be a little quicker.

[apetley]

Best option in our village is TOT Wi-net. Several houses use it with good results. You can get a survey first, before you commit, to make sure the signal is good. Unfortunately there are some substantial trees between our house and the tower which blocks the signal so I have to make do with 3g.

I live in a small village in rural Thailand.

I have had TOT WiNet for nearly 3 years now and at one time I thought of telling them to take it awat as it was rubbish.

So far this year TOT has crashed 15 times for periods ranging from 2 or 3 hours to a maximum of 5 days. I bitched to to local (65 km away) office and to TOT central and actually got a refund of 75% of May's bill. They have also re-routed the WiNet link and (touches wood) and I have had no problems since 25th of May.

Last month I bought a 21 Mbps AIS Aircard for 999 baht and a prepaid package of 3Gb. The difference in speed was incredible matched only by the speed that the 3Gb disappeared.

I had it running 24/7 and the 3Gb vanished in 4 days.

TOT say that I should get a broadband fibre connection sometime in 2017/18 and AIS tell me their AirNet will be about the same though they may be a little quicker.

There was a similar problem with the village wi-net a couple of years ago when it became very unreliable.

Switched locally to another tower and everyone is happy again

[Jdiddy]

Also has anyone bothered with an external 3g antenna and does it improve signal much?

Can help alot if you dont have direct LoS to the base station, best way to test is with a phone on the same network with an app that shows true signal strength in -dBm

[Chivas]

Sorry for going slightly off topic.

What about one off packages for use in the Village say a months Data.

Used only for Email banking forums no heavy downloads or Youtube etc ??

[zyphodb]

You basically have two options if your rural village is the same as mine in Isaan... I've tried many options & the most successful has been TOT Wi-net. I get reasonable speeds & the only time it goes down is when the electricity goes down too... I haven't tried it but some of my friends says it works, is a DATC dongle on which they do a unlimited 3G service which apparently is quick. to get ToT wi net or just about anything else from them its necessary to bribe the tecs to come & do it... TIT

[phinick]

I very recently finished a new house in an Issan village. I purchased satellite t.v. From true, and wi-fi from 3BB. Both work very well. For wi-fi they came and installed a very tall antenna, taking over 4 hours of labor. Installation cost was 3200 baht and monthly fee is 700 baht.

[Coaster11]

Out in the village i use 3g for internet and use satellite for tv.

Your 12mb of 3g would get chewed up fairly quick and for 800baht not a great option to use for tv as when it throttles down to 2g it's just about useless.

Edited July 5, 2015 by Coaster11

[seancbk]

I can't imagine someone who needs high speed internet not checking that it was 100% available where they planned to live, before moving there.

Everything I've ever read about living in a Thai village including my own (admittedly limited) experience outside Bangkok, makes me question why anyone would want to live in a village in the first place.

Good luck getting a connection that fills your needs.

[1FinickyOne]

Not sure where you are, but my village has great internet- I am on Tot and it is very good… whatever the package is for 599 baht… but if that is not offered where you are, ask around, find out what others are doing… or if you have to, get a room in your nearest city -- assuming it is a workable distance...

[Bardeh]

Even if ToT do hook you up, I wouldn't expect great speeds. I lived in a rural village for a little while, and our supposed 10gig package barely worked even for streaming Youtube, would drop randomly and frequently for days/hours at a time, and was just generally horrible.

[khunPer]

If wi-fi available, that may be a reasonable option.

I have a DTAC USB-dongle (my backup, if fixed TOT-line is down), and it works fine, but is slow in my area (can be the mobile network is 2g only). Self-installing, so can easily be used on a normal PC. The subscription I have is nearly 300 baht a month including some traffic, exceeding traffic is charged per unit (MB or GB…?) on next bill.

Don’t think it will work for TV or heavy downloads/streaming (HD movies).

[MaeJoMTB]

First thing I did when looking for a house ..... find out if the internet was available.

No internet, no interest from me.

If your woman's village doesn't have it, you shouldn't have built there.

Not to mention no schools, health care, emergency services, etc.

[swissbie]

I very recently finished a new house in an Issan village. I purchased satellite t.v. From true, and wi-fi from 3BB. Both work very well. For wi-fi they came and installed a very tall antenna, taking over 4 hours of labor. Installation cost was 3200 baht and monthly fee is 700 baht.

For TV just get one of the big black satellite dishes, once installed, no monthly fees. True depends on weather conditions, i didn't get happy with it. Wifi options work well with AIS, but quiet expensive if you need a flat rate.

[loong]

A word of advice for anyone putting up an antenna to improve signal strength for 3G etc.

Fit a lightening rod.

It is really frightening when lightening strikes your antenna and the computer is destroyed. I speak from experience.

[nongsangcity]

Iam deep in the thai jungle...TOT said if 10 houses could sign up for wi fi.....they would give us our own little mast whick picks up the signal from...i dont know where...any 4 months on and 10 houses signed up....next day mast erected at all the 10 houses......marvelous reception.....no problems and quick wi fi...just paid the monthly bill today 738 bht a month....so so happy......................

[louse1953]

I very recently finished a new house in an Issan village. I purchased satellite t.v. From true, and wi-fi from 3BB. Both work very well. For wi-fi they came and installed a very tall antenna, taking over 4 hours of labor. Installation cost was 3200 baht and monthly fee is 700 baht.

I have the same as you for 4 years and worked well.I used to pay at PSI/3BB shop,but now he has shot through and a i am having a hell of a time getting back on again. Head office call centre rekon a tech will come out.We'll see.

[louse1953]

Iam deep in the thai jungle...TOT said if 10 houses could sign up for wi fi.....they would give us our own little mast whick picks up the signal from...i dont know where...any 4 months on and 10 houses signed up....next day mast erected at all the 10 houses......marvelous reception.....no problems and quick wi fi...just paid the monthly bill today 738 bht a month....so so happy......................

Must be plenty of money out in that jungle.TOT told me 8 people,so far it's me and the other farang and i'm not holding out much hope.Have to wait for fibre optic!!!

[xpat user]

Hi

I supply tv channels via internet, I also supply 4G services for Internet, 12 Gb can never supply a monthly service. You may have to investigate microwave links if you cannot get cable to your door. You will need a min 3Mb (24 hours a day) for streaming but if are not alone 5-6Mb is better. Internet is like soap, it is better looking at it then for it and it seems you could be running into trouble in your new home.

[pdwarf1]

I have CAT. They installed a fiber optic cable with modem and router. I am very satisfied. I had been using a True dongle that was costing me more than 5,000 baht a month. Now I pay 890 a month for unlimited downloads. I am in a village in Sakon Nakhon that had no internet connection except some poor wi-fi from AIS.

[ryanhull]

I can't imagine someone who needs high speed internet not checking that it was 100% available where they planned to live, before moving there.

Everything I've ever read about living in a Thai village including my own (admittedly limited) experience outside Bangkok, makes me question why anyone would want to live in a village in the first place.

Good luck getting a connection that fills your needs.

Well imagine the land was already owned by my wife and imagine I have been to said village many many times and got to know the very nice locals, also it is near the parents in-law which I wanted for my son to grow up with his gran folks and other family around him, (I get on with all the family very well) anyway I am not going into why I choose to build there its irrelevant to my post and I do not base where I build on the internet options as I have other priorities ok?

I have CAT. They installed a fiber optic cable with modem and router. I am very satisfied. I had been using a True dongle that was costing me more than 5,000 baht a month. Now I pay 890 a month for unlimited downloads. I am in a village in Sakon Nakhon that had no internet connection except some poor wi-fi from AIS.

Do you know where I can get more information on this and how much it cost to install? sounds like a plan... 3g signal is good yet as you say I will easily hoover 5000 bhat a month too!

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Thanks all for the replies, very useful and I am taking them all in just bit busy so don't have time to reply to all, albeit appreciated

[Chalard]

Depends on where you are and your needs. I'm 1km off a main road but no line goes down our track.

I've used both the AIS Aircard and now the pocket wi-fi for multiple devices.

both work ok. I pay B800 per month for unlimited usage. 4G at fast speed then it slows a bit. Can't complain.

[ryanhull]

Depends on where you are and your needs. I'm 1km off a main road but no line goes down our track.

I've used both the AIS Aircard and now the pocket wi-fi for multiple devices.

both work ok. I pay B800 per month for unlimited usage. 4G at fast speed then it slows a bit. Can't complain.

I take you only do light browsing? plus it isnt unlimited thats impossible, its capped.... I think I would use about 4gb a day.. also when you say it slows down a bit I think it goes right down to 2g?

Edited July 5, 2015 by ryanhull

[billphillips]

I would check with TOT regarding WiNet. It works well and is reliable in my experience. If your house is not complete, and you don't yet have a house book, it may explain their (so far) lack of interest.