Advice on best wireless internet, and TV broadcast services.

[Sailor42]

Please excuse me if these topics have been covered - I am both a newbie to the forum, and a technological dinosaur. Help and advice very much appreciated, thank you.

 

I am moving to live in Korat. In Australia, have a Smart HD TV, and use Foxtel satellite TV service, and the NBN to provide wifi for general IT use as well as provide Netflix and various Apps and other items on the TV itself. For all that including a home phone (which I don't need in Thailand), I pay A$99 pm in Aus. My question is whether or not I can purchase a similar range of services in Thailand, either as a package or as seperate items, and who you experienced residents would use. I would seek sports particularly rugby, tennis, golf in english, and can I assess Netflix or equivalent in Thailand? While I want to watch sports, my Thai wife is a keen film buff, and addicted in Aus to Netflix. Therefore for peace and harmony, it is both or neither!

 

While my wife is all things beautiful, I feel trusting this project to her will end up with endless thai movies and no sport, so can anyone assist me with some sound advice, beyond spending my time in the nearest aussie bar!

 

Thank you in advance.

 

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[Jai Dee]

Korat (Nakhon Ratchasima) is a very big province... it would help to know where in Korat you will be living.

 

Unless of course you mean the city of Korat.

 

Your viewing options as well as your wife's can both be well accommodated by streaming content from the internet... if it is available in your area with fast and reliable connectivity.

 

Alternatively, there are satellite TV options.

 

Need to know where you will be living to provide some helpful answers.

[Sailor42]

Korat (Nakhon Ratchasima) is a very big province... it would help to know where in Korat you will be living.
 
Unless of course you mean the city of Korat.
 
Your viewing options as well as your wife's can both be well accommodated by streaming content from the internet... if it is available in your area with fast and reliable connectivity.
 
Alternatively, there are satellite TV options.
 
Need to know where you will be living to provide some helpful answers.

Thanks Jai Dee. We will be living in Khok Sung on Route 205 north of the city of NR. What would you do?

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[Jai Dee]

Google Maps indicate that Khok Sung is a fairly sizable town with some local industry and a sizable school with highway 205 running through the middle of it.

I somehow doubt that there is likely to be an Aussie bar anywhere within coowee of there!

 

 

Not a problem... both yours and your wife's viewing desires can be well accommodated to your utmost satisfaction.

I assume that you wife's family is living there?

I would ask her to ask them to make some enquiries about the options that the local IPS's have.

 

TOT, True, 3BB, and CAT are all likely to be there and all will have Fiber and ADSL/VDSL packages.

Consumer broadband Internet bandwidth ranges from 2 Mbps to 100 Mbps so it's simply a matter of choosing a suitable package.

It will also depend on exactly where your house is as to whether Fibre has been run yet.

A home internet package will cost anywhere between 700 baht per month and 2000 baht per month (A$27-78).

Unlike Australia, Thai ISP's do not have a download limit per month... that's why streaming TV is your best bet.

 

Your home internet package will provide you with a password-protected home wifi, but I would also recommend using your router to hard-wire LAN cable to your TV viewing room so you can connect an Android media box. This can be done by either installing the router in the same room as the TV, or by running a LAN cable, or by using a powerline adapter that uses your home electrical wiring as a LAN.

 

Rather than relocate your smart TV from Australia to Thailand (and run the Thai Customs/Duty gambit as well as risk of damage in transit) I would recommend purchasing a new LED TV here to suit the viewing room of your home. They are relatively cheap in Thailand and we have some topics in the Forum where members have discussed the pros and cons of different brands and what are best value for money.

 

I would then purchase an Android media box. You can buy them yourself and install the software you want, or buy them pre-loaded with all sorts of goodies. As a newcomer to the world of streaming TV in Thailand I would suggest that purchasing a pre-loaded box with support would be the best way to go initially... you won't have to worry about a steep learning curve and they are not that expensive. You will pick up something pretty decent for between 4-8 thousand baht (A$156-312) and it will last you for a couple of years.

 

Netflix is available here in Thailand... you can even try it out free for one month  - see here. The top of the range package with unlimited TV and movies is 420 baht per month (A$16 pm).

 

You will also need Kodi and Mobdro - both software packages are free and can be loaded on your media box to provide you with heaps of options for viewing movies, sports, live TV, and catchup TV... including Thai and Australian TV (although Aussie TV is a bit hit and miss and in SD quality only). There are literally thousands of channels that can be sourced if you want... knowing where to look for your specific viewing purposes is most important, which is why I'd recommend buying a pre-loaded box with support initially. Other members of the forum may disagree, but this is my personal recommendation for you in your situation and future location.

 

Have a browse through this Forum for discussion on Media boxes... you will find some people prefer the high-end Android boxes that you can also play games on, and others prefer the lower end that are used specifically for watching movies or TV and nothing else.

[Encid]

49 minutes ago, Jai Dee said:

There are literally thousands of channels that can be sourced if you want... knowing where to look for your specific viewing purposes is most important, which is why I'd recommend buying a pre-loaded box with support initially.

I second that opinion.

I did exactly that, and have been very happy with both the product and the service.

Maintenance and/or upgrades are remotely performed over the internet so you don't have to worry about it.

Just agree a time to do it, turn your box on, allow remote access and sit back and watch as the service is performed.

Fantastic!

 

Knowing where to look is important too.

You don't want to be inundated with useless Indian or Russian or Korean channels that you're not remotely interested in.

Your box can be tailored to your individual viewing preferences.

 

Being an Aussie you are unlikely to ever want to watch live streaming US sports, but your viewing preferences are likely to be NRL AFL tennis golf and maybe F1, so your box can be configured so that you get your preferences, rather than general viewing.

[Sailor42]

Jai Dee and Encid, you are both stars! Thank you so much for your excellent advice, you are quite correct that the nearest Aussie pub is very far away, and thus I shall follow your excellent and detailed advice when we settle on our Korat perch at the end of the year. Eventually will report back, and hope to have the pleasure of buying you several beers somewhere sometime in the future. Again, thanks both!

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