Advice On Setting Up a Place With Good Connection?

[CN1050]

I'll be arriving in Chiang Mai in a week or less and wanted to make sure that this time I was getting a place with a very good connection (50mb/s +) and was wondering what kind of advice you guys have on setting this up?

 

It is my understanding that you go to True or AIS and ask them about setting up a connection to your place but how do I go about making sure that my apartment / condo / house will allow this? Is it best to get a translator to come with me when I look at places or does anyone have any experience with this? Last time I came here I just got a nice looking place but had to bum it at coworking spaces all day and spend more money just because the connection was god-awful. This time around I really was interested in a house because I figure getting this kinda thing set up would be easier. I'll be in Chiang Mai for about 6 months or so, wanted at least 2 bedrooms, one for an office and one for me.

 

Again, I've done quite a bit of reading on this but can't really paint a very good picture of what I should do here. a lot of people either had a Thai wife and they asked about this kinda stuff, or they had some expensive one-bedroom place with it already set up.

 

If anyone would help out with this it'd be much appreciated and I'd owe you a beer when I land!

[Dante99]

Contact Chiang Mai Buddy, they are experts about helping folks like you.

[CN1050]

12 hours ago, Dante99 said:

Contact Chiang Mai Buddy, they are experts about helping folks like you.

I see, that was my first choice. I just read on other forum threads that you can be better off just asking around on the forums and meeting up with someone rather than using that. If that's the only good option though, I suppose that's what I'll go with!

 

Thank you for the reply.

[suzannegoh]

I'll be arriving in Chiang Mai in a week or less and wanted to make sure that this time I was getting a place with a very good connection (50mb/s +) and was wondering what kind of advice you guys have on setting this up?
 
It is my understanding that you go to True or AIS and ask them about setting up a connection to your place but how do I go about making sure that my apartment / condo / house will allow this? Is it best to get a translator to come with me when I look at places or does anyone have any experience with this? Last time I came here I just got a nice looking place but had to bum it at coworking spaces all day and spend more money just because the connection was god-awful. This time around I really was interested in a house because I figure getting this kinda thing set up would be easier. I'll be in Chiang Mai for about 6 months or so, wanted at least 2 bedrooms, one for an office and one for me.
 
Again, I've done quite a bit of reading on this but can't really paint a very good picture of what I should do here. a lot of people either had a Thai wife and they asked about this kinda stuff, or they had some expensive one-bedroom place with it already set up.
 
If anyone would help out with this it'd be much appreciated and I'd owe you a beer when I land!

If you drop by an AIS office and give them the address of the place that are considering they should be able to tell you if their Fibre service is available there. The AIS office at Central Festival is pretty easy to deal with.

[lordblackader]

Be aware that sometimes condo buildings have exclusive deals with providers so you'll be restricted to getting online with the given provider for the building. Also take a look at Sinet, great value for money. 

[CN1050]

14 hours ago, suzannegoh said:

 

If you drop by an AIS office and give them the address of the place that are considering they should be able to tell you if their Fibre service is available there. The AIS office at Central Festival is pretty easy to deal with.

 

Got it, so then my approach would be to narrow down home picks first based on amenities and looks, then narrow the search further based on which are within AIS's service area, I would assume. Good suggestion on where to go too, I'll check them out there rather than other locations.

[CN1050]

13 hours ago, lordblackader said:

Be aware that sometimes condo buildings have exclusive deals with providers so you'll be restricted to getting online with the given provider for the building. Also take a look at Sinet, great value for money. 

Oh yeah, that will be one of my first questions to the people showing these places. Haven't heard of Sinet but will check them out as well, though they seem to have some bad reviews in general, the in-depth reviews on them seem to be generally positive. If you and others have it and are happy, the cost is lower than AIS and or they have better speeds or coverage I'll go with them.

[suzannegoh]

Got it, so then my approach would be to narrow down home picks first based on amenities and looks, then narrow the search further based on which are within AIS's service area, I would assume. Good suggestion on where to go too, I'll check them out there rather than other locations.

They might not be everywhere in Chiang Mai yet but we've had AIS Fibre's 50/10 package for almost a year and it has been excellent so far. Almost always it benchmarks at the full 50mbps download speed to severs inside Thailand and even back to the US it's usually in excess of 10 mbps. And I think that it only went down once, and then only for a couple of hours.

[CN1050]

22 hours ago, suzannegoh said:

 

They might not be everywhere in Chiang Mai yet but we've had AIS Fibre's 50/10 package for almost a year and it has been excellent so far. Almost always it benchmarks at the full 50mbps download speed to severs inside Thailand and even back to the US it's usually in excess of 10 mbps. And I think that it only went down once, and then only for a couple of hours.

 

That's great to hear. I think they offer package deals with a SIM card with data as well which would be ideal. Definitely AIS will be my all-round first choice based on research and testimonials. Just a matter of which places will let me get internet and if decent connections are available.

 

The limited downtime note you made is excellent, along with a consistent up and down, sounds like my kinda service!

[suzannegoh]

That's great to hear. I think they offer package deals with a SIM card with data as well which would be ideal. Definitely AIS will be my all-round first choice based on research and testimonials. Just a matter of which places will let me get internet and if decent connections are available.
 
The limited downtime note you made is excellent, along with a consistent up and down, sounds like my kinda service!

One thing that I'm not sure about with the AIS Fibre sevice is whether you can sign up for it for only 6 months. When you sign up the give you the installation, two routers, and an Android box for free but as I recall that was contingent upon signing a one year contract.

Also, you mentioned the AIS SIM. I use AIS 4G in a phone and in a tablet, mostly when away from the home. It's good though at the time that I signed up for it they did not have truly unlimited data packages. You should also be aware some older devices and some devices purchased in other countries might not support Thailand's flavor of 4G LTE and hence will dropback to 3G speeds.

[CN1050]

13 hours ago, suzannegoh said:

 

One thing that I'm not sure about with the AIS Fibre sevice is whether you can sign up for it for only 6 months. When you sign up the give you the installation, two routers, and an Android box for free but as I recall that was contingent upon signing a one year contract.

Also, you mentioned the AIS SIM. I use AIS 4G in a phone and in a tablet, mostly when away from the home. It's good though at the time that I signed up for it they did not have truly unlimited data packages. You should also be aware some older devices and some devices purchased in other countries might not support Thailand's flavor of 4G LTE and hence will dropback to 3G speeds.

 

Right right, luckily Thai and Japanese devices operate on compatible systems and that's what I have. I'll see what I can do in terms of deals. If it doesn't work out there are other providers, though I'll still likely use AIS for my phone since choosing True last time was a disaster.