Signing up & installing an internet connection at our home in Thailand
Broadband Internet is readily available in Thailand especially in the major cities, though it is sometimes harder to come by in the countryside or small villages.
There are internet cafes all over the country and many Cafes, Coffee shops and Hotels offer free wireless internet.
The three main Internet Service Providers in Thailand are 3BB, TOT and True.
When we started renting our house in Chiang Mai we had to set up our own internet connection.
Choosing to go with 3BB Broadband, we signed up with them at their branch in the Central Airport Plaza.
Our internet package costs 900 baht per month and is 13MBPS (download) / 1MBPS (upload) speed.
There is a basic package of 10MBPS/512MBPS for 590 baht a month with other options of 16MBPS/1MBPS and 20MBPS/1MBPS which are good for downloads and HD live streaming.
The most expensive packages range from 20MBPS/5MBPS for 3,390 baht per month to a whopping 50MBPS/20MBPS at a big price of 5,390 per month.
When we purchased our internet, 3BB had a premier package that was 5MBPS yet 2,500 baht per month. When we asked what the difference is between this and the package that we wanted, we were told, this premier package is for businesses or places where there are multiple computers all needing the same speed at the same time. The other domestic packages split the download/upload speeds between the computers. So for example, a 9mbps connection when running on 2 laptops effectively halves to 4.5mbps each.
Being foreigners, we were required to pay for 6 months internet upfront and a further 100 baht for the router.
If you buy a whole 1 years internet supply in one go, you receive a 10% discount.
Once we had shown them the location of our house on Google maps, they organised for a technician to come to the house to install the connection.
In our case the technician needed to drill a hole in the wall for the cable and so permission was needed from the landlord for this.
The set up took just 15 minutes and 3 days after the technician had left our internet was up and running.
Key:
1MBPS = 1 mega bit per second, equivalent to 100 kilobytes per second.
Note: We chose 3BB because they had branches and stores near to where we live and came on recommendation from our landlord.
All 3 internet service providers I have mentioned seem to have an equal amount of good and bad points. Our connection has been consistent for the last 3 months without problem, so far!
Sacha El-Haj – 8 Miles from Home
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