# TV and Internet



## jenna1245

My apologies ahead of time as I am sure this topic comes up a lot. I am moving there in a few months and I was wondering how well my internet (for laptop) and TV channels will work. 

I read something about Internet sticks and have no idea what that means. Can someone explain? Do they have anything like we have here is the US where you can get cable TV and internet all in the same package and you just plug into an outlet in the wall or a telephone line? Will the internet speed be good or will it be comparable to old dial up times. 

As far as TV, I was hoping that if I can't get a lot of US channels that I could watch some of my favorite shows on the internet, thus the importance of speed so that the view won't be too choppy or slow. Will cable or satellite provide me with a decent variety of english speaking programs?

Your input will be very helpful.
Thanks.


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## Song_Si

Hi

Big variations depending on where you live; eg our cable service is 63 channels - one English movie channel, Fox news and Fashion TV (wow!), 2 Euro/UK sport - mainly football. One French channel, 2 Indian, several Chinese, rest are Thai. Spoke to a friend in Phuket yesterday, complaining his cable provider now has eight channels in Russian - tourist-driven. 

Prior to moving here we were more rural for a year, cable tv was not an option, it was three State tv channels (when reception was good) or buy a satellite dish. Know nothing about these presume they can be tuned to pick up your US channels

Internet sticks - eg Edge Aircard, for laptops, use same sim as a cellphone and reliant on being near a transmitter; ok in cities but maybe not fast enough to consider watching live/streaming programmes in my exp.

recent thread her: Buying internet sticks

Internet speed - again varies on location. I was with TOT one of the main providers in Phuket, our connection was slow and intermittent - but that may have just been our neighbourhood. Where we are now it is excellent, still using TOT, I watch live streaming sport, still cuts out occasionally but 'adequate'. 

Our cable TV and internet are with separate providers; if we lived in the city 12km away we could have had one provider but wasn't an option here. 

Again, very location specific - where are you moving to? Suppose I am lucky with the English channels I do get, very few English speakers here - 10 cinema screens and never a movie even with subtitles. A learning experience.


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## joseph44

Song Si is right, location, provider, service.......it all depends. 
The mobile phone service providers will provide you with calling cards as well as data-cards (to be used in your future usb-stick 'modem'). Google for: AIS, Dtac, True Thailand. 

Cable TV and Internet are more and more offered in packages. Of course depending on your location, but AFAIK True has Vision (TV), Move (Mobile + Mobile Internet). 

But to give an example about mixed interests:
A friend of mine used to use ToT for Internet. They weren't satisfied and switched to True. They do have True Vision and now they also have True Internet. 
However, True Vision is using a satellite-dish and a decoder and True Internet is using........yes the ToT hardware!! There is still a monthly bill from ToT for the telephone-line to their home although they only use the line for True Internet and not for telephone. 

Another one..........for years and years, there was only one telephone provider (landline wise): ToT. Then came CAT for the more remote areas, followed by TT&T (now 3BB, MaxNet) and yes........for years and years they all rented a ToT connection. So if you did have a technical problem with ToT and switched to TT&T..............yes, the problem remained. 

But don't worry........Thailand has it all, although maybe not as fast as in the US or any other Western country.


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## TomTao

For internet we use 3BB, pay 963 baht per month for unlimited download, can't complain about the speed or service, you can also get mobile broadband (internet stick) from the mobile phone providers, dtac, true, etc, but the download speed is not fantastic. For tv, you can choose to free to air, bit its all Thai language as far as I know, we have PSI satelite tv, the only english chanels are Russia Today, Asean tv and christian chanels, cost us 5000 baht once, no more to pay unless you move and need the dish relocated, and as far as I know you own the dish and decoder, and you can take it with you when you leave. I believe some of the other satelite providers have a wider variety of english programs, but I don't know whether they have a one off payment or monthly plans.


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## Mweiga

TomTao said:


> For internet we use 3BB, pay 963 baht per month for unlimited download, can't complain about the speed or service, you can also get mobile broadband (internet stick) from the mobile phone providers, dtac, true, etc, but the download speed is not fantastic. For tv, you can choose to free to air, bit its all Thai language as far as I know, we have PSI satelite tv, the only english chanels are Russia Today, Asean tv and christian chanels, cost us 5000 baht once, no more to pay unless you move and need the dish relocated, and as far as I know you own the dish and decoder, and you can take it with you when you leave. I believe some of the other satelite providers have a wider variety of english programs, but I don't know whether they have a one off payment or monthly plans.


I have a UBC satellite package costing 1,600 baht per month which gives 50 odd channels - all the good stuff like BBC World , CNN , CNBC , History, BBC Knowledge , Nat. Geographic , Discovery , Animal Planet , plus several sports and movie channels , cartoons and several Thai channels. More than you can ever watch. Large number of radio channels also included which I never use.

Dish and decoder provided free and installed by UBC.

For internet have got CAT broadband on a landline (1,650 baht monthly unlimited) and for standby / travelling use a Huawei USB stick with AIS sim that works pretty well at home and most places I go in Thailand (350 baht monthly for 100 hours). 

Have just given up Loxinfo satellite broadband as a second internet standby which I hardly ever used and anyway was no quicker than the Huawei USB stick on AIS mobile network plus being affected by local weather conditions. Loxinfo was popular some years ago as the only option in many areas before expansion of the telecom companies fixed line broadband networks and marked improvements in the connectivity of mobile network USB internet sticks.


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