Stickman's guide to Bangkok Readers' Submissions
Internet Prices
By Joey
As we in the company are using an ADSL line from TA (TA express) with the speed of 128/64kbps, I decided to check whether prices had gone down since we got the installation.
Indonesia Hotel Guide • Graha Resort Ubud • Kamandalu Resort & Spa • Komaneka Resort • Mansion Private Estate & Spa Just a word about me, I’m from Denmark, where ADSL is a normal thing, most people with a computer has an ADSL line, no magic there.
Here in Thailand it’s a bit different, ADSL is still kind of magic, for some reason there is a lot of confusion about prices, and who delivers what.
We are facing that we have to buy 2 different products, the Carrier -ADSL line, and the IPS - Internet service provider.
The ADSL line, is supplied by the phone company, normally TA or TOT, who charges monthly according to the speed selected, this is a practice I don’t really understand, as once the line is set up, it will run with whatever speed is selected.
The IPS, is the company that actually provides the internet service, most of the normal internet provider (dial in) also provides via ADSL, I have been writing an email to all of them to get the latest update prices, as none of them real are having all of the prices on the internet. Normally they also charges by the hours and speed used online.
During the check up of our company line I got the idea to do a price comparison between Thailand and Denmark, I also check the prices in Singapore, as they have the prices easily accessible on the Internet.
Lately I have Seen TA express advertising for ADSL lines very cheap, 650 baht monthly for Internet in Thailand, and 750 for real Internet. It looks something like this, ADSL always on, 40 hours a month, first time I did see this, I was thinking how is it possible to be always on, with 40 hours in a month, 40 hours is only 1 and a half day…what a joke.
Anyway back to my price comparison, I decided to look at always on connections, 24 hour, 7 days a week, all year. The entire package with a limit in hours, I have not looked at, as that is not always on.
I have also only looked at the companies that is supplying a complete package, so one bill = one product, INTERNET
Of the companies I wrote to here in Thailand only 4 replied. Where the companies don’t have the exact same speed available I have used the closest matching
Lets first look at the low speed connections.
128 / 256 kbps Installation monthly Remarks TH - Samart 2,000 9,095 price from net TH - TA Express 4,000 17,100 only 128 out of TH TH - JI-internet 0 15,900 Carrier TA, 256/256kbps TH - KSC 0 18,000 Carrier TA, 256/256kbps DK Fiscal 2,574 1,664 256/256kbps SG D-nexus 4,252 4,600 256/256kbps As this package include router for connecting, so the are complete.
Only Tiscali in Denmark is supplying speed as low as 256/256kbps.
Samart in Thailand is by fare the cheapest connection to get in Thailand, but I am not to sure about this price as it dose not match the quotation I got from them on mail.
So lets look at the prices I know for sure (quotation received by mail)
Ji-internet has the best offer for low speed lines, even if they are 9 to 10 times more expensive than Fiscal in Denmark for the same product.
High-speed lines
The max speed here in Thailand seems to be 1024/512kbps (I wonder why)
1024/512kbps Installation Monthly Remarks TH - Ta Express 8,000 46,500 only 512 kps out of Thailand TH KSC 0 65,000 Carries TA TH KSC 0 48,000 Carries TA TH TOT 0 74,000 SG D-nexus 4,252 8,082 1536 / 512 kps DK Fiscal 2,574 2,730 DK TDC 5,174 3,673 2048 / 512 kbps As this package include router for connecting, so the are complete
Looking at the high-speed lines, TA express is the cheapest provider in Thailand, but they only give the half speed out of Thailand (internet) so the real winner is KSC, but again compared to prices outside Thailand, very expensive
On the exact same product Fiscal is 17 times cheaper, or 45,270 THB cheaper pr. Month.
So a company with a high-speed line would, if in Denmark save 543,240 THB pr year.
Personally I have no idea why Internet is about 9 17 times more expensive for the same product here in Thailand.
Maybe it was time for the providers to start looking a bit around, and stops cheating the Thai people.
Stickman says:
Yep, if there is one downside to Thailand, it is that broadband prices are way overpriced.
The author of this article can be contacted at: sorenholm14@hotmail.com
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