When you’re European and walk through the streets of Bangkok, you are struck by the many cables that run along the sidewalks.
We see the names of telecom operators and we can guess cables and electric meters.
This is something common in Asia, I had already seen it in Japan, a country that is very advanced technologically and it had already surprised me at the time.
When I arrived in Bangkok, I wondered what the reliability and performance of this type of infrastructure could be.
Access providers
I tell you about the 2 main “Triple players” AIS and True. These operators offer internet access, mobile abo and tv access.
They also offer national coverage for mobiles, with very often fiber optics for the Internet.
As far as I can see, these 2 operators seem quite equivalent in terms of services. For quality, I will only talk about True, which is my operator and the only one for which I have had experience using it for several months.
TRUE
This is my current operator.
I have an internet, mobile and tv offer for 1000 THB per month.
- For internet, it is fiber 500mbs / 500mbs. It’s real fiber up to the router.
The flow rates are constant
Reliability is excellent,so obviously cable anarchy has no significant impact on quality of service. It is astonishing, but that is what I see in practice.
- For mobile telephony, I have an abo with 60 minutes of voice and 10 G of data.
This is more than enough for me, especially since I can add minutes of voice or gigas in addition very easily for a few hundred baht.
In Bangkok, I even have a 5G connection. - The TV offer includes about sixty channels, including a dozen in English.
None in French.
You can subscribe to additional offers, such as the English Premier League or a bouquet of movie channels.
Note that the films are censored:a cigarette, a weapon or a breast are systematically blurred.
When we know that one of the channels of the bouquet is “Fox Action”, I let you imagine the result on “The expendables”.
So much for True, I am generally satisfied with their offer.
Ais
It was my 1st mobile operator when I arrived in Thailand, with a prepaid sim card.
I was very happy with their service, in addition when I changed operator I was able to keep my phone number without problem.
I have no experience of their fixed internet, you will find the link to their site in the description.
If you have experience with other operators, please share it in a comment.
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Reliability is excellent, so obviously cable anarchy has no significant impact on quality of service. It is astonishing, but that is what I see in practice.
Internet Services
NetFlix
Netflix is officially available in Thailand.
You can continue to use a European account, it works.
Unfortunately, you cannot change your country of residence, so if you opt for a Thai account, payable in baht, you will need to create a new account.
A Thai account costs 349 THB (for the full HD version), which is about 25% cheaper than a European account.
If like me you have a Thai account, you will be able to use your favorite language for the interface.
The films themselves are very often in Thai and English, rarely in French.
The selection is obviously more Asia oriented, you can discover Thai, Chinese or South Korean films that are often excellent. Asian films have English subtitles.
Rest assured, the vast majority of the catalogue is English-speaking.
Spotify
Spotify is also officially available in Thailand.
You can use a European account without problems.
If you opt for a Thai account, you will only pay THB 129 per month for the Personal Premium version, which is about 50% cheaper than in Europe.
Unlike Netflix, you can very easily change your country and indicate a credit card in baht by keeping the same account.
The interface hardly changes.
YouTube
For Youtube no worries, the only difference is the News category and the one dedicated to Covid-19 which are more oriented Thailand and Asia.
Youtube Premium is charged 159 THB, which is roughly equivalent to the European price.
Grab
Grab is a mobile app, one of the ones I use most regularly on my phone.
Grab is totally unknown in Europe, but this app is widespread in Southeast Asia.
To simplify, Grab is a clone of Uber for Asia.
My favorite services? :
- Delivery of dishes from restaurants
Especially useful in these times of pandemic. - Les Taxis
These services work very well and have become indispensable to me!
