Fiber-Optic Broadband Coming to Pattaya

[Gaybutton]

Click the link to read the PATTAYA MAIL article:

 

http://www.pattayamail.com/current/news.shtml#hd17

[Guest]

I hope that this actually happens!

[mahjongguy]

I hope that this actually happens!

 

I suppose it will happen, eventually. But, the overseas bandwidth, which is what matters the most, is what really needs to be improved.

 

And the article doesn't say that they will actually take fiber all the way into your home. Nor if it will be affordable.

 

The best news recently is Sophon Internet's rollout of cable modem service. Their 10mbs service at 1490 baht is a decent deal, despite the occasional outages.

 

Since all ADSL services must travel via TOT phone lines, and the TOT wire center is in central Pattaya, folks like me in Jomtien are too far away to get ADSL speeds greater than 2mbs. So, Sophon's cable moden service is the only way to get highspeed.

 

As of today, this service seems to be limited to houses. It may be a while before they set up distribution within condos, but it wouldn't hurt to call them and ask.

[2lz2p]

Sounds interesting - I live in a housing village off of Jomtien Beach Road. I do not have a telephone line from TOT or TT&T, but I do have ADSL. TOT has the monopoly on telephone lines (from what I have read, TT&T leases their lines from TOT and have now set up a separate company to handle ADSL rather than marketing it directly as they have in the past)

 

My ADSL line is from CAT - they ran a line from their junction on Jomtien Beach Road to my house using the existing power line poles. Although they are about double the cost of TOT ADSL, the speed is acceptable and most important, it is consistent - Also, unlike my friends that have TOT or TT&T, it is very rare to have an outage. CAT offers only ADSL, no regular (voice) telehone service. I just now did a speed test --

 

San Francisco Server - .77mb/s Download, .01mb/s Upload

Bangkok Server - 1.14mb/s Download, .23mb/s Upload

 

So, if they replace their current lines with fiber optics (or add fiber optic for their current service area), it may be available for me to get.

[mahjongguy]

I live in a housing village off of Jomtien Beach Road.

Then perhaps we are neighbors.

 

My ADSL line is from CAT - they ran a line from their junction on Jomtien Beach Road to my house using the existing power line poles.

That's an odd way to do it; I guess the point was to avoid you having to order a working landline from TOT. Although CAT people ran the drop to your house, I have to believe that the junction box belongs to TOT.

 

I just now did a speed test --

San Francisco Server - .77mb/s Download, .01mb/s Upload

Bangkok Server - 1.14mb/s Download, .23mb/s Upload

I would say, if that is a fair average of the bandwidth, compared to TOT's ADSL services and Sophon's cable Internet service, that what you're getting is worth about 1,000 baht a month.