Satallite Internet

[thaicat]

We saw TV's today that you can get the internet on, via Satallite!!!!
Does anyone know how this works? Is it possible to get a connection through a normal UBC dish? eliminating the need for a telephone line?

[lomuamart]

I'm sure the internet gurus will be on later to answer your question better than I can, but from what I've heard satellite is pretty unpredictable - especially when it's cloudy.

[Vital Spark]

We used IpStar when we lived towards the mountains west of Hua Hin. They were our only option, as household telephone lines didn't stretch that far, and we couldn't get a signal on our mobile phone.

It was OK, but did suffer when the heavy clouds came over. It was better than nothing but, if you have the option, I'd go for wires rather than satellite. No telephone line with the dish, but obviously Skype could be used when the weather was nice (even that was a bit of dot and carry...).

VS.

[STEVE G]

I looked into fitting one up in Issan, but if you can get a decent GSM mobile signal, it works out cheaper to get internet access through that.
I don't know how much the satellite system charges now, but at the time it was a lot more than the 999bt unlimited mobile access.

[Takiap]

I'm not quite sure about this, but when we were at a hotel in Ranong they had some sort of satellite TV, and while there were about 80 channels, each and ever one of them were crap. There was one or two channels showing Thai movies, but that was about all. The others were all infomercials, church services, and etc.

[buksida]

Yes, satellite internet connections in Thailand are flakey at best, if you can't get a phone line I would use EDGE/GPRS to get online with - it will be about the same speed as satellite but a fraction of the costs.

[thaicat]

Thank you all for your information. At the moment we have the HUAWEI plug in and 12 call to charge it up, but it is incredibly slow and doesn't always connect, but still seems like our best option until if and when phone lines ever come out our way.