Setting Up In Chiang Mai: Phones & Internet

The process for getting home wireless internet and cell phones was mush easier than either of us expected.

Basically, you go to the nearest shopping center (our happens to be Kud Suan Kaew on Huay Kaew Road), you find the 3BB store and ask for wireless internet.

They will need you to pay for the router and for 6 months of service in advance. You will have to pick from the options of speeds (whatever suits your needs best).

We chose 10Mbps/512Kbps and paid 3787 THB (about $118) for six months and 750 THB (about $23) for the router.

They have you pick the name for your connection as well as your own password.

You will have to know your exact address so make sure to take that information with you as well as your passport).

It will take about a day for them to get it all going for you, so just have a little bit of patience and and you’ll be online and good to go.

We have had our internet connection over a week now without any issues. Usually, we are both online on our laptops and we have our cell phones connected to the WiFi as well.

Streaming shows online has also been working really well for us so we are very happy with the service and speed of the connection so far.

As far as cell phones go, we went to the same mall again and found a stall (from many) that sold cell phones.

Although we don’t really need a phone here, we thought it gave us a bit more freedom and feeling of security knowing we could do our own thing separately and be able to call with updates or in case of an emergency.

The cell phone store we found at the mall had one person that spoke some English so she showed us the most economical, basic, phone that we could purchase for just making calls to each other.

We bought each phone for about $20. The sim card cost 49 THB each (just over a dollar) and we purchased 115 minutes for each phone for 100 THB (just over $3).

So, for less than $50 we both had working cell phones that we could use to call or text each other.

It has proven helpful since we have made friends here and can also use to make appointments, call for directions, and have others be able to get in touch with us.