Considering Expat to Phuket

Pufferfish wrote:

I do have a few questions/concerns:

I have heard some rumors that internet connectivity, water and electricity can be VERY unreliable.

I have also heard that you cannot mitigate the issue of a computer crash by having a UPS (alternate power supply).

Can anyone tell me if these issues exist and if so, how frequently?

Also, I understand that there is unrest around the borders. How serious is this and how do these issues affect you that live in phuket? I'd like to hear directly from folks that are experiencing it rather than base decisions on media releases.

I cannot comment specifically about Phuket but in general utilities are not the most reliable in some parts of Thailand.  The larger cities seem to have very few problems.

Having a UPS is a good idea and I have not experienced any problems during a power outage.  Just remember to power down your PC before UPS battery drains down. The only down side is I usually lose internet service because ISP goes down.

I have been living in non border area's the last eight years and never felt any affects because of border problems.

I m living in Mandalay Palms appartments since 1 week. Looks like everything works perfectly.

I ll try to ask to the owner about that..

Our internet, water and electricity rarely go out. Of these 3, internet is the most unreliable. That being said, we use the internet at home everyday. If it goes out (more likely, slows down), its usually not for more than a few minutes.

I do work in PHuket for a company (100+ employees) that rely heavily on internet, so I can confirm there are some few slow sometimes but nothing bad. The main problem you may encouter is if you or your husband are doing somthing criminal such P2P sharing or bittorrent (yes I do, but still it is illegal); you will notice slow download half of the time, because the ISP will simply limit your usage to that port. Way to go being to reboot computer and modem. Notice it is related only to Bittorent, WinMx, Emule or other; but not to HTTP or FTP!

Water or elec are okie, let 5/6 DC a year, and water maybe twice a year (every time for a short period). But water is not drinkable (only if you boil it).

Border???????????????????// Here we border with the Sea, not with Kmerland or Burmaland, too funny. You shall better to be concern by road dangerousity or by bar attraction (beer, girls...)

Hi Putterfish - your Internet speeds depends on which provider and where (geographically) your connection is based.  You might compare the readings that come in daily on woody.info (click on 'Internet speeds') to see what provider is best in your area.  Mine is 3BB, and only pay 600 B/month for a great ADSL connection (fine for streaming video).

If you are in a residential estate you may have more/less problems than other houses depending on water supply. The estate we were in had a very old water system and we often had problems. Might be something to check with when considering renting/buying.