Free internet for poor students planned

[webfact]

Free internet for poor students planned

By THE NATION

 

Buddhipongse Punnakanta

 

The Education Ministry has called on the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry to provide internet connections to underprivileged students so they can study online via channels provided by the government during the Covid-19 crisis period.

 

The ministry can provide internet connections in areas where TOT and CAT networks have been installed, DES Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta said.

The minister also said that internet connections will be provided for free for three months in homes that are not linked up.

 

“This contract will be for one year, but users will only be charged Bt390 per month for the nine months,” he said, adding “around 100,000 internet device sets have been prepared”.

 

Based on statistics, 7.7 households in Thailand are connected to the internet, and out of them 200,000 use CAT, 1.5 million TOT, 2 million Triple T Broadband (3BB), 3 million True and 1 million AIS.

 

In areas where CAT and TOT have not been installed, DES will talk with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to see if a deal can be achieved with the private internet providers.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30388156

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-05-20

 

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[Justgrazing]

40 minutes ago, webfact said:

The ministry can provide internet connections in areas where TOT and CAT networks have been installed, DES

Des , Cat and Tot .! Jesus they do love an acronym in Thailand .. My mate Des's missus was called Dot and they had a cat .. does that count .. 

[graemeaylward]

In areas where CAT and TOT have not been installed, DES will talk with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to see if a deal can be achieved with the private internet providers.

 

And therein lies the problem of too many cables! In UK, it used to be the case that only one company, usually BT, would provide the cable and any other Internet Service Provider, would rent the line from them. I am not sure whether this is still the case but it would be a good model to follow here in Thailand ????

[ChipButty]

Bit late now I would say

[Curt1591]

43 minutes ago, graemeaylward said:

In areas where CAT and TOT have not been installed, DES will talk with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to see if a deal can be achieved with the private internet providers.

 

And therein lies the problem of too many cables! In UK, it used to be the case that only one company, usually BT, would provide the cable and any other Internet Service Provider, would rent the line from them. I am not sure whether this is still the case but it would be a good model to follow here in Thailand ????

Haven't gotten into any discussion with Thai field techs. But, from observation, it seems that the various providers share facilities. 

[suzannegoh]

51 minutes ago, graemeaylward said:

In areas where CAT and TOT have not been installed, DES will talk with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to see if a deal can be achieved with the private internet providers.

 

And therein lies the problem of too many cables! In UK, it used to be the case that only one company, usually BT, would provide the cable and any other Internet Service Provider, would rent the line from them. I am not sure whether this is still the case but it would be a good model to follow here in Thailand ????

Yeah, that's the problem with ISPs in Thailand, too much competition.

[Phuketshrew]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Based on statistics, 7.7 households in Thailand are connected to the internet

We are one of those. I wonder who the other 6.7 are?

[DrTuner]

Candy crush will flourish with hundreds of thousands of new players.

 

They really think the kids will study by themselves when dropped of at yai in the sticks?

[rkidlad]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Free internet for poor students planned

Lucky students. Now they can watch such informative and educational online lessons like this;

I just worry about what happens to anyone in this class, or the class next door, who is unhappy? How many raps on the knuckles do they get?

Edited May 20, 2020 by rkidlad

[DrTuner]

2 hours ago, graemeaylward said:

In areas where CAT and TOT have not been installed, DES will talk with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to see if a deal can be achieved with the private internet providers.

 

And therein lies the problem of too many cables! In UK, it used to be the case that only one company, usually BT, would provide the cable and any other Internet Service Provider, would rent the line from them. I am not sure whether this is still the case but it would be a good model to follow here in Thailand ????

Essential infra like roads, railroads, electric lines, water and telecom lines are among the few exceptions where the state can run things better. For those I'm happy to pay in taxes.

[tomazbodner]

Internet doesn't mean much if you have nothing to use it with. Free computers/tablets/whatever also coming? Tablets could be dirt cheap if produced en masse. Kind of monthly internet fee cheap.

 

However 390 baht per month for 9 months on 1 year contract for someone who is using a food bank as they have no money to buy food is still unworkable. Instead of connecting the houses, why not give schools 3G or 4G tablets with custom OS without App store to hand out to pupils/students, and covering these places with decent signal, then subsidizing the mobile internet packages for them? Could even use eSIM in them so they would be useless as resale.

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The Education Ministry has called on the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry to provide internet connections to underprivileged students so they can study online via channels provided by the government during the Covid-19 crisis period.

Belated action again... always the same.

[Andycoops]

4 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

Internet doesn't mean much if you have nothing to use it with. Free computers/tablets/whatever also coming? Tablets could be dirt cheap if produced en masse. Kind of monthly internet fee cheap.

 

However 390 baht per month for 9 months on 1 year contract for someone who is using a food bank as they have no money to buy food is still unworkable. Instead of connecting the houses, why not give schools 3G or 4G tablets with custom OS without App store to hand out to pupils/students, and covering these places with decent signal, then subsidizing the mobile internet packages for them? Could even use eSIM in them so they would be useless as resale.

Exactly. 

How do they expect folks to pay 1000s of baht for a device to connect to the internet when they have no income.

Just another dumb statement from the haves.

[DrTuner]

4 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

Tablets could be dirt cheap if produced en masse.

Remember the last ones? I still got one of those Chinese bricks, hasn't booted up in years. Was outdated by the time they distributed a few of those and didn't have google's app store, useless.

[rasmus5150]

23 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Remember the last ones? I still got one of those Chinese bricks, hasn't booted up in years. Was outdated by the time they distributed a few of those and didn't have google's app store, useless.

And please remember who carried out this ridiculous scheme??..??..

Yingluck Shinawatra

 

[dinsdale]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

Free internet for poor students planned

By THE NATION

“This contract will be for one year, but users will only be charged Bt390 per month for the nine months,” he said, adding “around 100,000 internet device sets have been prepared”.

So free internet connection but not free internet. Once again the govt line is pushed in a very misleading headline.

None of these and none of that. Look after your people and the poor would not have to pay for "FREE" internet.

Discraceful people who blurt out complete bs to make themselves look good. The people can see through your lies.

Edited May 20, 2020 by dinsdale

[tomazbodner]

41 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Remember the last ones? I still got one of those Chinese bricks, hasn't booted up in years. Was outdated by the time they distributed a few of those and didn't have google's app store, useless.

That's the point - making them useless for anything other than study. If you put Playstore in it, then it'll be used for everything but that, and get a resale value when the next meal is needed. They should remain property of the schools, loaned to the kids to be able to study from home, with preloaded apps for study only.

[rasmus5150]

3 hours ago, dinsdale said:

“This contract will be for one year, but users will only be charged Bt390 per month for the nine months,” he said, adding “around 100,000 internet device sets have been prepared”.

So free internet connection but not free internet. Once again the govt line is pushed in a very misleading headline.

None of these and none of that. Look after your people and the poor would not have to pay for "FREE" internet.

Discraceful people who blurt out complete bs to make themselves look good. The people can see through your lies.

The amount that Thaksin family made from corruption and tax evasion while they were in power, could buy them all Swiss manufactured watches for an eternity.