Hi all,

I have been a contributing member of http://www.funkfeuer.at in Vienna/Austria. FunkFeuer is a citizen's network, run by the people for the people. The website is partly in English, first language in Austria being German.

Soon, at the end of November, I'll transfer to Thailand like in every European winter, as my wife is from there, and we have a house in Ayutthaya. My question is: are there similar communities in Thailand, preferrably in Ayutthaya? Web access can get difficult in developing countries, you know, especially if you have no access to a fixed line, like in the case of me and my wife. The next telephone post is 2 miles away... And cell phone based systems, although available in that area, are way too expensive. Citizen's Networks have a great future, especially in bridgeging the digital divide, as can be seen in Philadelphia right now. Even more important it is for developing countries which in many cases do not have the infrastructure we all too often take for granted. I don't want to just get easy access for myself in Ayutthaya, I want to contribute to the dissamination of Citizen's Networks in Thailand.

Why do I ask here of all places? Because I know that one of the mods her, actually the nicest of all is located in Petchaburi. But there may be more ppl reading this who know about the subject - so please post what you know!

curare

Hey how cool - I did my college in Phetchaburi.. hehe.. nice. One thing for sure, the communications system here has progressed really well - and you can find internet in some of the remotest villages too. I've no clue where your house is located in Ayutthaya, but it's a big city and has internet all over - pretty much. Don't think you'll have problems starting off here..

All the best
m^e

Thanks, brother! See my PM to you regarding my future plans.

But returning to the subject, the question is not "general internet access in Ayutthaya", it's citizens networks in Tahiland, especially in Ayutthaya province. I have been searching the web over and over for initiatives regarding this subject matter, so far without success. Therefore I took the chance to post this message here, as I have done in some other forums and mailing lists which cater to this subject more specifically. I was just trying here too.

Public Internet Access in Thailand is truly abundant. You stumble over Internet Cafés everywhere. This has not been always so. Four years ago, Ayutthaya had two (2) access points with a double ISDN line each, that's 128 Kilobits. Bandwith and reliability of service of Internet Cafés varies widely, but as I am in no hurry I take my time to shop around. If I want to hook up my notebook, things become more complicated already and the choices narrow. Many ppl who run Internet Cafés flatly deny this service - unfortunately.

Looking into the future from a personal perspective, I would like to provide my two daughters and later my son, when he'll get interested - he's still too young for that - with Internet access from home. As mentioned already, the next telephone post is about two miles away; we COULD get a line to the house - at a cost. Last estimate was around 100.000 Baht, that's around € 2.000.- I am a European, and I take the spoiled European perspective that in times like ours it should be the government's responsibility to provide the populace with telephone, and subsequently, internet access. Thailand and many other developing countries have a long way to go in this respect.

Citizen's networks provide for the heavily embattled "last mile", they are democratic, cheap and effective. As things are today, you can get a High School degree wirthout Internet access, but it's easier if you have one. My girls can access the internet at school in a very limited way. I would like to provide them with a home access. The neighbours would be grateful as well. The sense of community would grow. The "knowledge society" would become one tiny step more real.

So please, please, if you ever stumbled over a website catering to this matter with regards to Thailand, post the link here!

TIA,

curare