Are there any Thai SIM cards with speeds good enough for video conference calling, (i.e without lags/delays, audio-video synching issues) ?

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

So, it turns out I have to work a few days at start of my holiday. I will be having at least 1 Google video call meeting with colleagues back in the UK, during that time.

I need an Internet speed that can handle Google video and audio without any lag/delay (that would be tough to explain to boss who doesn't know I'm flying out to LOS a few days before my holiday starts).  Or is that just impossible ?  I see some speeds of 300 MBs advertised on some Thai SIM cards, and thought that should be enough speed. But maybe not, I don't know.

The standard traveller SIMs won't cut it - they're no quicker than hotel wifi - and you get speeds of about 17-19 Mb/s if you're lucky. Thats way too slow for video conferencing.

 

Anyone here done video conferencing using a SIM card (bluetoothed to your laptop, personal hotspot etc) that ran smooth, without delays/lags ?

 

[Soi7]

I speak very often to my children back in the US many times the calls are over an hour in length and I use LINE video calls or Facebook Messenger video calls never any lag dropped calls or issues always good clear pictures technology has come a long ways I'm using a basic AIS Sim

Edited June 6, 2022 by Soi7

[Dutcher]

Don’t think you need more than 10 mbps. Just a stable connection. AIS and DTAC should be both pretty reliable. Heard some complaints about TRUE at higher floors.

Another option is going to an internet cafe or coworking space.

[_Zoidberg_]

me too with 10-20Mbps package (DTAC and TRUE 5G) was able to connect without problem using multi-user video conference with TEAMS and ZOOM (up to 40 participants).

Consider that you can have a 30Mb/s with unlimited traffic package for one month at less than 500THB.

Obtained best results putting the SIM directly inside modem (you can do it even without reboot).

If modem has no SIM card slot (e.g. is connected to telephone line by usual 2 lines wire RJ-11) you have to use the smartphone as Access Point. Here I had a bad surprise, as discovered that not all the SIM card can do it :-(

A big advice for me is to take SIM card in a place close to your house, so is easy to return and discuss any problem. Moreover when problems became not obvious, people of 7-eleven, FamilyMart, TescoLotus, BigC tends to be inadequate. Better to go, if possible, to a real (even small) telephone shop.

[particle]

DTAC supposed to be unrestricted speed on my laptap using eSim with hotspot on my 5g phone 3rd floor soi bukow.

[Thomaz73]

59 minutes ago, Jumpin Jack Flash said:

Anyone here done video conferencing using a SIM card (bluetoothed to your laptop, personal hotspot etc) that ran smooth, without delays/lags ?

Yes. All the time. For years with no problems. Tethering as Bluetooth sucks. I use dtac. But I guess they're all pretty much the same. One thing to be aware of is "unlimited data" packages are often lower speed. Go for high speed packages.

[KhunChang]

21 minutes ago, particle said:

DTAC supposed to be unrestricted speed on my laptap using eSim with hotspot on my 5g phone 3rd floor soi bukow.

Dtac capped at 10 mbps got me this result in north Pattaya

[Arnie85]

Yeah, all of them.  

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

2 hours ago, Dutcher said:

Don’t think you need more than 10 mbps. Just a stable connection. AIS and DTAC should be both pretty reliable. Heard some complaints about TRUE at higher floors.

Another option is going to an internet cafe or coworking space.

I have AIS, and its supposed to be 30 Mb/s - but I've ran speed tests many times, never gets higher than 18 MB/s. I didn't think that was slow until I tested it on Google video call - audio is about 5 seconds behind pictures 

I see True have a SIM with 300Mb/s speed advertised. Thats what I'm considering getting now.  

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

2 hours ago, Soi7 said:

I speak very often to my children back in the US many times the calls are over an hour in length and I use LINE video calls or Facebook Messenger video calls never any lag dropped calls or issues always good clear pictures technology has come a long ways I'm using a basic AIS Sim

Wonderful, if only the office started using Line or FB for meetings 

[Dutcher]

4 minutes ago, Jumpin Jack Flash said:

I have AIS, and its supposed to be 30 Mb/s - but I've ran speed tests many times, never gets higher than 18 MB/s. I didn't think that was slow until I tested it on Google video call - audio is about 5 seconds behind pictures 

I see True have a SIM with 300Mb/s speed advertised. Thats what I'm considering getting now.  

I am on AIS. Never do any video calls, so don’t know about that. But my Netflix streaming is working reliable in high quality.

One person told me that she had connection problems with True on higher floors of condo buildings, but maybe that’s just an exception? Can’t tell you for sure.

[ufsq]

I think the difference between a 4g internet connection and a home connection is minimal as long as you are close to a tower.

You're going to have issues with latency.  I've got a GB internet connection through my home provider and overseas calls have a half second delay.

However, software also matters as well.  My office in Australia recently upgraded its PBX system and I now have a proper dedicated VOIP connection rather than call forwarding through skype and its MUCH better than it was before. 

So if you have the right software it should be fine.

Another thought is if you're video conferencing in, the speech is more "dictatorial" as its less of a 2 way conversation so the latency delay might not be so obvious. 

 

[ufsq]

4 hours ago, Jumpin Jack Flash said:

Wonderful, if only the office started using Line or FB for meetings 

line and FB calls use a lot of compression to skimp on data.  If your company is using premium VOIP and Video calling software - you should have no significant issues other than the actual delay that it takes from data to go from one side of the world to the other.

[taylor1975]

Using 4g in a sim, the data is delivered in 'packets'. Using wifi, its delivered constant. 

I tried using dtac in a tall condo - it absolutely sucked! ...3mbs??

[Kale]

It can vary a lot by location, provider, and time of day.  You need to get a few different SIMs and try them out in whatever location(s) you plan to be in.  Usually the one with the best signal strength will have the best speeds, but if it's a busy location then it can get congested at certain times of day.

I would say that having a 5g phone in an area that supports it also helps. 5g sites can theoretically manage bandwidth better in busy locations and it is theoretically capable of higher speeds.

There is/was an app that did crowdsourced info showing speeds by location/provider. The Telco's don't like people having that info so they tried to shut it down.  I think they did manage to cripple it a bit so it doesn't work as good as it should.  Can't remember the name but it might be one of these.  Maybe CellMapper.net.

https://www.waveform.com/a/b/guides/cell-tower-mapping

Edited June 6, 2022 by Kale

[petehoax]

9 hours ago, Jumpin Jack Flash said:

I have AIS, and its supposed to be 30 Mb/s - but I've ran speed tests many times, never gets higher than 18 MB/s. I didn't think that was slow until I tested it on Google video call - audio is about 5 seconds behind pictures 

I see True have a SIM with 300Mb/s speed advertised. Thats what I'm considering getting now.  

18 mbps is enough for video conference. you will actually need much less speed than that.

problems might come from a very high ping to the closest google server or other problems that cause latency, but it's not the speed of the connection per se. you will also have generally higher latency just due to lag from being in thailand and your colleagues being in the US / Europe i assume.

1080p streaming requires at least 5mbps, anything over 10mbps is more than enough. video conference images (&audio) are very highly compressed and will require less bandwidth than a youtube stream.

as everyone else told you: it's no problem to have a video conference via a mobile connection, million of people do it daily (and successfully).

if it makes you feel better: all providers will sell you an uncapped speed connection. you can try buying a mobile hotspot, it might give you a better signal due to a bigger antenna.

[themosch]

my daughter did have classes through Zoom video call at home during covid with 1 year DTAC sim unlimited internet 20Mbps never any issue. Personally i have experienced that location often is more important than speed. Especially in big cities around condo complexes speed drops due to many users.