New Luxury tax on internet usage in Thailand

[travelerjim]

New Luxury tax on internet usage in Thailand

All internet accounts to be taxed with 970 Baht/month.
Hardware dongle required for internet use

as reported on thaivisa.com:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php ... pic=113989 .

BANGKOK: -- The government has announced heavy investment to upgrade Thailand's international bandwidth, but has introduced an internet tax to help fund investment, and control usage.

The internet tax will be based on bandwidth and would be applied on a graduated scale according to the speed of a users internet connection. The internet luxory tax will be 970 Baht/month for most users.

Foreigners without a work permit and retirees will be required to pay the monthly tax at a higher rate, 1,490 Baht/month.

Sombat Merou-Ruang, director of the Alien Internet Control Division at CAT headquarters in Bangkok says "foreigners that do not have work in Thailand only hang out on internet forums, visit pornographic sites and other website la mock, different from Thai citizens who mostly use the internet for banking, e-commerce, and furthering their education".

In addition to the bandwidth tax, an extra usage tax of 490 Baht will be levied on those using Bittorrents and surfing foreign language internet forums.

New hardware required

The new internet tax will require all internet users in Thailand to install a hardware dongle from CAT. The dongles can be picked up free of charge from any 7-Eleven outlets in Thailand starting today. Without the dongle, users will be disconnected after 6 minutes of use and unable to access the internet from 23.30pm tonight.

--------------------------

Be sure to read the many replies to this new luxury tax...
especially these from thaivisa posters:

"can you use your own dongle....as my one is a bit bigger than the one in the pic."

"I was so concerned about this new imposition on farang that I rushed straight down to my local 7-11.
I asked the young chap behind the counter if I could check out his dongle.
We are meeting tonight for drinks.

"Hey must have gone to the same 7/11 store
my Thai wife went down and asked to see if she could see his dongle
and was told he already had a full appointment book for tonight,
he had a smile on his face like a Siamese cat"

"Don't use the dongle available at 7/11 if you can go to Bangrak.
There is a special dongle available at the CAT data center in Bangrak (behind the post office Bangrak).
This is from the ICT, and is just for the volunteers helping to clean the web for Thailand.
You have to report 3 pornographic sites per day to the ICT (on a special form), which will then be blocked immediately.
In return you are tax exempted, you can surf for free. Foreigners are accepted, but no internet cafes.
However, if you miss the target, your dongle gets canceled.
There is a limited number of these special dongles though, you better rush."

Enjoy :-)

TJ

Similar Threads:

• Internet censorship in Thailand
• Internet use in Thailand
• Gay Thailand Related Internet Finds
• Taiwan earthquake causes internet problems in Thailand

[Smiles]

:geek: :geek: :geek: :geek: :geek:

Amost had me .... TiT after all.

[travelerjim]

More replies posted from outraged Thaivisa.com posters about
the new luxury tax on internet access announced today by the government.......

Shin to move its satellite closer ....

New passport requirements for visitors...

and more:

"This is a disaster" says Jarunsek Khlongtoy, owner of the Sanuk Internet Cafe at Khao San Road in Bangkok. "We need to raise our minute fees up by 300% from today, and set aside special computers for those wishing to use internet forums."

Malee Thorlee, manager of the Excite Internet shop on Sukhumvit says that she will now have to limit foreigners using the internet in the shop to one at a time, to keep costs down.

The head of CS-Loxinfo Department of Internet, Dr. Boonlert Chaamaak says this is a blow to internet users in Thailand, who already enjoy fast internet speeds and almost no down time.

DTAC has announced a new range of GPRS packages for foreigners, starting with 100hrs for 2,000 Baht, to combat the new internet tax. Other operators are likely to announce new GPRS charges soon.

Internet satellite to me moved

Shinsat PLC welcomes the tax, and has pledged to use the extra funds allocated to them to improve satellite internet communications. Dr. Rinrada Maimeepompem, head of IPstar Internet Speeds Division, has announced plans to move the IPstar satellite closer to earth from next month, which should improve speeds greatly due to less distance for the signal to travel. The new owners Temasek will also use this opportunity to move the satellite nearer to Singapore, as it is now theirs.

TOT sources have said that executives are overjoyed at the prospect of government investment, adding that now they would be able to buy a new fleet of vans for their technicians, which is important if they wish to improve internet speeds and quality.

"This is typical for the CAT monopoly", says Dr. Pat Pong, administrator at Thaivisa.com, the leading portal for expats in Thailand. "We strongly believe this is just the government wanting to keep track of the internet usage". He continues: "Thaivisa.com will launch its own nationwide ISP shortly, trying to bypass the new internet tax with a new speed concept. We will provide speeds of 300 and 1200/75 baud, which is not taxable", says Dr. Pong to Reuters.

Foreigners applying to the Internet tax need to provide a valid passport with Non-Immigrant Visa, health certificate and 6 colour photos 4x2 cm, plus a verified copy of their house registration (Tabien Baan) or lease agreement.

CAT will close all unregistered internet accounts before midnight today.

TJ

Dongle-busters are on sale in Panthip Plaza. These avoid the tax information gathering system by routing your internet connection via an overseas circumlogutor on a scrambled signal similar to the Thai army system. The danger is that the tax collectors may compare the internet service provider member list with those paying tax but this is extremely unlikely to happen within the life of the current coup. These devices are a rather expensive 1000 baht and the designer Apple blue denture version is 5575 baht - discounts currently unavailable and the essential for the cool computer nerd.



The Stepford - a remote dongle cunnuingly disguised.

I have heard rumours that cheap copies of the fake dongles are being sold by the vendors on Pattaya beach for 150 baht and if you nefotiate you can get a free hj thrown in.