Webhosting where? Thailand or USA?

[Guest]

Question for all the technology experts around here:

 

 

 

I'm currently involved in some business projects where Websites will be an important communication medium with the (potential) customers, who are in some cases based in Thailand and neighboring countries and in some cases based in the USA and Thailand. The companies are Bangkok based and now the question is where we should host the website. Note: the companies do not have the need (yet) to have a dedicated server on their premises. (In that case the question would be obsolete!)

 

 

 

So the question is: Thailand or the USA?

 

 

 

I must say I have not much experience with web hosting services in Thailand, but have previous experience with hosting in the States, Holland, South-Africa, Germany and Belgium.

 

 

 

My idea is that it is preferable to find a good hosting company in Thailand, because:

 

 

 

As international links between Thailand and the USA are limited and sometimes out of order due to some Thai fisherman thinking he caught a big snake, the place to be is as close to your customer as possible.

 

 

 

The web hosting provider is in the same time zone, which makes service more efficient.

 

 

 

The web hosting provider is probably in Bangkok, so when service is insufficient, a ride to their premises to complain more strongly is possible.

 

 

 

The costs of communication (phonecalls etc.) is lower.

 

 

 

In case the business is growing and a direct link between the web server and the internal information systems is required, this is more easy to establish.

 

 

 

I know, Think1st, better ThinkTwice, but with thinking alone I cannot solve this. Who helpes me?

 

 

[Straycat]

think1stbkk

 

 

 

I think you nailed it down pretty well when it comes to what is in favour of Thai webhosting.

 

 

 

Personally, I have no experience of webhosting in Thailand nor am I a technology expert. However, I do suspect that American webhosting companies have:

 

 

 

a) better price structure (cheaper bandwidth)

 

overall a higher level of experience and technological know-how

 

c) better equipment, backbone connections and backup possibilities plus

 

d) higher level of service (i.e. 24 hr support should be more or less standard)

 

 

 

My dedicated server is in St. Louis, USA. And so far (which comes to five years or so) I've never had any troubles accessing my server either from the US, SE Asia or Europe.

 

 

 

(Not without some satisfaction I notice my server in the US has a better response time from BKK than for example nanaplaza.com which I belive is hosted in Phuket :-))

 

 

 

Since I run two small companies with non-complex information structures your needs might look totally different: This is only my 2 satangs worth.

 

 

 

Straycat

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

 

 

"for example nanaplaza.com which I belive is hosted in Phuket"

 

Try east coast US

 

 

 

As for Think1stBKK's question. If your customers are *only* in Thailand it may be an alternative, but I would not recommend it.

 

 

 

Furthermore, your comment regarding the international line being out. I am not quite sure about the current situation, but it used to be that if I, using KSC, wanted to access a site hosted by Loxinfo, I would get routed through the US.

 

This meant that access to sites hosted in Thailand is slower than to sites in the US, unless you are accessing it with the through the same provider.

 

 

 

Not sure if this is still the case, but it might be worth to check on it.

 

 

 

Up until about 2 years or so, my answer would have been a resounding USA. Don't know enough about the current Internet situation here to be that certain.

 

Personally, I think I would still choose the US though.

 

 

 

Sanuk!

 

 

[Guest]

Maybe I can be of Help.

 

 

 

You raise an interesting question, one that is actually on the forefront of many emerging technology debate in LOS.

 

 

 

You have to assess your hosting strategy from several points. Remember, ask yourself the method of access that your customers will have to your site/services. Is your goal to have more corporate clients rather then public? Or are you going for a good mix? Is your product/service geared towards anything that requires a high-speed connection to really view? Or is your site more or less informational/E-commerce.

 

 

 

Once decided, you may want to look at a hosting services that has a strong customer base that is able to take adavantage of the emerging access technologies in LOS.

 

 

 

Look at it this way:

 

 

 

One of the loudest complaints you will hear in Thailand about the Web is slow Internet access. While web access may never be as fast and as cheap as America, prices for dial-up access in Thailand are coming down, excess speeds are improving and higher bandwidth technologies are becoming available, as of May 2001.

 

 

 

Fast is a relative term. For Email and Web browsing, dial-up access in Thailand is fast enough, at least when Internet traffic is light. But when one becomes passionate on new Web goodies, like those MP3 files that cost 4MB per song, access suddenly seems really slow.

 

 

 

We can clearly see that Internet Access in Thailand is both in its comparative development stage and once it begins to develop the necessary bandwidth and infrastructure, there will be a better selection of services to choose from. However, this is not to say that the apparent bandwidth available for international connectivity has not been growing substantially. As such, Thailand has seen a substantial increase in Total International Bandwidth (Mbps) within a very short period of time. From February of 2000 to January of 2002, Total International Bandwidth (Mbps) increased from 202.25 Mbps to a substantial 690.5 Mbps respectively (Source: Global Reach Express).

 

 

 

Most of these newer broadband (or high speed) Internet access services are very new in Thailand, and in some cases, have been announced but are not yet available. Accurate information on speeds, equipment needs and prices are still 'vaporware' in many cases. Further, and even when a service provider advertises access, say at 256Kbps, real world bench marking is the only way to verify actual download speeds. And Internet bottlenecks on international links to America could limit download speeds.

 

 

 

Cable Modem

 

? In America, cable modem has the biggest portion of the broadband market. In Thailand, the winners in this area are current UBC cable subscribers, who may be able to access the Internet using their current cable connection. A pilot project is being conducted in Bangkok this year. In addition, Asia Infonet is advertising cable access starting at 256Kbps using the existing Asia Multimedia CTV network. No prices available. Service will be limited to central Bangkok. Will cable modem be the answer to high speed Web access in Thailand? Unlikely, unless you are lucky to live in the right location.

 

 

 

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line)

 

? While this technology can provide very high speed access (some USA subscribers download at 2-3Mbps), it is very new in Thailand, is currently limited to Bangkok TOT digital line subscribers, and has big speed restrictions - only speeds up to 128Kbps are available. Several of the larger ISPs are working with United Broadband Technology to offer this service. Special hardware is needed (an ADSL modem will cost from B5,000 to B10,000) and the installation will be best left to someone who knows how to do it.

 

 

 

Another Thailand company (Q-Net) is advertising DSL service, but no prices are available (speeds range from 128 to 512kbps).

 

 

 

What is the future of ADSL in Thailand? If availability spreads, speeds increase and prices are reasonable, ADSL has a good future for subscriber's of TOT's digital phone lines.

 

 

 

So the question really is what type of consumer are you trying to target with your site. Think about your hosting provider in LOS as one that will also be around for a while, and one who will be able to keep up with local demand and technologies. In other words, if one service appears to be developing a broadband rollout in Bangkok and has that monopoly, then you may want to go with them to host a "Higher Profile" site.

 

 

 

Remember too, you also want to make sure that your Admin interface to your site, and supporting tools are in English. No point in going with a service provider that has all of its Webmaster tools in Thai (unless of course you can read Thai).

 

 

 

Basically, as Khun Sanuk is doing.....he says the East Coast of the US. Granted, bandwith on an international scale into Thailand is increasing, but you may want to experiment with having a stable and reliable hosting provider in LOS maybe in Bangkok that has a strong technology base (Maybe Linux servers) to host.

 

 

 

Most of the access will come from dialup, but build and host for the future is sort of my take. Remember to appeal in my humble opinion to your STRONGEST market, and if that is a local one, then perhaps evaluate your local hosting stragegies that best serve your revenue base.

 

 

 

Anyway, hope this helps a bit. Just my rambling thoughts.

 

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Bangkok36

 

 

[Guest]

Note ADSL is currently available from Telecom Asia as well. You can select 128kbps or 256kbps (still much slower than what you find in the US). In my case, I estimate the cost about 4000 baht per month because there is a per hour price structure instead of an unlimited flat price like the US.

 

 

 

Another option for web hosting might be Singapore in this case. It might have the balance you are looking for because it has a relatively good ping from both Thailand and the US. They also have an air of being more up to snuff technology wise in this region.

 

 

 

There is a lot of good discussions about finding good web hosts on webhostingtalk.com. Try there, that's where the experts in the field hang out.

 

 

[Guest]

As someone who lives in Thailand and also uses a webhosting company I would definitely pick a US company. The 'Customer is king' concept hasn't made it over here to Thailand yet and most of the time trying to get problems resolved with a Thai company can be a nightmare. It is just as easy to keep up your site with a US company as with a Thai one so I would say definitely go with the US service.