My personal experience bears this out. Was having serious delays in data, worked with my Brokers Tech Support and traced the problem to high packet loss - up to 20%. It was explained to me that the servers are set up to ensure data integrity, so until packets that have been sent are confirmed as received completely / correctly, new data is held back. Sorted out the problem with my ISP and the data delay issue was resolved. Since then I am much less concerned about raw speed and pay more attention to the ping test.
That is just the TCP protocol. Most of the internet works on TCP, as data integrity is crucial and speed is secondary. People who think that the speed in megabits tells anything about the connection quality are wrong. A good quality (low latency, no loss) 2mbps connection is much better than a 10mbps bad quality one when it comes to trading.
Out of curiosity, how do I get a good quality (low latency, no loss) connection? And also how would I get rid of the high ping response and dropped packets problems that Mark1 suggested. Do I connect my internet provider about this or my broker or both? I am not knowledgeable in the tech side and speed isn't that important to my trading for the moment. But it would still be nice to have the kind of quality and speed you guys mentioned.
It depends on your ISP (internet provider) as most decent brokers don't suffer from these problems. My suggestion would be to find an ISP that offers better quality, you might contact them but I doubt they'd upgrade or fix their problems just because a few clients are complaining. High(er) ping is a reality always when significant distances are concerned. I'm 150ms from IB, across the world (not Asia). Oversubscription is a common problem in most of southeast asia, they need to upgrade their systems faster to keep up with the demand.
When accessing any web server outside thailand, anything over 20Mbps download 2Mbps upload is unnecessary and will only add to your monthly bill.
I got a few not exactly trading, but investment-related questions - looking at Thailand as a future retirement spot as well as potential investment to park some cash. What are the locations good for a retirement property? What are the real estate prices like these days? What are the trends - up/down? Do you in general feel that real estate in Thailand is good value? What sort of returns on capital do you get if you rent a place out? What are real estate taxes like? Is there anything in the property law I must know about (e.g. specific details on the freehold/leasehold)?
You can't own land. You can own a condo. If you marry a Thai woman she can own land and lease it to you long term. This is one major drawback to Thailand.
it's designed to prevent thailand from becoming another west. Plenty of other countries to choose from if you want to own land. As a general rule, the thai laws are designed for you to maximize spending (bringing money here) but minimize taking money out. If you did buy a business or other investment, could you walk away from it the next day at 100% loss and not take it personally? There are practically ZERO consumer protection laws. like the previous poster suggested, thai wife/gf can own the property and you can finance the deal. Make sure you are on your p's and q's and make sure you supervise as necessary all construction. It is very common for people to live in their businesses. Have the shop out front and living rooms in the back or upstairs.
The good news is that you can buy a nice condo on the beach for about 1.5 million baht (~ US $48k) and there doesn't seem to be condo fees or annoying condo associations to deal with. I don't own one but I may purchase a condo in the next few years.
Many low priced condos deteriorate (look old) rather quickly. Housing projects as well. If you're looking to spend a lot of time there, my opinion is that something above 5 million baht would be a lot better maintained. It obviously depends on what you are looking for when you retire. One thing on the list, however, should be access to good hospital with english speaking staffs. You will find many good hospitals in Bangkok. Chiangmai also has a couple but it's in the north. Many foreigners who prefer the less crowded atmosphere retire in Chiangmai. For a wide dining selection and active night life, Bangkok is the more suitable choice. Beaches wise, you may want to look at Samui Island, more expensive than Pattaya, but nicer. Phuket is a popular beach destination, but it has become too touristy and expensive. I don't know much about real estate valuation. You may want to look at some websites of well known builders (with the help of google translate) like Land and House (www.lh.co.th) and Asian Property (www.ap-thai.com) for some examples. The best thing to do is to visit first.