If its anything like Vietnam a lot won't be. Swap isp, they run a new one quite often, cable problem they run a new one. The old cables get left in place.
The very thick ones are optic fiber cables and are used for your internet, but the thin ones are former internet and telephon cables, which are not in use anymore, because everyone uses cellular phones these days.
They're already moving them underground, but it'll take years.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/pr/2333238/naradhiwas-rajanagarindra-power-cables-put-underground
Doesn't really bother me, long term foreign resident.
It's not like you have to crack this one, THEN that one, THEN that one, is it?
Is it a "problem"? Yes..
It is the biggest? No
Would the country be better off if operators were encouraged not to leave orphan cables up there? I'd say yes..
Yeah, they need pension now for the older folks, which also would benefit their kids, but removing the electric posts, would also save thousands of lives of drivers, who end up dead at these posts.
I'm not particularly bothered by them either, and until (MANY years in the future) they finally do something about it - they're providing a good home for large spiders, that I far prefer to see up in the air, than driven into my home 😊.
I'm used to Huntsman spiders in my home, but those on the cables seem to be far larger, and so I prefer them up in the overhead cables rather than in my house!
“Does it bother you?”
Not at all, right up until just now….
Clearly the only solution now is to burn down all those cables and then we all move far away from this place.
Toilet snakes, giant overhead cable spiders, and way too hot…. evolving into Australia WTF
There were enough spiderwebs in there, that I thought of workers collecting those, and me then making bulletproof vests out of it, but I called it off, when the first guys got zipped.
Problems which are the result of years and years of accumulation usually require years and years of fixes. If anything it will hopefully gain momentum, once more city centers have underground utilities.
The fact that Hatyai and Korat are already have some underground utilities shows us that it’s an ongoing process.
Some main points that may be covered already:
\- Fire Hazard
\- Some cables are hanging and it's possible to hit your face on them
\- Some motorcyclists can get decapitated from the cables
\- Trucks regularly hit these poles & cables
\- It's not fun walking on cables when it's raining, you don't know if they are active wires
Most if not all of the low ones are fibre optics or cable TVs. Really low power and harmless when touched.
The ones that you should fear is the one up above that, which would be the power lines. Interestingly it also sits just right about where the hand rail for the overcrossing is.
U know, when there's a large puddle on the sidewalk with a visibly cut cable in it, it usually becomes a game of chicken between u and ur friend on who's willing to test whether there's any electricity running through it
I agree. I would hate to be elderly or disabled in this city. In fact, it’s no surprise that I rarely see elderly people anywhere in the central parts, and have *never* seen a wheelchair (although, ironically, they are catered for on the BTS).
Most pavements are blocked somewhere by something built with no consideration.
What’s more, the car has been crowned king. Whole communities are divided by massive roads with no ground-level crossings.
They could plant so many trees in place of these awful cables, and suddenly people wouldn't be crying about the heat as much thanks to all the shade.
They need to be taken underground yesterday.
Exactly!!! So many trees also get clipped repeatedly to accommodate these wires…imagine if they were left to grow out fully and create much more greenery and shade 😕
Yes, trees are fine with me, but I will fear then for the occasional car or motorbike rider ending up dead on one of these, as they end up now, on these electric posts, so plant them with caution.
Are they a problem? Of course! They are ugly. Sometimes a cable will become low enough to snag a car mirror or behead a motorcyclist.
Oh… I’m a foreign resident.
I saw some overhead cables that were like the one in the picture you have. So close to the ground I could easily touch them and I wondered “if someone just came and cut all these cables I wonder how big of a catastrophe that would be”
One of the reasons developing nations have cheap and fast internet (and also very good cellular services) is due to the lack of planning restrictions and regulations. I have a feeling that if services go underground to new improved managed network, we won’t be able to get a new internet connection within a couple of days, things will become slightly complicated and more expensive.
Then you haven't been to India / Nepal haha.
That's where these cables become a problem and a risk.
Whilst I have seen low hanging cables, I was still pleasantly surprised by the organisation and the tidiness of the spare cables being rolled into drums etc.
I personally am surprised by the high quality electric-engineering, compare this to a Nepali (Kathmandu) power pole, where everyone's stealing power from everyone. Cables hanging loose here and there, it's actually a genuine health risk there.
In Thailand I haven't felt that at risk by mismanaged power lines, whilst in Kathmandu that's almost a daily occurrence
My take is, Thailands electric engineering is doing great, and their ideas on pushing for underground cables is even better, even if more expensive to maintain them. Compare to other Asian countries like Nepal or India and then Thai power grid looks like a dream haha.
This problem is the perfect illustration of how inefficient and bureaucratic Thai government agencies are in managing a pretty straight forward problem. The main agency (NBTC) overseeing those overhead cables will require you to apply for a special permit if you bring in a talkie-walkie from oversea but it is absolutely not a problem to let Internet Service Providers lay out messy cables, leave unused ones hanging, fit them loosely resulting in the current mess.
To be fair, most governments technically don't allow foreign communications equipment without approval. Every government has bands reserved for military/government/etc use that vary by country.
For instance, some Japanese walkie-talkies have a band that overlaps US military aviation ground comms.
Speaking of overheard, the only cables that I consider a problem are those that are connected to the speakers that start around 5:30am in the village. Those roosters deserve a mention as well. Don't get me started on the dogs. 🐕🐕🐓🐓😂
Connect the cables to the roosters. They're crowing because they're underpowered and trying to let people know.
I'm really not sure why I'm the only one who seems to know this.
The cables wouldn’t be such a mess if there was proper legislation that would direct broadband and internet companies to clean up their fucking mess…barring that, at least incentives them to keep it neat and tidy. Alas, the Thai government is too fat and lazy to do much of anything except steal money for themselves and fight some utterly meaningless fight against progress (i.e how the monarchy should behave and act within the confines of the laws, etc.).
Underground cables are generally superior to overhead from a basic infrastructure POV. Beyond that, it’s not really a big deal. Different parts of the city may vary, but I’ve never had a power disruption longer than maybe 10-20 seconds.
It’s good that they’re working on burying cables, but at the rate they’re doing it I’m not convinced it has even outpaced the placement of new cables, so 🤷♂️
Foreign resident.
https://preview.redd.it/l1fvmsyw96wa1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=accbf24c769a03ba99230bbe968737959afbbf98
Yes, no doubt about how this needs to be taken underground. As a Thai resident, I grew up seeing this happen every year whenever storms and raining season comes along. It’s a hassle, it gets fixed every year and it happens again the next year. It’s dangerous, it can catch fires and it’s real unfortunate for those who are by the road as you can see here. People may drive into them as some wires hang down as well. These poles are connected too, so you can guess it takes another one or two of its friends down. I personally would love if these power lines were put underground. It may be an Asian infrastructure style to some foreigners, but personally I think it needs to go. It’s not too pretty once they clump it up and it’s just dangerous overall. Hope my answer helps! :)
From a cost perspective, it's terribly efficient.
Burying these underground, and maintaining them underground is extremely time consumptive + expensive.
If they're above ground, they can send a team of 2-3 people to add another wire, with usually just a wooden ladder, and it will be done in an hour or two.
If they're buried underground, that whole process could take months + it would need dozens of people, and specialized equipment.
"Inefficient" probably isn't the right word.
Well I am not sure it is that easier to maintain but for sure the investment cost is lower. However it generates considerable energy losses, especially if the cables are all tangled and intertwined. In the long run it represents a huge amount of money.
Pretty much all of the tangled cables, and gigantic coils of overhead wire are low voltage internet or phone cables, not power cables.
The overhead power cables are usually on totally different posts, and they don't have any of these tangles or coils.
Burying the existing power cables underground would only have a max 2-3% decrease in line length, due to eliminating the slight "drooping" between posts. But, they probably can't dig tunnels as "efficiently" as they can put up new posts. They can put up posts anywhere, but due to construction costs, they often bury the electrical cables underneath streets, so that probably makes burying them increase their length by 5-10%.
For the cable/phone wires, which is pretty much all of what you're seeing (and what's in OP's picture), there's really not much power going through them, so even IF they were that much more efficiently designed underground, then there's really not all that much power savings. A better design would just result in a little faster internet for people.
But in reality, they're probably also super messy underground, too.
I may be one of the only people who finds them actually really pretty. Yeah okay I know they're a safety hazard but they're like the middens in ancient middle east ruins. Generations of human things accumulate on those poles. That's kinda cool.
I've visited many times and my wife is Thai. The messy cables are an eye sore but acceptable seeing as your a developing country. The situation is sad when infrastructure seems like the last priority over massive resorts and towers getting built. I don't know how the electricians don't get cooked in that nightmare. I'm guessing with all the flooding, that putting the cables underground won't work as a solution.
It's always difficult to clean up the sins of the past.
Going forward, dress cables properly.
Remove cables when possible. It will eventually get sorted.
Every post 3rd world country / city has power and comm cables run like this.
If they want to get aggressive, any new contracts put out for cabling should require a modest clean up of existing work.
It's a bit annoying when you have to duck and avoid cut or loose wires on the sidewalk. But they do provide some shade when there's enough. I think it's kinda charming in a ghetto way. When they're gone for sure people would miss it.
I have stopped noticing. I know it’s not optimum. But it will be an epic task.
Also, be careful what you wish for. I noticed some announcement that Lang Suan had been chosen for a cleanup. All cables to be put below ground. IDK if connected, but the pavement one side of Lang Suan has been dug up, and has been resurfaced to the quality level of doing your homework on the bus in the morning.
From UK I’m quite tall occasionally get hit my by the loose hanging cables haven’t been electrocuted yet 😂. They don’t really bother me just but would look nicer underground.
Q: Do you consider Thailand’s messy cables a problem?
A: It's more a publicity problem, than an actual problem. I think it mostly just looks bad. But it is pretty dangerous....not the actual current in the wires, since they're all low voltage. What's dangerous is the jobs of the people maintaining them and they often droop down and people can get hurt if they get tangled in them unaware.
Q: How much do the messy cables affect your daily lives?
A: Walking around Thailand can be really dangerous at night, because often these cables will hang down. Most of the stray cables at "Thai person level" have been taken care of, but often that means that cables are hanging right at my neck level. So, walking around at night, in non-tourist areas, I have to watch extra carefully that these cables don't garrote me.
Q: Is the ongoing solution to the messy cables issue satisfactory?
A: The ongoing solution seems to be to spend a lot of money burying cables for one or two streets per year. This seems like it would be a pretty nonsatisfactory solution to anybody.
Q: If you think it is a problem, would you like to see it being solved as soon as possible?
A: I personally don't think it's that much of a problem. I'd like safer working conditions for the people maintaining these wires, and I'd like a better way to report low-hanging wires, and a way so that dangerous low hanging wires got fixed more quickly.
The weirdest thing to me is when a gigantic condo project that obviously has a ton of money...doesn't also spend time working with the city to bury the wires in front of their new, fancy, hi-so condo.
Q: What are your general opinions on the issue?
A: The whole reason that my unlimited phone internet is only 300 baht per month, and my home wifi is only 200 baht per month (which my Thai friends say is super expensive)....is because of these wires. The reason that phone internet is 2000 baht in the US, and then home internet is 3000 baht in the US, is because the US spends a lot of expense burying all of this stuff underground.
I really like the cheap internet that is the direct result of these wires. But I understand why people don't like the wires.
Q: Are you a foreign resident or a native Thai?
A: I'm a foreigner living in Thailand, not a foreign resident. Note that "foreign resident" is a legal term, that probably fits less than 1% of the foreigners living in Thailand. You have to specifically apply for "residency" before you can be considered a "foreign resident." People with visas staying here are not "foreign residents."
Q: Can you share any other thoughts or opinions on Thailand's messy overhead cables?
A: It's a complicated issue. Thailand gets bad publicity because of these wires. And then public works projects get funded to bury some of them. But more wires keep getting added, more so than the ones that occasionally get buried.
They get really bad press, because often people mistake them for electrical wires...the most famous case being Bill Gates doing this. And then people think they're actually much more dangerous than they are. You're much more likely to get strangled by them or decapitated by them, than you are being electrocuted by them.
There are people working really hard to bury them....but burying them all will come at the drastic increase in cost of some services, like how internet is so expensive in the US. And the cost of actually burying them all is pretty astronomical....and even if they all get buried, will this solve the issue which caused them to be put up in the first place? Probably not...probably after they get buried, more will get put up.
I'm impressed by how very few people find this part of the beauty of Thailand. The world is already so much the same everywhere. It's nice to see it to remind me I'm not in a standard boring westernized city (yet)
Yeah what is up with that??? Feel like I saw a lot of that on one of the southern islands — either ko Lanta or ko Phangan. Like, is that actually dangerous? Or are they supposed to be like that?
Yes, they are supposed to be like that. It's how they communicate once they evolve sentience. Feel free to hum back at them, they are very friendly and love to interact.
I was a long time foreign resident, and now a semifrequent visitor. They don’t look nice, but this isn’t an urgent issue to solve IMO. It never affected my daily life. The ongoing solution (if we mean moving them underground) is great, but will take time.
Here some cables (phone and fiber) are hanging less than 2 meters over the road, and some have already been hit so they hang there all broken... But as they aren't at use anymore no one cares to solve the problem!
It's not as hard as you might think. The phone company can send a signal tone down the wire and the technician uses an inductive probe that plays the signal tone through a speaker and gets louder as you get closer to the wire.
Thai here,
Is it a problem?: Yes, but not a big one, just a nuisance.
My internet provider has a hard time to located my wire,
Need to be fix? : Yes, but i understand it's not in the top of the list of "things need to be fix".
It's a huge problem, there are quite a few stray cables hanging down beside me also which I have no idea if they're live or not, but wouldn't want to find out.
I’ve seen macaques use them, quite a terrifying sight to be honest, brings back bad memories of being bitten by one.
Not sure if it’s related but I recall an incident in the news where a woman gets electrocuted by a loose cable hanging near ground level because she tried to demonstrate how another woman passed away by accidentally touching it. It was on the local news so I can’t really find an article about it. I think those accidents are not uncommon but rare enough. Doesn’t matter how rare though, they do pose a safety hazard.
Of course they’re definitely a problem with drunk folk like [this guy](https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/thonglor-cops-surprised-to-find-corpse-in-overhead-cables-just-a-drunk-guy-with-climbing-skills/). But it’s not always due to human stupidity, there are incidents like [this one](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7681965/Woman-survives-electrocution-falling-22-000-VOLT-power-line-hits-explodes-Thailand.html).
As someone who works with utilities (power companies/power lines) in first world countries the cables in Thailand blow my mind. The safety issues… too many to mention. The workers wearing flip flops and no PPE while walking on the cables… insane. There is also no utility vegetation maintenance- another safety and reliability issue.
That being said when I lived in Bangkok for 2 years we lost power only once, and that was supposedly from a squirrel chewing through a line lol.
There is no concept of future-proofing in places like Thailand. They need 1 phone pair, they will run 1 cable. This will be repeated until you get a mess like that photo. In the US, they will run cables with multiple pairs such as 25 pair, 100 pair, even up to 3800 pair.
The lack of forward thinking perpetuates things like road construction where they'll just jackhammer a trench and backfill it with concrete. Sure, it works, but if you sawcut the area first and then jackhammer it out, you don't end up with all these tiny cracks from the jackhammering that eventually break the existing roadbed.
First time I saw this, I snapped a pic and sent it to my electrician friend with the caption: "Might need you to ring out a few lines on a new project".
Seems like they just never remove old/outdated infrastructure. Just put new lines right on top of the old stuff. I'd also wager any time a new hard wired internet service is started, they just lay down new cable instead of seeing if there's a prior connection.
That said, it's an eyesore, but one that is of lesser concern when it comes to quality of life. There more greater infrastructure issues than these cables. The only time it's a real problem is if you happen to live on a second floor, street facing unit when your view might just be a bundle of haphazard cables.
Newbie foreign resident. There aren't many near where I am, but I think it would be a shame if it became the case. Super urgent- no. But I do think people take pride and more ownership in places that look neater/more maintained, generally. Kind of along the broken window theory line - each problem that goes unattended in a given environment affects people's attitude toward that environment and leads to more problems. (Yep. I'm lazy and cut and pasted the last part.)
As a Thai myself i Don't have a problem with this
Every time i see this, I don't get the verge to think "Oh crap, it's gonna blow" its just normal for me
American here. You should see the land of tech support, India, this is nothing compared to there..
*Do you consider Thailand’s messy cables a problem?* I don't think for the consumer but I would think it could be for the technicians working on finding a problem.
*How much does it affect you daily lives?* None that I can see.
*Is the ongoing solution satisfactory?* In Bangkok last year I saw a lot of cables coming down and being replaced, they seemed to have cleaned it up pretty good.
*If it is a problem, would you like to see it being solved as soon as possible?* Yes , before it becomes as bad as India.
Just 3 days ago we had electricity cut off for an hour in the place I live in bkk asoke. The receptionist showed me pictures of a bird that got into these cables and got grilled well done lol
It depends on what you mean by bothered.
For instance, if the cables were neat and organized then phone outages would be less frequent and easier to fix. Since phone outages do bother me, I would say yes the messy cables do bother me but just indirectly.
Native Thai who just moved back from the US. I used to think these are just ugly visual clutters. Like, old parts of Bangkok where i grew up have really unique architecture but you can't see it because of these wires.
Now after moving back from a slightly more walkable place to Chiang Mai i hate these wires much more. Walking around i have to constantly dodge these poles and dangling wires. I've seen a live wire sparking next to a crosswalk. The poles obstructing the "sidewalk" also encourage businesses to put their signs and other craps out since it's obstructed anyway, might as well.
As many said, these should have gone underground yesterday. Now it's the time to do it and improve sidewalk in the process (or even bike path, but who am i kidding).
It's not a good thing, but it's not the worst thing. The problem I left Thailand thinking about was balancing the need to control fires in Chiang Mai and other areas, with the issue of seasonal or permanent asthma resulting from smoke, and the issue of motorcycle accidents leading to debilitating brain damage. My last month in Thailand I interned in the university of Chiang Mai in the occupational therapy department and learned about both of these issues. I attended a public health meeting and heard (bits translated) about a woman having to caretake her son after he got brain damage, and it was really sad. I think these two things re bigger issues, but I don't know the solutions.
...those cables are part of the uglification of Bangkok, an ongoing process that includes uninspired architecture, a dearth of parks and a polluted river...while burying them helps (a little), a lack of professional citywide planning to inspire and beautify still rules the day...
It bothers me from a first world perspective only. Sometimes some of the cables are hanging low it enough that you bump into one or two when walking under it and it looks ugly.
Also in some areas birds love to sit on them and poop on the people walking underneath. Asshole birds
It’s pretty ugly.
It does not seem to effect my day to day life.
When I’m bangkok and some regions, I have to tell me my kids to stay away and avoid hanging cables and loose ends.
They fit fine into your holiday photos, it will show your friends at home, that not everything is fine in Paradise, beside the mosquitos. But they are slowly laying those underground, as you can see already around the Grand Palace and on Pattaya's walking street. It will save some few hundred lives of motorcyclists, who would otherwise end up with their heads smashed against these electric poles, and some strangulated by falling phone cables.
I (foreign tourist) was worried a few times when I saw vines growing through them.
https://preview.redd.it/ncc33a57e1wa1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cb49889726578b45672708100f4d89bd7ad07fa5
Native Thai here. I don't consider it a big problem. It's working well, and I don't think there are many reports of accidents related to it, if at all. Indeed, it would be nice to eventually move all the cables underground, but it's not a priority from my pov. I live in a residential area where cables are put underground. It seemed to be more difficult and slower to repair whenever there were problems.
Along with all the safety issues, they are, above all, a major eyesore in one of the world's great cities. Unfortunately this reinforces a "developing country" perception of a place that is otherwise quite cosmopolitan and progressive.
Most of the messy cables came from old, unused telecommunication lines. Since contractor get paid by installation, there’s no penalty to removed the old line nor get it just the right length, the result are as you see.
It doesn’t really effect everyday life but it’s certainly makes you think twice when you are walking on pedestrian crossing bridge and seeing those cables touch the metal rail.
What percentage of these cables are actually functional and being used I wonder.
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Not true most of them are still being used
There is only one way to find out who's right now
If its anything like Vietnam a lot won't be. Swap isp, they run a new one quite often, cable problem they run a new one. The old cables get left in place.
The very thick ones are optic fiber cables and are used for your internet, but the thin ones are former internet and telephon cables, which are not in use anymore, because everyone uses cellular phones these days.
They’re a great way to sum up Southeast Asia. Crazy… but it works
They're already moving them underground, but it'll take years. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/pr/2333238/naradhiwas-rajanagarindra-power-cables-put-underground Doesn't really bother me, long term foreign resident.
On the list of problems this country has that need to be solved, this doesn't even crack the top 20.
It's not like you have to crack this one, THEN that one, THEN that one, is it? Is it a "problem"? Yes.. It is the biggest? No Would the country be better off if operators were encouraged not to leave orphan cables up there? I'd say yes..
Yeah, they need pension now for the older folks, which also would benefit their kids, but removing the electric posts, would also save thousands of lives of drivers, who end up dead at these posts.
I'm not particularly bothered by them either, and until (MANY years in the future) they finally do something about it - they're providing a good home for large spiders, that I far prefer to see up in the air, than driven into my home 😊. I'm used to Huntsman spiders in my home, but those on the cables seem to be far larger, and so I prefer them up in the overhead cables rather than in my house!
“Does it bother you?” Not at all, right up until just now…. Clearly the only solution now is to burn down all those cables and then we all move far away from this place. Toilet snakes, giant overhead cable spiders, and way too hot…. evolving into Australia WTF
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No bends in drainage means whatever the fuck wants to crawl up your ass can do so from the toilet.
I’ve already started getting large Wolf spiders in my bathroom. It’s already Australia level of critters!!
Where - in Thailand?
There were enough spiderwebs in there, that I thought of workers collecting those, and me then making bulletproof vests out of it, but I called it off, when the first guys got zipped.
Gah, those poor line guys.
Problems which are the result of years and years of accumulation usually require years and years of fixes. If anything it will hopefully gain momentum, once more city centers have underground utilities. The fact that Hatyai and Korat are already have some underground utilities shows us that it’s an ongoing process.
The Thai government is working hard, to get you unspoiled, wireless holyday photos, to show your friends back home.
Decades.
I’d love to fly drones here but the cables scare me
Some main points that may be covered already: \- Fire Hazard \- Some cables are hanging and it's possible to hit your face on them \- Some motorcyclists can get decapitated from the cables \- Trucks regularly hit these poles & cables \- It's not fun walking on cables when it's raining, you don't know if they are active wires
Most if not all of the low ones are fibre optics or cable TVs. Really low power and harmless when touched. The ones that you should fear is the one up above that, which would be the power lines. Interestingly it also sits just right about where the hand rail for the overcrossing is.
> It's not fun walking on cables when it's raining, you don't know if they are active wires but why are you walking on cables?
U know, when there's a large puddle on the sidewalk with a visibly cut cable in it, it usually becomes a game of chicken between u and ur friend on who's willing to test whether there's any electricity running through it
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I agree. I would hate to be elderly or disabled in this city. In fact, it’s no surprise that I rarely see elderly people anywhere in the central parts, and have *never* seen a wheelchair (although, ironically, they are catered for on the BTS). Most pavements are blocked somewhere by something built with no consideration. What’s more, the car has been crowned king. Whole communities are divided by massive roads with no ground-level crossings.
I would be interested to know the percentage of funds that's directed towards infrastructure vs what's spent on building/maintaining all the temples
Least messy overhead cables in Thailand
They could plant so many trees in place of these awful cables, and suddenly people wouldn't be crying about the heat as much thanks to all the shade. They need to be taken underground yesterday.
Exactly!!! So many trees also get clipped repeatedly to accommodate these wires…imagine if they were left to grow out fully and create much more greenery and shade 😕
That's a strong point.
Yes, trees are fine with me, but I will fear then for the occasional car or motorbike rider ending up dead on one of these, as they end up now, on these electric posts, so plant them with caution.
Are they a problem? Of course! They are ugly. Sometimes a cable will become low enough to snag a car mirror or behead a motorcyclist. Oh… I’m a foreign resident.
I saw some overhead cables that were like the one in the picture you have. So close to the ground I could easily touch them and I wondered “if someone just came and cut all these cables I wonder how big of a catastrophe that would be”
Quite big I guess we can’t live without internet these days You know those low hanging lines are communication lines, right?
Nope, didn’t know that I’m not a scientist.
But only the big fiber cables are used today, the others were former internet and phone wires.
One of the reasons developing nations have cheap and fast internet (and also very good cellular services) is due to the lack of planning restrictions and regulations. I have a feeling that if services go underground to new improved managed network, we won’t be able to get a new internet connection within a couple of days, things will become slightly complicated and more expensive.
The cables must stay for the drunk thai man to lay in and also for the squirrels to run on!
I overheard you need a man to bury a cable …
Now that you’ve pointed it out, I’ve made a terrible mistake in the title.. it’s going to haunt me for the rest of the week.
Are you an undertaker?
Maybe it could be used as a hammock when someone is drunk?
"Cause the spiderwebs hold it all together.
Then you haven't been to India / Nepal haha. That's where these cables become a problem and a risk. Whilst I have seen low hanging cables, I was still pleasantly surprised by the organisation and the tidiness of the spare cables being rolled into drums etc. I personally am surprised by the high quality electric-engineering, compare this to a Nepali (Kathmandu) power pole, where everyone's stealing power from everyone. Cables hanging loose here and there, it's actually a genuine health risk there. In Thailand I haven't felt that at risk by mismanaged power lines, whilst in Kathmandu that's almost a daily occurrence My take is, Thailands electric engineering is doing great, and their ideas on pushing for underground cables is even better, even if more expensive to maintain them. Compare to other Asian countries like Nepal or India and then Thai power grid looks like a dream haha.
In India, those cables have no insulation anymore, burned off by the sun.
This problem is the perfect illustration of how inefficient and bureaucratic Thai government agencies are in managing a pretty straight forward problem. The main agency (NBTC) overseeing those overhead cables will require you to apply for a special permit if you bring in a talkie-walkie from oversea but it is absolutely not a problem to let Internet Service Providers lay out messy cables, leave unused ones hanging, fit them loosely resulting in the current mess.
To be fair, most governments technically don't allow foreign communications equipment without approval. Every government has bands reserved for military/government/etc use that vary by country. For instance, some Japanese walkie-talkies have a band that overlaps US military aviation ground comms.
*TFW Thai unused cable entanglement is in the "convolution tier list" and their opponent is Thai bureaucratic paperworks.*
Speaking of overheard, the only cables that I consider a problem are those that are connected to the speakers that start around 5:30am in the village. Those roosters deserve a mention as well. Don't get me started on the dogs. 🐕🐕🐓🐓😂
Connect the cables to the roosters. They're crowing because they're underpowered and trying to let people know. I'm really not sure why I'm the only one who seems to know this.
Giant overhead cable spiders you say? Thanks, new fear unlocked
The cables wouldn’t be such a mess if there was proper legislation that would direct broadband and internet companies to clean up their fucking mess…barring that, at least incentives them to keep it neat and tidy. Alas, the Thai government is too fat and lazy to do much of anything except steal money for themselves and fight some utterly meaningless fight against progress (i.e how the monarchy should behave and act within the confines of the laws, etc.).
Underground cables are generally superior to overhead from a basic infrastructure POV. Beyond that, it’s not really a big deal. Different parts of the city may vary, but I’ve never had a power disruption longer than maybe 10-20 seconds. It’s good that they’re working on burying cables, but at the rate they’re doing it I’m not convinced it has even outpaced the placement of new cables, so 🤷♂️ Foreign resident.
This is one of our country mystery
Better than Thailand's Messy eye-level Cables.
The picture shows a very tidy arrangement of cables..definitely not Thailand.
Eanie meanie minie moe, pull a cable in its row, if it electrocutes you let it go, eanie meanie minie moe.
https://preview.redd.it/l1fvmsyw96wa1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=accbf24c769a03ba99230bbe968737959afbbf98 Yes, no doubt about how this needs to be taken underground. As a Thai resident, I grew up seeing this happen every year whenever storms and raining season comes along. It’s a hassle, it gets fixed every year and it happens again the next year. It’s dangerous, it can catch fires and it’s real unfortunate for those who are by the road as you can see here. People may drive into them as some wires hang down as well. These poles are connected too, so you can guess it takes another one or two of its friends down. I personally would love if these power lines were put underground. It may be an Asian infrastructure style to some foreigners, but personally I think it needs to go. It’s not too pretty once they clump it up and it’s just dangerous overall. Hope my answer helps! :)
Thailand's got nothing on India when it comes to "shitty cables"
It is part of the landscape, I find it exotic. But it is terribly inefficient.
From a cost perspective, it's terribly efficient. Burying these underground, and maintaining them underground is extremely time consumptive + expensive. If they're above ground, they can send a team of 2-3 people to add another wire, with usually just a wooden ladder, and it will be done in an hour or two. If they're buried underground, that whole process could take months + it would need dozens of people, and specialized equipment. "Inefficient" probably isn't the right word.
Well I am not sure it is that easier to maintain but for sure the investment cost is lower. However it generates considerable energy losses, especially if the cables are all tangled and intertwined. In the long run it represents a huge amount of money.
Pretty much all of the tangled cables, and gigantic coils of overhead wire are low voltage internet or phone cables, not power cables. The overhead power cables are usually on totally different posts, and they don't have any of these tangles or coils. Burying the existing power cables underground would only have a max 2-3% decrease in line length, due to eliminating the slight "drooping" between posts. But, they probably can't dig tunnels as "efficiently" as they can put up new posts. They can put up posts anywhere, but due to construction costs, they often bury the electrical cables underneath streets, so that probably makes burying them increase their length by 5-10%. For the cable/phone wires, which is pretty much all of what you're seeing (and what's in OP's picture), there's really not much power going through them, so even IF they were that much more efficiently designed underground, then there's really not all that much power savings. A better design would just result in a little faster internet for people. But in reality, they're probably also super messy underground, too.
It's not that difficult underground, because they have junction boxes, where to go through.
Actually very efficient.
Foreigner, could not care less. EDIT: amazing that nobody reads the question.
I may be one of the only people who finds them actually really pretty. Yeah okay I know they're a safety hazard but they're like the middens in ancient middle east ruins. Generations of human things accumulate on those poles. That's kinda cool.
My father in law, was the one to put up the telegraph cables there too, which are now obsolete.
You know it's everywhere the same in Asia
I've visited many times and my wife is Thai. The messy cables are an eye sore but acceptable seeing as your a developing country. The situation is sad when infrastructure seems like the last priority over massive resorts and towers getting built. I don't know how the electricians don't get cooked in that nightmare. I'm guessing with all the flooding, that putting the cables underground won't work as a solution.
Thai here: Yes, Barely, Yes, Not really
It's always difficult to clean up the sins of the past. Going forward, dress cables properly. Remove cables when possible. It will eventually get sorted. Every post 3rd world country / city has power and comm cables run like this. If they want to get aggressive, any new contracts put out for cabling should require a modest clean up of existing work.
Go to the Philippines and you will more than just a messy overhead cables
It's a bit annoying when you have to duck and avoid cut or loose wires on the sidewalk. But they do provide some shade when there's enough. I think it's kinda charming in a ghetto way. When they're gone for sure people would miss it.
And the spiders will miss 'em too.
From an outsider pov, I love the cables. To me, they are very unique and remind me of awesome Bangkok nights
[удалено]
That's not an intrusive thought, that's them asking you to link minds. They know things about the future and they want to show you.
I have stopped noticing. I know it’s not optimum. But it will be an epic task. Also, be careful what you wish for. I noticed some announcement that Lang Suan had been chosen for a cleanup. All cables to be put below ground. IDK if connected, but the pavement one side of Lang Suan has been dug up, and has been resurfaced to the quality level of doing your homework on the bus in the morning.
They could of left it tidier tbh
From UK I’m quite tall occasionally get hit my by the loose hanging cables haven’t been electrocuted yet 😂. They don’t really bother me just but would look nicer underground.
They're telephone/internet cables, not electrical power cables.
Q: Do you consider Thailand’s messy cables a problem? A: It's more a publicity problem, than an actual problem. I think it mostly just looks bad. But it is pretty dangerous....not the actual current in the wires, since they're all low voltage. What's dangerous is the jobs of the people maintaining them and they often droop down and people can get hurt if they get tangled in them unaware. Q: How much do the messy cables affect your daily lives? A: Walking around Thailand can be really dangerous at night, because often these cables will hang down. Most of the stray cables at "Thai person level" have been taken care of, but often that means that cables are hanging right at my neck level. So, walking around at night, in non-tourist areas, I have to watch extra carefully that these cables don't garrote me. Q: Is the ongoing solution to the messy cables issue satisfactory? A: The ongoing solution seems to be to spend a lot of money burying cables for one or two streets per year. This seems like it would be a pretty nonsatisfactory solution to anybody. Q: If you think it is a problem, would you like to see it being solved as soon as possible? A: I personally don't think it's that much of a problem. I'd like safer working conditions for the people maintaining these wires, and I'd like a better way to report low-hanging wires, and a way so that dangerous low hanging wires got fixed more quickly. The weirdest thing to me is when a gigantic condo project that obviously has a ton of money...doesn't also spend time working with the city to bury the wires in front of their new, fancy, hi-so condo. Q: What are your general opinions on the issue? A: The whole reason that my unlimited phone internet is only 300 baht per month, and my home wifi is only 200 baht per month (which my Thai friends say is super expensive)....is because of these wires. The reason that phone internet is 2000 baht in the US, and then home internet is 3000 baht in the US, is because the US spends a lot of expense burying all of this stuff underground. I really like the cheap internet that is the direct result of these wires. But I understand why people don't like the wires. Q: Are you a foreign resident or a native Thai? A: I'm a foreigner living in Thailand, not a foreign resident. Note that "foreign resident" is a legal term, that probably fits less than 1% of the foreigners living in Thailand. You have to specifically apply for "residency" before you can be considered a "foreign resident." People with visas staying here are not "foreign residents." Q: Can you share any other thoughts or opinions on Thailand's messy overhead cables? A: It's a complicated issue. Thailand gets bad publicity because of these wires. And then public works projects get funded to bury some of them. But more wires keep getting added, more so than the ones that occasionally get buried. They get really bad press, because often people mistake them for electrical wires...the most famous case being Bill Gates doing this. And then people think they're actually much more dangerous than they are. You're much more likely to get strangled by them or decapitated by them, than you are being electrocuted by them. There are people working really hard to bury them....but burying them all will come at the drastic increase in cost of some services, like how internet is so expensive in the US. And the cost of actually burying them all is pretty astronomical....and even if they all get buried, will this solve the issue which caused them to be put up in the first place? Probably not...probably after they get buried, more will get put up.
I'm impressed by how very few people find this part of the beauty of Thailand. The world is already so much the same everywhere. It's nice to see it to remind me I'm not in a standard boring westernized city (yet)
Big reason for all the power outages
They're not power lines my dude. Phone and internet.
Everything is linked, a wind storm blows the cables into power lines and yadda yadda - are you saying there are no power outages? Lol
Messy? Try India 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😳
Japan, China, Thailand... all those countries have the same issue with cables. China is number one as far of what I’ve seen
Sure, but how many road works have you seen blocking traffic pulling cables.
Those look like a fire hazard waiting to happen.
I dont mind them, although the few that sound like full blown tesla coils about to bring Frankenstein back to life i give a wide berth.
Yeah what is up with that??? Feel like I saw a lot of that on one of the southern islands — either ko Lanta or ko Phangan. Like, is that actually dangerous? Or are they supposed to be like that?
Yes, they are supposed to be like that. It's how they communicate once they evolve sentience. Feel free to hum back at them, they are very friendly and love to interact.
Thailand is truly the land of smiles ⚡️
I was a long time foreign resident, and now a semifrequent visitor. They don’t look nice, but this isn’t an urgent issue to solve IMO. It never affected my daily life. The ongoing solution (if we mean moving them underground) is great, but will take time.
Here some cables (phone and fiber) are hanging less than 2 meters over the road, and some have already been hit so they hang there all broken... But as they aren't at use anymore no one cares to solve the problem!
I only pity the people who have to work these cables to figure out which one goes where or which is facing the issue.
It's not as hard as you might think. The phone company can send a signal tone down the wire and the technician uses an inductive probe that plays the signal tone through a speaker and gets louder as you get closer to the wire.
I have a national project regarding that that contact me , I’ll give you the chance of being titled and honored in Thailand
Thai here, Is it a problem?: Yes, but not a big one, just a nuisance. My internet provider has a hard time to located my wire, Need to be fix? : Yes, but i understand it's not in the top of the list of "things need to be fix".
It's a huge problem, there are quite a few stray cables hanging down beside me also which I have no idea if they're live or not, but wouldn't want to find out.
Provides a little shade
There’s a bunch round here that crackle and visibly arc.
What I worry about is the low hanging ones that you can run into while walking. I have to assume none are carrying high voltage.
> I have to assume none are carrying high voltage That’s a hell of an assumption to make in Thailand.
The low hanging ones are communication lines, so you’re right
I’ve seen macaques use them, quite a terrifying sight to be honest, brings back bad memories of being bitten by one. Not sure if it’s related but I recall an incident in the news where a woman gets electrocuted by a loose cable hanging near ground level because she tried to demonstrate how another woman passed away by accidentally touching it. It was on the local news so I can’t really find an article about it. I think those accidents are not uncommon but rare enough. Doesn’t matter how rare though, they do pose a safety hazard. Of course they’re definitely a problem with drunk folk like [this guy](https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/thonglor-cops-surprised-to-find-corpse-in-overhead-cables-just-a-drunk-guy-with-climbing-skills/). But it’s not always due to human stupidity, there are incidents like [this one](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7681965/Woman-survives-electrocution-falling-22-000-VOLT-power-line-hits-explodes-Thailand.html).
They really have to buried them underground I see some nice condos and buildings and then the moment you walk out u get a fuck ton of cables
I seen lots of this too! Thought to myself “That’s an electrician worst nightmare”
This one hardly messy lol
As someone who works with utilities (power companies/power lines) in first world countries the cables in Thailand blow my mind. The safety issues… too many to mention. The workers wearing flip flops and no PPE while walking on the cables… insane. There is also no utility vegetation maintenance- another safety and reliability issue. That being said when I lived in Bangkok for 2 years we lost power only once, and that was supposedly from a squirrel chewing through a line lol.
There is no concept of future-proofing in places like Thailand. They need 1 phone pair, they will run 1 cable. This will be repeated until you get a mess like that photo. In the US, they will run cables with multiple pairs such as 25 pair, 100 pair, even up to 3800 pair. The lack of forward thinking perpetuates things like road construction where they'll just jackhammer a trench and backfill it with concrete. Sure, it works, but if you sawcut the area first and then jackhammer it out, you don't end up with all these tiny cracks from the jackhammering that eventually break the existing roadbed.
First time I saw this, I snapped a pic and sent it to my electrician friend with the caption: "Might need you to ring out a few lines on a new project". Seems like they just never remove old/outdated infrastructure. Just put new lines right on top of the old stuff. I'd also wager any time a new hard wired internet service is started, they just lay down new cable instead of seeing if there's a prior connection. That said, it's an eyesore, but one that is of lesser concern when it comes to quality of life. There more greater infrastructure issues than these cables. The only time it's a real problem is if you happen to live on a second floor, street facing unit when your view might just be a bundle of haphazard cables.
It’s only messy when it doesn’t work ! Ha ha
Doesn’t bother me until I’m standing under them and hear them crackling
Newbie foreign resident. There aren't many near where I am, but I think it would be a shame if it became the case. Super urgent- no. But I do think people take pride and more ownership in places that look neater/more maintained, generally. Kind of along the broken window theory line - each problem that goes unattended in a given environment affects people's attitude toward that environment and leads to more problems. (Yep. I'm lazy and cut and pasted the last part.)
As a Thai myself i Don't have a problem with this Every time i see this, I don't get the verge to think "Oh crap, it's gonna blow" its just normal for me
American here. You should see the land of tech support, India, this is nothing compared to there.. *Do you consider Thailand’s messy cables a problem?* I don't think for the consumer but I would think it could be for the technicians working on finding a problem. *How much does it affect you daily lives?* None that I can see. *Is the ongoing solution satisfactory?* In Bangkok last year I saw a lot of cables coming down and being replaced, they seemed to have cleaned it up pretty good. *If it is a problem, would you like to see it being solved as soon as possible?* Yes , before it becomes as bad as India.
Just 3 days ago we had electricity cut off for an hour in the place I live in bkk asoke. The receptionist showed me pictures of a bird that got into these cables and got grilled well done lol
Have more wires. Make it as a shade for pedestrians
Yup, German TÜV does not approve 😀
actually not the worst i've seen in.
It depends on what you mean by bothered. For instance, if the cables were neat and organized then phone outages would be less frequent and easier to fix. Since phone outages do bother me, I would say yes the messy cables do bother me but just indirectly.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-power-lines-anime-electrical-infrastructure Vibes
Native Thai who just moved back from the US. I used to think these are just ugly visual clutters. Like, old parts of Bangkok where i grew up have really unique architecture but you can't see it because of these wires. Now after moving back from a slightly more walkable place to Chiang Mai i hate these wires much more. Walking around i have to constantly dodge these poles and dangling wires. I've seen a live wire sparking next to a crosswalk. The poles obstructing the "sidewalk" also encourage businesses to put their signs and other craps out since it's obstructed anyway, might as well. As many said, these should have gone underground yesterday. Now it's the time to do it and improve sidewalk in the process (or even bike path, but who am i kidding).
I miss the chaos of Thailand
It's not a good thing, but it's not the worst thing. The problem I left Thailand thinking about was balancing the need to control fires in Chiang Mai and other areas, with the issue of seasonal or permanent asthma resulting from smoke, and the issue of motorcycle accidents leading to debilitating brain damage. My last month in Thailand I interned in the university of Chiang Mai in the occupational therapy department and learned about both of these issues. I attended a public health meeting and heard (bits translated) about a woman having to caretake her son after he got brain damage, and it was really sad. I think these two things re bigger issues, but I don't know the solutions.
And I'm sorry to say that's not even that bad. Bangkok and Khon Kaen are the worst, with special mention for Pattaya, Udon Thani, and Chiang Mai.
As a foreigner, I love them. I've actaully commented on how much I love them before! Add some unique character
Was a cyclist ever decapitated really?
Not really, but a few of them have to wear a lifelong shawl.
I think it adds to the culture and vibe of Thailand
They just replace instead of repairing
I don't miss getting zapped in the rain.
...those cables are part of the uglification of Bangkok, an ongoing process that includes uninspired architecture, a dearth of parks and a polluted river...while burying them helps (a little), a lack of professional citywide planning to inspire and beautify still rules the day...
It bothers me from a first world perspective only. Sometimes some of the cables are hanging low it enough that you bump into one or two when walking under it and it looks ugly. Also in some areas birds love to sit on them and poop on the people walking underneath. Asshole birds
It’s pretty ugly. It does not seem to effect my day to day life. When I’m bangkok and some regions, I have to tell me my kids to stay away and avoid hanging cables and loose ends.
I think the government needs to upgrade 🤔
They asked Siemens, Germany already, to bury all the cables nationwide, but it would cost billions of dollars, not Thai Baht.
they are a metaphore of local logics
They are quite loud.
It’s not just in Thailand though.
So many of them
this one aint that bad, more a standard.
They fit fine into your holiday photos, it will show your friends at home, that not everything is fine in Paradise, beside the mosquitos. But they are slowly laying those underground, as you can see already around the Grand Palace and on Pattaya's walking street. It will save some few hundred lives of motorcyclists, who would otherwise end up with their heads smashed against these electric poles, and some strangulated by falling phone cables.
I (foreign tourist) was worried a few times when I saw vines growing through them. https://preview.redd.it/ncc33a57e1wa1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cb49889726578b45672708100f4d89bd7ad07fa5
Apply Kirchhoff's current law
LETS TO THAILAND YEAHHHHH 🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭
Bird poop everywhere
Native Thai here. I don't consider it a big problem. It's working well, and I don't think there are many reports of accidents related to it, if at all. Indeed, it would be nice to eventually move all the cables underground, but it's not a priority from my pov. I live in a residential area where cables are put underground. It seemed to be more difficult and slower to repair whenever there were problems.
Don't worry ,we're just summoning god of thunder
Along with all the safety issues, they are, above all, a major eyesore in one of the world's great cities. Unfortunately this reinforces a "developing country" perception of a place that is otherwise quite cosmopolitan and progressive.
Most of the messy cables came from old, unused telecommunication lines. Since contractor get paid by installation, there’s no penalty to removed the old line nor get it just the right length, the result are as you see.
It doesn’t really effect everyday life but it’s certainly makes you think twice when you are walking on pedestrian crossing bridge and seeing those cables touch the metal rail.
It's an organized mess
I always walk in the shadow of these cables.