Internet access in Thailand and Vietnam
 

I'm going to visit a few countries this year: Thailand and Vietnam among others.
I've read on wikipedia that the Internet is very censored and in some ways limited there.
Does anyone have experience with that? I'd like to have access to US online TV and poker websites.

Normally US online TV like hulu is not available outside the States but you can use VPN to change your IP. It should sort out also the poker issue.
Any VPN should do but make sure your VPN supports Exclusive Tunneling. Without it your location can be disclosed at any time and your IP and account banned.

I don't know of any internet censorship in Thailand, nor did I encounter any in VN. China certainly has internet censorship, and of course, Burma blocks access to many things on the internet, including all of the major email sites.

There is a lot of Internet censorship in Thailand, with thousands of web sites blocked that are deemed "offensive" - not just porn but anything considered critical of the government or royal family. However, this doesn't usually affect visitors. As another poster says, you'll need VPN to access Hulu, and probably the poker sites as well. Note that speeds in Thailand are not very good, so watching TV may not be a very enjoyable experience.

In Vietnam, several social media web sites, such as Facebook, are blocked. I suspect the poker sites may be as well.

Hi there guys
you are right, some internet filed are censored but, if you access in now website for reading new, or and business channel or working online that would be no problem at all, in vietnam internet work are developing very fast and cheap now, you can by 3G you actually can access internet everywhere, very handy

Other than the government lottery I believe most other forms of gambling are illegal in Thailand. I've never seen people in cafes playing card or dice games even for pennies, it's all kept behind closed doors. Playing on-line poker for money would be illegal, as would using a VPN to access them. The big international poker sites and overseas sports betting sites are usually blocked on the internet. People including some foreigners obviously get around such blocking but it's not something you would want to be caught doing.

As for internet censorship in general, the Thai government is happy to publicize it's efforts in blocking tens of thousands of websites. Sites blocked as MichaelBKK says are mostly government, monarchy or porn related but as anyone living in Thailand who uses the internet will know, you can come across the blocked message on innocuous sites that leave you wondering why they could possibly be blocked. That said, most sites your average web surfer would wish to access, apart from ones mentioned previously will be fine. If you want an idea of what is not fine then here's a page with further information.

http://2bangkok.com/blocked.html