True Fiber Optic Broadband

[buksida]

They all grind to a crawl when overloaded, the advertised speed can only be considered as a peak possible speed when nobody else is using the line, so technically you'd only get 16Meg at 4am. Unless you had a fixed IP leased line and was the only user but those are painfully expensive.

[Super Joe]

I mentioned this in the Sport Villa thread the other day but was using a mate's recently installed 3BB internet connection over the course of a couple of weeks, all sorts of hours and it was remarkably consistent whether day or night. I don't know whether this is particularly significant to you more technical chaps but the speedtests to a Bangkok server we unusually consistent at around 14Mbps D/L. So impressed that I'm gonna chop in my TOT Broadband at home which fluctuates between 2-5Mbps and is twice monthly fee.

These speeds were via WiFi with always two and sometimes three devices using it. It was their 13MB/1MB 900 Baht/month package... should rename it 13MB+10% seeing as it was always doing 14MB!?

Just seen on their website they're rolling out a 13MB & others fibre optic service, but this definately weren't that!! As you can see the times were morning, afternoon and middle the night... is what I experienced significant? or do they always start you off fast then wind you in, it was in it's first month after install?

I've only ever heard people swearing about 3BB!!

Or maybe it's all down to my talented rooting technique

SJ

[blue05]

mate just got the 3BBB 13mb service. the box is right outside his bar. When he did a speed test he got over 14mb, very happy indeed

[Pleng]

They all grind to a crawl when overloaded, the advertised speed can only be considered as a peak possible speed when nobody else is using the line, so technically you'd only get 16Meg at 4am. Unless you had a fixed IP leased line and was the only user but those are painfully expensive.

I understand that they all crawl, but I want to know if the crawl is relative.

If, for example a 6Meg connection crawls down to average speed of 0.5, would a 9Meg connection slow down to 0.75, or would they all just go down to the lowest speed?

I ask because at the current speed my connection is 'almost' good enough to stream F1 races during the peak times; so a small speed boost might just make the connection good enough.

Doesn't really matter until next year now, though. Next two races are midnight races which should be OK anyway.

[Big Boy]

mate just got the 3BBB 13mb service. the box is right outside his bar. When he did a speed test he got over 14mb, very happy indeed

Mine runs at the advertised speed most of the time. However, I've been assured that it loses data packets between Bangkok and Hua Hin, which is a problem unique to 3BB. General browsing is unaffected, but for a service such as Thai Expat TV, and I would imagine live streaming, it is a real pain in the backside. Speed is not the problem.

[buksida]

I can only speak for the providers I have tried over the past years (TOT, 3BB/Maxnet, CAT, KSC, CS/Loxinfo, Hutch) that cable broadband (not 3G) has been available in Hua Hin and the speeds I have tested (0-9Mb). In my experience (that of others may differ) they ALL crawl to below 1Mb at peak times (ok for email/surfing - not for streaming), it is not relative. Can't speak for True as I've never tried them - one can only hope they are better as you can't get much worse.

[Pleng]

Ok thanks for the info buksida and big boy. If the packet loss issue is accurate then I guess a switch of providers may sort me out for F1 next year.

[Big Boy]

If the packet loss issue is accurate

The guys at Thai Expat TV say that they've checked me out, and that is a problem. They also say that it is specific to 3BB. I've very little technical knowledge, so have to take their word for it.

[Pleng]

If the packet loss issue is accurate

The guys at Thai Expat TV say that they've checked me out, and that is a problem. They also say that it is specific to 3BB. I've very little technical knowledge, so have to take their word for it.

Quite, and that's the problem - having to take their word for it. It would be easy enough to fob a customer off with a random networking issue knowing full well that the provider is going to make no effort to respond or rectify.

Next time the connection begins crawling I'll do some pinging and see if there is any issue of packet loss.

[Big Boy]

It would help if the techy guys at 3BB would get their finger out and investigate my problem - 3 weeks and waiting...........

[Pleng]

Well just out of interest I've been running some ping tests to bbc, another machine in the uk, and thaiexpat tv. It's only been going for a few minutes so it's not very scientific but here's the results so far:

thaiexpat.tv - 9% loss
bbc - 13% loss
machine in uk - 26% loss

I'll leave it running for a few hours and see if the results are consistent over time, and then see how they compare on the weekend.

Still, I'm still at a loss as to why streaming hosts don't provide the options for extra large buffers. Certainly one based in Thailand which is aware of the infrastructure issues should do. But then I'm pretty sure they're using some off-the-shelf product anyway so I guess there's not much they can do about that.

[wpcoe]

I currently have 3BB's 9Mbps plan for B900/month. Would I see a speed improvement with True's 10Mbps plan for B699/month? Would it be worse? Down times?

Your price for 9Mbps is way different to mine, I have 3BB 10Mbps at B632/month and the service is excellent.

After I made that post, my service was upgraded to 13Mbps for the same price.

Your price for 9Mbps is way different to mine, I have 3BB 10Mbps at B632/month and the service is excellent.

Please define 'service'. I've been waiting for 3 weeks for an engineer. I've hastened him/her, but have been told that I have to wait my place in the queue.

When I had my account moved from Jomtien to Hua Hin last year in spring, it was installed (no existing 3BB cable in my townhouse) within 24 hours of visiting the 3BB office south of Market Village.

Twice now, both times after I had been out of town and switched off my modem/router, I had trouble getting an ADSL signal. I called in the evening each time and the phone operator tried to send a restart signal but it failed. The next day, in both cases, a technician came out and fixed it pronto. He first checked the signal inside my home, then went down the street and up a pole, came back and -- voila! -- I was back in service.

Yes, I was irritated by twice returning home to no ADSL, but I consider the "service" I received from their staff to be within reasonable limits. And, of course, this being Thailand there have been a few irritating area-wide outages, but I read online about all the providers having those from time to time.

I'm puzzled why you (Big Boy) have such a problem getting an engineer out to your place. Are you an existing customer, or trying to get service installed? In either case, it is quite different from my experience!

As far as "service" -- i.e. actually providing the advertised bandwidth -- often speed tests show dismal numbers, but actual multi-threaded downloads (e.g. torrents) routinely perform at the full speed of my advertised 13Mbps service. Last week, I downloaded a Windows 8 installation package (from microsoft.com) at more than 10Mbps, as well.

That said, however, I am again being tempted by True. I got another flyer in my front fence advertising various combo packages including various DOCSIS + TrueVisions Cable TV, and DOCSIS + TrueMove-H 3G promotions. The flyer is all in Thai, so I'm not clear on the details, but I plan to visit the True shop in Market Village to see if they can explain the packages.

[edited a little later to add:]
Hmmm. I just came across a True web page ad (http://trueonline.truecorp.co.th/packag ... ส์_72_ช่อง):

True_internet+catv.gif (54.52 KiB) Viewed 993 times

Am I reading correctly that they have a package for B899/month for 15Mbps/1.5Mbps DOCSIS service PLUS the 72-channel Knowledge TrueVisions package? What is that column with B200/month?

[Pagey]

OK I am looking to get an internet connection and I then want to trial Expat TV. Which internet provider ? I have just been to 3BB who offer 10Mbps for 590 B +vat per month and 13 Mbps for 900 B +vat. Is 10 Mbps fast enough for Expat TV (BB?) as I read you are having problems. 3BB tell me if I take out 10 Mbps I can upgrade anytime to 13 Mbps if 10 is too slow. However the downside is you now have to pay a year in advance so if the service is not up to standard you are stuck with it. You do get 8% discount though for paying for 1 year.

I don't know where else to go so any suggestions would be welcome.

Edit : That True package above look good

[Big Boy]

According to Expat TV (and I'll give their exact quote:

We have checked using your IP address and there is data packet loss between Bangkok and Hua Hin. This is not an exclusive issue to our service, but any service that you are reliant on for high volumes of data transfer.

Last month we identified several clients issues with poor service in the Hua Hin region. All were using 3BB as their internet service provider, all logged complaints and have had a better experience since.

The poor service is 100% related to 3BB and their inability to run a successful network between Bangkok & Hua Hin. If the problem was on our end, as it was last week. We would be very upfront and transparent to this fact.

You can try to reboot your modem & computer. But complaining to 3BB would be the best course of action for the long term.

I have now waited over 3 weeks for 3BB to respond to my complaint. When I've hastened them, I've been told that I have to wait my turn in the queue. So ask yourself, why are the engineers are that busy?

You only require 3Mbps to run Thai Expat TV. The cheaper package should be more than 3 times what you need.

[Pagey]

OK BB, thanks. I will go to MV tomorrow and get the low down on the True package and anything else going - AIS ?

Not happy about having to pay for a year upfront with 3BB, the girl in the office said too many people were cancelling after 2 or 3 months - maybe because of poor service!!