Som Nam Na

Potential chav

You are 26 % chav

Do you find yourself reaching for the hair gel in the morning instead of your straighteners? Does the thought of your man in gold chains and sovereigns get you all hot under the collar? You've still got a fair way to go yet but there's definately something of the chav in you and who knows, carry on the way you're going and one day you might even be able to show Brian Harvey a thing or two.

Certainly don't reach for the gel....nothing to gel!

Som Nam Na,

You were a royal pain in the arse to the ToT technicians...

They saved their face by giving you extra speed to the expense of some unsuspecting sucker...

If you still can't do the math, that you simply cannot get the speed at the price you are paying, you are a super idotic customer...

I'm absolutely sure the other guy on the 1024 package who now only gets half modem speed (remember, ToT gave his speed to you to get rid of your complaints) is a really happy guy...

I guess customers like you are pushing company's like True into blocking P2P and voip and whatever......

If you want true 1Mbps connection, pay the price (around 20000 Baht/month)

If you do not want to share, or face the realistic situation, go home and enjoy the high speed internet you get there at whatever price they ask...

Good riddance

We all have to share the bandwidth available, we all complain, but we do it with a smile on our face, and we are all happy we get pretty fast adsl internet, cheaper then what we used to pay for dial-up on top......

Only some want it all, and preferably at the cheapest price available...

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Whatever. I'm a super idiotic customer with a 1024 mb/s internet connection.......so I'm happy.

Lets hope you aren't the "unsuspecting sucker" because I'm sure the "unsuspecting sucker" isn't Thai. But then, you would still be happy.....wouldn't you? So mai bpen rai!

You didn’t happen to slip the guy a 1000 baht or so during your last visit did you? 

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Nope. Already paid my 1000 THB. Just made myself a royal pain in the arse until I got what I paid for. Also went prepared with the stats and asked friendly but very awkward questions (with the smile of course).

will see what happens in the next week or so....After all, I did have 1024 for one day last week!

Package DSL has been shared bandwidth. The speed may reduce by 10% - 20% as a result of the OVERHEAD from the IP or traffic in the Internet.

This 100% correct on local bandwidth, not so on international bandwidth...

Ji-net currently has 200Mbps of international bandwidth, which is simply not enough if everybody was only using 20 % of their connection speed... With the priority given to the expensive packages, maybe only 15% would be available to the cheaper packages if everybody was online (and maxing out their connection)

Now it kind of came out that a strange thing happend in Thailand. We foreigners use our connections for a mix of reasons. Partly surfing / e-mailing, chatting and partly downloading.The Thais however have only one major reason to subscribe to broadband and that is downloading, downloading and downloading. There are hardly any Thai language sites located outside of Thailand, so teir websurfing would noy interfere with international bandwidth...

True said in an article that roughly 85% of their cheap customers have P2P clients running and are simply 24hours a day maxing out their connection. This prompted their engineers to put a throthle on P2P ports, so the other 15% might have e decent chance to get reasonable speeds...

The international bandwidth is simply not there to supply the tens of thousands subscriber with even 50% of their rated speeds

The cheaper your package, the harder you suffer through less priority...

If I test on Thai servers I always get 80% of my speed, day or night!!!

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Indeed. This is true.

But now it seems after complaining a 3rd time I am finally getting more of the performance that I am paying for.

http://www.tcpiq.com/tcpIQ/LineSpeed/Resul...3&UserId=164518

It seems after my visit to TOT on Friday my internet speed is miraclulously between 500 and 800 kb/s (averaging at about 650 kb/s) consistently....still quite a variation but certainly better than before. I am now sure I am getting what I am paying for and it does seem incremental (3 complaints each complaint seeing an increase).

Som Nam Na, you are not paying a premium price for a fast service, the TOT package is dirt cheap (1000 Baht/month I think)...

I pay 1650 Baht/month for 256/128 access (in Pattaya). And this is the cheapest available from Ji-net...

People who pay extra (like 10 fold) for a so called "business" package would have the right to complain if the access is not up to standard...

Anyway, it seems that the premium packages get premium service, and the cheap ones have much more slowdowns during peak times...

Example from the difference between cheap and premium (prices excl. vat and on True line in Bangkok):

Ji-net compax 512/256 @ 1280/month

Ji-net dsl plus 512/256 @ 2800/month

Ji-net dsl premium 512/512 @ 15900 Baht/month

Ji-net dsl pro    512/512 @ 25900 Baht/month

25900 Baht/month is the price Ji-net has to ask the customer to give a guaranteed throughput of 512 kbps!!!

Only one reason, because our monopolistic CAT charges ridiculous fees for international access... A 155 Mbps line costs a cool 4 million Baht/month.

This would support only 310 dsl pro users, giving Ji-net a revenue of 8 million. How can they pay all their cost from that??? Thats why they have to sign up loads of customers at dirt cheap prices and extremely high contention ratio's...No wonder most ISP's operate in the red...

So to your original question about expectations etc, as long as CAT holds the monopoly, I will remain very happy to have cheap adsl access which always is faster then dial up, and most probably even costs less...

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I hear what you are saying, but in offpeak times I should get more than 512kb/s. My benchmark runs every 2 hrs (over the last week or so) and apart from one day after I phoned up, the performance is pretty poor.

I know in theory a 1024 with a 50:1 contention would only yield about 20Kb/s (2.5 KB/s i.e about same as modem) if all users maxed the download, but I would expect at least 1 in a 24hr period I could get near the performance I am paying for.

In the my home country with a 50:1 contention ratio on a 1024 Mb/s ADSL link I was consistently seeing >900 kb/s even during peak hours. The technology is the same. I have a feeling that maybe the ISP is running proxy servers which maybe limiting the bandwidth further and would certainly explain the wild variations. I know True is guilty of this, maybe switching ISP's might help.

I read the write up on those packages you describe and for the compax accounts they say:

Package DSL has been shared bandwidth. The speed may reduce by 10% - 20% as

a result of the OVERHEAD from the IP or traffic in the Internet.

In worst case this would yield >800Kb/s much more presentable. And consistent with a contention ratio of 50:1

ISSP via TT&T in Korat. Paying for 256/128. This result:

Communications 156.1 kilobits per second

1MB file download 53.7 seconds

from:

http://www.bandwidthplace.com/

ADSL from ISSP is supposed to be 10:1 contention rate.

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I ran the above test (apples with apples etc) I got these results...

Communications 157.7 kilobits per second

Storage 19.3 kilobytes per second

1MB file download 53.2 seconds

Subjective rating Mediocre

Very similar to yours but I'm paying for 1024.

Even so. From your benchmark it is still 60% of the rated 256Kb/s. A good ADSL link should be 80-90% and this should be stable at all times with a contention ration of 10:1

The speed that you ask for and pay for is simply the speed between your house and the local CO (central office).  That's the speed the modem will display, and barring any physical limitations on the line, you will get that speed.

Complain all you want, but if you really want to get to the source of the bottleneck, go to CAT, not the ISP.

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I don't agree.

If I pay for a premium service, I expect to get it!

The price is not for the theoretical speed of the wire to the exchange, it is for the DSL access multiplexers at the exchange which dictate the bandwidth limitation. The varaition in speed shows that the contention ration is poor ( a good contention is 10:1 which would have no noticeable affect for me in peak hours; 50:1 is more usual-in the west-and I would expect a 5-10% variation during peak hours). Currently I am seeing about 50% variation.

I have complained to TOT (not CAT). The first time (when I had 256/128) was because the engineer forgot to tell them what service I had paid for so they assumed the lowest. I then complained again and for 1 day I had 1024...then it went back to 512.

BUT. This is not a discussion as to whatwe should we put up with. More of what are other peoples experiences compared to their expectations.

I've just purchased the 1024 Mb/s ADSL from TOT.

Do I get 1024 Mb/s....do I ######.

It's very dependent on the time of day (contention ratio must be about 1000:1).

When first installed, I reckon it was a 256/128 connection...phone call. Next day 512/256...phone call. Still reckon it's a 512/256 connection bit I'm paying for 1024/512.

Here's the results of speed testing

http://www.tcpiq.com/tcpIQ/LineSpeed/Resul...1&UserId=164518

Lets here your comments about ADSL in thailand.

Someone once told me, it is very easy to get a Thai woman if you are in Thailand .......the difficulty is getting a non-Thai Asian woman. Now, that's an accomplishment.

Don't shoot the messenger!

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It is very easy to get em....it's getting rid of them thats the problem

Why do they add ice to a cold beer?

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I think it's become a habit. Before fridges were commonplace, cold beer was not available everywhere but ice seemed to be. Therefore the ice was added to warm beer to cool it down. Now, even though cold beer is more readily available, ice is still added. And yes, it does effectively reduce the alcohol content.

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So where did they keep the ice then?

I use a program called Proxy Probe. It enables me to look at any banned site including these ones......he,he.

Shame I can't read Thai!

But I could read this.....

http://www.dlo.co.th/news_e.php?news=1001

Seems like a personal tiff.

Ok boys, some of this is cultural, some of it just women.

Cultural: it is impolite to say no (or deny someone something) so if you get a bs excuse, read it as "No".

Women: "no" means "no". plain and simple.

"Up to you" means "use your judgement about how I feel but if you get it wrong you are up a creek without a paddle".

"What are you thinking?" means "What are you thinking, I hope it is something nice about me or something important about our relationship rather than about the engine oil needing to be changed".

Let me know if you need any more translations 

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Why all the secret meanings and hidden translations? Why can't women just say yes when they mean yes, and no when they mean no? That drives me crazy!

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Because we are complex creatures with deep emotions and thoughts. Sorry, I know you can't really understand that since mostly, with guys, what you see is what you get, but women understand each other just fine and don't find any secret meanings or hidden translations at all. Seems perfectly clear to us!

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Creatures.....maybe. Complex.......no.

Men are problem solvers......women are problem makers.

Men can only solve problems if given accurate and unambiguous information. Women make sure that the information is ambiguous and incomplete so that they don't feel inferior to the the man trying to solve THIER problem. Why do you think 99.9 % of engineers are men and 90 % of psychologists are women. Engineers solve problems and psychologists convince you that you have a problem.

It's better to be kii neow than kii nok.

The best analogy (generalisation maybe) that I can find is that most Thai's (men and women) are like children. They push the boundaries until you put your foot down. Let them get away with it and they take the extra mile!

The difference with women as apposed to men is that women are more likely to interact with farang and if they have pushed the boundary before (with a previous farang boyfriend) then they are likely to try and push further than the last time.

"Up to you" has a western equivelent......."Whatever"

Me-Want to go out tonight?

Her-Whatever.

Me-Ok I'm meeting your girlfriends at 8pm.

Her-Which girlfriends.

Me-(I just say one that she thinks either fancies me or she thinks I fancy her)

...............8pm and she still hasn't made a move.

Me-Right tiruk. I'm off to have fun with some beatiful girls. Phone me when you are ready but if we go to a nightclub I may not hear it so be quick.

Her- Which club you go.

Me-Whatever!

................2 mins later...........

Her-Ready! lets go!

She did it about 4 or 5 times and now I never hear"up to you!" only yes or no

Jealousy is a wonderful thai trait.

I've lived in Udon for a while now.

I've seen four guys walking down the street with shotguns (outside a well known nightclub). A shooting. Several beatings a couple of hit and runs... even guys carrying pistols in bars. I've also seen a bloke knocked off his bike by a car and the girl pillion dragged off and bundled into the back seat.

The thing that has always struck me though is that it has always happened for a reason.....and between Thai's. There is little "mindless" crime which is rife in my own country.....You get what you ask for.

The shotguns were because the guy got a beating (don't know that reason, maybe a gang thing) then he ran up the street and returned with 3 mates and some artillery.

The shooting was a grudge between two families and the other beatings were because of foul behaviour.

(Don't know the reason for the girl being dragged off....but she knew them..maybe jealous ex or something)

Here, we (farang) seem to be looked at more like annoying flies than real threats (of which I am glad). There seems to be a lot of tolerence for our "abhorrent" behaviour which is not tolerated for our Thai equivelents.

The reality here is life is cheap. But I still feel 1000% safer here than my own country.

Why do I stay?

It's just plain better....oh and having a g/f 15 years younger and 100 times prettier than farang women.

Amazing Thailand.....

OK.

1. Who are these people that the scheme is targeted at?

2. Do they think that with the miserable wages they pay here for teachers (oh...and it is less than the required amount for the public sector) they can "entice" decent foreign teachers?

3. The people that they do "entice" do they really think they can teach English?

I am not an English teacher...for one very good reason. The money (as a farang) isn't enough to get out of bed for. I could retire with the amount of money I bring in and have in my FOREIGN bank accounts (but don't because of the no interset for farang means that it is better to leave it outside of Thailand) but cannot because I am too young and I don't have (want) a wife. I could teach English, but I was a programmer and could (and have) knock the shit out of any Thai programmer. I also speak, read and write Thai.

So. Reading between the lines. They want cheap foreign labour. What they are going to get is more backpackers. Som Nam Na!!!!!!!

I appreciate the "gesture". And the reason it is met with so much cynicism is that is it is perveived as just that....a gesture. For those people who have lived long enough here (i don't count myself amongst those since I've only been here 2 years), then they have seen many empty promises and a lot of hot air.

As for immigration. I regulalry have to interface with them (yes visa runs...too young to get a retiremnet visa) and I have definately seen their attitude change over the last 2 years...for the better.

Now, they are very curtious, polite and address me as sir, whereas before I was more of a fly in their soup.

Thailand is changing, but I don't think the results I have seen have been from government directions, more form the everyday worker interacting more with forigners.

Saying that. It still pisses me off that when you take a bird out 10 of her male "friends" still try to get some free drinks!

Not only in UK, but also banned in the Netherlands because of too many doubts about safety.

In Thailand money can buy everything but happily NOT in Europe.

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Well, I'm happily in Thailand. Not worrying too much about Phuketi Air cos I usually fly Emirates for the cigarette break in Dubai.

But it just goes to show what happens when the kids play with the big boys

I told my missus that waxing her legs would make her boobs bigger ços more nutrients would go to her boobs than in growing hair!

Now all her friends are waxing

Thai tourism sites not affected by quake in Indonesia 

The prime minister said that the country's tsunami early warning system would be linked to major media networks, particularly TV and radio stations, and local telecommunication systems, namely mobile phone networks.

--TNA 2005-03-29

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I didn't know Thailand set up an early warning system yet....

Or is that Thai fisherman out there with a rock and rope measuring the wave height?

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No.

It's a guy sitting in Bangkok watching BBC World news with a paper cup and a bit of string.

I he is indeed guilty then I have no compassion. but why is it they can get him so quick when they don't even bother with the so-called suicides or ....If he had left her in the hotel room with some asprin and in a strange position, would they still look for him?

I agree with Sir Burr.

I've looked into this and the aggro outways the benefits. I've never seen any reason to buy a house in Thailand at all. Rent is cheap and if you get yer missus to take out a mortgage, rent is Dirt cheap!) :0)

LOL...

Ah. Genetically modified Turn-ups.

I've never seen turn-ups as turned up as in Thailand.

Wow.

I met an Australian called Eric who owned the 3T bar in Pattaya in August. He was there everyday though.

Some aspects of this clipping seem to be a little eroneous, as pointed out by Astral...they have had quite a few opportunities to pick him up. If he was the same Eric that I knew then they could have got him anytime sitting behind his bar.