gguy

I was wondering the same thing. It seems logical that all packages would receive the same speed up to the package limit. I wonder if Sophon has a top speed limiter or some type of allocation system that would give greater slow speeds to high end clients. The 2mp/512 would be fine with me if I could get 1mp to 2mp download.

In reality speed doesn't mean much if you're trying to stay connected to international sites and require good voip connectivity. The quality of the connection is far more important in the real world. The basic speed tests are pretty useless when it comes to testing how good a connection is because they only give the average speed and they often do this by spiking high to make up for the lows.

For anyone really interested in learning the facts about speed, this is required reading: Connection quality explained

...and do yourselves a favour and use their testing software. Nothing else comes close.

I have 3 services in my house than I'm testing:

1. TOT: 6 Mb/ 0.5 Mb

2. 3BB: 3 Mb/ 1 Mb Premier

3. CAT - Sophon: 2 Mb/ 1Mb premier

Without exception, the slow #3 service is the best overall on Bittorrents and all other applications. It gives me the most consistant connectivity. TOT will win only on very healthy Torrents, but not all the time. If all you are doing is downloading Bittorrents with hundreds of seeders and peers, then a cheap fast connection will suffice.

Three different providers. I think your the internet King of Pattaya. All in all, Sophon is probably the best of a bad lot. Hopefully, internet service will improve over time. It would be interesting to see what the internet penetration is in Pattaya. Probably the vast majority of Thais use the internet cafes.

Used to live in San Francisco and had many Chinese rest. to choose from.

Ordered two beef dishes last night and both were very good.

Probably the best Chinese rest. for money.

Dusit has Chinese rest. with nice views but very expensive but excellent food.

This rest. offers the best bang for the baht.

Interesting thread, thanks.

I'm thinking of changing to Sophon broadband next month. My elderly gay German neighbour already has it, a 6 month contract at 8/0.5 Mbps for around 7000 Baht, including 1500 Baht for installation.

Several posters have said that paying monthly is more expensive but offers advantages, and I can see that it would be a good idea until I am happy with their service and ready to take out a contract. I see the 6 month and 12 month contract prices posted above, but does anyone have a list of the pay-as-you-go monthly prices rather than a fixed contract?

Go back and read the scanned price list I offered earlier in this thread. That has all the monthy prices listed. They are the same as what you pay for 6 months and 12 months in advance. The ONLY advantage of paying up front is a free modem (which you have to give back) saving 2,500 and 750 reduction of installation fee if you pay 12 months in advance. It's not really a contract as you're paying up front. Bear in mind that no matter what plan you take, unless you want to be hard wired (LAN) to your computer you'll probably want to buy a wireless router for around 2000 - 2500. The ones in the shop are 2500 (Asus).

Thanks, I only saw the headings on your scan relating to 6 months and 1 year contracts. I see now that the monthly rate is the same.

As I don't need the faster upload speed, one of the Standard packages would seem the best. Somebody posted that even with a fast package like 8/0.5 Mbps they didn't generally get much above 2 Mbps during the day. Has anybody else had the same experience? Does a slower package like, say, 4/0.5 Mbps also give you 2 Mbps during the day? I ask this as I DL mainly from file sharing sites as a free user, and so seldom get even 2 Mbps DL speed. I don't need a mega-fast connection, just one that's reliable and (hopefully) cheaper than the crock-o'-sh*te that I currently have from ThaiIT.

I was wondering the same thing. It seems logical that all packages would receive the same speed up to the package limit. I wonder if Sophon has a top speed limiter or some type of allocation system that would give greater slow speeds to high end clients. The 2mp/512 would be fine with me if I could get 1mp to 2mp download.

Ate at China Garden last night.

Food and service good.

Large portions.

Needing some minor dental work, I priced a few places for dental cleaning, simple filing, and misc. charges:

Pattaya Int'l Hospital--1200B, 800B, 200B per visit for materials

General Survey of 6 dental clinics on South Pattaya Road near Tukcom--500 to 600B, 500 to 600B, 0 to 100B

I took my business of Pattaya International. However, will probably try a local shop for cleaning in 6 to 12 months.

Main worry--cleaning of dental instruments and ability of doctors.

Probably keep reading for individual recommendations on local doctors.

Any air conditioned spots?

How much time do you have to pay your government electric bill before the service is cut off?

Neighbor forgot to pay and want to pay neighbor's bill at electric office before service is cut off.

Thanks.

There is a German place next to Food Wave on top floor of Royal Shopping Plaza.

Have not been there. Probably expensive due to high rent.

Bobs was not really very good when Bob was still the owner. I went for the 180 or 200 rib special on Wed or Mon night a couple of years ago. It was OK. But Bob did not have a special listed on the menu. The waitress had to go to Bob for approval. Saw special advertised on one of the Pattaya TV news channels.

I checked with 3BB.

They currently offer free installation and modem. I believe you have to a sign 1 year contract. You pay month to month.

Also you get free telephone line; however, line is only good for internet.

The prices of 3BB and Sophon are comparable. The big difference is the installation and modem cost.

To me the BIG difference is quality of connection and also customer support. Before I dropped 3BB I was down for 4 days and had their customer support telling me the problem was me or my computer no sign of an engineer. Strange then that when I changed over to Sophon everything worked instantly with no messing around.

My 3BB goes out about every 2 or 3 months. The problem is always with the telephone line. It think someone works on a pole the disconnects the system. Service restored in about 2 days. The quality is bad but I happy just to connect.

I checked with 3BB.

They currently offer free installation and modem. I believe you have to a sign 1 year contract. You pay month to month.

Also you get free telephone line; however, line is only good for internet.

The prices of 3BB and Sophon are comparable. The big difference is the installation and modem cost.

I think I will risk going with Sophon.

It does not look like there is much difference in actual speeds of the various plans looking at the speed tests of various posters.

What would be the lowest speed that would allow good internet browsing of international websites? I rarely upload big files. I would like to keep my internet costs at a minimum.

Another annoying thing is that people tell me if they pay in advance for one year, you get one month free.

You don't, but you do save 2,500 (modem) and 750 (installation fee discount), so 3,250 baht for a year in advance. That's around 2 months saving on the expensive premier service, but only for the first year.

I meant to say with other internet providers you get a discount is my pay in advance.

Another annoying thing is that people tell me if they pay in advance for one year, you get one month free.

When I got 3BB, I got free install and modem.

Since I use the internet mainly between midnight and 4Am, I was hoping the cheap 2Mp/512K economy pack would meet my needs. The number of users should be less than during day.

Now I confused. If you choices were standard 3BB via telephone or Sophon Cable, what is the best alternative???????

.

"do they run a separate cable from the main condo connection to your individual condo?"

I live in a large condo building - the fiber cable terminates on the 10th floor. From there they installed devices that merge the Internet signal with the TV signal, so both signals go to the condo units on the same coax cable. It is split inside the condo unit with a standard TV cable splitter. From there, one cable goes to the Cable Modem and the other to the TV.

They initially had a weak signal and did something to upgrade the cable from the head-end to the condo unit. It took them about two hours to get everything working properly.

.

I got the same impression after talking to the salespeople. However, in my building I think the fiber cable stops at the cable TV junction in the lobby and internet is added to the TV cable to the room. Sophon told me that had 14 happy customers in my building. The tech said he checks signal strength in each installation.

The premium package has 5 users and all other packages have 30 users. I think the same is true for most other ISPs.

CAT will not deliver to a bldg that has a CAT subcontractor like Sophon.

I've used Sophon BB for 3 months and it his only been down 1 time for a few hours. But it can be slow. I pay for 10mbs and get an average of about 1.5. Some times its at 5mbs, but sometimes at .5mbs. But I like it better than 3BB.

They have the standard plans which you're on and premier plans. I pay 1,690 per month for the 2Mb/1Mb premier service. I went with the premium service because it's 1Mb upload and the standard packages only offer 512. The Standard plans are not much higher in price that the basic 3BB or TOT services.

Not one person on this thread has even mentioned that Sophon Broadband IS CAT through fiber optic (television cables). The plans from Sophon are the same as the CAT plans and the same price. All CAT plans are available through Sophon. CAT have a brochure in their office advertising that their service is now available through various cable television companies depending on your area.

The reason for this is that CAT through adsl lines is not available in many areas. When I asked CAT about getting set up in my area (Cosy Beach), they just said "cannot". Not a word of interest about the possibility of getting it set up there.

My username is the same as a CAT username with "ctv" prefix.

I can call CAT customer service 24 hours, but they don't seem to be too happy to help out, but at least I can get an idea if there is a specific CAT problem in my area.

Now, here some important info for Sophon broadband users or potential customers. My service has been unstable for the time I've been connected with them (1 month). I phoned them up last week at about 8:45am. They had a team of 3 out to my place before 10am. They checked my TV cable and discovered that the signal was weak, which they said is often the case when they use old Sophon TV cables in houses and condos. They immediately ran a new dedicated fiber optic cable from their junction on a power poll near my place into my house and had it up and running before 11am. Now it is running great (as good as my old CAT adsl connection or better).

That is very interesting. It was my understanding the internet came through a new set of lines and had nothing to do with the TV cable. If you live in condo with Sophon TV, do they run a separate cable from the main condo connection to your individual condo? I do not think so. Sophon Cable has probably run a new cable to the condo but it probably running with your Sophon TV cable from the condo junction to your room. I am going to the cable company today and ask about how the cable is run in a condo.

sophon are rubbish

Is that cable Tv or internet or both?

This was a popular topic several months ago.

Planning on switching to Sophon from 3BB next month.

Located in Center Condo near Tukcom.

What are the latest reports on Sophon Cable?

>>Realistic price ? your having a larf,it's worth diddly-squat,this time next April the white flags will be hanging out of the place.<<

You are very negative ( more than is necessary ) .There is a strong rental market for Park Lane if you are prepared to take people for less than 6 months ( i am not ) .Since my renter left i had had many offers for 3 and 4 months rental periods .As i am not living in Jomtien to supervise i prefer it to remain empty till a sale ,or i sell my other condo .

There will be no white flags as the Russians will see to that .The Russians have bought into Park Lane in big numbers and many more of them are interested in buying there .BTW ,their women look nice in swim suits ( see them by the pool ,blond and slim ;-)

Russians blond and slim????????????? The ones I see on WS at fat and old. Sometimes with a bad blond hair dye. All the pretty ones are at this condo.

I recently went for a checkup and teeth-clean, and had an X ray done also, at their behest, of course.

Cost me 1,800 Baht all in, which I thought was a little steep for Thailand but the guy, Dr Tapasit, ex-head of dentistry at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, is a first rate dentist and I rate him highly, so if high quality dental care trumps a slightly high-ish bill, go there. I will from now on.

That is almost USA prices.

Any experiences with Studio Smile Dental Clinic on Beach Road. Looks like a brand new clinic. Nice website.

What about pricing? Website keys on "cosmetic" dentistry which usually means very high (USA or Europe) prices.

You may want to forward him the letter...

The original letter was returned to the hospital according to my friend.

A friend recently received a letter from a hospital confirming he has HIV. Fortunately, the letter was misaddressed. The envelope had his name and the letter had the name of the HIV person. My friend knows this person and pointed him out in a local bar.

I have seen this person at several bars barfining girls. I saw him tonight at a go-go I frequent and he barfined one of the dancers.

This is an interesting dilemma. My initial thought is that the dancers know the risks they are taking and they are being compensated for it, and I should keep my mouth shut. Legally, I will keep my mouth shut because I do not have the letter to back up my claim. However, I have known my friend for over 6 years and he is a very responsible person and would not make an accusation without proof.