3BB taking control of your computer?

[rick44]

The last couple of days I've had a problem visiting websites. I get an advert from my provider 3BB instead. I just called 3BB, and they told me to restart the router. That seemed to rectify the problem. They apologized and said it had to do with them giving me increased speed (and presumably wanted me to be aware of this fact).

 

But this is not the first time, and it's pretty eerie when your provider of physical lines takes control of your browser. Anyone else had this problem?

Edited March 18, 2019 by rick44

[transam]

No..

[vogie]

It happened to me yesterday, the only time it has occured. Lasted about 10 minutes. 

Having said that, it only happened to me when I tried to access my IPTV, all other channels were ok. I thought they were tracking me.

Edited March 18, 2019 by vogie
Update

[55Jay]

My 3BB has been wonky for about a month.  Random drops and I get a message bar along the top of the browser telling me I have to log in and check my service status.  Hangs for a minute then goes away, back to normal without having to reset or do anything. 

[dabhand]

I pay 3BB monthly and sometimes cut it fine for making payment. When that happens, I get the 3BB screen advising that payment is about due when logging on first thing. Confused me at first as was all in Thai but eventually spotted the English button. A few clicks and it disappears.

I now make payment a bit earlier to avoid the issue. Not really needed but looks like 3BB credit control have taken lessons in persuading folk to pay earlier than necessary!!

Outside of that, no problems with 3BB.

Edited March 18, 2019 by dabhand

[marcusarelus]

Happens on my TV with TrueVision.  Never had 3bb do it.  But I pay my bills early.

[55Jay]

7 minutes ago, dabhand said:

I pay 3BB monthly and sometimes cut it fine for making payment. When that happens, I get the 3BB screen advising that payment is about due when logging on first thing. Confused me at first as was all in Thai but eventually spotted the English button. A few clicks and it disappears.

I now make payment a bit earlier to avoid the issue. Not really needed but looks like 3BB credit control have taken lessons in persuading folk to pay earlier than necessary!!

Outside of that, no problems with 3BB.

Yup, that's the message I get.  Pay my bill on time or a bit early, but these disruptions and messages happen randomly throughout the month.  Now that you mentioned it, I can sort of align it to when I began paying online via BKK Bank Billpay.  Previous year or two in this house with 3bb, paid in person, never had any of these messages pop up.  Maybe just a coinkadink.

[StevieAus]

I have had exactly the same problem the last couple of days, try to access a site and the advertisement appears.

I cannot be anything to do with paying the bill as it comes directly out of the bank account.

Normally I have found their service to be excellent but will get my Thai wife to visit their office tomorrow.

[rick44]

17 minutes ago, StevieAus said:

I have had exactly the same problem the last couple of days, try to access a site and the advertisement appears.

I cannot be anything to do with paying the bill as it comes directly out of the bank account.

Normally I have found their service to be excellent but will get my Thai wife to visit their office tomorrow.

Same with me, automatic withdrawal from bank, so nothing to do with payment

[mtls2005]

I think ISPs can inject code, esp. if you use just the URL or HTTP. HTTPS prevents this.

 

My guess is that 3BB was attempting to notify you of a free upgrade of service ( 3BB upgraded me from 200/100 to 500/500 at the same price: 1,200 baht ) which may or may not have required a router re-start to enable. I've seen some recommendations for a 10-minute power unplug requirement. I did not require this.

 

 

[rick44]

40 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

I think ISPs can inject code, esp. if you use just the URL or HTTP. HTTPS prevents this.

 

My guess is that 3BB was attempting to notify you of a free upgrade of service ( 3BB upgraded me from 200/100 to 500/500 at the same price: 1,200 baht ) which may or may not have required a router re-start to enable. I've seen some recommendations for a 10-minute power unplug requirement. I did not require this.

 

 

Yes, exactly. I had to edit some of my old bookmarks and put in https in order to make them work... 

[trd]

I think ISPs can inject code, esp. if you use just the URL or HTTP. HTTPS prevents this.
 
My guess is that 3BB was attempting to notify you of a free upgrade of service ( 3BB upgraded me from 200/100 to 500/500 at the same price: 1,200 baht ) which may or may not have required a router re-start to enable. I've seen some recommendations for a 10-minute power unplug requirement. I did not require this.
 
 

You should consider downgrading from the 1200 Baht package to the 700 baht package (50/100) as I did because although you are getting fantastic speeds in Thailand the websites or movies you are downloading from servers outside Thailand will give you no more than 50 mb/s so you are paying extra for nothing. When I downgraded it made absolutely no difference to the download speeds I was getting internationally.

Now it seems I've been upgraded at no extra cost like you. I actually received an SMS text message telling me that.

[mtls2005]

26 minutes ago, trd said:

you are downloading from servers outside Thailand will give you no more than 50 mb/s so you are paying extra for nothing.

 

My experience does not align with your statement. But that's the beauty of choices. You make yours and I make mine.

[trd]

You should consider downgrading from the 1200 Baht package to the 700 baht package (50/100) as I did because although you are getting fantastic speeds in Thailand the websites or movies you are downloading from servers outside Thailand will give you no more than 50 mb/s so you are paying extra for nothing. When I downgraded it made absolutely no difference to the download speeds I was getting internationally.

Now it seems I've been upgraded at no extra cost like you. I actually received an SMS text message telling me that.

I need to make a correction. The downgraded package gives me 100 mb/s download, not 50 as I said. Maximum accumulated download speeds of torrents has been no more than 60 mbs so having 200 download instead of 100 has given me no advantage and I have all the figures to back that up. They gave me a Lamborghini I could only drive on a country road, so I got myself a Ford to do the same speed.

[Greyhat]

Buy your own [compatible] router and flash DD-WRT or Tomato. No more ISP injections courtesy of Dnsmasq. Frankly, doing this regardless of whether or not you have a problem is advisable if you value your privacy.

[Jeffrey346]

18 hours ago, trd said:

You should consider downgrading from the 1200 Baht package to the 700 baht package (50/100) as I did because although you are getting fantastic speeds in Thailand the websites or movies you are downloading from servers outside Thailand will give you no more than 50 mb/s so you are paying extra for nothing. When I downgraded it made absolutely no difference to the download speeds I was getting internationally.

Now it seems I've been upgraded at no extra cost like you. I actually received an SMS text message telling me that.

Not true.. I have the international package and usually get around 100 mb/s today I am getting 89mb/s. More than the required 25 mb/s for streaming.

[clokwise]

It was probably 10 years ago when I used 3BB, and I used to get similar messages in my browser. What's worse was all my internet services would be disabled (streaming, email, etc) until I opened a browser and clicked ok on that page. But they were not taking over my computer. They were redirecting either DNS and/or HTTP requests to point to their own page which informed me of some status update like payment due or whatever. It's a totally amateurish way of dealing with such matters. An email or SMS would be more appropriate. But I'm shocked they are still doing that today! Thanks for reminding me why I should never reconsider 3BB (very happy with TOT!).

[trd]

Not true.. I have the international package and usually get around 100 mb/s today I am getting 89mb/s. More than the required 25 mb/s for streaming.

Where is the server located that you are using for your speed test. Which site or software are you using for your test. Is the test server defaulted to Bangkok? What happens to the measured download speed if you change the server to New York, or London?

[Jonnapat]

For me it always means that payment is due or overdue, nothing more sinister. 

[lagavulin1]

Mrs E went to pay our rural living daughters account and was Given a free fibre optic router with free instalation to come. Story given was that 3BB are consolidating their network onto fibre. 

Bird in the hand etc. Just wondered if this sometimes disrupts other routers? 

[Jen65]

I had a problem with 3BBB about a week ago .   I use windows 10 and keep it up to date and check security regularly so I was a bit concerned when I found I could no longer access my security to scan/check etc !  The screen came up with " your internet security is managed by your ITT provider "  !!!!!

I asked 3bb about this and got the usual "don't know " 

Tried all sorts to get back to Windows Defender and ended up loading a new copy of windows 10  which got rid of the problem and back to normal .  Very scary when ITT provider can take charge of your computer !!! 

[trd]

I had a problem with 3BBB about a week ago .   I use windows 10 and keep it up to date and check security regularly so I was a bit concerned when I found I could no longer access my security to scan/check etc !  The screen came up with " your internet security is managed by your ITT provider "  !!!!!
I asked 3bb about this and got the usual "don't know " 
Tried all sorts to get back to Windows Defender and ended up loading a new copy of windows 10  which got rid of the problem and back to normal .  Very scary when ITT provider can take charge of your computer !!! 

They are not taking charge of your computer. They're not looking at your files or changing settings on your computer but simply diverting your browser page to their page temporarily. I've had this page when I've been late in paying my bill. It has absolutely nothing to do with Windows Defender. They cannot disable it. They wouldn't have remote desktop access.

[KarlS]

20 minutes ago, Jen65 said:

I had a problem with 3BBB about a week ago .   I use windows 10 and keep it up to date and check security regularly so I was a bit concerned when I found I could no longer access my security to scan/check etc !  The screen came up with " your internet security is managed by your ITT provider "  !!!!!

I asked 3bb about this and got the usual "don't know " 

Tried all sorts to get back to Windows Defender and ended up loading a new copy of windows 10  which got rid of the problem and back to normal .  Very scary when ITT provider can take charge of your computer !!! 

Had you bothered to use the Thia/Eng toggle on that 3BB page you would have seen the button which if clicked would have re-established your normal connection. 

3BB ARE NOT taking charge of your computer nor are they altering/disabling Defender.

[rick44]

Perhaps the title of this post was a bit dramatic, but at least they are taking control of your browsers, which is bad enough, and very amateurish, as someone pointed out.

 

I couldn't access one of the websites I run, and wasted a couple of hours in a state of near panic... Turned out that adding an "s" to the http in my bookmark fixed it, but I find this totally unforgivable. Perhaps one should sue them for mental anguish.

[KarlS]

2 minutes ago, rick44 said:

Perhaps the title of this post was a bit dramatic, but at least they are taking control of your browsers, which is bad enough, and very amateurish, as someone pointed out.

 

I couldn't access one of the websites I run, and wasted a couple of hours in a state of near panic... Turned out that adding an "s" to the http in my bookmark fixed it, but I find this totally unforgivable. Perhaps one should sue them for mental anguish.

Rubbish - 3BB are briefly interrupting your connection to remind you that your payment is due/overdue - clicking to acknowledge the message restores the connection for 7 days - if the bill remains unpaid you are disconnected until you pay.  NO changes are made to your computer.

[trd]

Perhaps the title of this post was a bit dramatic, but at least they are taking control of your browsers, which is bad enough, and very amateurish, as someone pointed out.
 
I couldn't access one of the websites I run, and wasted a couple of hours in a state of near panic... Turned out that adding an "s" to the http in my bookmark fixed it, but I find this totally unforgivable. Perhaps one should sue them for mental anguish.

Nonsense!

[rick44]

7 minutes ago, KarlS said:

Rubbish - 3BB are briefly interrupting your connection to remind you that your payment is due/overdue - clicking to acknowledge the message restores the connection for 7 days - if the bill remains unpaid you are disconnected until you pay.  NO changes are made to your computer.

Never had an overdue bill

Edited March 20, 2019 by rick44

[KarlS]

5 minutes ago, rick44 said:

Never had an overdue bill

Read what I wrote! 

[ParadiseLost]

I too experienced problems this week, used to be on the 150Mb package which has been upgraded to 200Mb (700 bt).

 

The problem I had was my ad-blockers prevented the 3BB page to load so it effectively blocked my connection, until I disabled them. Once I did that their dumb ad was shown (not telling me I am upgraded, just a stupid ad page), and my service was restored.

 

Funny thing is next morning my router was dead, after calling them it led to my DNS settings had to be set to theirs (not OpenDNS). Don't understand that one but it worked... And I don't really care, service is good 99% of the time, with unlimited downloads - for 700 baht!

[myshem]

I also think that people who pay more than the minimum are just dreaming to get a better speed than standard packages. No way that you really get more for international servers when paying 1200 instead of 700.