What Can I Expect From The Tot Engineer..?

[walking wallet]

Don’t really know if any one can offer me some advice, or has had the same problem..?

I have a TOT land Line, which I use to connect to the internet using dial up, and in

The past I was getting connected Ok, all be it at a slow rate (41.2Kbps Max) but

At least it worked. Over the past weeks my connections have just been dropping off,

So I plugged a speaker phone into the telephone wall socket along with the computer

Connection, as all ways the computer connects to the internet OK, but on now listening

To the internet connection through the speaker phone, when the internet connection drops

Off, I can hear a crackling sound come onto to the connection. So Ive checked the other

Telephone wall sockets with the speaker phone, they also shows the crackling noise on the line

At some times.

I have also been and checked the main telephone connection out side of the house,

And it looks all ok, There are some times when I listen on the speaker phone or handset and the

Telephone line has no signs of the crackling noise, but other times I listen the crackling noise is there..?

I have not contacted TOT yet, as I wanted to see if any one has experienced this type of

Problem..? And what can I expect from the TOT engineer…? I can see the TOT engineer turning up at my house, and lifting the telephone receiver

And knowing my luck the line sound will be perfect. As soon as he’s gone I know the crackling

Line will come back, does any one know if it’s possible to locate the cause of the intermittent

Crackling line …? If the cause is not at my house,( which I am fairly certain ) then it could be any where along the

Land Line route, which could be a problem in tracing, your comments or advice before I contact TOT would be

Most welcome

Thanks.....

[Guest Reimar]

I think you'll need to contact TOT! But tell to service directly that the problem is with the Internet Dial-up connection. By the way, have you check with receiving and sending faxes? If not, do so and if you face the same problem, I mean bad signal resulting in bad transmission, you've some more point to show them! Let just someone send a few faxes to you and send some by yourself to an other party.

Edit: You use Dial-up, that means you've a analog Data Modem in your computer or attached. This Modem can send and receive Faxes, even by using the Fax function of windows.

Godd Luck!

Edited March 25, 2007 by Reimar

[walking wallet]

Reimar, thanks for the comments, ive just connected to the internet 4 times now, and at first all the connections were OK, but after about 30 Minuets , or so the connections droped off again, and I could hear the crackling noise when I picked up the telephone, ive now tried a second telephone, and can also hear the crackling noise too, I am just wondering how the TOT engineer can tell where the problem may be , along the land line or telephone connection boxes some where ...? do they have some sort of equipment to tell them where the problem could be, ive also recorded the line crackling sound with my mobile phone which has a voice recorder, just in case the engineer does not belive me..?

any extra advice most welcome....thanks

[PeaceBlondie]

The so-called "TOT engineers" used to drop by occasionally, trying to hook up my computer to wireless. The three of them combined, showed an IQ equal to your average amoeba. They didn't have the beginning of a clue. And I could tell this, without any technical background, or knowledge of Thai.

But they had good hearts. And, they were well groomed. What else matters?

[fisherd3]

I had similar problem with a TOT line, heavy rain and afterwards very noisy line unusable, many phone calls and visit to TOT office, lots of sweet talk but never resolved, never saw engineer and managed to get a TT&T line instead, lady in our local internet shop says you need to bribe TOT personnel to get any action, as TOT a little bit 'old school'. Not a problem if you know who to bribe!

Anyway to sum up: 'utterly useless'.

[raslin]

Agreed. TOT engineers are useless. They seem to be completely incapable of testing a line for insulation, loop resistance, unbalance, signal/noise ratio and signalling standards.

Used to use the phone for 3 years dial up and no problem. Last two years a disaster: no maintenance. So now I have Ipstar.

[walking wallet]

Thanks guy's for the info, looks as if it mya be a lost cause...? with the TOT engineers..? I live out in the sticks, but we do have an internet shop in the town , and know the owner , so may be I will ask them what they would recommend I do about my TOT line problem , may be they know some one at TOT, I think out here the only choice is TOT, my next door neighbour had a problem with his TOT land line several months ago his line went dead, it took a week for an engineer to call, he traced the fault to a main connection box in the village and repaired it Ok, he went away with some Chang Etc !! a happy man . ive just noticed that the drop off's occure more in the day time than the night time..? the thing I cannot understand is that the computer all ways connects to the internet OK, but then for some un known reason just drops off when the crackling starts, I wonder why the crackling is normally not on the line at the start...? but after some time of connection, is there any i could trace just where the connection drops off using my computer , i think there's some thing called traceroute..?

any ideas most welcome ..... Thanks

[lost_in_space]

I have a TOT connection that gave me problems for months. It turned out to be because the line split to the other phone extensions in the house before getting to the adsl splitter. After many visits by engineers, one guy noticed it and the problem was solved in an instant.

If you just keep after them, sometimes you get satisfaction.

[sabajja]

Crackling sounds on the line, is almost guaranteed to come from your

in the house wiring.

Forget using that cheap dental floss cable that comes as standard.

(The thin white one).

Instead try to find something with a little more copper in it, and do the re-wiring yourself.

I did it, solved my crackling problems.

TOT technicians are not there to help you, they are there to learn...

Edited March 26, 2007 by sabajja

[PeaceBlondie]

Trying not to sound too critical - maybe it's a mistranslation - but these so-called engineers don't have a BS degree in E.E. from some western university. And the guys who come out on their motosai to fix your computer setup are not 'programmers.' Almost every Pongsakorn who came out to 'fix my computer' just reinstalled Windows and lost my files.

I know, there are some absolute geniuses in Bangkok; they earn 200,000 baht per month doing the real BS/MS installations for Toyota and Compaq. The rest of the guys are Pongsakorns on a motosai.

[sabajja]

Kee rot motosai sabai sabai !!

torasapp sia uhu uhu ?

pom me screwdrive na kap

Hrmm, falang luang mak

Maj kaotchajj pratet thai...

Pockatitt sia u leo...

pockatitt = Normal

Edited March 26, 2007 by sabajja

[ProThaiExpat]

OP's question regarding tracing the source of the crackling may be answered by where the technician taps into the line. Clearly, taping into the line in the house generates crackling. Tapping in at your junction box at the pole would determine if crackling is present, it would then be in the line, not the house.

Up the local distributor junction box pole would isolate the crackling even further. The quality of TOT personnel vary greatly. Staying with him during the diagnostic phase may help you and perhaps by adroit questioning, you can point him in the right direction.

I had the same problem, called the project construction supervisor, he came and ran a separate long telephone line to the pole and found no crackling, thus house wiring was the cause.

Called in the pre-wire electrician who wired the house and he found the problem.

I find that sticking with the repair person rather than just turning the problem over to them, teaches me a lot and often facilitates repair of the problem, regardless of what the problem is.

Thai language problems are solved by use of neighbor or friend who speaks English well.

[walking wallet]

Well I went to our local internet shop, to see the owner, and ask a few questions

But found he was not there, so I asked his mother who runs the place if they had recently

Been having any problems with the internet dropping off..? , She told me that they had a TOT

Land line connected to ADSL, (there is only one land line into the shop) and had not been having any

Internet drop off’s at all!!, now here’s where it gets for me a bit confusing… I asked if she had heard any crackling

On the shop telephone, (the one using the same TOT land line to the computers ) and she said YES all the time…?

I asked if I could just listen to the shop telephone, when I picked the hand set and listened I could not believe the

Constant crackling I heard on the phone , now here’s where I just don’t get it… ive all ways been told if you are experiencing

Any internet connection problems by land line, First check for any crackling on the phone line as this may be causing the

Some problem, ..

So how come this internet shop’s computers are not experiencing any drop off’s, even with a very bad crackling phone

Connection…? I just can’t understand how the large amount of crackling noise I heard, lets the computers carry on

With out dropping of the internet connection…? …… One last thing after returning from the internet shop I tried to connect

To the internet (using 2 separate ISP connection numbers) and my telephone line was showing NO signs of crackling!!

And has the speaker phone on all the time, both connections dropped off with in 5 minuets..? With out hearing any

Crackling….

Now I am getting even more confused no crackling, two ISP’s connection numbers and still dropping off.

Any one got an idea what’s going on…..

Thanks …

[sonicdragon]

Possibly the crackliing on the voice line is caused by faulty wiring between the ADSL/voice split box and the handset.

As for the dropped dial-up connections, I don't have much advice other than try running a direct cable yourself from the box where the line comes into your house. That should identify whether it's your problem or theirs. Of course, I realise you might not want to or be able to do that.

I went through a lot of similar grief with dial up over a TOT line a few years ago and never got the problem fixed. Eventually I switched to a CDMA wireless connection, which has been OK ever since, and gives me the benefit of being connected wherever there's a mobile network signal.

[walking wallet]

Thanks to every one for the comments and advice, well to night ive connected 4 times and so far 3 have dropped off, and yes when they dropped off I heard crackling on the speaker phone, so in the morning I am going to install a new set of thicker wires from the TOT junction box just out side my gate

and connect the line stright to my computer using a phone connection plug in box I have, one of the things I can't get my head around is that when I connect to the internet I all ways at the first try get connected, then the lind stays free of noise , until the drop off, when i can then hear the crackling,

once the internet has dropped off, and ive heard the crackling which did the drop off, if I stright away try and re connect to the internet it connects no problem...?

its got me beat at the moment, thanks ......

[Farma]

I had a similar problem when we moved premises. Crackling noises through the phone lines which the staff put up with and didn’t mention.

It wasn’t until we upgraded the fax machine that the problem came to light. Faxes failed to send and the machines diagnostics told us the problem was with the line.

The problem has since been solved. A 1 into 2 splitter had been plugged into the phone line. It was replaced and problem stopped.

[BlackRose]

You can Expect a little From The Tot Engineer.

From the one on the bamboo stairs climming in the pole ..... nothing....

But with a lot of patients and a lot of smiles and pushing the engineer in the right direction you will come some were....

I had the same problems the first time not my problem but by working on the road (one of the under passes)

there was water in the pipe and it was not good for the signal ( I don't want to tell the details becouse that get to technical to explain.)

the second time there was a loose srew in the connection box the Thrunk de big cable it splits in the smaller cables....

the third time Again the rain was falling down..... my underground cable was attact by ants......

I replaced the tin with cable already every were in th house with the ticker blackone you can strip of the hard messenger wire.... and it is workeble....

the put the tin white wire together with your eletricity wire in one pipe......

You thing what happend if the airco go on or the magnetron?

Right noise and induction......

you see how the turn the wires together the connection get oxidated after a half year... and bey bey signal....

Try a wire from your box directly to your computer en disconnect al the other stuf from th ebox....

after 5 minutes the dailtone go of and you can here how the cable sounds....

after a new undergroundcable in a closed and clued pipe I have no problems any more......

the engineer say not our problem..... wel 95% he is right....

get the withe cable out and make the connections good I solder them.

And please keep smiling temper your anger and your voice it really helps

good luck