Free 3BB 5G Router and Install

[Pattaya Spotter]

Sometimes it pays to procrastinate...

 

So I've had 3BB DSL line internet service at my home in Pattaya Darkside for maybe a decade and I've know their fibre-optic line service has been available for around 3-4 years already. From time to time, I'd stop in my local 3BB office and ask about the cost to switch over to a fibre line. They would say the installation of the line was something in the order of 2-3k baht, plus some amount per meter if line from the main box in the street to my house, plus a deposit for the router.  Maybe 5-10k in all. I always would decline as my 15 mbps DSL line was plenty fast for anything I needed to do.

 

So yesterday I get a call out of the blue from 3BB saying they wanted to come by the house and switch me over to fibre. I said I didn't need or want it and they said it was free. I said well if it's free, come on over. They did and spent an hour or so running the line into my house and setting up and testing the modem/router and my account. I confirmed it was all free and that there was also no change in the cost of my monthly plan. The 3 installers were amused when they saw my old modem/router pictures below...probably never seen anything like it. I said they were little 10 year old boy playing in the fields of Issan when it was installed. I was impressed with their work and how polite they all were and I tipped them B100 each for the install.

 

Later in the day, I happened to be shopping and stopped in at the 3BB office and confirmed it was all free and my monthly charge was the same. They said 3BB was running the fibre install promotion because they wanted to switch over their entire network to fibre.  The only thing was if I cancelled before 1 year I'd have to return the modem/router. All in all a very pleasant free internet upgrade experience.

 

The big speed boost has been on the uploads...my torrent peers are now getting 5-6 mbps vs 1 gbps before. From what i can tell, my download speed has gone from 15 mbps to 100 mbps (I can DL 2 GB of data in about 10 mins now...where as before it would take 40-50 minutes.)

 

New & Old Modem

 

 

[Henryford]

Wht didn't you go for the 1 gbps service, still only @ 600 baht a month.

[Pattaya Spotter]

10 minutes ago, Henryford said:

Wht didn't you go for the 1 gbps service, still only @ 600 baht a month.

I actually don't know what plan I have now...just the same monthly cost. I will have to check back with 3BB and see and then pick one. I've increased my speed 5x is pretty good already...what benefit is there going even faster?

[sirocco]

you have the information before the events occur.  555

[Henryford]

It was the same price for me so i went for 1 gbps package. Only get 940 mbps downloads though. If it doesn't cost more why not go for it.

[ben2talk]

5 hours ago, Henryford said:

Wht didn't you go for the 1 gbps service, still only @ 600 baht a month.

I don't think they do less than 1gbps service - all fibre offers 1gbps. It starts at 590, then 700/900/1200.

 

From 590 to 700, the download is still rated '1gbps' but the upload goes up from 100 to 500 which is a huge difference.

 

Currently, on VDSL, 3BB gives me a miserable 50-60Mbps (download speeds 5-6MB) and upload around 35MBs). I've a feeling they're pushing for the switch - I've been getting cut almost daily for a month now. They're putting my fibre in tomorrow.

[Pattaya Spotter]

18 minutes ago, ben2talk said:

I don't think they do less than 1gbps service - all fibre offers 1gbps. It starts at 590, then 700/900/1200.

 

From 590 to 700, the download is still rated '1gbps' but the upload goes up from 100 to 500 which is a huge difference.

 

Currently, on VDSL, 3BB gives me a miserable 50-60Mbps (download speeds 5-6MB) and upload around 35MBs). I've a feeling they're pushing for the switch - I've been getting cut almost daily for a month now. They're putting my fibre in tomorrow.

Mine is working fine...and my uploads are faster than my downs right now...but I've got some poorly seeded torrent files I'm working on ????????????

[Pattaya Spotter]

It seems my new fibre optic connection took some steroids this morning...getting 208 Mb/s down and 284 Mb/s up (isn't it unusual to get higher upload than download speed)!

 

[xylophone]

So pleased that i have seen this topic as have a few questions..........

 

I have got the old cable line 3BB to a router outside of my room, and wanted to try the 3BB fibre line installed by the owners here as my download speeds barely cope.

 

So got on to their WiFi connection (they gave me the code) and tried to see what the download speed was from London as my prime objective is to watch BBCiPlayer, but trying a speedtest only got me around 3-5 Mbps?? 

 

According to the 3BB techies they have no control over this as other routers are outside of Thailand!

 

What to do...........bearing in mind watching BBC iPlayer or any football is my main objective??

[Pattaya Spotter]

8 minutes ago, xylophone said:

So pleased that i have seen this topic as have a few questions..........

 

I have got the old cable line 3BB to a router outside of my room, and wanted to try the 3BB fibre line installed by the owners here as my download speeds barely cope.

 

So got on to their WiFi connection (they gave me the code) and tried to see what the download speed was from London as my prime objective is to watch BBCiPlayer, but trying a speedtest only got me around 3-5 Mbps?? 

 

According to the 3BB techies they have no control over this as other routers are outside of Thailand!

 

What to do...........bearing in mind watching BBC iPlayer or any football is my main objective??

On my old DSL line, I had no problem viewing international HD steaming content, e.g., Amazon Prime Video, Major League Baseball, AL Jazeera, etc. However, I was getting 15 Mbps. However, never used Beeb iPlayer or footieball. Do you use a VPN to view iPlayer in Thailand...that could be slowing things down. 

[RichCor]

25 minutes ago, xylophone said:

tried to see what the download speed was from London as my prime objective is to watch BBCiPlayer, but trying a speedtest only got me around 3-5 Mbps?? 

 

According to the 3BB techies they have no control over this as other routers are outside of Thailand!

 

What to do...........bearing in mind watching BBC iPlayer or any football is my main objective??

 

The low speeds on International connections are normal as your Internet connection to the UK has to traverse several 3rd party networks (each with their own traffic allowance).

 

One way to try to get around a slow 'route' is to test using nearby UK VPN endpoints or competing VPN providers with UK endpoints.  I've gotten great results by using Germany or other EU country as an endpoint when needing a faster connection to the UK for other things (though EU connections probably won't help for BBC iPlayer). 

[xylophone]

On 8/15/2020 at 12:16 PM, Pattaya Spotter said:

Do you use a VPN to view iPlayer in Thailand...that could be slowing things down. 

There is the conundrum.......I have to use a VPN to be able to access BBC iPlayer, and if you add into that the fact that my Internet connection seems pitifully slow/low, then it's possible that the VPN will slow it down even more, even though the tests I have run so far have been without a VPN!

 

Still looking into trying to solve this as access to the iPlayer is all I really need, and I don't want to spend 4 to 5000 baht on a "box" of some description when I won't be watching any of the other series/movies/et cetera that will be on it?

 

Thanks for your reply.

[elfpattaya]

Try Browsec, works for me about 30 dollars a year

6 hours ago, xylophone said:

I have to use a VPN to be able to access BBC iPlayer, and if you add into that the fact that my Internet connection seems pitifully slow/low, then it's possible that the VPN will slow it down even more, even though the tests I have run so far have been without a VPN

ars a year..