Unhappy True (ta) High Speed Customer

[Dancali]

Until July 1st came around, I just loved my ta high speed net.

It was 256/128, almost always performed at max capacity, and almost never gave me any problems. I paid about 3200 a month for it.

Now information comes saying I can get 4 mb/512, unlimited, for 2200 a month (not on the flyer, but an option on the contract at the true office). Well, this sounds great. So I go in and sign up for this.

I had no internet service then from July 1st until today. This is hard since I work on the net. Trying to get it worked out with them as to what was going on has been literally hours waiting on the phone and about that much time trying to figure things out with the unknowing true cs. Any time you call them it's a 20 minute wait, IF you can manage your way through the Thai language cs. If you can only do the english cs, you are likely to wait longer and then have the phone just hang up (as happened to me twice).

Finally the guy came in and worked on my computer here for a couple hours today. I've now got what he claims is 512/256 but which is slower than what I had before July 1st. I hope this is just a glitch and things will get better later. But how can they so drastically cut the price of the high speed net without making it slow for all of us?

And that 4 mb dream I signed the new contract for? They tell me it's not possible. But MAYBE I'll be able to get the 1mb/512. Remember, I have a contract talking about 4mb/512 at 2200 for 1 year.

Some questions:

1. The flyer said, I thought, you need to change your username to XXXX@truehisp . But this never worked for me and the technician is still using my old username XXXX@trueadsl. What are you guys using for the upgraded version?

2. For you who had this before and after the upgrade, how is your performance with the upgraded internet? Especially, how was it on Monday, July 5?

[Ian_B]

I've been using the Truehisp log-on since 1st July.

To me the system does seem slower than before, even though it now says connecting at 3Mbps.

Anybody else notice things slowing down?

[lopburi3]

I also changed to "HISP" log in on July 1 (the "ADSL" not longer works) and connect at 577 from old 277. Downloads average 60k now and were 30k before so I see a great improvement. As my dial up downloads were in the 3-5k range am very pleased.

What are your test speeds to Asianet? If they are low it is your circuit to them - if not it is likely the internet.

Asianet Speed Check Page

[Dancali]

On that site it says 435 Kbps.

I'm not sure what to believe though since every other independent speed checking site I've found shows my speed somewhere in the range of a dialup modem. Further, whereas I could play my online game lag-free before (WC3), that same game is now like slow motion half the time.

When I first log on it still shows "connected at 288 Kbps" or something like that.

So you guys are using that new HISP login name? This is even stranger than I thought. Why am I having such technical difficulties? Anybody have a clue why the only login name that works for me is the trueadsl one?

[Kalle_Sandare]

I just tried just for fun the Asianet speed test....

Got a whopping 35478Kb for speed.

And a 54,5Kb 10 minutes later.

Belive it or not..

The hispeed link hispeed connection & Pic of HiSpeedlow speed connection

Guess they have a "TIT" stable network test, specially since the connection was made with a 46.6 Dial up (Ready ClickTA).

Anybody beating that connection...

[lopburi3]

When I first log on it still shows "connected at 288 Kbps" or something like that.

I suspect that is a problem as my connect speed was increased to 577 on the old ADSL log in on the 28th of June - before speed was upgraded. But perhaps the tech changed to allow circuit to work if you are marginal. Are you in apartment or some place with wires that may be poor? I ran a new run from outside box to my computer and then feed old run (four phones) with second pair to the old wires from splitter. That way one filter takes care of whole house and ADSL is direct line to filter/computer.

[JJDinsay]

Still haven't tried yet. I'm thinking a speed test from Asianet gives a more favorable download/upload speed reading. McAfee too also seemed to give a reading that was quite good. Someone put this link up here on some post in this room and it seems to be pretty accurate:

http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/Bandwidth.asp

With my 1024/512 connection I was measuring speeds of up to 456/210 at my best speeds. Somtimes it was just zooming!! I'm a very happy TA customer, but after reading some posts here, I'm a bit scared. I wasn't expecting anywhere near 4 megs per sec. but I didn't think the connection would actually get worse!

Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Highwayman]

I don't have a fast connection, just True dial-up and the last couple of weeks it has been very patchy. Some days it has been disconnecting every five minutes.

You start out with 52 Kbps (allegedly) and end up giving up when it gets as low as 22 Kbps. Another day, over 3 hours l could only download 2 million bytes.

On the weekend it was hopeless, taking up to 5 minutes to load each page, thats when l could even connect to a site. Today, no problems.

Not to sure about those speed testers. The other day one site said my speed was the equivalent of 128 Kbps. While l think l have my PC set up well, l doubt if l have it running that well.

I'm thinking a speed test from Asianet gives a more favorable download/upload speed reading.

And who provides the True connection? Asianet is it not?

[lopburi3]

I'm thinking a speed test from Asianet gives a more favorable download/upload speed reading.

And who provides the True connection? Asianet is it not? rolleyes.gif

But it is useful for trouble shooting. If you have a bad line/connection/circuit here in Bangkok that test should be low. If it is good perhaps the Asianet circuits are bad (but most of us should feel that) or perhaps you have set your browser up wrong (using a proxy/software troubles/what not). Who said computers were going to make our life easy?

[Butterfly]

This is the difference between "peering" and "transit"

All those ISP offer cheap deals because they are "peering" on other ISP networks. Therefore you have to go through multiple loops before going to the transit.

Since you can have so many "peering" all going to the same "transit", you have as many risk and factors to have network malfunctions and decreased capacity.

Ex:

Network 1 (5 users) <-----> Network 2 (100 users) <------> Network 3 (50 users) -----> Transit ----> Internet

As you can see, if you are in Network 1, you will "support" the degraded speed of Network 2 and Network 3 before arriving to the transit that connect the different backbones.

Basically, your performance will be random. The ISP can claim 4MB/256K because it is true "locally" on network 1, but that speed is not attainable as soon as your go through the different loops of "peering"

Conclusion: it's all a joke, ADSL in Thailand does not work. They are lacking "expensive" infrastructure equipment and the demand is not there, despite a few farangs buying the expensive service. Save your money and keep using dial up

[lopburi3]

Conclusion: it's all a joke, ADSL in Thailand does not work. They are lacking "expensive" infrastructure equipment and the demand is not there, despite a few farangs buying the expensive service. Save your money and keep using dial up

Your conclusion. Not mine. If you are in the TRUE service area you can have 256/128 that is 256/128 or more most of the time for 590 baht. I would never, ever, consider using dial up when this is available at such a price. It works for me.

[Firefoxx]

My 2 satang:

The new upgraded speeds don't work for everyone. It seems that there are some areas in which people have not gotten service, and some places get intermittent service. True's service is notoriously uneven, so it's luck of the draw.

I personally use the unlimited "cafe" version, which is 512/256k unlimited, and unchanged. However, after the switch to the CAT IIG circuit (a few days AFTER the upgrades took place), I saw a big speed decrease in real-world downloads and uplaods. There are times when the speed is like before, but it's not stable and can drop to 1/5 normal. In the days after the upgrade and before the switch to IIG, there was no difference, and I could get downloads that were very constant.

True says that they're experiencing network problems now. I say that this may just be the way that True's going to be for some time.

A weird transparent proxy is probably responsible for Kalle's bogus speed reports. Asianet's speed test is good to troubleshoot whether your connection is working properly, that you're getting the right speed, and little else. Go to www.mcafee.com to check your overseas speed.

I would have agreed with Butterfly up until this month. Before, ADSL in Thailand was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overpriced and crippled with stupid policies like "localnet". Now, it's actually affordable and can do AT LEAST the job of a 56k. If you use the net a lot, it would be cheaper to get ADSL since there are no phone call charges, plus you get to use the phone. And hey, 56k in Thailand ain't that cheap. That is, as long as True doesn't deteriorate to HiNet level, of course.

[kabal1234]

That's the way I see it too Firefoxx. The only thing you have to lose is your sanity... but you might lose that with dialup too.

[Firefoxx]

Yep, 1222 service=guaranteed trip to the asylum.

[trigz]

Contemplating joining up (in BKK with TA line)

A couple of queries......

1. After signing up, how long did it take before you could use the Hi Speed ?

2. Is the TA network ADSL already enabled (alive) or do you have to wait until they activate it or whatever ? (I ask this as I already have an Askey modem)

Thanks

[lopburi3]

1. After signing up, how long did it take before you could use the Hi Speed ?

2. Is the TA network ADSL already enabled (alive) or do you have to wait until they activate it or whatever ? (I ask this as I already have an Askey modem)

I had phone line and it was ready in one or two days (forget exactly). Do not believe they have ADSL signal on all phone lines if that is your question. It has to be filtered out for phone use.

[Ian_B]

1) Took me 3 weeks to get it, including a TA line. I made the mistake of filing my application just before Songkran!

2) yes when you get everything you have to wait till they activate your phone line. They did mine within 2 days once I had everything else ready

ian

[Bobcat]

I have not been able to login to my trueadsl for about a week now. I keep getting password/login error - is login/password not recognized on the server. I tried to call True but have not yet actually been able to get through. Is all I need to do to change my login from xxx@trueadsl to xxx@truehisp? I guess the password will remain the same? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Bob

[lopburi3]

The log in that your used for trueadsl should be entered as name@truehisp.

The change was effective on 1 July. There is no more login for local net. Just the one for "hisp". It should be same password that your used for the "adsl" log in.

Yes. All you should have to do is change the "adsl" to "hisp" on your current connection.

[Bobcat]

Thanks Lopburi! I will try it and let you know what happens.

Cheers,

Bob

[Butterfly]

I would have agreed with Butterfly up until this month.  Before, ADSL in Thailand was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overpriced and crippled with stupid policies like "localnet".  Now, it's actually affordable and can do AT LEAST the job of a 56k.  If you use the net a lot, it would be cheaper to get ADSL since there are no phone call charges, plus you get to use the phone.  And hey, 56k in Thailand ain't that cheap.  That is, as long as True doesn't deteriorate to HiNet level, of course.

Yeah I would like to believe you, but I only hear nightmare stories with ADSL in Thailand, things that ADSL companies wouldn't get away with in western countries.

But you are right, at 590 Bath per month, that's pretty good and still beat Dial-up in terms of costs if you are on 24h

But ADSL is not everywhere in Bangkok, and it seems you guys have a TA line, while most people have a TOT line.

[Firefoxx]

ADSL in Thailand is not very consistant. True, so far, has had the most success and does it the best, but it also has its share of very unsatisfied customers. I've been using ADSL here since about a year after it was introduced (several years now), and I can say that it's been a mixed experience. I didn't have that many problems, but I may have been lucky.

Actually, ADSL covers nearly all of Bangkok now. For True lines, that is. For TOT lines there are still big gaps (ex. I'm STILL not in TOT's coverage area), even though they say they've expanded (a bit). I say if you want to use it without getting another line, use the option to get a line without the phone signal. It's only about 100 baht extra per month, and no monthly phone charges.

From what I've seen with the state of ADSL in Thailand, I doubt that it will get any better than this. Actually, I can't even believe that it got to this point this fast. With CAT leeching from everything and ISPs never offering reasonable unlimited rates, I thought it would be a few years yet. There will always be nightmare stories, but hey, TIT.

[Dancali]

To the guy who hasn't been able to sign on for some time now, you may be in for more surprises.

For me, the @truehisp has never worked. And my local net has continued to function perfectly this whole time (not that I ever use it).

After 5 days of no internet, the guy came in and worked on my comp for a couple hours (mostly waiting on the phone for true cs) and now my @trueadsl is tentatively working for the time being. @truehisp still doesn't do anything for me.

For the past few hours, however, not even @trueadsl has been working.

[Bobcat]

I finally managed to get it to work. Here's what I did:

Change the username to xxx@truehisp (replace xxx with whatever you have)

retype your password

Where it says "Dial" change from trueadsl to truehisp

It now should work.

[JJDinsay]

Just came back from a TRUE shop out in Rama III. They had a pretty long line signing up for the unlimited package. Guy next to me was at 137 and the current number was only up to 82 and that was only at 10 in the am! I have feeling it'll just get worst from here. Also spoke to a tech guy who surprisingly told me that TA has no immediate plans to upgrade their networks to prepare for the upcoming potential increase in demand brought on by their new package. YIKES!!

[alex_4000]

found it quite easy to change to xxx@truehisp - AFTER reading their letter properly...

wasnt at all satisfied with stupid slow service before july 1st - most of the times it was slower than connecting with loxinfo at 56k...!

now i think its great! fast downloads but sometimes service is not available with some servers. things could be worse and it helps knowing when a problem is only temporarly.

[Firefoxx]

Asianet is the ISP for True's ADSL packages. Their local and international links can be seen here:

http://webcorp.asianet.co.th/eh/linkinter/linkstatus.php

Before the switch to real "internet" packages this month, their international link was 155Mb DACOM, 155Mb IIG, and 2MB NTT, and the speeds were very nice indeed. Now it's as you see, with a big move towards IIG (cheaper). The aggregate bandwidth has been increased by about 80Mb, but actual throughput experienced by users hasn't been good at all, with some people having really slow (56k level) speeds, and some sites being unreachable. Others have had pretty good, albeit unstable, speeds. The "local" connection has no problems.

Many people thought that this was CAT's HiNet, since CAT was supposed to be negotiating with True on providing HiNet on True's ADSL lines. However, it seems that this is all True's doing, and has nothing to do with HiNet (which would go through CAT as the ISP).

I remember True's shops. Just paying the ADSL bill at the True shop means a very long queue, and very clueless employees. The first time I tried to subscribe to True's ADSL service, it took me from 10am to 5pm (VERY clueless employees). Certainly not "unseen in Thailand".

FYI:

To check your local speeds to see whether your ADSL connection is working properly and set at the proper "speed profile", go to

http://www.tabroadband.com/main/speedtest/index.html

To check your international throughput to the US, go to

http://us.mcafee.com/root/speedometer.asp

[retiree]

To check your local speeds to see whether your ADSL connection is working properly and set at the proper "speed profile", go to

http://www.tabroadband.com/main/speedtest/index.html

I can't seem to get this page to load. Can anybody point to a local equivalent of the McAfee speedometer at http://us.mcafee.com/root/speedometer.asp -- i.e. a speed test that only uses domestic lines? -- Thanks.

[MikeWill]

I just got my 256/128 truehisp (TA hi-speed international) Internet connection installed on my old Windows 98SE system with a USB adsl modem ZyXEL PRESTIGE 630 supplied by TA for free. It should cost me around THB 600/month. I'm located in Bangkok, and it took only around a week or so to setup everything.

Sounds good, isn't it: unlimited hours, always on(line), email account w/5MB of space, no calling charges, and the same Tel. line could be used as a phone as well.

The Connected to TRUE ADSL Internet window showing my connection speed at 8,000,000 bps (instead of 40,000 bps w/56K modem I was used to connect). Asianet speedtest shows my actual speed at: 208.801 Kbps and 254.17 Kbps; Mcafee speedtest is at: 82.16 Kbps (10.27 KBps). The actual speeds BTW, could be viewed by clicking on the ADSL icon in control panel (by the clock).

It took me just a few hours to update all my system (registry) settings to adsl connection. There are several free utilities that do this automatically.

I still however need to find out the details of their mail server (to automatically check my mail), and about the proxy setting, if any. But so far, so good. Especially, comparing to the free 1222 TOT Internet that cost me over THB 300/month just for ISP calls (need to call every 2 hours).

The only problem I have is, everytime I boot/reboot my computer, it tells me (when still in the DOS mode) that "Setup update your configuration files..."

I think that this happened after installing USB ADSL modem with the disk from TA.

Any ideas how to resolve this issue?

[Firefoxx]

Your modem shows the speed that's setup at the DSLAM at the CO near you. Usually it's the same speed as the speed that you subscribed for, but sometimes there is a mixup and you get something like 8mbits (which is the maximum for Thai ADSL). However, your login (user/pass) also has a speed profile associated with it, and it throttles your speed to that setting. So even though the speed you get to your CO is 8mbits, your login still throttles it down to 256k (actually 288k) at the ISP.

You don't need to set a proxy since true uses a transparent proxy system. Nearly all HTTP requests will be routed through that proxy.

For the weird bootup process, it seems that the setup routine doesn't seem to want to finish. Perhaps uninstall and reinstall?