Internet on Samui

[Tropicalevo]

Hi Samuians

For the last two weeks I have been having major interruptions using the internet here in Plai Laem.

This morning, it has already 'dropped out' 7 or 8 times. (I am a keyboard warrior for a lot of the day.)

Current internet provider is 3BB and their techie says that I need a router upgrade - ok that will happen this pm (maybe).

BUT WhatsApp is amazingly slow at the moment. We only use it for business use - communicating with guests using AIS.

My partner  (lives next door) and she comes to ask my advice on a message that she has sent - the message arrives some minutes after she does.

I have a back up phone that I use as a wifi hot spot when I travel. I pay AIS for online unlimited access.

Even that drops out when I use it here.

So that is a problem here with both 3BB and AIS.

I am trying to establish if it is a problem only within the Plai Laem area, or if others are having similar issues on the island.

[Neilly]

12 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

I am trying to establish if it is a problem only within the Plai Laem area, or if others are having similar issues on the island.

 

Without wishing to tempt fate...the internet disappeared on Sunday for a few hours, but apart from that it's been okay, I'm in the south on TOT

[Tmoney]

I am with True and live in Plai Laem Soi 4. Not sure if this helps but we haven't noticed any problems here recently.

(our line comes direct from the main road).

[khunPer]

5 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

I am trying to establish if it is a problem only within the Plai Laem area, or if others are having similar issues on the island.

No problems here in Maenam – I'm on 100-200 Mbps AIS 5G wireless LAN-router, no wired connection – but occasionally some foreign sites can be slow or temporary down due to server load or routers on the some times long distance between the user and the server. AN can often be little slow – but much, much better than before – and sometimes even Facebook and Messenger has problems. I'm not a WhatsApp-user, so cannot comment on that.

 

Don't forget that you share the network with other users, so with more and more tourists on the island sharing their holiday pictures and travel-videos, the general communication speed slows down.

 

Best thing is to check speed of different sites. You should check speed, not up to the nearest connection point, but to the destination-area where you face problems, ro check if it's en-route, there are speed problems, or it's a server load issue.

 

If you use a Speed Test – like: https://speedtest.ink/เช็คความเร็วเน็ตais/ – you will automatically be connected to a nearby test-site (image: My speed right now)...

 

 

If you click on the flag next to the automatic chosen server – in the shown image: [TH] Phuket - 10 Gb/s - AIS – you can select a test-connection both around Thailand and outside in the wide World's web...

 

 

Now I chose Rennes in southern France – only because it catch my eyes, as I've been there and it's an exciting area – which has 100 Gb/s connection by ISP Orange. Rennes had long response times, and as you can see it's much slower than Phuket, even that the "cable" in Rennes can handle 10 times as much traffic...

 

[Tmoney]

K Per, OP is talking about interruptions to supply or 'drop outs' not speed (apart from WhatsApp sometimes being slow)

[steelerian]

 

10 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

Hi Samuians

For the last two weeks I have been having major interruptions using the internet here in Plai Laem.

This morning, it has already 'dropped out' 7 or 8 times. (I am a keyboard warrior for a lot of the day.)

Current internet provider is 3BB and their techie says that I need a router upgrade - ok that will happen this pm (maybe).

BUT WhatsApp is amazingly slow at the moment. We only use it for business use - communicating with guests using AIS.

My partner  (lives next door) and she comes to ask my advice on a message that she has sent - the message arrives some minutes after she does.

I have a back up phone that I use as a wifi hot spot when I travel. I pay AIS for online unlimited access.

Even that drops out when I use it here.

So that is a problem here with both 3BB and AIS.

I am trying to establish if it is a problem only within the Plai Laem area, or if others are having similar issues on the island.

Im with 3BB, around the corner from you in Plai Laem, and have had no issues recently.

[qwab32]

Re mobile data.  When I first moved to Samui I was with AIS and the signal was poor where I live (Bang Makham).  Switched to True and have not had any issues for months. 

[khunPer]

On 3/26/2025 at 10:32 AM, Tmoney said:

K Per, OP is talking about interruptions to supply or 'drop outs' not speed (apart from WhatsApp sometimes being slow)

Same-same, if the network is slow or overloaded you might lose packages, or have long response time between same. You can see the difference in Latecy in the two posted images.

[Tropicalevo]

Update

3BB said that I needed to upgrade my package.

Done.

They then said that I needed to upgrade the router.

Done.

They then said that the repeater should be directly wired to the main router.

Done.

Internet still drops out and takes a few minutes to reconnect.

This is happening on two separate computers.

 

Neighbour says to update phone software to latest version (for the AIS problems).

Done.

AIS mobile hotspot still dropping out (worked fine ever since it was available in the island ).

WhatsApp (via AIS account) still has delays.

 

Lived here forever and these problems have only happened this month.

I will be having a loooong conversation with 3BB next week