Excavator Damages Main Internet Optic Fibre Cable

[chiang mai]

So that explains the almost non existent performance of today but what has been going for the five days prior? Incidentally, performance today from this morning onwards has been the best in weeks so I really don't understand any of this - TOT Patong Beach.

[IMA_FARANG]

Excavator damages main internet optic fibre cable

BANGKOK: -- An excavator digging in front of Supalachai stadium damaged a TOT's optic fibre cable disabling almost half of its Internet services in the country.

-- Bangkok Post 2007-09-30

Update:

Internet chaos as TOT cables damaged

BANGKOK: -- Fibre optic cables accidentally severed by an excavator doing construction work around Supachalasai stadium this morning has caused disruption to more than half of TOT Public Company Limited’s nationwide internet connection.

TOT clients have been told that the issue could be resolved by midnight.

Arsa Sattayuth, Deputy Managing Director of TOT, has reassured customers that technical experts are already on the case and will fix the problem as soon as possible.

He said the problem was caused by an excavator inadvertently digging into the ground, cutting off 200 and 300 CORE fibre optic subterranean cables.

-- Bangkok Post 2007-09-30

I love it....I'm at the other end, trying to repair service for customers (here in Greece) that seem to think that buying a computer means that God gave them the right to get their email. Some even say that they can't be affected by a system problem because now they have "wireless" access. They seem to think that a wireless modem in their computer makes the whole world instantly accessible to the internet, apparently no connectivity needed. Fortunately I don't have to answer the phone calls....just do the actual work to get it repaired or at least arrange the repairs.

A lot of system network administrators seem to forget that no matter what hardware you have the connection into the internet has to get from point A to point B.

Edited September 30, 2007 by IMA_FARANG

[dgarmaise]

Is True internet service available in Pattaya, do you know?

David

anyone recently switch from TOT adsl to TRUE? Is it worth the time and trouble? i have TRUE TV and mobile phone...but TOT phone line. anyone?

Switched to True a few months ago. It's not perfect (although I'm satisfied), but the service level is amazingly good. These people know what they're doing and talking about.

[stub]

What a classic Thai accident. After two years living here it seems always something will go wrong if Thai companies are involved. Its just interesting what and when it will happen. (Of course there are exceptions to this)

Its a classic everywhere accident. A few years ago someone managed to put a backhoe through the main cable between Melbourne and Syndey at almost the exact same time a land slide caused by heavy rain took out the backup connection. Plenty of similar incidents happen all over the world. Its just Murphy's law, not a proof of Thai racial or cultural ineptness.

[fxe1200]

anyone recently switch from TOT adsl to TRUE? Is it worth the time and trouble? i have TRUE TV and mobile phone...but TOT phone line. anyone?

Switched to True a few months ago. It's not perfect (although I'm satisfied), but the service level is amazingly good. These people know what they're doing and talking about.

I used to have TRUE DSL and I was also abolutely satisfied. Due to my moving I am now with TOT/Maxnet which has been a pain in the but for two years. They used to deliver around 65 % of the bandwitdh you pay for. Now it became better, but the downtime is still around one hour a day usually in segments of 20 minutes to one hour.

[chiang mai]

What a classic Thai accident. After two years living here it seems always something will go wrong if Thai companies are involved. Its just interesting what and when it will happen. (Of course there are exceptions to this)

Its a classic everywhere accident. A few years ago someone managed to put a backhoe through the main cable between Melbourne and Syndey at almost the exact same time a land slide caused by heavy rain took out the backup connection. Plenty of similar incidents happen all over the world. Its just Murphy's law, not a proof of Thai racial or cultural ineptness.

Yes it is the type of accident that is not completely unheard of and I can sympathize with most of the parties involved. What is less normal however is when you pay money to subscribe for a service every month and when that service fails the vendor says repeatedly, "nothing we can do" and "we don't know what the problem is". And, "by the way, you still have to pay for the service, even though it's not usable". That is proof of ineptness on the part of the business.

[nikster]

What a classic Thai accident. After two years living here it seems always something will go wrong if Thai companies are involved. Its just interesting what and when it will happen. (Of course there are exceptions to this)

Its a classic everywhere accident. A few years ago someone managed to put a backhoe through the main cable between Melbourne and Syndey at almost the exact same time a land slide caused by heavy rain took out the backup connection. Plenty of similar incidents happen all over the world. Its just Murphy's law, not a proof of Thai racial or cultural ineptness.

Yes it is the type of accident that is not completely unheard of and I can sympathize with most of the parties involved. What is less normal however is when you pay money to subscribe for a service every month and when that service fails the vendor says repeatedly, "nothing we can do" and "we don't know what the problem is". And, "by the way, you still have to pay for the service, even though it's not usable". That is proof of ineptness on the part of the business.

Let me summarize: Yes, TOT are retards and go down all the time, but this particular accident could probably have happened to anyone.

[sniffdog]

=========================================================

Is True internet service available in Pattaya, do you know?

=========================================================

For sure. They even have an office on Sukhumvit ......

Here in bangkok ... TOT still very slow like 99 kbs ...

[Johpa]

Yes it is the type of accident that is not completely unheard of and I can sympathize with most of the parties involved. What is less normal however is when you pay money to subscribe for a service every month and when that service fails the vendor says repeatedly, "nothing we can do" and "we don't know what the problem is". And, "by the way, you still have to pay for the service, even though it's not usable". That is proof of ineptness on the part of the business.

It is not proof of ineptness; however, it is evidence of the power that the corporations have over the individual.

And this incident shows that when an Internet "backbone" is severed, the animal remains unhealthy until full repairs are made. This incident seems to have been a simple and easily remedied injury to a local backbone. Wait until the day whens someone takes out a major international node where multiple transoceanic backbones meet.

[toci]

Most of TOT customers can not connect according to TOT Service Centre. I am on CAT-CDMA backup right now.

How it work your connection with CAT-CDMA ?

How much speed you get ?

How much you pay monthly ?

I would really like to get a faster speed than dialup but i can't get it here upcountry.

Thanks

[TIT]

my connection is only slightly worse than normal even though i'm paying top dollar for super high speed. can't wait for the day that competition finally enters the Thai internet market. I know I'm a sour grapes merchant but its absolutley <deleted> what these guys call a service. if only i could go into business here!!!!!

[TIT]

my connection is only slightly worse than normal even though i'm paying top dollar for super high speed. can't wait for the day that competition finally enters the Thai internet market. I know I'm a sour grapes merchant but its absolutley <deleted> what these guys call a service. if only i could go into business here!!!!!

.

i must add that im on TRUE (who should be names FALSE or TRUE LIES) as the are absolutley rubbish. been connected 5 months and have had to go to their head office every month due to the getting my bill wrong each and every time. they also oversell their service as you get nothing like the download speed you pay for (of course they only guarantee 40%!!!!).When you go to their office, everyone goes into hiding and cannot speak a word of English. I can speak reasonable Thai bit this firm advertisies in English so i expect them to have a representative who can parley.Of course thats not the case as you just end up getting passed from 1 person to the other who have no idea what they're on about.I ts actually funny if you look at it a certain way and are not involved in what is a complete waste of time/energy/money/peace. A Thai comedy that happens everyday to lots of people here. Maybe Im loosing my sense of humour?

[toolonginexile]

when i got my TOT DSL line 5 months ago or so it took them 2 weeks to realize and accept that they had "put wrong cable outside"!????????! until that was fixed i was, of course, the "stupid farang" every time i complained at their office. TIT.

[RamCray]

anyone recently switch from TOT adsl to TRUE? Is it worth the time and trouble? i have TRUE TV and mobile phone...but TOT phone line. anyone?

I'm using True DSL since more than a year and i had only once a disconnection for a couple hours.

No real problem to complain about yet and i'm quite happy with it. As far as i know it is even cheaper than TOT.

[BPayette]

It's 7:18 am Monday morning, Oct 1, and still no TOT DSL service in Ayuttya. Land line works fine, never went down, but DSL died at about 10:00 am Sunday.

[BPayette]

My advice to you is steer well clear of True for as much as you can.

I too would like to hear about any alternative to True Visions from anyone that has information. Sorry about being off subject.

There were several questions on what alternatives to TOT and True there are, but I didn't see an answer.

Also, does anyone know if there is internet offered thru the "cable" (satellite) systems, as is the case in many other countries?

[NanLaew]

... i was, of course, the "stupid farang" every time i complained at their office. TIT.

Did they specifically call you this or is it a fact?

[barryofthailand]

The entire TOT company is without resolve. This is a nice way of saying they have not a clue. If you want reasonable speed at a reasonable price go to TT&T. If you want High speed 2 gig at a very expensive price go to Cat.

Barry

[Dazzler]

anyone recently switch from TOT adsl to TRUE? Is it worth the time and trouble? i have TRUE TV and mobile phone...but TOT phone line. anyone?

Why would anyone want to go to True?

I spent this last year getting rid of their mobiles from my home, and then ditching the joke that is UBC.

Next step to change internet provider....

I now have excellent international TV for a fraction of the price True charge, and with more channels and in better quality.

Tell us more about this TV. I'm also want out of True.

I too have seen posts from people getting lots of international channels at a much lower cost than True, yet none of the posters every seem to give any details of the wonderful packages that they have!

Is it all bulls**t or illegal?

SCRATT and IAMSOBAD, why don't you share your solutions with us?!

Forums are suppose to be arenas for the exchange of information aren't they?

[alex_4000]

just to get this back on topic:

TOT still down in the Tha Phra area this morning 7:30am

[SweatySock]

An alternative to TOT and TT&T is IP STAR but I believe it is expensive at around 2600 Baht per month.

[NanLaew]

I too have seen posts from people getting lots of international channels at a much lower cost than True, yet none of the posters every seem to give any details of the wonderful packages that they have!

Is it all bulls**t or illegal?

SCRATT and IAMSOBAD, why don't you share your solutions with us?!

Forums are suppose to be arenas for the exchange of information aren't they?

I think they are getting marginally better service for the moment but want to appear superior to those 'struggling' with UBC. Anyone who watches that much TV to waste time finding alternate services to the current monopoly is not that superior IMHO.

[Naam]

=========================================================

Is True internet service available in Pattaya, do you know?

=========================================================

For sure. They even have an office on Sukhumvit ......

no True internet in Pattaya!

[technocracy]

Ahhh the classic exavator pulling up fibres. I always which I could see the confused look of the driver when they pull up a mangled mess of cable!

A few years back a large ISP in the UK where I was working (as consultant thank god not permanently!) at the time had a similar but more severe incident. What happen was the people who had laid their fibres had to save time cut a corner - a corner of land that was - so instead of the fibres being in public land where people can't just go digging around they cut across private property!

So the bloke with the digger didn't give a shit since they shouldn't of been there! At this point the entire SDH monitoring system went red - not a good sign since one of SDHs primary technology feature is secondary paths and one leg going out wouldn't of made a difference. However another short cut that had been done by the cable layers was to run both the primary and secondary fibres through the same conduit!

In one swoop they manage to split the entire ISPs UK network in two - oh how I laughed - since I didn't work for them I was just consulting them on there installation of a new network. As much as ISPs want to seem professional in general they are a shambolic mess - I've been in so many of them throughout UK, Europe and Oz and they are pretty much all the same.

A believe a few heads rolled over that incident.

[Naam]

The entire TOT company is without resolve. This is a nice way of saying they have not a clue. If you want reasonable speed at a reasonable price go to TT&T.

TT&Maxnet in my area = MaxSH*T have TOT since exactly 4 weeks and except for yesterday no down time and satisfied with speed (nominal 2048/512, international connection 100-220 depending on time of the day).

MaxSH*T works max 2 hours a day properly (if i'm lucky).

[stub]

I too have seen posts from people getting lots of international channels at a much lower cost than True, yet none of the posters every seem to give any details of the wonderful packages that they have!

Is it all bulls**t or illegal?

SCRATT and IAMSOBAD, why don't you share your solutions with us?!

Forums are suppose to be arenas for the exchange of information aren't they?

I think they are getting marginally better service for the moment but want to appear superior to those 'struggling' with UBC. Anyone who watches that much TV to waste time finding alternate services to the current monopoly is not that superior IMHO.

There are some grey area and illegal options if you are looking at this from a Western perspective.

Something like Slingbox (http://slingbox.com/) has a real TV in the US and you pay real cable access fees, but the provider in the US may be breaking the law by sending it to you in Thailand or you may be breaking the law by viewing/downloading content here. As usual, as in any country the laws are at least a decade behind the technology so nobody really knows.

Having cancelled my UBC package recently, I'm seriously considering using the saved fees for a new PC running MythTV (http://www.mythtv.org) or possibly something newer like Vuze (http://www.vuze.com), but I suspect that is not an option for most people unless you are or have access to a computer geek. The more friendly options for Windows or an Apple TV setup are probably not as useful as I suspect they won't be as happy to play downloaded content (because the majority of downloaded content is illegal of course and the larger companies like to keep the other large companies happy, just like it is a pita buying a DVD player that plays DVDs you purchased on different continents). Or maybe I'll just give up TV alltogether - that rediculous 2000 Baht/month fee for a small amount of content on endless rotation will buy more hours of legal DVDs than I used to watch UBC or movies in the cinema (or more beers in your local sports bar if you are that way inclined).

I wonder if the absolutely crap programming is deliberate in order to kill the market for illegal decoders? I know they exist, but I don't think I'd fork over 2000 Baht for one now I know how little I'd actually use it even if I was into the thrill of risking a visit to the Bangkok Hilton for the oh so worthwhile reason of watching TV. Do people know Thais who watch UBC? Thais I know seem to prefer the free to air stations despite UBC claiming that the Thai population is their target audience. Perhaps I just don't hang around with sports or CNN addicts who have to meet any price to feed their addiction.

Oh - and I think the True broadband is in the ok -> marginal quality range, but I'm not going to switch in the near future as I doubt the competition is much better having listened to friends and don't want the hassle and downtime to find out.

I'd prefer a back hoe through a critical cable on the land any day over an undersea cable severance, such as happened earlier this year if you remember when an earthquake took out one cable and crippled the services throughout SE Asia and China. This Internet thing is designed for redundant paths between you and your content, but given the choice between cheap or redundancy home users and most businesses always choose cheap.

[apex2000]

11.00 a.m. in Ubon, Mon, 1 October. TOT Gold Cyber working but painfully slow. Service returned just after 12 midday yesterday (Sunday).

Have had no problems with TOT service since starting ADSL with them 2 years ago except they did not bill us for the first 27 months and then sent a bill for nearly 28,000 baht!! We told them many times about not billing us. They replied the same every time, 'Your account is not in the system yet'. Thai efficiency?!?!

[grantbkk]

I really don't care if the content provider is legal or illegal or the cost. Could someone with real world experience give us a rundown on what is available to us in Thailand and for me, Bangkok. Anyone using a service provider besides True Visions deserves cult status as far as I'm concerned. We need options and contact numbers. Let the revolution begin.

[stub]

I really don't care if the content provider is legal or illegal or the cost. Could someone with real world experience give us a rundown on what is available to us in Thailand and for me, Bangkok. Anyone using a service provider besides True Visions deserves cult status as far as I'm concerned. We need options and contact numbers. Let the revolution begin.

I'm pretty certain instructions or contact details to illegal providers will be removed from here pretty fast. You would get a better response by moving your arse from the couch to the barstool, buying a bar owner a beer and asking them how they receive all those sport channels. Its a tough life having to do research like this :-) and saves you tracking down competing web forums with less strict controls on content.

[grantbkk]

I really don't care if the content provider is legal or illegal or the cost. Could someone with real world experience give us a rundown on what is available to us in Thailand and for me, Bangkok. Anyone using a service provider besides True Visions deserves cult status as far as I'm concerned. We need options and contact numbers. Let the revolution begin.

I'm pretty certain instructions or contact details to illegal providers will be removed from here pretty fast. You would get a better response by moving your arse from the couch to the barstool, buying a bar owner a beer and asking them how they receive all those sport channels. Its a tough life having to do research like this :-) and saves you tracking down competing web forums with less strict controls on content.

Sorry Stub. Perhaps your right. Maybe someone could list the legal ones and then the ones to stay clear of. I think by the number of questions on Thai Visa regarding alternative service providers justifies a discussion of the experiences of people in the know. Cheers!