What Hi-speed Internet Options 15 Miles From Town?

[mojaco]

I live in a small village 15 miles east of Chiang Rai and the land line I have is with the TOT telephone company. I want to get high speed internet service put in. Is my only option to have TOT put in a satellite dish? And if so, does their high speed internet system work OK?

[jubby]

I'm 50Kms east of Town. I have TT&T Maxnet ADSL. they have a 'upto 1meg' and 'upto 1.5 meg' service. I don't get 1meg because I'm so far away. I was getting 420kbps a few weeks ago, but it seems to have dropped to around 250kbps recently. I get the impression that quite a lot of people share that 1 meg bandwidth so its hit and miss . Anyway, Its better than dial-up. approx 630 baht a month. They have an office at BIG C supermarket.

The TOT Satalite service is a lot more expensive unless they've changed prices recently. A friend of mine had the 1 meg service and was happy with it until I did a speed test and he was only getting 150KBps. He's switched to TT&T.

There are other options but these are the only ones I'm familiar with

You'll probably get a better service being only 15 miles from town ;-)

[localguy]

35 klm from town have maxnet no problems

use mac

first i hadmaxnet indy for 590 bath

now i have the one for 1090 but there is not much difference

[soap]

I live in a small village 15 miles east of Chiang Rai and the land line I have is with the TOT telephone company. I want to get high speed internet service put in. Is my only option to have TOT put in a satellite dish? And if so, does their high speed internet system work OK?

first i would check in your village to see if anyone as an internet conection.

it might not be the case that your line is from TOT i know the envelope says

T0T but i think they also send TT&T bills out as well.

CAT also do a satellite dish internet service

[ISPY]

I live in a small village 15 miles east of Chiang Rai and the land line I have is with the TOT telephone company. I want to get high speed internet service put in. Is my only option to have TOT put in a satellite dish? And if so, does their high speed internet system work OK?

There is a big difference in speed but also in stability of the different connections offered. We live about 10 km to the south of Chiang Rai and the phone connection is bad. Since april we use the Aircard of CAT Telecom. This connection is, most of the times, faster and at least more stable than the wired connections of my business relations in Thasaai and Chiang Rai. But.....the stability is much better with CAT. And the service of CAT is perfect. Just try it. Call them at: 086 4204606, Khun Werawit (David) and ask him to come to your house to arrange the speed test.

[mojaco]

Thanks to everyone for the helpful responses. It looks like there are three possible options depending on what will work best in my area. I'm going into Chiang Rai tomorrow to talk to each of those providers and see what each one says.

[mojaco]

Well, I checked out the options for high speed in my area. CAT wireless is out (too far). My telephone line is TOT and so cannot use TT&T high speed, leaving only the TOT IPSTAR (satellite) option.

I went to the downtown location on the 4th floor to talk with the TOT technician and test the speed using his setup. He has the 512/256 option set up. He said there is no speed problem from the customer's equipment up through the satellite and back down into the IPSTAR offices in Bangkok. Any speed degradation is therefore due to the gateway IPSTAR uses to get on the internet backbone, and, of course, the internet highway itself.

We ran tests to various locations of the world and the actual download speed ranged from 330 to 410 Kbps, using the 512/256 setup he has. So, if this is normal it will certainly be better than the typical 30 Kbps speed I currently have with dial up service. The technician did say the the actual speeds range from 100 Kbps up to (significantly less than) the service level contracted for. For instance, he said one would probably see 700-800 Kbps if a 1.0 Mbps service was purchased. But, even so, at times the IPSTAR gateway and/or internet highway could slow things down to a 100 Kbps crawl. This is outside the control of TOT, and is a IPSTAR issue to resolve (which the technician said IPSTAT had never really fully resolved).

Anyway, I'll give it a try and see what the actual experience over time is.

[ISPY]

Well, I checked out the options for high speed in my area. CAT wireless is out (too far). My telephone line is TOT and so cannot use TT&T high speed, leaving only the TOT IPSTAR (satellite) option.

I went to the downtown location on the 4th floor to talk with the TOT technician and test the speed using his setup. He has the 512/256 option set up. He said there is no speed problem from the customer's equipment up through the satellite and back down into the IPSTAR offices in Bangkok. Any speed degradation is therefore due to the gateway IPSTAR uses to get on the internet backbone, and, of course, the internet highway itself.

We ran tests to various locations of the world and the actual download speed ranged from 330 to 410 Kbps, using the 512/256 setup he has. So, if this is normal it will certainly be better than the typical 30 Kbps speed I currently have with dial up service. The technician did say the the actual speeds range from 100 Kbps up to (significantly less than) the service level contracted for. For instance, he said one would probably see 700-800 Kbps if a 1.0 Mbps service was purchased. But, even so, at times the IPSTAR gateway and/or internet highway could slow things down to a 100 Kbps crawl. This is outside the control of TOT, and is a IPSTAR issue to resolve (which the technician said IPSTAT had never really fully resolved).

Anyway, I'll give it a try and see what the actual experience over time is.

As far as I knew....could you use CAT when there is a connection with a mobile phone...anyway, good luck!

[jubby]

Did you actually speak to TT&T ?

My Phone bill is paid to TOT

and my internet service is paid to TT&T.

I pay both bills at the TT&T shop in Big C Though.

Shouldn't be a problem, TT&T are expanding and will be glad of your custom, TOT seem to be standing still or going backwards, Don't take TOT's word for it, they will be keen to sell you there over-priced ipstar system ;-)

If you haven't already done so; Go to TT&T at BIg C and they can quickly check your phone number and advise you.

[mojaco]

Did you actually speak to TT&T ?

My Phone bill is paid to TOT

and my internet service is paid to TT&T.

I pay both bills at the TT&T shop in Big C Though.

Shouldn't be a problem, TT&T are expanding and will be glad of your custom, TOT seem to be standing still or going backwards, Don't take TOT's word for it, they will be keen to sell you there over-priced ipstar system ;-)

If you haven't already done so; Go to TT&T at BIg C and they can quickly check your phone number and advise you.

Yes, I went to Big-C first and they checked my telephone number and said it was in fact a TOT line, not a TT&T line unfortunately.

[jubby]

There is another option. maybe too busy for you but here goes. ....

First thing its important to remember that you have to ask the right question, and ask the right person, they don't seem to use Lateral thinking up here.

Ask TT&T if they can supply you a phone line and MAxnet, Don't tell them you have one from the TOT. I find I can get things done when I'm told 'NO', by trying to outsmart them and wriggling like a snake, or asking one of there collegues who will probably give a different reply. You'll know what I mean if you've been here long enough otherwise you'll think I'm tripping , I used to get frustrated by it, but now I find its quite Fun, and gives a tremendous sense of acheivement ;-)

Its just posible that they could get you a line up and running in a couple of days. If they can then cancel the TOT one first.

I got my line installed in two days by TT&T, TOT couldn't or wouldn't but I'm paying my bill to them anyway, and I'm pretty sure it was a TOT engineer who installed the Line. Don't know how this works but it does, Amazing Thailand ;-)

[tbokich]

TOT does not supply enough bandwidth to handle the country. I have gone around with them for a year and a half now with hundreds of calls to complain. I have hit head supervisors who ask me to do speed test--everyone asked me to do speed test. Am supposed to have 2000 often get 40. I am on Phuket and finally got to the district supervisor by sitting in a chair in the main office and not leaving. He told me they had added more bandwidth but still not enough. He recommended a more expensive program of TOT's. I said this one does not work and you want to sell me another one? 40kb is an embarrassment. I measure 1600 to Bangkok and then when it goes out of the country it hits a brick wall. Last year as soon as it started to rain the internet started to work or should I say millions of tourists went away. Moral of the storey believe all the stories you hear about TOT it does not work. Even if you got a satellite to Bangkok you will still have their trunk out of the country. Avoid TOT like the plague. TTNT lines and internet are your best and hold out for it if you have to run your own wire out somewhere to a poll and ask them to hook to it.

Best of luck