Chiang Mai Dsl... Speed In Thailand Vs Across The Pond

[damian5000]

Just got TOT internet hooked up today. Supposedly the silvercyber which is supposed to be 1.5MB/S. When testing the connection speed with more than a few sites found through google I'm only getting 100-200kbs, but when doing it through tests when I google "dsl test in thailand" and hit a couple of those sites I'm getting what look like fine results at right around 1200-1400.

Is this the case for most people? I'm really surprised at the huge difference. Anybody else test their connection speeds and what were the results?

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Just got TOT internet hooked up today. Supposedly the silvercyber which is supposed to be 1.5MB/S. When testing the connection speed with more than a few sites found through google I'm only getting 100-200kbs, but when doing it through tests when I google "dsl test in thailand" and hit a couple of those sites I'm getting what look like fine results at right around 1200-1400.

Is this the case for most people? I'm really surprised at the huge difference. Anybody else test their connection speeds and what were the results?

Thats totally normal and some would consider good. If you use late at night then the speeds overseas might be around your 1200 to 1400 in country

[JuniorExPat]

Sorry Dorothy but you're not in Kansas any more!

There are several threads in the forum on this subject - it may be worth a quick search as there are some opinions and suggestions on the best providers, packages and ways to deal with technical problems.

JxP

[damian5000]

Sorry Dorothy but you're not in Kansas any more!

There are several threads in the forum on this subject - it may be worth a quick search as there are some opinions and suggestions on the best providers, packages and ways to deal with technical problems.

JxP

I wasn't talking about the difference between having internet in america and internet in thailand. I was talking about the difference between accessing thai websites and websites outside of thailand. Just wondering if it's normal to get actual download speeds of about 30kbs (=about 150-200kbs connection) with what is supposedly a 1.5mb connection.

[JuniorExPat]

Sorry Dorothy but you're not in Kansas any more!

There are several threads in the forum on this subject - it may be worth a quick search as there are some opinions and suggestions on the best providers, packages and ways to deal with technical problems.

JxP

I wasn't talking about the difference between having internet in america and internet in thailand. I was talking about the difference between accessing thai websites and websites outside of thailand. Just wondering if it's normal to get actual download speeds of about 30kbs (=about 150-200kbs connection) with what is supposedly a 1.5mb connection.

Ah, I misunderstood. Sorry Dorothy!

One of the slowest sites that I regularly access is ThaiVisa yet one of the fastest is BBC news - I've given up trying to apply any logic. Maxnet do say that their Premium package opens up international bandwidth that their Indy package does not allow, that may give some clues to your scenario - again, much discussed in other threads by many more knowledgeable than myself.

JxP

[damian5000]

Sorry Dorothy but you're not in Kansas any more!

There are several threads in the forum on this subject - it may be worth a quick search as there are some opinions and suggestions on the best providers, packages and ways to deal with technical problems.

JxP

I wasn't talking about the difference between having internet in america and internet in thailand. I was talking about the difference between accessing thai websites and websites outside of thailand. Just wondering if it's normal to get actual download speeds of about 30kbs (=about 150-200kbs connection) with what is supposedly a 1.5mb connection.

Ah, I misunderstood. Sorry Dorothy!

One of the slowest sites that I regularly access is ThaiVisa yet one of the fastest is BBC news - I've given up trying to apply any logic. Maxnet do say that their Premium package opens up international bandwidth that their Indy package does not allow, that may give some clues to your scenario - again, much discussed in other threads by many more knowledgeable than myself.

JxP

I'll try and make this simple Todo (that makes you my dog BTW)... What speeds do you get when you download files? I average about 20-30kbs. I checked some of the other threads already - they don't contain this type of information.

[infernalman7]

The main reason is that there's a bottleneck at the International Internet Gateway.

For domestic connection, it should be significantly faster.

In the U.S., the same applies, domestic connection is way faster, and fortunately most of websites are either based, hosted or mirrored within the US. If you are trying to access websites in Australia or Italy from the U.S. you will also see that it's slower than sites like YouTube.

But for Thailand's case, its even slower than connection from U.S. to Italy or Australia. Because we have a very very low connection to other countries due to the gateway being controlled by a monopoly. This soon to be changed thoguh.

[JuniorExPat]

It's getting too technical around here for a simple mutt like me.

JxP

[JuniorExPat]

I'll try and make this simple Todo (that makes you my dog BTW)... What speeds do you get when you download files? I average about 20-30kbs. I checked some of the other threads already - they don't contain this type of information.

From memory I believe that my downloader shows speeds of around 90k but during slow periods it sometimes goes down to around 20.

JxP

[damian5000]

I'll try and make this simple Todo (that makes you my dog BTW)... What speeds do you get when you download files? I average about 20-30kbs. I checked some of the other threads already - they don't contain this type of information.

From memory I believe that my downloader shows speeds of around 90k but during slow periods it sometimes goes down to around 20.

JxP

dam_n..Wish I could pull 90kb. I'll settle for 30 though... It's faster than the dial up I was using through my cell phone. Info much appreciated.... Just trying to find out if this 25 or so is normal. Maybe it's because I'm in Mung Mai though ...Doubt the DSL center is close to here.

If anyone else could report their actual download speeds would be great

Thanks again..

[infernalman7]

It's getting too technical around here for a simple mutt like me.

JxP

Haha.. Okay ill keep it simple then.

Thai Internet = Very Fast connection to Thai Websites, slow connection to overseas (north america and europe) websites.

American Internet = Very fast with North American Websites, slow connection to others but they have 90% of the websites in their country. So they seem like they have faster connection for normal users.

[weary]

Damian, which one of http, ftp, BitTorrent, DirectConnect, IRC do you refer to when you say download speeds?

Apart from the international bottleneck, ISPs employ a method called packet shaping for the inexpensive ADSL packages. This means file sharing and voice over IP protocols are throttled in favor of web browsing and regular http downloads.

With the Direct Connect protocol you will typically get speeds of approx. 5-40 kB/s from users in Thailand.

On the other hand, a regular http download of software, say Lavasoft's AdAware, direct from their web site, may come down at 150 - 170 kB/s.

Bit Torrent speeds vary and due to the high number of TCP connections open, can be from almost nothing up to around 140. Turning on encryption can boost speeds.

Packet shaping is employed so that file sharing does not steal the majority of the scarce, shared bandwidth, which brings us to the next point, shared lines:

Bandwidth is limited, in particular the international bandwidth.

Inexpensive DSL packages will have a ratio that tells you how many people are sharing your bandwidth, like 20:1, 10:1 or 5:1. This means that with a 20:1 ratio you are in theory competing with 20 others for the same bandwidth. If they happen to be heavy users, your speeds will drop accordingly. To get a low share ratio, you need to pay for a premium package.

Some people get decent speeds even on the inexpensive packages for some reason, so you should try to check with other DSL users in the vicinity what package they are on and compare your results with theirs.

It is less likely but still possible that the physical side limits you, like bad cables inside your house, fax machines or telephones connected to the same line that disturb your signal, or a faulty DSL splitter.

Edited January 29, 2008 by weary

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

It's getting too technical around here for a simple mutt like me.

JxP

Haha.. Okay ill keep it simple then.

Thai Internet = Very Fast connection to Thai Websites, slow connection to overseas (north america and europe) websites.

American Internet = Very fast with North American Websites, slow connection to others but they have 90% of the websites in their country. So they seem like they have faster connection for normal users.

No need to reinvent the wheel. Hey my friends Uncle Pong gets 200 k download. Really wow.. What provider does he use?... Not sure let me fire up the elephant and go ask him.

You can go to www.speedtest.net

and it will test your speed and you can select many destination servers. Then you can go into Thailand statistics and give you comparison stats by city and provider. Have at it.

[JuniorExPat]

I would like to state, for the record, that I am neither a technophobe, a Luddite nor a dog. The mutt gag was for damian5000's benefit and was a response to his suggestion that I sniff around girls who wear ruby slippers.

Maxnet Premier works fine for me, and when it doesn't I find that pestering the call centre gets results. Previously on Indy I had terrible VoIP with Skype and regularly failed FTP file transfers (you wouldn't catch Toto doing that!), the upgrade to Premier has resolved those issues.

Having said that, a quick scan around various forums suggests that the general level of satisfaction with internet connectivity in Thailand is deteriorating at the moment. That may suggest a core infrastructure problem, rising expectations or even excess demand.

At the time of this post I am showing 470kb/s down and 314kb/s up on speedtest.net, however this is a 'busy' and therefore 'slow' time of day, I often see speeds of 1500/350 and would guess that I average 1000/300. I pay for 1536/512.

JxP

[damian5000]

Damian, which one of http, ftp, BitTorrent, DirectConnect, IRC do you refer to when you say download speeds?

Apart from the international bottleneck, ISPs employ a method called packet shaping for the inexpensive ADSL packages. This means file sharing and voice over IP protocols are throttled in favor of web browsing and regular http downloads.

With the Direct Connect protocol you will typically get speeds of approx. 5-40 kB/s from users in Thailand.

On the other hand, a regular http download of software, say Lavasoft's AdAware, direct from their web site, may come down at 150 - 170 kB/s.

Bit Torrent speeds vary and due to the high number of TCP connections open, can be from almost nothing up to around 140. Turning on encryption can boost speeds.

Packet shaping is employed so that file sharing does not steal the majority of the scarce, shared bandwidth, which brings us to the next point, shared lines:

Bandwidth is limited, in particular the international bandwidth.

Inexpensive DSL packages will have a ratio that tells you how many people are sharing your bandwidth, like 20:1, 10:1 or 5:1. This means that with a 20:1 ratio you are in theory competing with 20 others for the same bandwidth. If they happen to be heavy users, your speeds will drop accordingly. To get a low share ratio, you need to pay for a premium package.

Some people get decent speeds even on the inexpensive packages for some reason, so you should try to check with other DSL users in the vicinity what package they are on and compare your results with theirs.

It is less likely but still possible that the physical side limits you, like bad cables inside your house, fax machines or telephones connected to the same line that disturb your signal, or a faulty DSL splitter.

No way am I getting close to 170 actual kb/s when surfing web sites. When I say download speeds, I refer to bittorrent or say download.com I'm maxing out at 30kbs actual download speed. When I run the test at speedtest.net with a Bangkok server it comes back at 1500/512 or thereabouts...Even when testing to the California I get about 900/300. Which should put me at something like what you said 150 actual, But no way am I actually getting 900/300 (150)...Seems more like what it says when I test at other places besides speedtest.net 150/60 or some such (25/10 atual). When say visiting a web site it seems about 3x the speed of dial up.

They actually ran a new cable from the box all the way down the street (75 mtrs?), so all the wires and equipment is new.