The Difference Between Different Internet Connection Packages.

[Wentworth]

I've been hearing alot about people getting a lousy service from their phone company and I am trying to see if I have got the right connection package. I'm not sure what is considered good and bad and so I thought I would test it. I ran the 'Thai Visa' bandwidth test five times and came up with the following results (why so much difference?):

Download Upload (Kbps)

1. 455 181

2. 371 244

3. 270 252

4. 132 190

5. 141 208

I have a TOT line and am told I should be getting 54mb/s.

I am using a wireless connection (laptop is about 8 metres from box) and the connection indicator on my computer says that I'm getting between 78 and 83% connection.

I am paying for the TOT Supercyber, which I believe is the top 'home' package.

Basically I'd like to know if the connection speeds are any good and also, do I need to have 'TOT Supercyber' or will the cheaper packages do the job?

[Prasert]

Your computer has a 54Mbps connection. That is a half-duplex connection from your computer to the accesspoint and it's nominal speed is 54Mbps.

TOT's supercyber is 1024/512 kbps, so 1Mbps download and 256kbps upload. That speed runs all alone for you on the phone line connecting your router to TOT's dslam (which is the adsl switch).

But on this dslam there are many more connections. The dslam is connected to TOT's network with 1 line, and it has 1Mbps bandwith. Now all users connected to this dslam share this 1Mbps line!

Depending on the package, the amount of other people you share with is called contention ratio. For a home package from TOT this could be up to 1:50.

The SME packages are usually 1:10 (and therefor more expensive).

When it comes to internet, nobody wants to share. For those who really don't want to share, a dsl line is available with a 1:1 contention ratio. So if you want a 2Mbps line, 1:1, so all for yourself, you can get it and every ISP will be happy to sell it. Even ISPs that don't offer adsl in your area.

(oh yes, the price is around 100k)

The actual technical setup is a bit more complex than this example, but you get the point!