Cat Planning Big Boost To Internet Speed

[george]

CAT planning big boost to Internet speed

PHUKET: -- CAT Telecom plans to upgrade the Internet link between Phuket and Bangkok next year, increasing the data transfer rate from 8 megabits/second (Mbps) to 155Mbps which should, in theory, vastly improve Internet speed on the island.

The increased speed will eliminate the need to establish a direct link to the Internet’s global “backbone” from Phuket, a senior planner said.

Somyot Tanapirunthorn, Bangkok-based Assistant Vice President of CAT Telecom’s Service Development Department, told the Gazette yesterday that the work would involve installing an Internet “node” in Phuket using Synchronous Transport Module Level 1 (STM-1) technology.

All international Internet traffic will continue to pass through the country’s sole gateway in Bangkok, where Internet Service Providers are located, he said.

He explained that the increased speed would make it unnecessary to establish a direct link to the Internet from Phuket, as was previously planned.

“With connection speeds of 155Mbps, the added distance of going through Bangkok will not make much of a difference when connecting to [distant] locations such as the USA,” he said.

CAT also plans to triple the transmission rate between Thailand and the US from 1 gigabit per second to 3Gbps next year through an upgrade in its “peering link” with that country.

CAT has already established direct “peering links” with most of its Asian neighbors, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore and most Asean nations – with the exception of Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, he said.

--Phuket Gazette 2004-11-03

[meadish_sweetball]

CAT also plans to triple the transmission rate between Thailand and the US from 1 gigabit per second to 3Gbps next year through an upgrade in its “peering link” with that country.

Good, but will it be enough considering hthe expected growth in DSL and Cable connections ... ?

[Akamai]

CAT also plans to triple the transmission rate between Thailand and the US from 1 gigabit per second to 3Gbps next year through an upgrade in its “peering link” with that country.

Good, but will it be enough considering hthe expected growth in DSL and Cable connections ... ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Definately not. I have just joined Bulldog here in London and have a 4MB home connection. Does that mean there are only 40 connections (or 520 at 256kbits) on Phuket?

If Broadband is really to come to Thailand CAT needs to plan ahead of the curve.

[Phil Conners]

When will they ever accept defeat and break the monopoly?

[Crushdepth]

He explained that the increased speed would make it unnecessary to establish a direct link to the Internet from Phuket, as was previously planned.

“With connection speeds of 155Mbps, the added distance of going through Bangkok will not make much of a difference when connecting to [distant]locations such as the USA,” he said.

It will continue to make some wallets in CAT heavier though. What a pathetic attempt to justify CAT's pathetic stranglehold. Most of the ISPs I'm aware of hate CAT's guts.

[george]

True.

[travelguy]

CAT? Do you mean the company who has screwed everybody in Chiang Mai in the last 2 weeks by reducing our bandwidth to the point where we can't surf internationally? ( no more VCI 33 only VCI 66, kinda like reducing the freeway to one lane from 2 )If you're on HINET in Chiang Mai DO phone TTT and complain. They are sympathetic and really do care. From what I understand they are also fed up with the feedback and B.S. they are receiving from CAT. There is a meeting this week in Bangkok between CAT and TTT regarding the HINET service. Complaints to TTT will be forwarded to CAT at the meeting. I have already suggested that there may be a mass exodus from HINET after the 12 month contract is up and that if CAT is seriously considering going public during this period....it might not look so good to have people RUNNING from the only growth area of the company. ( they still think they are the only Overeseas provider - Can you say VOIP : ) Idiots...). Sorry for the nasty tone but I've been lied to enough by CAT staff who will say and do anything to avoid confrontation and the truth....HINET SUCKS!

[YimSiamTelecom]

It looks like Khun Somyot is trying to 'blind' everyone with "technobabble" quoting things like STM-1's.

In the order of today's telecoms scene, in which Internet capacity is rated in Gigabits rather than Megabits - the STM-1 looks more like a bit of wet string between two bean cans - rather than a high speed communications pipe linking Thailand's major Internet 'hot spot' to the Kingdom's only international peering point, Bangkok.

Admittedly, the increase in capacity linking Phuket with Bangkok from 8 megabits to 155 megabits seems like a quantum leap - but if an analogy can be drawn to the airline industry - it is like saying we are replacing our single engine 8-seater aircraft with 50-seater twin engine aircraft - when what is really needed is a 400 seater Airbus.

The Internet is as good as its weakest link - and in Thailand the weakest link is the final mile to the customer - who mostly has to suffer 56 kilobit dial-up connections, which (in reality) probably run at less than 33 kilobits most of the time.

If every Internet Cafe in Phuket had just one 512 kilobit broadband connection per premises - then Khun Somyot's new 155 megabit pipe will have been 'gobbled up' even before it had been provided.

There is hope on the horizon though. Recent announcements say that the new Thai independent telecoms regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), will finally elect someone to head up the organisation. The 'name in the frame' is retired Army General Chuchart Promprasit, who looks like being the the front runner to become chairman ahead of its seven members being submitted for endorsement to His Majesty the King.

The first job of the new NTC must be to dessimate CAT's stranglehold on international communications and give everyone in Thailand a chance to get on-line properly with gigabit (or even terabit) peering pipes rather than pieces of megabit wet string.

Yim Siam Telecom

[donbury]

Is anyone aware of any satellite internet service available in Thailand, to individuals willing to buy the necessary equipment? If not, is it a regulatory contstraint that prevents access to such service?

[LivinLOS]

Is anyone aware of any satellite internet service available in Thailand, to individuals willing to buy the necessary equipment?  If not, is it a regulatory contstraint that prevents access to such service?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I haqve used IPStar in the past... It is expensive compared to DSL services but if you are in the sticks it can be your only option... Not fabulous and you have a per MB bandwidth cost but it does work.

As to this upgrade it is a joke... With Hinet packages offering 2Mb/s for 1k and TT&T offering 1Mb/s this is either 78 HiNet customers or 155 TT&T ones with the immense takeup in high speed internet services on the island this looks like simply a stopgap measure.

[danintrang]

I live in Trang and connections are terrible... I travel quiet a bit all around Thailand.

What about these modems that you plug in USB port and that work with mobile line: DTAC or GSM. They are quiet expensive, about 10000 Bahts and 900 Bahts per month, no limit. Do they work? Any suggestion?

[danintrang]

I bought a package called INET BE SMART. It's so smart that you can surf in Thailand only. Is it to prevent Thai people to know the outside world? I tough that Internet was a great tool to keep in touch with the rest of the world.

[Mr_Happy]

Single companies in Korea have more bandwidth than the whole of thailand they are really behind the curve.... they need to add 155 Gbits not 155 Mbits lol

[iang]

CAT? Do you mean the company who has screwed everybody in Chiang Mai in the last 2 weeks by reducing our bandwidth to the point where we can't surf internationally? ( no more VCI 33 only VCI 66, kinda like reducing the freeway to one lane from 2 )If you're on HINET in Chiang Mai DO phone TTT and complain. They are sympathetic and really do care. From what I understand they are also fed up with the feedback and B.S. they are receiving from CAT. There is a meeting this week in Bangkok between CAT and TTT regarding the HINET service. Complaints to TTT will be forwarded to CAT at the meeting. I have already suggested that there may be a mass exodus from HINET after the 12 month contract is up and that if CAT is seriously considering going public during this period....it might not look so good to have people RUNNING from the only growth area of the company. ( they still think they are the only Overeseas provider - Can you say VOIP : ) Idiots...). Sorry for the nasty tone but I've been lied to enough by CAT staff who will say and do anything to avoid confrontation and the truth....HINET SUCKS!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Strange, I'm on HiNet in Chiang Mail too and haven't noticed any difference to speed whatsoever? Speed still varies enormously from microsecond to microsecond & the service has been up & down a bit over the past week, but overall, am still quite happy with the service, particularly for the money! Maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones?

[bigfarang]

The internet provisions in Thailand are woefully inadequate, whether we are talking about connection technology, bandwidth or price. The price per MB at wholesale level is ludicrous in comparision to most other developing nations(70 000baht per month for a 512k leased line ISP charges). The monopoly CAT enjoys means that all ISP must route through Bang Rak (BKK) and pay a considerable premium to the CAT as a result. This adds thousands of baht per MB to any service providers bill. I have worked with Pacific Internet after giving True/TA the boot over a year ago (True are technically incompetent to the point of embarassement) and can recommend these guys if quality is what you're looking for...but the bandwidth is NOT cheap. My private 300kb connection running over ADSL from a Pacific Net leased line costs me 6000baht per month. But the bandwidth is consistent, with actual real world download speeds averaging 30kb per second.

155mb pipe from Phuket to BKK will support more users than has been suggested by other posters here, but it is still too little too late. An average 256k connection actually requires around 10% (25k) of the theoretical maximum to function properly. But even using this analysis it is patently obvious that 155mb will not meet current demand; particularly during periods of intensive use.

The real future (without CAT?) will be fibre optic connections. The tradegy here is that BKK and even the provinces already have thousands of km of fibre installed, in this sense they are way ahead of the UK etc. but it is not being used because of ignorance. They simply don't understand how to make it function profitably, so it remains unused whilst most people struggle with dial-up or ADSL over the existing PSTN.

As for VOIP - don't even go there! Ping times and packet loss make it non-viable for anything other than phoning friends and family. The CAT's got all the cream on this one.

[camerata]

I bought a package called INET BE SMART. It's so smart that you can surf in Thailand only. Is it to prevent Thai people to know the outside world? I tough that Internet was a great tool to keep in touch with the rest of the world.

Because costs are high in Thailand, and the main cost is international bandwidth, many ISPs have a cheap "domestic-only" service. BeSmart is one of those. It should say so on the package.

[camerata]

The first job of the new NTC must be to dessimate CAT's stranglehold on international communications and give everyone in Thailand a chance to get on-line properly with gigabit (or even terabit) peering pipes rather than pieces of megabit wet string.

Well, don't hold your breath. The first thing the NTC actually did was to threaten ISPs with enormous fines if they don't keep logs of all network traffic for 30 days. Such is the mindset of these people.

[Ken]

I live in Trang and connections are terrible... I travel quiet a bit all around Thailand.

What about these modems that you plug in USB port and that work with mobile line: DTAC or GSM. They are quiet expensive, about 10000 Bahts and 900 Bahts per month, no limit. Do they work? Any suggestion?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

danintrang:

I live 80 Km northeast of Korat, with no landlines in the village. For about 3 months I have been using the "AIS" internet solution which is a "Solomon" Modem connected to a USB port and service from AIS (GPRS sim). They have different "promotions" going on at any given time. The one I signed up for was 1,200 Baht per month with the first 6 months unlimited and the last six months 200 hours per month (one year contract). I think they have a promotion now at 999 Baht. The modem cost me 10,000 Baht, but I know someone else who bought the same modem for 8,000 Baht (so shop around?)

Anyway, I've been pretty satisfied with the service and it's great being able to connect at home. I've also taken it on trips to Bangsaen in the South and Nong Khai on the Laos border and of course Bangkok. Worked great.

[camerata]

and that if CAT is seriously considering going public during this period....it might not look so good to have people RUNNING from the only growth area of the company.

The real problem with CAT and TOT is that they are being forced to do this cheap broadband by the government. The government pushed them to register as public companies, so now they can compete - without shame - with the private sector. But at the same time they are still 100% state enterprises (with monopolistic advantages) and, as such, have to cooperate in the government's projects.

If the government had told CAT to lower their high fees for ALL overseas bandwidth, maybe the ISPs could have provided much cheaper broadband. But CAT craftily offered to reduce fees only for their own international gateway, thus forcing ISPs to move to CAT's gateway or face ruinous competition from those that do. So CAT's real interest and profit here is selling international bandwidth. I doubt they care much about a service imposed on them by the government. TOT will also expand their broadband services soon, but it will be the same type of thing, with the accent on providing it cheap.

You know how the TRT party loves targets and statistics. As long as they reach the target of 1 million broadband users, no one will care much if those million users are all gnashing their teeth in frustration.

[jltheart]

Internet is one problem. When will CAT reduce the international phone rates . Can some one tell me Why I have to pay 7 ba when I pick up my phone every time. When will this Country get with the program. High International Phone Service = Less International Money. Stupid

[Phil Conners]

I live in Trang and connections are terrible... I travel quiet a bit all around Thailand.

What about these modems that you plug in USB port and that work with mobile line: DTAC or GSM. They are quiet expensive, about 10000 Bahts and 900 Bahts per month, no limit. Do they work? Any suggestion?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's called GPRS.

If you think normal dialup is slow in Thailand forget about it. I use it as backup for those times when telephone or ISP goes down and it is SLOW, somewhere in the reate of 10 times slower than dialup.

[Ken]

I live in Trang and connections are terrible... I travel quiet a bit all around Thailand.

What about these modems that you plug in USB port and that work with mobile line: DTAC or GSM. They are quiet expensive, about 10000 Bahts and 900 Bahts per month, no limit. Do they work? Any suggestion?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's called GPRS.

If you think normal dialup is slow in Thailand forget about it. I use it as backup for those times when telephone or ISP goes down and it is SLOW, somewhere in the reate of 10 times slower than dialup.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Small disagree here. I've been using the AIS GPRS for 3 + months now and am pretty happy with it. And while not 10 time faster than any dialup I've used in Korat, it is definitely faster than the dialup and "ten times slower" as quoted from "madsere" sounds like some other kind of problem to me (based on my experience.) Maybe Dtac is not as good as AIS. Don't know. My best download time with the AIS GPRS has been downloading a 5 MB file in 10 minutes. Never got that out of any landline connection here.

Maybe it depends on where you try to connect at, but like I said, I've used it in my village, 80 km northwest Korat, also in Nong Khai, Bangsaen, Bangkok.

[PlanetMan]

There is hope on the horizon though. Recent announcements say that the new Thai independent telecoms regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), will finally elect someone to head up the organisation. The 'name in the frame' is retired Army General Chuchart Promprasit, who looks like being the the front runner to become chairman ahead of its seven members being submitted for endorsement to His Majesty the King.

The first job of the new NTC must be to dessimate CAT's stranglehold on international communications and give everyone in Thailand a chance to get on-line properly with gigabit (or even terabit) peering pipes rather than pieces of megabit wet string.

We all would do well to remember that the richest man in Thailand made his billions in the Telecoms industry. As such, we should not expect him to strangle the goose that laid his golden eggs. If he is re-elected we will likely describe progress in Thai Telecoms liberalization using words like "glacial" and "tectonic". Proof of this can be seen in the obscene amount of time it has taken to seat any NTC at all.

Cheers