Buddy Broadband Is Poison

[baden511]

I'm here to give some information about my experience with Buddy Broadband. You've probably already guessed they're not my buddies anymore, in fact the thoughts of what I'd like to do whomever administers that sorry-excuse for a company are pretty unbuddylike right now.

Anyway, before I start I want to preempt any of you out there who are tempted to respond with -'oh but what if you're just a competitor who wants to harm this company for your own benefit etc. etc.' by making it clear: I'm not interested, save your typing for someone who cares. Really. I'm not in the mood for any conspiracy theorists.

In any case, I'm not touting for any internet company, for all I know they're all just as bad as Buddy. Buddy happen to be the only ones I've tried. And if any of you after reading this still want to join them, be my guest, it's your life.

In short, I'm putting this out there not for my benefit, not even to take revenge for the nonsense this company has put me through but because somehow I feel enough empathy to try to prevent others from having to go through what I did.

To make a long story short, Buddy Broadband or to be more specific, my Buddy Broadband service is rubbish, absolute and utter rubbish. I signed up for their 1 megabyte service and speedtested it (speedtest.net- feel free to check your own bandwidth, it's easy and fun - or painful as the case may be) regularly. I never got 1 megabyte. Never. Sometimes it got up close enough for me to hope, but that was on rare occasions. My average speed has been somewhere in the region of 200-300 download and well less than 100 upload. According to my latest real-player test, I have the speed of a 28.8k modem. It basically means, all video is out and most audio too. I can send email sure, but I can't use youtube or even listen to a radio stream sometimes. Often even news websites take interminably long to load. So, in short I've been paying for broadband and getting dial-up.

Of course I called them regulary, hoping that this was a fixable problem and I got all the reassurances that it would be dealt with etc... temporary issue.. blah blah blah. Nothing changed in two months. So polite, so nice, so utterly and frustratingly ineffective. I've given up and asked them to take the whole thing away. I've signed up for six months but as far as I'm concerned they're in breach of contract; my contract says 1 megabyte bandwidth, I barely get 20% of that on average, however I don't know exactly where I stand legally. I'll keep you updated if your interested.

Long and short of it is in the title really, this company is poison. If anybody has got any better alternatives, I'd love to hear.

[PREXPRESSBKK]

I had worst problems with them and I RECOMMEND EVERYBODY NOT TO USE THEIR SERVICES-Buddy Broadband stinks!

[Wandering]

Maxnet (TTT required -can't use TOT) seems to have the fastest speeds in ChaingMai

[Shivek]

True is poison as well. I don't know if any ISP here is worthy at all, but I'll be giving Maxnet a shot to see if they're worthwhile.

Edited July 27, 2008 by Shivek

[swain]

Maxnet (TTT required -can't use TOT) seems to have the fastest speeds in ChaingMai

I second this. Maxnet over TTT is truely the best connection I have had in Thailand. I had TOT in Bangkok and thought it was the best until I got TTT Premier. KNOCK WOOD IT SAYS THIS WAY

Edited add on (Chiang Mai is where I live now and can only attest to the connection from here)

Edited July 27, 2008 by swain

[RHCP]

I’m a Buddy customer as well and have noticed a sharp deterioration in speeds over the past 2/3 months, even frequently in the early morning when normally speeds are quite decent. They were quite decent when I signed up in December 2006 in terms of speeds but the service has definitely worsened since then.

I honestly don’t know if it the company to blame or the generally poor state of internet speeds in this country.

[lannarebirth]

I'm here to give some information about my experience with Buddy Broadband. You've probably already guessed they're not my buddies anymore, in fact the thoughts of what I'd like to do whomever administers that sorry-excuse for a company are pretty unbuddylike right now.

Anyway, before I start I want to preempt any of you out there who are tempted to respond with -'oh but what if you're just a competitor who wants to harm this company for your own benefit etc. etc.' by making it clear: I'm not interested, save your typing for someone who cares. Really. I'm not in the mood for any conspiracy theorists.

In any case, I'm not touting for any internet company, for all I know they're all just as bad as Buddy. Buddy happen to be the only ones I've tried. And if any of you after reading this still want to join them, be my guest, it's your life.

In short, I'm putting this out there not for my benefit, not even to take revenge for the nonsense this company has put me through but because somehow I feel enough empathy to try to prevent others from having to go through what I did.

To make a long story short, Buddy Broadband or to be more specific, my Buddy Broadband service is rubbish, absolute and utter rubbish. I signed up for their 1 megabyte service and speedtested it (speedtest.net- feel free to check your own bandwidth, it's easy and fun - or painful as the case may be) regularly. I never got 1 megabyte. Never. Sometimes it got up close enough for me to hope, but that was on rare occasions. My average speed has been somewhere in the region of 200-300 download and well less than 100 upload. According to my latest real-player test, I have the speed of a 28.8k modem. It basically means, all video is out and most audio too. I can send email sure, but I can't use youtube or even listen to a radio stream sometimes. Often even news websites take interminably long to load. So, in short I've been paying for broadband and getting dial-up.

Of course I called them regulary, hoping that this was a fixable problem and I got all the reassurances that it would be dealt with etc... temporary issue.. blah blah blah. Nothing changed in two months. So polite, so nice, so utterly and frustratingly ineffective. I've given up and asked them to take the whole thing away. I've signed up for six months but as far as I'm concerned they're in breach of contract; my contract says 1 megabyte bandwidth, I barely get 20% of that on average, however I don't know exactly where I stand legally. I'll keep you updated if your interested.

Long and short of it is in the title really, this company is poison. If anybody has got any better alternatives, I'd love to hear.

I'm not sure how lomg you've lived in Thailand but most people here have about the same quality of internet as you. It's shit, everywhere.

[dave111223]

I'm not sure how lomg you've lived in Thailand but most people here have about the same quality of internet as you. It's shit, everywhere.

Agreed, all ISPs here suck...end of story.

The bandwidth they give you is based on connections to other Thai servers (and to their credit all ISPs do publish this point). But the connection speed outside of the country is pretty bad with every ISP that i've used.

Also to the OP you said you had a "1 megabyte" connection, i'm assuming you meant "1 megabit" connect? (1 megabyte = 8 megabits).

In which case if you were getting 200-300KBs downloads, this means you were actually exceed the max speed of a "1 megabit" connection?

Edited July 28, 2008 by dave111223

[clokwise]

I had BB on a couple occasions in BKK. First time was crap and I canceled after only 2 days and got a refund. The next time, at a different condo, it was the only available option and it actually performed decently half the time. Of course that was during the night, so I'd leave my torrents running all night and wake up to completed downloads. YouTube and VPN was utter rubbish tho during the day.

Now I'm in Chiang Mai and with MaxNet, again my only real option. I was on their 2048/512 plan and they upgraded me to 4096/512 for free last month. Download speeds did not double however, in fact only +10~20% at best. So I downgraded back to 2048/512 and now pay only 590 baht p/m. Great deal and I get 100% download speed >90% of the time. I have discovered that my IP address with Maxnet makes a considerable difference with my int'l bandwidth and also access to certain blocked sites. If I get a bad IP I reset the router and try the IP lottery again. Eventually I'll get a good one. Once I get a good one tho, it sticks for days or sometimes weeks.

[maxelchey]

I’m a Buddy customer as well and have noticed a sharp deterioration in speeds over the past 2/3 months, even frequently in the early morning when normally speeds are quite decent. They were quite decent when I signed up in December 2006 in terms of speeds but the service has definitely worsened since then.

I honestly don’t know if it the company to blame or the generally poor state of internet speeds in this country.

I have to reckon exactly the same issue, My connection was ok when I signed up in December 2006, got even better when I upgraded to 2Mb in Sept 2008, but now it is just rubbish, I can barely open any webpage in the evening (I presume it is rush hour with all the kids playing online games !! ) and morning time which is supposed to be the fastest is also bad, I can not open general stuff like Gmail or some VDOs get in really slowly !!

Frustrating , but I don't know how is True these days ! the only problem is where I live only Buddy is available

[H2oDunc]

I'm here to give some information about my experience with Buddy Broadband. You've probably already guessed they're not my buddies anymore, in fact the thoughts of what I'd like to do whomever administers that sorry-excuse for a company are pretty unbuddylike right now.

Anyway, before I start I want to preempt any of you out there who are tempted to respond with -'oh but what if you're just a competitor who wants to harm this company for your own benefit etc. etc.' by making it clear: I'm not interested, save your typing for someone who cares. Really. I'm not in the mood for any conspiracy theorists.

In any case, I'm not touting for any internet company, for all I know they're all just as bad as Buddy. Buddy happen to be the only ones I've tried. And if any of you after reading this still want to join them, be my guest, it's your life.

In short, I'm putting this out there not for my benefit, not even to take revenge for the nonsense this company has put me through but because somehow I feel enough empathy to try to prevent others from having to go through what I did.

To make a long story short, Buddy Broadband or to be more specific, my Buddy Broadband service is rubbish, absolute and utter rubbish. I signed up for their 1 megabyte service and speedtested it (speedtest.net- feel free to check your own bandwidth, it's easy and fun - or painful as the case may be) regularly. I never got 1 megabyte. Never. Sometimes it got up close enough for me to hope, but that was on rare occasions. My average speed has been somewhere in the region of 200-300 download and well less than 100 upload. According to my latest real-player test, I have the speed of a 28.8k modem. It basically means, all video is out and most audio too. I can send email sure, but I can't use youtube or even listen to a radio stream sometimes. Often even news websites take interminably long to load. So, in short I've been paying for broadband and getting dial-up.

Of course I called them regulary, hoping that this was a fixable problem and I got all the reassurances that it would be dealt with etc... temporary issue.. blah blah blah. Nothing changed in two months. So polite, so nice, so utterly and frustratingly ineffective. I've given up and asked them to take the whole thing away. I've signed up for six months but as far as I'm concerned they're in breach of contract; my contract says 1 megabyte bandwidth, I barely get 20% of that on average, however I don't know exactly where I stand legally. I'll keep you updated if your interested.

Long and short of it is in the title really, this company is poison. If anybody has got any better alternatives, I'd love to hear.

8 Posts and you are spitting venom ? GET A LIFE ! You are in Thailand now. Internet sucks here no matter who you are with. My BT internet used to suck as wel only here I DONT GIVE A FRIG! Quote " I don't know where I stand legally here " ANSWER ! YOU DON'T !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[patklang]

My 2mb TOT is brilliant in Pattaya and rarely lets me down.

[patklang]

btw,just tested speed and 1,696kbps download and 466 kbps upload,very happy with that consistency

Edited March 17, 2009 by patklang

[trogers]

Those still using XP SP2 or SP3 operating system will probably have to tweak TCP settings in the registry to achieve optimum broadband speed.

You can surf to speedguide dotnet and download and use their free TCP Optimizer to tweak.

[pampal]

I had Buddy for 2 months, it was horrible. I switched to True and it's going well for3 months.

[w11guy]

Does anyone how more up to date experience of using this service. I'm about to move condo and their service has been suggested by the condo owner. I would be glad to hear what other people have to say.

[MichelBangkok]

Does anyone how more up to date experience of using this service. I'm about to move condo and their service has been suggested by the condo owner. I would be glad to hear what other people have to say.

I use Buddybb for 7 years, but in a location very close to the main TOT Chaengwatta central offices and from a relatively new moobaan (village), using their ADSL 3 mbps service at 500 baht per month. This means that the lines and repeaters are of excellent quality, so no degradation of service, let's say during storms or other climatic changes. So far the service has been impeccable, and when questions asked, their call center handle efficiently, although I always communicate with them in Thai, as I am fluent in the language. The satisfaction level depends probably more from your exact location within the city than anything else...

[Morakot]

Agreed, all ISPs here suck...end of story.

Yes, but which one sucks the least?

[JakeBKK]

Hey guy's don't check your speed with speedtest(dot)net. If you really want to be depressed check with one of the uni's like nectec HERE nectec is not cached.

[h90]

That sounds they have improved.

It was worse when I had them.... I never got 20 %.