Tot To 12mb / True To 16mb ...

[infernalman7]

True has been expanding a lot of their international connection direct to major internet cloud providers (direct connection to iMeem, Google, etc.)

PREMIUM package for True not only gives you higher upload speed but also put you into their "higher prioritized" network. Don't really know what that means but it's quite obvious that you get what you pay here. (which doesn't really apply to TOT)

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

I have been getting 3 to 4 mb consistently on my TOT 4 mb plan. A few times as high as 5 mb to the US. I am in central CM and not a new account. I would not doubt the higher speed plans provided there is already good speed to BKK etc. If your not getting all your bandwidth from your location to BKK then don't spend more for it. If your pegging your max speed to bkk then I don't see why TOT could not provide much more.

There is a lot more Asian undersea cable capacity out there and more coming online in the future. I was even reading an analyst comment that it's verging on a glut in 2010.

[nikster]

DSL speed is a bit of a game of musical chairs. Now the order is 1 - True, 2 - TOT, 3 - CAT (consumer) for consumer lines.

TOT has improved leaps and bounds, but it's still TOT so it will perhaps go down every so often. And not come back for a few hours.

CAT consumer has been really bad since I got it. Switched to business now which is better, but nearly 2000 baht and 2Mbit doesn't make for good value, particularly looking at True. Now if True would only come to the mountains... everyone else seems to be coming to Pai these days...

[Phil Conners]

Where is True's Pattaya office? The one on the corner of Sukhumvit? Two years ago I went there to hear about their offering, no-one had a clue, appeared to be providing only company leased lines. EDIT: Just saw "their office is on 3rd Rd between Klang and Nua"...

Today I went up and down 3rd road between Klang and Nua and was unable to find any True offices. KSC and Loxinfo are near Klang, that was all the ISP's I saw. Anyone know where specifically True are located?

EDIT: Called True hotline at 1686. Apparently the office is on the ground floor of Lotus Nua. Open 10.00-21.30. Need work permit to sign up for farang.

Went to True in Lotus Nua last night and had pleasant talk with one of the girls there.

My village (SSCC near the driving range) is indeed served by True up to the full 16 MB currently on offer. No signup fee, prices from 800 for 3 mbps up to 2400 for 16 mbps ("premium pack" with 1 mbps upload speed and better international connectivity, they also have a "basic pack" with 512 kbps upload speed for the Thai market for 200 less/month). Can cancel anytime without any cancellation fees if you're not happy with it. Waiting time for installation about 3 days.

The "truevision" offer for 1990 setup, no monthly cost, is only IPTV in Bangkok - in Pattaya it's satellite TV. Price includes installation and deposit for a receiver and a card that allows you to watch a bunch of Thai channels. Apparently no further costs, ever (presumably as long as you have True Internet).

A small discount (about 200/month) can be had if you already have a True product such as satellite TV or mobile.

According to the girl no work permit is required. No idea why the girl in the callcenter was sure it was. TiT

Edited December 8, 2009 by Phil Conners

[bangbuathong]

What does this page state? http://support.truecorp.co.th/ATB3/accept.jsp

Looks like there is a Data Transfer Limitation

[paveet]

What does this page state? http://support.truecorp.co.th/ATB3/accept.jsp

Looks like there is a Data Transfer Limitation

บริษัท ฯ ขอสงวนสิทธิในการยกเลิกการให้บริการ ฯตามสัญญานี้หากปรากฏว่า ผู้ใช้บริการ

นำบริการ ฯ ไปใช้งานแบบต่อพ่วง หรือผู้ใช้บริการนำบริการ ฯ ไปใช้จนมีค่าเฉลี่ยการรับ-ส่ง

ข้อมูลเกินปริมาณที่กำหนด ดังนี้

This translates to "The company would like to reserve the right to cancel the service according to this agreement if it becomes apparant that the user is using the service within a network (in the shared sense I guess, the wording is a bit ambigious..) or the user is having an average data transferred of more than the following..".

So if we take the premium 16mbps package, 4320 MB / hour.. and that there are 720 hours in a month.. that means you don't exceed 3000+ GB a month..

It's just a fair usage clause I reckon, I haven't seen any Thai ISPs cut off their users for heavy usage. It's not the UK ..

[infernalman7]

What does this page state? http://support.truecorp.co.th/ATB3/accept.jsp

Looks like there is a Data Transfer Limitation

Data transfer limitation on a daily average basis.

It's okay to go exceed in an hour but your daily average must not exceed the number. I usually go over and nothing happened to me so far.

And of-course it's much better than 40GB a month in Australia.

[pampal]

I have a TOT 8mb connection in Din Daeng, my True 2MB was faster.

[-noodles-]

Where is True's Pattaya office? The one on the corner of Sukhumvit? Two years ago I went there to hear about their offering, no-one had a clue, appeared to be providing only company leased lines. EDIT: Just saw "their office is on 3rd Rd between Klang and Nua"...

Today I went up and down 3rd road between Klang and Nua and was unable to find any True offices. KSC and Loxinfo are near Klang, that was all the ISP's I saw. Anyone know where specifically True are located?

EDIT: Called True hotline at 1686. Apparently the office is on the ground floor of Lotus Nua. Open 10.00-21.30. Need work permit to sign up for farang.

The office on 3rd Rd is on the right hand side if you're coming from Klang. It's about 500 metres down 3rd Rd not too much further on from Mooks apartments and opposite the big block of vacant land on the left. It's easy to miss, just a small shopfront with "True" written on the front.

[bangbuathong]

What does this page state? http://support.truecorp.co.th/ATB3/accept.jsp

Looks like there is a Data Transfer Limitation

บริษัท ฯ ขอสงวนสิทธิในการยกเลิกการให้บริการ ฯตามสัญญานี้หากปรากฏว่า ผู้ใช้บริการ

นำบริการ ฯ ไปใช้งานแบบต่อพ่วง หรือผู้ใช้บริการนำบริการ ฯ ไปใช้จนมีค่าเฉลี่ยการรับ-ส่ง

ข้อมูลเกินปริมาณที่กำหนด ดังนี้

This translates to "The company would like to reserve the right to cancel the service according to this agreement if it becomes apparant that the user is using the service within a network (in the shared sense I guess, the wording is a bit ambigious..) or the user is having an average data transferred of more than the following..".

So if we take the premium 16mbps package, 4320 MB / hour.. and that there are 720 hours in a month.. that means you don't exceed 3000+ GB a month..

It's just a fair usage clause I reckon, I haven't seen any Thai ISPs cut off their users for heavy usage. It's not the UK ..

Thanks for the reply, now let's hope they have the high speeds available in the suburbs soon.

[Phil Conners]

Well here is my nightmare experience with True.

Went to their office in Lotus Nua and ordered 8MB/s PREMIUM and the TrueVision Thai TV satellite package. The brochure said "free with any BASIC package" so I explicitly asked the staff if I could still have it with the PREMIUM internet plan. Checking with each other the answer was a clear "Yes, no problem".

Today got everything installed, Internet and Satellite TV.

Checked the speed in my router, was set to 9422 downstream 509 upstream. As the PREMIUM plan is supposed to have 1024 upstream I suspected I had been given a Basic plan in spite of promises and an order form clearly saying 8M/PREMIUM. Much calling to call center and to Pattaya Nua. Result, "No sir, sorry sir, checked with the boss and you can only have this package with BASIC plan.". So much for Thai logic. Instead of getting 200 baht more per month they now get nothing. I have asked them to cancel everything and come and pick up their receiver and close the Internet account again.

The staff tried to pull the "but sir, the only difference is the uplink speed". Asked them if they were lying on the advertisement saying the PREMIUM plan has better international bandwidth. No reply. (Not that I'd really expected one).

While it is still working I took the opportunity to run some speed tests. Again, this is supposed to be an 8MB connection...

I had better throughput for less money with my Maxnet Premier 3MB/1MB.

Tried downloading a 700 mb torrent "file" with 6000 seeds. Speeds varying between 400-700 kB/s with an average around 600 kB/s. Not shabby but not as impressive as the speeds others have reported.

My subjective impression of browsing the Internet is that it is significantly slower.

Edited December 12, 2009 by Phil Conners

[Foggy Bottom]

I'm about 10-12Km outside Khorat city in the middle of nowhere, piggy backing off the internet shop next door via a 50m UTP cable between my study and a spare port on their router. They have the TOT 2MB Business connection with dynamic IP, which allows them up to 24 PCs each with a real 2MB connection.

I just did a speed test while there's about a dozen users in the cafe playing online games and got the following result 10:30pn local time ... ish

Looking at those results and others previous posters have provided, that the Thai ISPs have stricter upload controls than download controls ....

.... which sort of mirrors their attitude to money too - they love it coming in but are very slow to let it go out

Foggy

[welo]

While it is still working I took the opportunity to run some speed tests. Again, this is supposed to be an 8MB connection...

I had better throughput for less money with my Maxnet Premier 3MB/1MB.

My subjective impression of browsing the Internet is that it is significantly slower.

Don't ADSL providers start at lower connection rates with newly setup lines and slowly increase speeds (over hours, days?) when the connection proves to be stable? Heard that somewhere but only have experience with 2MBit lines where the linespeed was always setup at maximum from the beginning.

On the other hand, if so, it should not have negative effect on the subjective impression when browsing the internet which is hardly limited by the local connection speed but by international bandwith.

welo

[Phil Conners]

^ Nope. If anything it's the other way around. They give you great connectivity the first month or two to get you hooked, then you put on the backburner with everybody else.

[oMega69]

Guys need some updates and speedtest from your TRUE connections here in Pattaya ! . . . .

Really WP for subscribe with TRUE ??? . , cant be true right ?? . . .

[Phil Conners]

^ They asked me for WP when I called their helpdesk, but once I went to the shop they said WP wasn't necessary.

[Pib]

I have been getting 3 to 4 mb consistently on my TOT 4 mb plan. A few times as high as 5 mb to the US. I am in central CM and not a new account. I would not doubt the higher speed plans provided there is already good speed to BKK etc. If your not getting all your bandwidth from your location to BKK then don't spend more for it. If your pegging your max speed to bkk then I don't see why TOT could not provide much more.

There is a lot more Asian undersea cable capacity out there and more coming online in the future. I was even reading an analyst comment that it's verging on a glut in 2010.

A few days ago I had the TOT Simple Fit 4Mb/512Kb internet package installed on a second phone line to the house (590 baht/month for the internet plan and another 100 baht/month for the phone/DSL line plus 7% VAT). I applied for the 8Mb/1Mb plan but my particular area of western Bangkok is limited to 4Mb/512Mb maximum DSL speeds....plus my home is over 1KM from the TOT central station (I'm about 3KM away)...the TOT installation guy said you have to be within 1KM of the station to get the 6 or 8Mb plan/speeds. Installation of the phone line was free/part of the Simple Fit Promotion which runs through 30 April...and I got a free modem. You can use the line for internet, phone, and/or fax and I have also set the line up for phone/fax use along with the DSL/internet use.

"So far" the performance has been very good with no outages. Using Speedtest.net and the Google Chrome browser, I have consistently got "within-Thailand" speeds of 3.6Mb download (or a little higher or a little lower...but never lower than 3.2Mb) during all hours during the day/night...and believe me I have been running speedtests numerous times all during the day/night and doing a lot of browsing/emailing. I've even got in-Thailand speeds of a little "over" 4Mb a few times. Running speedtest to the US/Europe I consistantly get international speeds in the 1-2Mb range, normally right around 1.5Mb.

Here's a couple of speedtest results on this fine Friday evening:

Now, over a year ago I was with TOT on their 2Mb/512Mb Goldcyber package but canceled after 6 weeks because of constant problems/slow speed/disconnects and switched to a JI-NET 2MB package which gave me rock solid service, but in my particular area of Bangkok I only have the internet choice of TOT or JI-NET on my TOT line. The JI-NET package is a little pricey and they don't have any service faster than 2MB right now, but as mentioned they have provided rock solid service.

I'm a'hoping that the TOT internet packages/service has improved from over a year ago...maybe the new phone line will make all the difference...I got great SNR and Attenuation numbers of 33db and 30db, respectively, over the line. If the TOT 4Mb service proves reliable over the next month or two, I will cancel my other internet service. Fingers crossed....

Edited March 26, 2010 by Pib

[powderpuff]

Been with TRUE (BKK) from day 1. Very very happy with their network & their customer support. Running 8MB premium (1 MB upload). Suits my needs.

[nikster]

I know that TOT is super conservative with their estimates, they told me no more than 3MB for me at 3km from the DSLAM. However, the signal noise ratio indicates that I should be able to get a max. speed of 12Mbit using ADSL2+. After all, the determining factor in your maximum DSL speed is line quality not distance from the station. Line quality deteriorates with distance, but there are many other factors as well, e.g. the "how much did TOT mess up this line leading to my house" factor.

There's an internet page where you can enter your current line speed, attenuation, and noise, and get an estimate on the maximum speed possible for that line quality. Forgot where it is though, google for it...

Edited March 27, 2010 by nikster

[Pib]

The max speed/capability of the DSLAM is also a key player. If the DSLAM is speed limited, say to a max of 4Mb, your home could be next door to the DSLAM and you couldn't get more that 4Mb. Now, if they swap out the lower speed DSLAM with a higher speed DSLAM then you could get higher speed.

[Pib]

On this fine Saturday morning, below is what my new TOT 4Mb/512Kb internet package is giving me and I had no outages/disconnects yet:

And my first test to Bangkok gave me a 5Mb plus speed; second test was normal at a little under 4Mb.

Keeping my fingers crossed with TOT this time; maybe, just maybe, the new phone line and improvement in their system in my area of western Bangkok has made a difference compared to over a year ago. Fingers crossed...time will tell.

Edited March 27, 2010 by Pib

[nikster]

The max speed/capability of the DSLAM is also a key player. If the DSLAM is speed limited, say to a max of 4Mb, your home could be next door to the DSLAM and you couldn't get more that 4Mb. Now, if they swap out the lower speed DSLAM with a higher speed DSLAM then you could get higher speed.

Interesting... why would DSLAMs be speed limited? I assume any DSLAM installed in the last few years would support ADSL2+. Is it about the connection from the DSLAM to the backbone? I am hooked up to one of those micro DSLAMs, a small foot-long box hanging on a power pole, and this in turn is connected to the main Pai hub.

Edited March 27, 2010 by nikster

[Pib]

I know that TOT is super conservative with their estimates, they told me no more than 3MB for me at 3km from the DSLAM. However, the signal noise ratio indicates that I should be able to get a max. speed of 12Mbit using ADSL2+. After all, the determining factor in your maximum DSL speed is line quality not distance from the station. Line quality deteriorates with distance, but there are many other factors as well, e.g. the "how much did TOT mess up this line leading to my house" factor.

There's an internet page where you can enter your current line speed, attenuation, and noise, and get an estimate on the maximum speed possible for that line quality. Forgot where it is though, google for it...

Here's a couple of max speed estimators.

http://www2.farina1.com/ADSL/default.aspx

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php

And here's a page that gives some layman's/more info on what the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Line Attenuation, etc., numbers mean quality of DSL line/signal wise. But basically, if you SNR ratio gets down to the 6 to 10 db range you are probably going to have sync/connection problems which are intermittent to routine. And I personally experienced this before when my SNR got down to 6-7 db due to funky phone line wiring within my house.

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/16220#googtrans/auto/en

[Pib]

The max speed/capability of the DSLAM is also a key player. If the DSLAM is speed limited, say to a max of 4Mb, your home could be next door to the DSLAM and you couldn't get more that 4Mb. Now, if they swap out the lower speed DSLAM with a higher speed DSLAM then you could get higher speed.

Interesting... why would DSLAMs be speed limited? I assume any DSLAM installed in the last few years would support ADSL2+. Is it about the connection from the DSLAM to the backbone? I am hooked up to one of those micro DSLAMs, a small foot-long box hanging on a power pole, and this in turn is connected to the main Pai hub.

Just like computer hardware, cell phones, a 4 cylinder car compared to a 8 cylinder car, etc., the more powerful hardware is made the more it costs and companies/service providers are only going to buy/install what they can afford to install, what easily integrates with their other hardware, what they think most customers will be willing to pay, etc. Even the TOT tech who installed my new phone line said I should be able to get 8Mb in about a year since they were planning to install some new equipment in the TOT central office/station (about 3KM from me) that services my home. I'm assuming that is upgraded DSLAMs as they sure ain't going to be running new copper phones lines throughout my area (actually the main phone lines in my area only look a few years old, they are properly strung on poles, etc). Then again, it may not be upgrade DSLAMs; it could be other equipment they are upgrading.

Are you sure you have a mini-DSLAM hanging on a power pole; that box could just be the phone line connection box where the local home phone lines are hooked into the main phone lines running to the central office...these type of connection boxes are normally used about 18 inches long and 4 inches in diameter.

[Supernova]

Line quality deteriorates with distance, but there are many other factors as well, e.g. the "how much did TOT mess up this line leading to my house" factor.

All I can say is, my ADSL connection has gone to sh!t thanks to TOT. I have no complaints towards my current ISP (Ji-NET) since they are not at fault. Their 2048/512 has served me well for almost 3 years. My problem is with TOT and their lack of initiative to fix my line. Up until about 5 months ago, my ADSL connection has been rock solid. I was able to sync at the full 2Mbps with average SNR in the 11-13 dB range. Rain or shine, I never experienced any dropouts or loss of signal. I live about 4km from the exchange.

Nowadays, the maximum downstream rate I can achieve is 1184Kbps with an SNR of 6-6.5 dB. Depending on the time of day, downstream speed can dip to as low as 768Kbps! I've switched modems/routers, redo internal wiring (did it so many times I lost count). TOT engineers have been to my home several times, but problems still persist. What's more, router stats show lots of CRC and HEC errors, which to me indicates a fault on the line. I also suspect problems at the DSLAM since my phone service had been interrupted a couple of times over the past several months.

To make matters worse, I can't get a data line out to my home. Tried 3BB and CAT (which don't require a phone line) only to have the operator tell me no nodes are available. Called True and got a similar response... This is in Laksi Bangkok, adjacent to North Park!

Getting a new line installed by TOT is not an option. They can't even fix the one I have, so why should I pay for a second line?

[jfchandler]

I've had True DSL Internet in BKK Sukhumvit for a long time... Recently upgraded from their 4 mb to their 8 mb package...premium level. And true to their word, I regularly get 8 mb download speeds for local Thailand connections. And a fair portion of the time with their 8 mb premium package, I can get decent enough speeds to the U.S. to enable video streaming services...

Their customer service is generally pretty good in BKK, and on those occasions when their service goes out -- usually because a tall truck has come down our street and caught one of the low-hanging overhead cables carrying their signal -- they're usually out to repair it within the same day or usually the next day at the latest. And they do have a dedicated English language call center that's open into the evenings and on weekends, which is nice

Because I'm a True mobile customer as well, people who use both services pay the rate for their regular DSL service of whatever speed but get a free upgrade to their so-called premium service at no extra charge. That includes, supposedly, unlimited Wifi service from True Move at 3 mbps speed, using the same user ID and password as you use for your DSL service.

And, internationally to the U.S., there are times when the apparent connection comes close to their advertised speed...such as this test from 10:30 am on a Saturday morning here in BKK...

But in the evenings BKK time up through about midnight depending on the day of the week, those same True 8 MB connections to the U.S. crawl down to .30 or so Mb/s... Then then get back to about 1 Mb/s usually sometime between midnight and 1 am...

And those are just regular html connections, not doing anything with seeds or download managers...

PS - I've also heard, but cannot confirm of course, that True does something to monkey around with their connections to Speedtest.net to give higher speed results than actually is the case for a customer who's making other/regular connections to the U.S. and elsewhere abroad.

[Supernova]

on those occasions when their service goes out -- usually because a tall truck has come down our street and caught one of the low-hanging overhead cables carrying their signal <snip>

Funny that you mention this... I hear it quite often from friends who use True. Makes me wonder if there's any truth to it.

[jfchandler]

Hmm...and....as for the notion that True or someone is doing something to monkey with the test results that come back from SpeedTest.net.... look at the following test results done from BKK to New York and BKK to Los Angeles -- all in the same exact period of about 11 am today/Saturday....

Note: the SpeedTestNet results ostensibly are Mbps, while the other two are Kbps....

New York:

And Los Angeles:

Beginning to get the idea???

[jfchandler]

Ya...I would say there is... Because every time the service goes out...which isn't too often...I go outside and watch while the True repair guys wander around ...and eventually end up finding and fixing the pulled-out connection outside on my soi...

Last time, I asked them why they couldn't hang, or raise, their cable higher up on the concrete poles that line my soi.. And their answer was they couldn't and they only had permission to hang the wires at the level they are...which is about the height of the middle of a second story level.

on those occasions when their service goes out -- usually because a tall truck has come down our street and caught one of the low-hanging overhead cables carrying their signal <snip>

Funny that you mention this... I hear it quite often from friends who use True. Makes me wonder if there's any truth to it.

[Supernova]

SNR Margin (down/up): 6.2 / 19.0

Attenuation: 58.0 / 31.5

Rate: 1184 / 512

Attainable Rate: 1312 / 992 (downstream used to be over 3000 Kbps.)

For reasons unknown, I cannot sync to the full 2Mbps like I used to.