I2 Services In Thailand

[Briggsy]

My apartment has just changed over from using True as my ISP to an alternative system.

It is called i2 (or "i squared" - it's not clear). It seems to be a Thai system as all their information is in Thai only. It describes itself as a "network for hotels and apartments".

Each time I wish to access the internet, I need to use a logon ID and password that is provided by the apartment office. Once used for the first time, that code is specific to one computer/IP address for one calendar month. Logging on is not a problem. The speed is good and disconnections are rare.

The problem relates to secure sites. It does not like them! The more secure the site, the more it does not like them! Banking and trading sites are difficult or impossible to access. I am constantly thrown back to the logon screen (or password screen) so that the site becomes impossible to use. Imagine being in the middle of a transaction and it throws you out and you don't know if the transaction has gone through or not. It's not an ideal solution.

Things I have tried to no avail:-

Changing browser.

Turning off Windows Firewall.

Trying at different times of the day.

Clearing all private data/temporary files/cookies/etc.

Allowing cookies for specific secure sites.

Has anyone else had similar problems and/or can anyone suggest a solution?

P.S. Thaivisa is not a problematic secure site!

[Briggsy]

I discovered they have a support desk. I called them. They promised to phone me back within 2 hours.

[Briggsy]

Needless to say, they didn't get back within 2 hours.

[OriginalPoster]

Maybe you could try connecting though a VPN. Assuming that your ISP allows you to connect to the VPN server, once connected your ISP won't be able to detect what type of traffic is going across your line.

[Briggsy]

Maybe you could try connecting though a VPN. Assuming that your ISP allows you to connect to the VPN server, once connected your ISP won't be able to detect what type of traffic is going across your line.

What is a VPN? How does one connect through a VPN?

I got through to the Technical Support at i2 on the third attempt. They put me on remote support. He switched off the Windows Firewall on my computer, which I had tried earlier, and again this was to no avail.

He called me 3 hours later and said the problem was probably fixed. I tried it and it is the same as before.

So, to summarise, I am still no further along to solving the problem.

Oh, yes, I changed my anti-virus as well. It made no difference.

[OriginalPoster]

Maybe you could try connecting though a VPN. Assuming that your ISP allows you to connect to the VPN server, once connected your ISP won't be able to detect what type of traffic is going across your line.

What is a VPN? How does one connect through a VPN?

I got through to the Technical Support at i2 on the third attempt. They put me on remote support. He switched off the Windows Firewall on my computer, which I had tried earlier, and again this was to no avail.

He called me 3 hours later and said the problem was probably fixed. I tried it and it is the same as before.

So, to summarise, I am still no further along to solving the problem.

Oh, yes, I changed my anti-virus as well. It made no difference.

VPN stands for virtual private network. You could google it and get a more clear description of the concept than what I am capable of providing, but basically it's a encrypted tunnel onto another network or onto another computer which is acting as a host. That host can either be on the PC of a friend who has a static (or at least a seldom changing) IP address or on a commercial service. With a typical configuration, you'd be able to surf the iternet though the host. Main reasons for doing that are 1) it will cause websites that you visit to detect that your are connecting from the IP address of the host (which likely would be in the US or Europe instead of in Thailand - that's useful when connecting to some financial web sites that have Thailand red-flagged as a hotbed of fraud) or 2) so that all the traffic from your computer is encypted until it's outside of Thailand and thus no one can sniff-out your passwords and other private data unless they are in cahoots with whoever is running the VPN server, or 3) do that you can use services that might be blocked by your local ISP such as VOIP or POP3/SMTP email access. #3 works because the traffic between your PC and the VPN server is encrypted so your local ISP has no idea what type of data you are sending/receiving. On the surface, it sounds like that might premept the problem that you are having.

For myself, I use a PC in my Dad's house in the US as as VPN server (which of course is a free way to do it). It's pretty simple to configure a PC that is running Windows XP (or later) to act as a VPN host (it's something that is built into Windows, no 3rd party softwarwe is needed). On occasion I've also used hotspotvpn.com as a backup, since that connects using a different protocol (SSL) than what I'm using on the Windows XP host (PPDT). I travel around a bit, and I've found that at some hotels and free wifi zones that one or the other of these protocols will be blocked but that seldom are both of them blocked. My main reason for doing it is a little different than yours though, as I primarily do it because I'm paranoid about the possibility of people at hotels and internet cafes snooping on connections when I surf onto my banking and brokerage accounts.

[Briggsy]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm sure your idea is a good one. Would this other computer have to be on and connected to the net? Seems a complicated route to take for me. I'm positive there must be a very easy solution to this. One such solution is to go to the internet cafe outside my apartment. Inconvenient for share trading, banking, etc. though.

[OriginalPoster]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm sure your idea is a good one. Would this other computer have to be on and connected to the net? Seems a complicated route to take for me. I'm positive there must be a very easy solution to this. One such solution is to go to the internet cafe outside my apartment. Inconvenient for share trading, banking, etc. though.

Yes, the computer hosting the VPN service would need to be on all the time and connected to the net. There's usually a speed penalty too.

You're correct that this sounds like something that should be possible to solve by simpler means (such as by calling your ISP and asking them to fix it). They shouldn't be blocking the type of content that you are talking about. That of course assumes that it's your ISP that is causing the problem - have you tried this with a someone else's notebook computer and hence been able to confirm conclusively that this doesn't have something to do with your PC?

[Briggsy]

A good idea.

When I called the ISP, they tried but it looks as if they don't know how to fix the problem. They tried the same basic things that I had already tried.

Unfortunately the log on type internet that the apartment provides, is limited to one IP address only so, in theory, trying a friend's laptop in my room could not work as the log on password would not match the IP address. I could buy another month's subscription for 490 Baht in order to test whether it's the computer or the internet service. It is almost certainly the internet as the problem only arose when the new ISP was brought in on 20 November.

I think I'll try the ISP again on Monday and failing that I'll see if the IT desk on my stockbroking site can help at all although it's not their responsibility.

[Briggsy]

The ISP sussed it out in the end.