True Internet Behaving Badly?

[gavob]

Anyone else having trouble with their True internet connection? Mine keeps dropping out for a few mins at a time. I'm using the 8mb connection and live in Pinklao.

The tech guy came today and blamed the username on my router which I found very hard to believe.

[givenall]

That is normal. They blame everything except their service which is pretty bad

[Netfan]

yep, really bad all day - they blamed mine on the phone line.

[LuckyLew]

Hate to tell you

It will never get better

They come to visit you

Run a couple test and say nothing wrong with True

You can show them all the stats you want, they will

never accept blame or fix an issue.

Worst service and worst ISP provider I have ever seen

Canceled them after 6 weeks

Was an expensive lesson

[gavob]

Hate to tell you

It will never get better

They come to visit you

Run a couple test and say nothing wrong with True

You can show them all the stats you want, they will

never accept blame or fix an issue.

Worst service and worst ISP provider I have ever seen

Canceled them after 6 weeks

Was an expensive lesson

Who are you using at the moment?

[DP25]

Yeap, have True and it's been horrible today. Keeps losing connection, lots of 404s, and very slow. Glad to see it's not just me. Hope it's back to normal soon, normally very fast.

[mommysboy]

TRUE is awful - in Bangkok anyway, just do a quality test at pingtest.net. grade D-F usually.

[GreenSnapper]

TRUE is awful - in Bangkok anyway, just do a quality test at pingtest.net. grade D-F usually.

no problem here (soi ari). pings are bad as usual, but otherwise full speed international at 3Mb, that's my maximum.

[mommysboy]

TRUE is awful - in Bangkok anyway, just do a quality test at pingtest.net. grade D-F usually.

no problem here (soi ari). pings are bad as usual, but otherwise full speed international at 3Mb, that's my maximum.

I said pingtest not speedtest. Check it out. Full speed on what? Could just be areas like Fortune Town so bad, but you hear so much all the time. What sites do you surf?

[mommysboy]

TRUE is awful - in Bangkok anyway, just do a quality test at pingtest.net. grade D-F usually.

no problem here (soi ari). pings are bad as usual, but otherwise full speed international at 3Mb, that's my maximum.

I said pingtest not speedtest. Check it out. Full speed on what? Could just be areas like Fortune Town so bad, but you hear so much all the time. What sites do you surf?

The other thing- yeah great: working well at the minute- it's all the other important minutes though! I mean I wish some people would think b4 they post.

[DP25]

Ping will always be high to the US or Europe because of distance. 200-300 ping I get to the States is plenty fast for browsing. Not good for gaming, but I play on local servers with 30-50 ping anyway. Download speeds for me to the US are good as well. Overall I'm very happy with it, except for today with constant timeouts.

Edited January 21, 2010 by DP25

[pieter73]

Your username well thats a new one

Mine told me it was my lan connected to the router (even he stayed on that after when I showed him down down down pictures without the Lan connected)

Also he told me I put the wireless thing at a wrong place because if I close my wooden door then the signal will be bad

hehe next time it will be the ghosts

maybe we can fix your problem with some Voodoo

I have the same problem its simply there infra structure

The people who are coming do not have a clue mine did not even looked at the diagnostics for the signal strength and signal noise thing

I have now bad in internet after install for 3 weeks , I have another one in my wife's shop in Pridi and that is good.

I know enough about the lan wan etc ... he I studied that

So I will asked them again again to come by and then contact my laywer. Really I will not win but they will not simply get away with it in my case.

I will not give up simply add another provider and send the bills to them together with the damage they creating

Pieter

[Ponbkk]

 Tru-ly AWFUL internet service in Bangkok?

When it stays connected it is better these days. Most of the random unable to connection errors, timeouts, DNS lookup errors seem to be going away finally. Keyword is most and on "bad: days they are back. However, yes, I am experiencing the oft pauses in connectivity, often resulting in web based "disconnections"  for web sites on timeouts, etc. Same same same as always.

It is a waste of time asking them to come out and "test" your dial-in or ADSL service. The conclusion always seems to be that there is something wrong with your PC.

[LuckyLew]

Hate to tell you

It will never get better

They come to visit you

Run a couple test and say nothing wrong with True

You can show them all the stats you want, they will

never accept blame or fix an issue.

Worst service and worst ISP provider I have ever seen

Canceled them after 6 weeks

Was an expensive lesson

Who are you using at the moment?

I am using an internet service that is provided by the condo

The speed and quality in not the best, maybe a little slower

than true, but is never down and only cost me 350 THB/ month

Never bothered with asking who the get it thru

[bkkmick]

For the past week or so I've been getting the same issues as some of the above posters. When I click on a bookmark like for some international sites (xe.com for example) the FF tab opens and nothing happens. Impatiently I click on the bookmark again, still nothing. I keep clicking until finally the page opens.

I thought that it was down to a new router that I bought last week, sorry for the problems you're having, but I'm happy that it's not just me and (probably) not the router I bought.

I'm using a True 4mb connection (On Nut, Bangkok in case there's something geographical about the problem - phone line problems or whatever)

Edited January 22, 2010 by bkkmick

[infernalman7]

Thank god Chiang Mai's True seems to have a separate connection to their TIG, IIG.

[filingaccount]

I have "worked/co-ordinated" with True over several months trying to piece together what is actually the problem. True is using a "compartment" system with their staff, so no staff actually knows more than a tiny piece of the whole system. Also, the support staff at True have no way to escalate the problem to higher level engineers and management. This is by design.

My, simplified (as there is lots more), conclusion is that they simply have an underpowered and over filtered DNS server solution while, at the same time, using transparent proxies to filter and delay outside DNS servers. Why? Because the Thai law stating they need to collect and store every Internet address each IP visits, together with time stamps as well as having too little bandwidth to cope with their 16 mbps promotion.

A simple test is to go to your slow or non loading website using the IP address instead of the website name (or using a VPN proxy solution). For example www.thaivisa.com/forum. Using an alternative DNS server with True results in no images loading at all while entering with a VPN proxy the site loads completely.

True also filters public torrent servers and tries to cache the most popular torrents on their own local servers. This worked fine when the maximum ADSL speed was 4 mbps. Now with everyone having 8-16 mbps their caching solution is underpowered, and thus torrents download slower. Use private trackers and you should be fine, as long as you get on decent seeding torrents.

They also limit the number of concurrent connections allowed. If you happen to optimize firefox to load pages faster (and thus use more concurrent connections) and open automatically 15-20 pages on browser startup you will see non-loading pages with different error messages (eg. Connection was reset). The same scenario happens if you are connecting to public trackers and you happen to connect to more than 120 seeds/peers with more than 20 half open connections. Your Internet connection simply "dies", and the only solution is to heavily limit your torrent client connections.

Also, their technicians they send out to customer sites are trained in one thing and one thing only. To find a way to blame you and your PC.

They connect the ADSL signal checker and read the number. If the number corresponds to the range of acceptable, they move on to switching your modem to "a better version".

If that fails then they say the fault is with your PC. If you then have 4 or 5 different computers with 3 different operating systems showing the same problem it is ignored.

If you then show that you just installed a clean Windows XP on one of your backup PC's, they will come up with a number of non-related problems (such as, you have no anti-virus). If you then ask them what are their recommended softwares they have no clue and are unable to answer you.

If you ask them to plug in their laptop and they do so, and things load, ask them to clear their browser cache and cookies, and flush the local dns resolver cache.

If they happen to agree, and they see the same slow loading issues they will quickly take their leave mumbling something about "have to check cable outside" even though they categorically stated the problem was the local PC (wihtout actually telling you what the problem is) and the line is 110% perfect.

If you then try to show them measurementlab.net and the results from there showing connection issues they will simply ignore you.

If you then call the service center, yet again, the service center has no fault report from the technician. And thus the same story is rinsed and repeated.

This way they never have to own up to the fact that it is their network that is underpowered and that they oversell the bandwidth while applying extremely strict filtering and blocking techniques.

There is a lot more, but this should narrow the field a bit.

I suggest you contact www.tci.or.th and file a complaint (this goes for everyone on all trouble ISP's)

[Pakaty]

Well I think this thread should be closed.

Reason: You guys are scaring me.

I'm joking, however, I did just sign up with True this week. 2 days now and seems to be okay in Phuket. This morning I canceled my TT&T or Maxnet or 3BB or whatever they are calling themselves these days and they won't be missed. I have given them far too much money for a connection that was more off than on. Constantly disconnecting for the last year. The technician would come out and say he checked the line, "no problem". Well, it was a problem for me. I was using them for two years and the first year was good though. I should have been quicker to change services when they did start giving me problems though. And If True does start acting up I will take a quick walk rather than deal with a bunch of BS as long as I did with Maxnet.

[powderpuff]

TRUE is awful - in Bangkok anyway, just do a quality test at pingtest.net. grade D-F usually.

Agree with that TRUE are the WORST in BKK. Having said that they are 50,000 times better than #2. Stop whining & grow up or better yet move back to wherever you came from.

[MyNameMe]

I found that changing the DNS server addresses from 203.144.207.49 and 203.144.207.29 to the new Google DNS servers at 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 and this seemed to solve many problems...

MNM

p.s. Agree that True are rubbish, but better than anything else I've tried.

[infernalman7]

Just telling you that now they do not have contracts. That means you can change to other providers at anytime. If you really want your ping to be better (international connection of-course), go for either KSC internet or 3BB Premier packages.

I really miss my 3BB premier... :'(

[mommysboy]

TRUE is awful - in Bangkok anyway, just do a quality test at pingtest.net. grade D-F usually.

Agree with that TRUE are the WORST in BKK. Having said that they are 50,000 times better than #2. Stop whining & grow up or better yet move back to wherever you came from.

And why don't you just take a flying fick through a rolling doughnut!

[siamect]

Well I think this thread should be closed.

Reason: You guys are scaring me.

I'm joking, however, I did just sign up with True this week. 2 days now and seems to be okay in Phuket. This morning I canceled my TT&T or Maxnet or 3BB or whatever they are calling themselves these days and they won't be missed. I have given them far too much money for a connection that was more off than on. Constantly disconnecting for the last year. The technician would come out and say he checked the line, "no problem". Well, it was a problem for me. I was using them for two years and the first year was good though. I should have been quicker to change services when they did start giving me problems though. And If True does start acting up I will take a quick walk rather than deal with a bunch of BS as long as I did with Maxnet.

Well don't be too scared, I live in Bangpoo area, Samutprakarn. True internet is the provider I use and they are down maybe once per 4 months or so and I log my connections every 5 minutes. I always test with two routers and at least two computers before I call them.

I always introduce myself as a "senior networking consultant" or something ridiculous like that. And I tell them the exact symptoms.

They usually start to blame my boxes but I just ask WHEN they can fix the problem. There is no need of arguing back on what is wrong. They know I'm right... i simply don't answer to BS.

They always give up and say it will be ok in 24 hours... and usually it is up after just a few hours.

I never had any DNS problems either but I guess we are in a low activity area and the capacity is enough here. My dynamic DNS records are usually updated within 20-30 minutes which is what I expect.

I think it is basically true that they don't escalate anything to any higher organizational level but they call a technician in charge of the area and the problem get fixed.

Maybe I'm just lucky... But my impression is that they are quite ok after comparing my connection to what others have...

What I have seen in the past is, call immediately when you know the problem is on their side. Always have you connection on and always have some traffic on. Log you connectivity so you know what level you have.

If you log by pinging the use packet size of maybe 2000 byte. Shorter messages usually fit "in between" the noice. This is sometimes completely masking the problems of noise when you have say a 50-100 Hz noise. Yet you can have severe problems with emails being delayed forever.

Long time ago (2002) I was working for a company that had a leased line between Hua-Hin and BKK. The management told me it was down maybe 3 days per week. I set up logging and yes, it was down 3 days per week.

I called the company TOT I think it was, and explained the situation. I asked for an email address to the tech guy and I emailed my logs every time the connection had been down. I asked if it was possible to get a refund for the down time.

The reaction came after a month and the next 10 months that I was there we had only shorter down times maybe one or two hours in the middle of the night once per month. I think they were low on cable capacity and they gave bad noisy lines to those with no or little traffic.

Martin

Edited January 22, 2010 by siamect

[Whale]

I am on Thonglor and its abyssmal. I phoned to complain so many times I have given up. I asked to upgrade to 8Mbps and they told me the maximum I could get in my location was 1 Mbps (they have been providing me with 2.5 for the last 2 years!).

Reason I am 2.5 kilometers from the switching station - my god Thonglor is not the boonies (obviously to True it is).

On top of that the current connection is always dropping out. I wish there was a viable alternative.

[bkkmick]

Whale: I have the True 4mb connection. My neighbour (across the road - 20 meters away) has the 8mb. I phoned True for an upgrade and they said the maximum I could have was 4mb. I explained about my neighbour and got the "send technicians out to check your line". Nobody came! Still on 4mb.

[dttk0009]

Whale: I have the True 4mb connection. My neighbour (across the road - 20 meters away) has the 8mb. I phoned True for an upgrade and they said the maximum I could have was 4mb. I explained about my neighbour and got the "send technicians out to check your line". Nobody came! Still on 4mb.

Hahaha. This is True internet in a nutshell.

I haven't had many problems with True in a while to be honest, though latency has gotten considerably bad for me for the last few months.

[oMega69]

I think all ISP have problem at the moment and for the last weeks....... ,,

My CAT usually works good but not the past weeks it have been in slowMotion and some problem with the DNS . . ,

[eltelboy]

I am using TT&T's new 3BB service and certainly since the new year its been very unpredictable, the last week has been very poor with downloads taking up to 5 times longer. It certainly seems all the Thai ISP's are having a problem in recent weeks, it would be nice to know what is causing it.

Edited January 25, 2010 by eltelboy

[Sabum]

TRUE is awful - in Bangkok anyway, just do a quality test at pingtest.net. grade D-F usually.

Agree with that TRUE are the WORST in BKK. Having said that they are 50,000 times better than #2. Stop whining & grow up or better yet move back to wherever you came from.

For the love of Pete?! What would make you respond like such a jerk? I had to check and read the thread twice to make sure we were only talking about True internet! Why didn't you just ask him why he doesn't just die? How dare he say that True is awful when it's simply a statement of fact? Mind boggling.

[petedk]

I have just canceled my subscription with Loxinfo after 10 years of satisfaction. I am online 24 hours a day and haven't been disconnected for over a month.

So why did I cancel? The price. True offer twice the speed for the same amount as I pay Loxinfo. We tried for several weeks to bring the price down at Loxinfo but without success.

Several friends are using True and say they have no complaints and that they have no disconnections so I took the plunge and cancelled Loxinfo. I hope I have done the right thing. When I see how few complaints there compared with the number of customers True has I feel a little more confident that it'll be Ok.