Internet Is Flaky Again

[heybruce]

It's late at night, when the internet is usually at its best, and I can't connect to xmradio, my bank's webpage, or my e-mail account. These are sites that I connect to frequently and rarely have a problem with them. I've tried turning the router off for a few minutes several times and also rebooted my computer, but I still can't get to these sites. Obviously I can get to ThaiVisa, so I'm wondering if there is another problem with international connections. Is anyone else having problems?

[heybruce]

I just switched to my 3G back-up connection and was able to reach all three sites, so perhaps I should ask if anyone else is having trouble with True internet.

[swain]

Having the same problems but on TTT. Switched to openDNS a few minutes ago and there is no problem now.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Could be DNS related.. Try specifying a DNS server. ( http://www.opendns.com/ )

Or better yet, complain to True about them not giving you what you're paying for. (Which is pretty fruitless, so consider making a move.)

Edited April 5, 2010 by WinnieTheKhwai

[heybruce]

Could be DNS related.. Try specifying a DNS server. ( http://www.opendns.com/ )

Or better yet, complain to True about them not giving you what you're paying for. (Which is pretty fruitless, so consider making a move.)

In three and a half years I've used TT&T (ok if you pay for premium service), TOT (absolute crap in my area), CAT (pretty good) and True (good until now). I'm convinced that in Thailand the best you can do is choose the least bad internet provider in your area, and be prepared to switch if the service goes downhill. It's also a good idea to have a back-up provider, even though it doubles the cost. That is why I can switch from True cable internet to CAT provided 3G.

True has been pretty good until tonight, I'll wait and see if this in one bad day or the beginning of a trend.

[whiterussian]

ToT is also pants today.... must be them working on the lines. I would have thought TT&T, True ec dont have their own lines, its all through one set of lines down to BK... they just offer different 'package' deals.

It may be that tot are not the main carrier, might be TT&T.. not sure.

The above of course may be completely wrong, but thats how the UK worked or used to... different leases on bandwidth of the major cables, slapped with a different logo and resold... there is redundancy built in to the fiberoptic line so that companies can constantly roll out new, faster, products..

The other possibility is that an undersea cable has been cut somewhere...but i havent searched the net to find out... its horrible when that happens as sometimes it means a war maneuver is being done somewhere out at sea!

Edited April 5, 2010 by whiterussian

[Ulysses G.]

I can connect with everything, but it often takes 3 or 4 tries and is driving me crazy. The internet is not so wonderful when it isn't working properly.

[Spoonman]

Yeah my True here in Pattaya is having trouble with lots of websites this morning.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Stuff coming in around 300kB/s as we speak..

[Spoonman]

I cant do a speedtest outside of Thailand.... internal is fine though.

[apetley]

Internet is always crap this time of year.

Combination of school holidays, way too many users and not enough bandwidth and the hot weather causing possible overheating of router/modem, can be helped with a good fan!

Always improves in May when the kids are back at school.

[sangfroid]

Having trouble with True here in Huay Khwang this morning. Thai sites seem to open ok but O/S websites give me this message.

Oops! Google Chrome could not find www...etc........

Suggestions:

Access a cached copy of www.

Try reloading the page

Search on Google:

[BigWheelMan]

I can connect with everything, but it often takes 3 or 4 tries and is driving me crazy. The internet is not so wonderful when it isn't working properly.

Having the same problems.

I`m with 3bb crapnet in Chiang Mai and it`s been like this for almost 2 weeks.

Maxnet was hit and miss, but when 3bb took over, the service has become even more unreliable.

Gave up complaining centuries ago, lost the will power.

These days I just accept the sevice for what it is.

[heybruce]

I can connect with everything, but it often takes 3 or 4 tries and is driving me crazy. The internet is not so wonderful when it isn't working properly.

Having the same problems.

I`m with 3bb crapnet in Chiang Mai and it`s been like this for almost 2 weeks.

Maxnet was hit and miss, but when 3bb took over, the service has become even more unreliable.

Gave up complaining centuries ago, lost the will power.

These days I just accept the sevice for what it is.

I suggest talking to True internet, ground floor of Kad Suan Kaew near the entrance to Tops, or Cat internet, third floor of Airport Plaza. Even though I'm having trouble with True now they are usually reliable, at least by Thailand standards. You might also ask some of your neighbors what service provider they use and what they think of it.

[Spoonman]

My true came good bout 11.00am today, Guess they was just having issues, everything AOK now.

[Mestizo]

Could be DNS related.. Try specifying a DNS server. ( http://www.opendns.com/ )

Or better yet, complain to True about them not giving you what you're paying for. (Which is pretty fruitless, so consider making a move.)

Please be careful when using DNS servers other than those provided by your ISP. The problem is that alot of DNS servers now are providing geo-location specific query results based on the source IP address of the resolver (not the user).

What this means is, if you use an OpenDNS server based in the US and it queries something like update.microsoft.com for you, Microsoft is going to supply you the IP address of a server based in the US. This is because the source IP of the resolver (the OpenDNS server) is based in the US (or where ever in the world they may be based).

A perfect example of this happened to me a few months ago. I was setting up several servers in a data center in the US. Because I didn't have a DNS server built yet to service the Colo, I decided to temporarily use my company's DNS servers here in Chiang Mai. This was all well and good until I tried to run Windows Update on all the newly built Windows boxes. Windows update was literally taking hours upon hours to complete. After wasting several hours trying to troubleshoot a perceived network issue, I discovered that the DNS server settings was actually the source of my woes. Turns out that since my DNS server is based in Chiang Mai, when my servers in the US tried to connect to Windows Update, Microsoft's DNS servers identified my DNS server as being based in Chiang Mai and returned me IP addresses for update severs based in Thailand!

Another side effect may be slightly degraded browsing speeds. Network latency to your local ISP's DNS server is probably in the area of 20-30ms. If you are using a DNS server based in the US, the network latency will probably be in the vicinity of 300-400ms.

So if you are going to use services such as OpenDNS, it is important that you be aware of issues like this.

One thing that I have noticed is that most Thai ISP's don't limit recursive lookups to their own netblocks (meaning anybody can use them). So what I normally do is that, if I notice that Maxnet/3BB DNS servers are having problems, I simply look up the DNS server IP addresses for ToT, CAT, or True and switch to those instead. (ThaiVisa search function is actually decent for this!) This of course still keeps my DNS server local to me, thusly avoiding the issues I previously mentioned!

Also, on a semi-related side note, Google also has publicly available DNS servers similar to OpenDNS - http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/

For more about the issues I talked about above, I recommend taking a look at: http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/do...erformance.html

-Mestizo

[Mestizo]

Could be DNS related.. Try specifying a DNS server. ( http://www.opendns.com/ )

Or better yet, complain to True about them not giving you what you're paying for. (Which is pretty fruitless, so consider making a move.)

Additionally, just to confirm WTK's potential diagnosis, there were a couple people that I follow on Twitter complaining about True Monday night. They discovered that the fact was an issue with True's DNS server and switched to Google DNS to resolve the issue.

Example:

http://twitter.com/jonrandy/status/11653204809

-Mestizo

[Drew Aitch]

Yes I'm afraid that griping amongst ourselves will do absolutely nothing to improve the service of these internet services, or TV stations, or anything else that folks consider substandard when comparing to back home.

That doesn't mean it's not frustrating, but TIT after all, and a minority of guests residing in the country ain't gonna change things until they, the Thais, feel it's time for improvements.

As mentioned by one of the members in another (and there are a lot!) of internet complaining threads, there is a simple solution and that is to have a backup service. So if your regular higher priced internet starts playing up, you will most probably be able to connect to your cheaper backup until such times as your fist choice is up and running again. And let's be honest, unless there's a problem that's unique to your particular setup, these services will come back online. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later, but return they do.

Aitch

[elektrified]

My connection - Maxnet - has been terrible for at least two weeks now - slower than molasses. Some websites won't even load or I get a white page only. Today I switched to OpenDNS like I do periodically, but again, it has not made a single bit of difference.

On another note, it has now been about 3 weeks since 3BB came in and installed the cables and new jacks in our moobaan. They are still sitting there. They never completed the whole switch over.

[IanForbes]

I've come to the conclusion that Chiang Mai DOES NOT HAVE INTERNET! What they have is INTERMITTENT NET.

[Ulysses G.]

Internet is always crap this time of year.

Combination of school holidays, way too many users and not enough bandwidth and the hot weather causing possible overheating of router/modem, can be helped with a good fan!

Always improves in May when the kids are back at school.

I would guess that there is a lot of truth in this. Very early in the morning and very late at night speeds are almost normal for my computer, but in the daytime it fails to connect about 50% of the time.

[chiangmaiexpat]

Some people have pointed out that there are too many pollution threads, but what about the "Internet is flaky" threads? I encounter one new complaint in that direction every week, and these threads seem to be quite popular, although they repeat the same message over and over. Where are the "like it or leave it" advocates? I get the impression that Internet connection speed is more important than breathable air.

Cheers, CMX

[heybruce]

Some people have pointed out that there are too many pollution threads, but what about the "Internet is flaky" threads? I encounter one new complaint in that direction every week, and these threads seem to be quite popular, although they repeat the same message over and over. Where are the "like it or leave it" advocates? I get the impression that Internet connection speed is more important than breathable air.

Cheers, CMX

A quick post whenever internet connectivity takes a nose dive is an easy way to determine if the problem is all over Thailand, just with your internet provider, just in your area, or unique to you. By determining where a problem is originating you have some hope of determining what, if anything, can be done about it. That's probably why there are so many posts on the subject.

[zippydedodah]

i have TOT out here in San Kamphaeng....when it is working right.... i get exactly what i pay for.... 3mb line, 24 hours a day.

THEN....there is all the other times...when it does not work right. Lately, this seems to happen about once every 10 days or so.... speeds drop to 10-40kb....some internet pages won't load at all, sometimes takes 3 tries just to load thaivisa, switch dns servers, sometimes has effect, sometimes not.

So... every time now i get my thai wife to call and complain. The variety of responses we get varies from:

1) problem everywhere... just wait

2) turn off modem for half hour, you use too much and reboot computer too

3) a tech will call you back

today...they decided the modem was too hot, BUT, while we stayed on the line, a tech came on, checked out our phone line and without even rebooting the modem or computer.... our 3mb connection came back.

Tech left conversation and my wife continued with the rep on the phone, who told us we need to turn our modem off for a few hours every day during summer, too hot, slow

[MartinBKK]

I have Maxnet 3mb premier (Sansai) and its like a ROCK - works all the time and never goes off!!!

And i use it for about 16 hrs a day too - guess some ppl are luckier than others :-)

[whiterussian]

ToT == PanTs tOdaY

[dustybooky]

ToT == PanTs tOdaY

ToT, near JJ market also very poor. I was wondering about this, now I feel better knowing I'm not alone!!!

Thanks guys

D