Tot Adsl -

[doctormann]

A question for the Broadband experts:

I'm in Pattaya and have a ToT broadband connection. It started off as a 2Mb/512kb service back in November last year but got upgraded to 4Mb/512kb a couple of months ago. The upgrade was free, although it didn't come automatically. ToT are now offering 6Mb/512kb for the same price as I've been paying for 4Mb/512kb - in response to BBB offering the same package, I guess.

So, off I go to the ToT office to get my free upgrade. Not a bad experience as ToT customer service in Pattaya has improved significantly since they got their new office building. I was told that the upgrade would be operational in a few hours and, sure enough, about three hours later, my typical download speed had improved from about 2.9Mb/s to about 3.5Mb/s. Not a startling improvement and nowhere near 6Mb/s but no surprises there. However, when I check my ADSL status on my D-Link router it appears that I am still on a 4Mb/s line as the ADSL data rate is stated as 4093kbps download!

I don't understand this. ToT seem to have done something as my speed has improved but what have they actually done? Is the 4093 figure an indication of what ToT are providing or does it merely reflect the inability of the infrastructure in my village to support a higher data rate? The data rate figure always seems to be 4093 - I would expect some variation I think if this was an indication of line quality. I seem to recall that 4093 was the data rate figure before the upgrade as well so I'm wondering if my speed improvement is coincidental and maybe I haven't been upgraded at all!

I measured the speeds using Speedtest.net by the way.

Any thoughts?

DM

[opalhort]

Have you switched off your router and kept it off for a few minutes since the upgrade?

If not then do so.

This should work if your line is good and the upgrade has actually taken place.

opalhort

[doctormann]

Have you switched off your router and kept it off for a few minutes since the upgrade?

If not then do so.

This should work if your line is good and the upgrade has actually taken place.

opalhort

Yes, I thought of that. I initially did a router re-boot, which made no difference, and have subsequently powered the router down for 10 minutes or so but that hasn't done anything either.

Maybe ToT just haven't done the upgrade yet but it is curious that my speed has improved, albeit by not much. I'll give them a little longer then I may have to rattle their cage. I don't fancy that much - their service has improved over what it was but TiT so it still isn't that great.

DM

[asiawatcher]

ToT have been hard selling in retail centres to attract subscribers which has now overloaded the system. I have had the upgrades too and the speed is simply atrocious as too many users for the bandwidth. I have refused to pay my bill as my speed tests show 110 upload (for 512) and 640 for a 2Mb download. I told them they are providing me with a service that is running at 20% of capacity therefore I will pay them 20% of the bill. They actually accepted it! But there has been no continuity to the service so am changing to a 10Mb next week with True.

Good luck for those of you with ToT.

[Pib]

I wouldn't make too many assumptions that TOT has made the upgrade so quickly just because you get a speedtest result going from 2.9Mb to 3.5Mb...you can get these types of varying changes/results by just running the test several times over several minutes/hours. Until you get your modem sync speed reporting 6Mb I would assume they have not made any upgrade.

I to am in a similar situation as you in my little area of western Bangkok. I have the TOT 4Mb plan at 590 Baht and I want to see if I can upgrade to the new TOT JetPack 6Mb plan at 590 Baht....or maybe even go to 9Mb for 890 Baht. But unless they have done some DSLAM/central station upgrades in my area very recently I probably won't be able to upgrade. I asked a TOT technician who installed internet in my neighbors house just last month and his answer was 4Mb was still the fastest available to my moobaan. I think the limitation is the DSLAM in their central stations for my area is limited to 8Mb and you have to live within 1Km to get the 6Mb or 8Mb speeds according to what a tech told me when installing my 4Mb 6 months ago. I live approx 2.2Km from the central station and have a very good line (attenuation and signal to noise wise). I've had the 4Mb plan for about 6 months now and it has been super reliable with good speed.

I did call the TOT Service Center at 1100 last Thursday to see about an upgrade, they took all my info, said they would need to checkout my line, seemed like a good call, and said they would get back to me within 7 days. Well, I decided to call today on day 6 and I'm pretty sure I got the same guy, but he told me I needed to go visit a service center to ask the question about an upgrade. Man, what a waste calling their Call Center number turned out to be...you now, just as they advertise on the back of their billing envelope. I'll got visit the local service center in a few days and see what happens. If they can do the upgrade, I expect they will want me or the wife to sign some paperwork--seems you just can't get away from paper work in Thailand even for simple changes...one of these years, we'll be able to do it by a simple call. But until then, TIT.

[Pib]

ToT have been hard selling in retail centres to attract subscribers which has now overloaded the system. I have had the upgrades too and the speed is simply atrocious as too many users for the bandwidth. I have refused to pay my bill as my speed tests show 110 upload (for 512) and 640 for a 2Mb download. I told them they are providing me with a service that is running at 20% of capacity therefore I will pay them 20% of the bill. They actually accepted it! But there has been no continuity to the service so am changing to a 10Mb next week with True.

Good luck for those of you with ToT.

Definitely sucky service. Just as FYI, even with a properly operating 2Mb/512Kb TOT DSL line, you will only get approx an IP speed (i.e., your usable data flow/speed) of 1.7Mb/400Kb due to the DSL overhead/control bits using some of the data bandwidth. And if you had a properly operating 4Mb/512Kb TOT package you would get an IP speed of approx 3.5Mb/400Kb. These speeds are in-Thailand speeds and not to international web sites; your download speed to international web sites will probably average approx one-third of your max in-Thailand speed.

Now when I was on the TOT 2Mb Goldcyber plan approx 2 years ago, it sucked big time...lots of disconnects....s....l.....o.....w speeds...I canceled after 6 weeks. Switched to a JINET (on the same TOT line) 2Mb plan for 15 months and got excellent service/speed...the same IP speeds I mention above. Then about 6 months ago I came back to TOT since the JINET plan wasn't cost competitive anymore. I signed up for the TOT 4Mb plan (fastest available to my moobaan) and this 4Mb package has been super reliable with good speed (same IP speeds as mentioned above). Right now I'm checking out if I can upgrade to their new 6Mb plan at the same price as their older 4Mb package, but it will depend on the DSLAMs feeding my moobaan. TOT rules the lines in my area; True or any other phone companies lines are not in my area.

Good luck with your switch, but if your problem is being caused by a poor physical DSL line and/or wiring in your residence (i.e., high line attenuation and low line signal to noise ratio), then you may experience the same sucky service with your new ISP because the copper line/connections/etc leading to your DSL modem is faulty. Cheers and good luck.

[lomatopo]

Any thoughts?

Definitely turn the modem off, for a minute or two, then back on. Check the upstream and downstream rate in the modem's management interface to see the current provisioning. Speedtests may not confirm your new downstream rate, so just see what the modem negotiated with TOT. Three hours seems like too short a time to re-provision a service as it has to go into their work-order system, which I suspect is backed-up with everyone either re-provisioning to 6 Mbps, or re-pricing, down to 590 baht, or leaving for another provider. I'd say it might take up to 2 or 3 days. TOT won't re-provision my line as they say it can only support 3 Mbps/512 Kbps, even though it can support 4 Mbps/1Mbps, so I just took a price cut. I am very happy with performance and customer service on TOT. TRUE and CSLoxInfo are good as well, IME.

FWIW you can use a different ISP on a TOT or TRUE fixed line (but not TRUE on TOT, or TOT on TRUE), in case that wasn't well known.

[Pib]

The Thai wife and I just finished a call to a local TOT Service Center here in western Bangkok which the TOT Call Center referred us to, and the Service Center said they could not upgrade us to 6Mb since 4Mb is still the limit to our moobaan. The Service Center rep said he had already received several calls from other people in my moobaan and he had to tell them the same thing: that is, until TOT upgrades the boxes (he meant DSLAM equipment in the area switching station) then we can't upgrade/go beyond 4Mb. And when we asked/pressed for a price reduction in lieu of no speed increase, the rep basically said no way until we finish our current 12 month contract which we are about halfway through.

The wife and I plan to press for a price reduction by going face-to-face with a TOT rep in another nearby service TOT service center...maybe face-to-face will get us a price reduction...then again we may just get another answer of no-can-do until our contract is over. But at least we will know we tried for a speed increase or price reduction. Once again, when it comes to internet in Thailand, location, location, location makes all the difference....and sometimes the folks just one soi over are on different circuits and can get higher speed pakages...location...location....location. But at least my 4Mb line is super reliable, gives me 3.5Mb in-Thailand IP speed, and gives consistent/pretty good international speed in the 1-2Mb range 24/7, rain or shine, etc (knock on wood).

[PattayaParent]

In my experience you have to go to the office and ask for the upgrade and sign an agreement to keep the service for 1 year before you get the upgrade.

If your current service has not completed the 1 year agreement then you have to pay 1,000 Baht to get the upgrade.

So if you haven't done that then you haven't got an upgrade.

[doctormann]

In my experience you have to go to the office and ask for the upgrade and sign an agreement to keep the service for 1 year before you get the upgrade.

If your current service has not completed the 1 year agreement then you have to pay 1,000 Baht to get the upgrade.

So if you haven't done that then you haven't got an upgrade.

We did go to the ToT office and filled out the paperwork for the upgrade, which amounts to starting a new 1-year contract. There was no mention of having to pay for the upgrade as the the cost of the 6Mb service is the same as what the 4Mb was previously.

Checking the ADSL status on the modem/router, today, I still get 4093kbps as the line speed. Seems a little strange - always exactly 4093 down and 510 up. Why not 4096 / 512 I wonder. It does look as though I haven't actually got the upgrade although the speeds reported by Speedtest.net do show a consistent improvement over what I had previous to requesting it. I may have to go down to the ToT office again as trying to talk to them on the phone is not normally very productive.

DM

[Pib]

In my experience you have to go to the office and ask for the upgrade and sign an agreement to keep the service for 1 year before you get the upgrade.

If your current service has not completed the 1 year agreement then you have to pay 1,000 Baht to get the upgrade.

So if you haven't done that then you haven't got an upgrade.

That's my experience also, plus that is what my current contract seems to say for months 9-12 of the contract; during months 1-3 you could upspeed or downspeed for free. By chance a TOT technicians was on our street this afternoon and the wife asked him what the max DSL speed available to our moobaan. 4Mb was the answer but he did say TOT would upgrade the DSLAMs in our area soon but he didn't really know when. That's a pretty safe answer especially if soon to the tech was 5 years from now. But he did know we wanted higher speed from earlier paperwork we had submitted and he took our phone number...said he would call us when the DSLAM upgrade occurs...I'm not holding my breath. He also mentioned we probably could not get a price reduction until our current contract was up in approx 6 months. So, it looks like me and my 4Mb plan will be staying together for a while longer. Location, location, location.

[doctormann]

Problem solved. The tricky bit was getting hold of an engineer! After trying for some considerable time to talk to someone on the ToT ADSL fault line - 1177********* - I finally got though on the general 1100 fault line. Apparently ToT had done the biz at their main Pattaya place but had neglected to do something or other at the connection box in my village. Within 30 minutes everything was fixed and my modem/router now reports 6139 / 510 kbps. Typical download speed from Speedtest.net Bangkok server is now around 5.4Mb/s.

A result I think!

Thanks for all the replies guys.

DM