3Bb Is The Worst Isp In Thailand

[mightyharriss]

Can anyone argue with this.

I for one will be canceling this week. Who's with me?

[franckchiangmai]

I live in Chiang Mai and 3BB works very well.

[johnleebkk]

i agree

[bangkokcitylimits]

Terrible company indeed, the last 6 months I ended up logging all the errors and poor performance of the call center, showing this detailed logs (with average 5 entries a day) at the office gave me a 50% or 100% discount for several times and the last months the bills even went unopened to the trashbin.

They are a real crap company very pretentious but not being able to offer a well functioning product and continue to lie about speeds etc.

They are not able to solve problems, never keep appointments etc.

The chicks at the call center are more stupid then bar girls.

Until I bought the mobile CDMA stick from CAT Telecom and that was a real breath of fresh air.

Although I don't get the speed they promise (the past days only 230kb in stead of 3mb...) I'm still happy with it, eventually can download 10 torrents at a time, no problem, VOIP calling, streaming video's, it's all not perfect but at least it works and the mobile device gives a lot of freedom when you have a notebook.

For 6,000baht (for the small device) you can internet starting today, without any worry, monthly fee 800baht.

No login codes and configuration needed.

[Bartman]

The 3bb accounts I have had in 4 different locations around Samui have always been the best option.

[lomatopo]

Check out some of the cabling/wiring pictures in this article.

[CMSteve]

I use 3BB in two locations in Chiang Mai. Both work great. I've also been through TOT and TRUE. Will never go back!

[nikster]

Terrible company indeed, the last 6 months I ended up logging all the errors and poor performance of the call center, showing this detailed logs (with average 5 entries a day) at the office gave me a 50% or 100% discount for several times and the last months the bills even went unopened to the trashbin.

They are a real crap company very pretentious but not being able to offer a well functioning product and continue to lie about speeds etc.

I don't agree on the call center, had positive experiences with 3BB. They even know me by my mobile number! Which is awesome.

But - I have had trouble over the last 2 months or so, the problem is that the connection drops every X amount of minutes - 30 minutes or so. Accessing the web during that time is impossible. VPN sometimes drops, sometimes stays connected, sometimes remains connected but non-working. Then it recovers a minute later.

Strangely, torrents seem unaffected by this, they just keep on running, and torrent speed in general is excellent, near my 10Mbps promised speed. Of all things - I mean I really would prefer if they throttled torrents but instead focused on uptime... sigh.

So how did you create the uptime logs, I'd really like to create something like this too. Did you experience connection drops?

And I agree CAT CDMA is very reliable, but it's not that fast. I have the MiFi device, which creates a WiFi network for up to 5 devices. Works very well. It's literally push a button and you're online, even easier than the USB stick.

Edit: Ok so I called 3BB and they said there's a lot of noise on the line. I was upgraded to 12Mbit but still getting only 10 - come to think of it maybe that's the reason for my issues, maybe the line simply can't do 12Mbit. I will downgrade to 8Mbit...

Edited September 22, 2010 by nikster

[Pib]

If 3BB is the worst I expect they have plenty of competition from TOT, True, etc.

Based on posts in ThaiVisa, it seems a person's particular location many times makes all the difference in the connection quality from an ISP. Quality of connection/service greatly depends on the ISP's local connection station (usually where the DSLAMs are housed) / junction boxes / lines in a location One moobaan may get good service using ISP X; while another moobaan a short distance away gets bad service using the same ISP X. Changes are the moobaan getting good services has a different central station which has newer DSLAMs/equipment in it.

Location, location, location seems to make all the internet quality difference many times, whether you are living in a high end moobaan with private swimming pools or a low end moobaan with the canal being the community swimming pool.

[bangkokcitylimits]

So how did you create the uptime logs, I'd really like to create something like this too. Did you experience connection drops?

Can download the log here (Word file)

Networx Bandwidth Monitoring (very good free software, connection logs can be printed)

Internet in the city and province usually cannot be compared, though my previous TOT internet in Chiang Mai was terrible as well.

Cannot imagaine 10MB internet in Thailand.

[Nomad97]

I cannot argue with that - but what can I replace them with? Up in the "Sticks" of Isaan we do not have too many choices.

[spacemunk]

im dumping 3BB this weekend. Been with them about a year past 8mths had no problems constant 10mb speeds even international.

Past 3mths speeds went to a crawl at 10mb within thailand 0.5mb international. Technician said upgrade to Premier its better for international so i did. Samething bunch of crap. Customer Service said Premier line is not even for International.

I give up on 3BB. Bunch of ppl in a ISP don't even know <deleted> they doing.

[mightyharriss]

im dumping 3BB this weekend. Been with them about a year past 8mths had no problems constant 10mb speeds even international.

Past 3mths speeds went to a crawl at 10mb within thailand 0.5mb international. Technician said upgrade to Premier its better for international so i did. Samething bunch of crap. Customer Service said Premier line is not even for International.

I give up on 3BB. Bunch of ppl in a ISP don't even know <deleted> they doing.

agreed, just tend to blame peoples routers, and not the real problem

[MartinBKK]

I have 3BB in Chiang Mai and it has been a very good service (Premier 3MB). I use the internet to work and am online the majority of the day.

The call center is not particularly helpful though.

Edited September 22, 2010 by MartinBKK

[nikster]

So how did you create the uptime logs, I'd really like to create something like this too. Did you experience connection drops?

Can download the log here (Word file)

Networx Bandwidth Monitoring (very good free software, connection logs can be printed)

Internet in the city and province usually cannot be compared, though my previous TOT internet in Chiang Mai was terrible as well.

Cannot imagaine 10MB internet in Thailand.

Thanks for the info!! I'll keep a bookmark for this for next time.

But for this time, 3BB apparently fixed the problem. I now get 12Mbit to Bangkok - all I can ask for as far as the physical line is concerned, international speeds are more up to the contention ratio and current usage - however, I do usually get my full speed for torrents and downloads from major sites as they seem to have caches inside Thailand.

My VPN has been up for 6 hours and counting, so looks like no interruptions either.

I'd like to switch to premier but 3BB now only has one premier package - 5Mbit at 2,500 baht. A bit steep considering that I'd get slower speeds than now for torrents and major site downloads, and marginally faster downloads for international (getting 4Mbit "real, actual" international speeds right now).

[PoorSucker]

Had ToT before....

Happy with my 3BB here on Samui.

When down (3 times in 3 years) always been fixed within 12 hours.

[bartender100]

I had problems getting my service up and running in Pattaya with 3BB,i am using the 5MB for B590 service and since its been on about a week speed checks have been spot on. So i am keeping my fingers crossed. It took a lot of patinent phone calls to get it started.

[halfhead]

So how did you create the uptime logs, I'd really like to create something like this too. Did you experience connection drops?

Can download the log here (Word file)

Networx Bandwidth Monitoring (very good free software, connection logs can be printed)

Internet in the city and province usually cannot be compared, though my previous TOT internet in Chiang Mai was terrible as well.

Cannot imagaine 10MB internet in Thailand.

this software doesnt seem to show disconections though

[Peterbigeyes]

Agreed! They seem to think discounts are the solution to an angry customer! Well it does, in a way but I would much rather have you solve the problem and give me stable internet for Christ's sake.

[TravelerEastWest]

If 3BB is the worst I expect they have plenty of competition from TOT, True, etc.

Based on posts in ThaiVisa, it seems a person's particular location many times makes all the difference in the connection quality from an ISP. Quality of connection/service greatly depends on the ISP's local connection station (usually where the DSLAMs are housed) / junction boxes / lines in a location One moobaan may get good service using ISP X; while another moobaan a short distance away gets bad service using the same ISP X. Changes are the moobaan getting good services has a different central station which has newer DSLAMs/equipment in it.

Location, location, location seems to make all the internet quality difference many times, whether you are living in a high end moobaan with private swimming pools or a low end moobaan with the canal being the community swimming pool.

Well said!

I have 3BB and it is far better than the True service I had a month ago only a couple miles away from my current location. I also now have a fixed IP and an internet line from the street that is not shared with a phone line.

[ManInSurat]

As the OP will know I've made umpteen posts about this.

I have both 3BB 16Mb in my first house and True 16Mb in my other house (which I rent solely for the purpose of having True.)

I've had 3BB for 4 years, for the first year it was acceptable, for the last 3 years it has been totally unacceptable. I had no alternative, so I had to stick with it. I work full time on the internet. It is 100% integral to the work I do. I can safely say, due to the constant degradation of 3BB's line to my house over this period, I lost around $100k in the 3 year period through lost earnings. Ok, I admit, I chose to live in Thailand, I chose to live in Surat Thani, I chose to love a Thai, I chose to love Thailand, I could have moved back home, I could have moved anywhere else with a decent constant connection - but nothing overrides the fact that 3BB have severely let me down.

It's not just the loss of earnings, I can take that on the chin. It's how 3BB have acted over the period until their service has reached a stage where it's unusable. I've had them over numerous times, they've changed the lines on MORE than one ocassion. They constantly blame me, my equipment and my set up in my office at home for the poor and faulty service I get. I'd like to consider myself pretty much an expert in setting up a small office network, so I know they're just lying to me to save face. I'd much prefer it if they'd just admit they, as a company, cannot provide the services they advertise in my area. I'd have moved elsewhere ages ago. I'm kicking myself now for not having done so. This is just my opinion, but I think they are an utterly awful ISP. They cannot provide the services and speeds they offer countrywide. Ok, they may have OK service in isolated pockets around the country, but from what I read here on TV, on the whole they are shockingly bad.

I see 3BB as a very corrupt company, with the heads pocketing all the money and leaving little or nothing at all to spend on the infrastructure and improving/repairing the overall itegrity of it. If they bothered to actually try to use the vast sums of money they get making it even slightly better, it'd save them more headaches. However the fat cats at the top do not have to answer the phones, or man the desks in the offices, those are the people I feel really sorry for. They have to face the brunt of the anger over the poor quality of service.

What I would REALLY love to know, is how the Thais view it. Are there enough Thai people out there that would call in to complain, or go into their local office and make a fuss? As we all know you shouldn't really be seen to make a fuss in public places. I don't see it happen very often by the indigenous population here. I view the Thai populace as casual internet users, compared to the farangs that are permanently resident who spend nearly all of their waking working life online (much like me). Therefore they are satisfied with the level of service they get as they have very little comparison. It would be interesting to find out though, what Thais think. Mainly because if any could do anything about it (and even that's highly doubtful) it would be the much more numerous Thai voices that would bring about change. Forget farangs ever being able to influence what a telco company like 3BB does. That's just ridiculous thinking.

True have really been my saviour, their connection to the other house I have is constant and VERY fast. International bandwidth is equally as fast. On my 16Mb connection, using a UK webproxy, I can watch LIVE streaming BBC TV programs - not just recorded ones, as they air on the iPlayer, that for me is evidence of me getting what I paid for. Fast speeds, consistent service and bandwidth that very rarely drops below 75% of its upper limit. My earnings are back up and I'm really really happy. In a month and a half now it's been out once and on one Sunday, for half of the day, I got under 10% service. That's all. The rest of the time it's between 12Mb and 15.5Mb. I fully appreciate it's highly unlikely I'll ever get the full 16Mb and definitely not to the outside world.

It's not just this, it's the fact they are very efficient as a company, IMO. They come out on time, they're dilligent, actually come and fix things, and are knowledgable when you phone them. They have excellent English speakers on the phones and I applaud them for this.

There is one major thing at play here and something I alluded to at the beginning of this post, I'm starting to get the distinct impression that a lot of this is purely down to location, location, location.

I have read such varied responses, regarding levels of service with all the ISPs from city to city. Chiang Mai, Krung Thep, Pattaya, Ranong, Chumpon, Surat Thai, Phuket, Koh Samui, Krabi, Hat Yai. Each place seems to have it's own winners and losers. I just feel sorry for the people that live in areas where you don't have a choice. Particularly the Krabi - Satun coast.

On top of provincial/city locations, then there's the problem of how far to the ISPs main exchange your house/condo/office is. I've been told by all the ISPs that the closer you are to the main exchange, the better your connection will be and also that the amount of similar peer connections within your moobaan or apartment block also makes a considerable difference.

All I can say is from personal experience, living in a quiet moobaan (for both houses) on the outskirts of Surat Thani (near the Big C on the way out to Nakhon), that True is the 100% winner by miles and they're cheaper, after tax, than 3BB.

I simply cannot wait for True to roll out 20down/4up in my area. I know it will be fantastic and I also anticipate in a few years, say 3 max, 50down being available here too.

I personally think province to province and city to city it's hit and miss. I know it should not be this way, but if you think of Thailand as the 3rd world country it actually is and the fact so much money is being stolen from its intended use of improving the overall countrywide infrastructure, it's not difficult to think of the entire coverage picture as being incredibly patchy in areas. Not just on a national scale, but on a citywide scale also.

I hate the fact that I have had to dance around ISPs to find this out. It's cost me a small fortune (in internet subscription terms). Thus, I hope these threads go some way to alleviating the problems that others could face.

It is my personal opinion through close to 5 years experience that True are miles ahead when it comes to internet connectivity, but I can only opine based on my experiences in Surat Thani. This is not to say that in other cities, provinces and even within Surat itself, that things will be very different in the soi, thanon, moobaan, condo, offit you live in or are thinking about getting.

It's a lottery and seeing as it's not endorsed by the government, maybe the BiB's will come and shut it down soon. Sorry poor joke.

That is all I have to say on the matter!

Edited September 23, 2010 by ManInSurat

[electau]

Before you get an ASDL connection, get your telephone line checked out to see if it meets the technical criteria for a connection.

Next remember that the higher the speed you want you may not get because the line losses in the telephone line, they are fixed per km of line. The higher the speed the shorter the practical line length in km.

Poor terminations and close proximity to power lines cause induction which causes noise on the line. This can cause dropouts.

In many cases dial up internet (56kbps) is the alternative. Wireless GSM is the alterative but speeds may be slow due to network usage. The proposed 3G service offers higher speeds but is not available as yet in Thailand.

And there is nothing wrong with dialup internet for general purpose use.