Sophon Fibre-Broadband - Pattaya-Jomtien

[SurfRider]

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A year or so ago, when Sophon Cable first offered broadband in Pattaya, the service was apparently offered through a Sophon owned Router that linked many customers on a shared peer basis to the Internet. There was some question about the efficiency of this service, particularly for users who do Torrents, since it was not possible to "forward" Torrent router ports because the end-user had no access to the router.

Recently, there's been some buzz about a new Sophon Fiber service -- one claim is that the shared router concept no longer exists with their fibre Internet link.

Does anyone know the details on Sophon's new fibre broadband? Is it still a shared-router and is Torrent port forwarding possible? I have two reports that it's a solid 4 Mbps for around 800 Baht per month and service calls are answered quickly.

Thanks in advance for any comments or information.

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[scorecard]

Sorry I can't answer your questions but could you or other members answer the following questions:

- Does the service use the same actual cable that brings Sophon Cable TV into the house?

- What if it's a condo or village where there is central point to bring in the signal, then It's distributed from that central hub, by cable, to individual houses / condo units? In this scenario would individual internet service be possible?

Thanks.

[TOQ]

Sorry I can't answer your questions but could you or other members answer the following questions:

- Does the service use the same actual cable that brings Sophon Cable TV into the house?

- What if it's a condo or village where there is central point to bring in the signal, then It's distributed from that central hub, by cable, to individual houses / condo units? In this scenario would individual internet service be possible?

Thanks.

I have had their service now for several months. When they did the installation in the condo building they ran a separate cable line. It is not connected to the TV cable in any way. I opted for the 4mb service and am getting about 3mb out of Thailand. Since I have had the line I have had a problem only once and it turned out that it really was on my end.. They were out with a service call within an hour. I am in the Tukcom area.

john

[innerspace]

- Does the service use the same actual cable that brings Sophon Cable TV into the house?

- What if it's a condo or village where there is central point to bring in the signal, then It's distributed from that central hub, by cable, to individual houses / condo units? In this scenario would individual internet service be possible?

1) No, the broadband cable is separate to the TV.

2) Each connection receives its own co-axial cable from the nearest master/secondary modem which are all over the area and then these transmit via fiber to sophon in Pattaya Thai.

This is a HFC (Hybrid fibre coaxial) system which is the standard for broadband worldwide.

These facts are certainly 100% accurate for the existing system (I briefly worked with Sophon interent) but I am not sure on the infrastructure in place for the fiber to the home they are starting to advertise.

[nam-thip]

I know of an expat that lives in East Pattaya and the Soi Khaotalo area that recently had this service installed and told me it keeps dropping.

He's using the 4MB offer.

He did say the repair guys respond quickly to a fault.

[David006]

- Does the service use the same actual cable that brings Sophon Cable TV into the house?

- What if it's a condo or village where there is central point to bring in the signal, then It's distributed from that central hub, by cable, to individual houses / condo units? In this scenario would individual internet service be possible?

1) No, the broadband cable is separate to the TV.

2) Each connection receives its own co-axial cable from the nearest master/secondary modem which are all over the area and then these transmit via fiber to sophon in Pattaya Thai.

This is a HFC (Hybrid fibre coaxial) system which is the standard for broadband worldwide.

These facts are certainly 100% accurate for the existing system (I briefly worked with Sophon interent) but I am not sure on the infrastructure in place for the fiber to the home they are starting to advertise.

interesting..I thought most HFC in the western world used the same coax drop and a cable modem at the premise (since TV/Internet/POTS are on different bandwidths).who's network equipment does Sophon use?? I would be interested to know if the Sophon service is true FTH or just FTC as you seem to be aware, it is economically prohibitive (fibre drop..optical to electrical ..expensive!)to provide infrastructure for single family dwellings..

as you state...sounds like its just fibre to the building/curb/subdivision as in multi dwellings/moo bahns??

cheers..

[innerspace]

interesting..I thought most HFC in the western world used the same coax drop and a cable modem at the premise (since TV/Internet/POTS are on different bandwidths).who's network equipment does Sophon use?? I would be interested to know if the Sophon service is true FTH or just FTC as you seem to be aware, it is economically prohibitive (fibre drop..optical to electrical ..expensive!)to provide infrastructure for single family dwellings..

as you state...sounds like its just fibre to the building/curb/subdivision as in multi dwellings/moo bahns??

cheers..

The reason for the separate cables is that sophon tv and sophon broadband are actually 2 seperate but closely connected companies.

They could be run off the same fibre/coaxial cable but they are not.

The TV fibre has been down for many years, the internet fibre was laid about 2 years ago by the owner of Banglamung TV.

After considering branding it BTV CableNet he decided not to compete with Sophon in "their" area and ran the internet as a partnership. I almost became a partner in this venture.

The internet cables are newer and provide a much better quality than if they had piggy-backed on the old TV cables.

As for Fibre to the Home, when I was involved it was all fibre to the street but when I last spoke to the owner he mentioned plans to introduce proper fibre to the home.

But as you said, its not economical for the average user - fibre is expensive and so are the modems. Expect it as a luxury product for corporates in need of that extra bit of speed.

For the average user the 100m or so of coaxial has virtually no noticeable effect on speeds anyway.

Nam-Thip: Your friend is certainly right about technicians response times. Service wise I believe they far outperfom any other ISP in Thailand. (As already stated I have had affiliations with them in the past but am not associated at all now!)

[topt]

I have had Sophon internet since May (4mb service) but contrary to what a number of posters have said mine is definitely piggy backed on the Sophon TV cable that was already laid to the house? The house is in a village in North Pattaya.

As I also ended up taking out Sophon TV I have a splitter on the cable that comes out of the wall. I was told that this did not affect the signal at all but would be very interested to hear from anyone who can technically vouch for this or explain why this is not true?

Their service has been excellent. I have had a number of issues but these have always been very quickly resolved by the contact at the Sophon office in Pattaya Tai. If I ring his mobile and get no answer he has always rung back and if necessary has come out to the house that same day.

[innerspace]

I have had Sophon internet since May (4mb service) but contrary to what a number of posters have said mine is definitely piggy backed on the Sophon TV cable that was already laid to the house? The house is in a village in North Pattaya.

As I also ended up taking out Sophon TV I have a splitter on the cable that comes out of the wall. I was told that this did not affect the signal at all but would be very interested to hear from anyone who can technically vouch for this or explain why this is not true?

Their service has been excellent. I have had a number of issues but these have always been very quickly resolved by the contact at the Sophon office in Pattaya Tai. If I ring his mobile and get no answer he has always rung back and if necessary has come out to the house that same day.

You probably happen to live in an area which didn't get the new cable laid down for the internet, so rather than deny you service the engineers simply connected the existing cable to one of the fiber master modems.

Or maybe vice versa, the new cable was run in an area which didnt previously have TV so the tv feed has been slipped in.

Regardless of which way around it was its not a problem. Fiber optic cables have massive bandwidth and can easily support TV and internet running at different wavelengths without interference.

And the short runs of co-axial cable have no problem with the same, using different frequencies for the different signals.

However you are in the minority with sophon, the majority of customers have internet on an independent line to the TV.

[jcowle]

I have now had the Sophon internet installed for the past two weeks on the 10M package (B1490 a month not cheap but it works), it's been great, not down once and speeds hover around the 9/10M and the same from the UK. I am on the North end of 3rd road.

As for other details I am no expert, so can't give you a correct answer.

[SurfRider]

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I spent some time with the Sophon Broadband Technician and learned the details of how they claim Sophon Broadband works in Pattaya.

The Sophon fiber feed comes from the CAT Internet Gateway in Bangkok - Sophon does NOT interface with CAT in Pattaya for their fiber feed.

The Fiber from BKK comes into an Optical Switch at Sophon's Pattaya Tai office and is distributed out to various local neighborhoods via 100 Mbps fibre cables.

In the case of the apartment building where I live, the fiber comes into a head-end room in the building where it is converted to a digital signal then fed via high-quality coaxial cable to the individual units.

An image of the modem that Sophon uses to connect with your computer is attached to this post. There is no Router involved.

If a one year contract is paid in full up-front, the modem is free and the cost of the 4-Mbps service works out to 815 Baht/month for the 1st year, which includes a 1,500 Baht installation fee. For subsequent years, the monthly fee would be 690/month. ( assuming the current pricing structure does not change )

If you want a monthly contract, the charge is around 1025/Month for the 1st year including the modem and installation.

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[RabC]

Please excuse my ignorance but if I move over to Sophon can I plug their modem into one of the network ports of my existing wireless router/adsl modem( i realise I wont need the adsl part of the router) and then access through wireless on my various PC's I-pads?

Thanks in advance

[SurfRider]

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"can I plug their modem into one of the network ports of my existing wireless router/adsl modem"

That's a good question. The "demo" set-up in their Pattaya Tai office uses a wi-fi device that links to their cable modem, but I forgot to get the details on whether they were using a 2nd modem ( like DSL ) or simply a wi-fi node device.

Since there's no modem/router involved with their basic set-up, it would also be important to know if they're assigning the external CAT IP address to your PC-- or if their modem has a DHCP server and does a NAT operation so the PC would have an internal IP address and not be directly exposed to the Internet-- the same way a DSL modem/router would operate.

I hope to get together with them again in a couple of days to have these questions answered unless one of the people following this thread knows the answers.

Someone who has the Sophon fibre broadband could easily test this by opening a DOS command window and type "ipconfig" (without quotes), then <Return> -- That will report the IP address that is assigned to your PC -- if it is something like 119.xxx.xxx.xxx, that's NOT good news -- if it's like 192.168.0.x, then it has been NATted and that's good.

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[topt]

Please excuse my ignorance but if I move over to Sophon can I plug their modem into one of the network ports of my existing wireless router/adsl modem( i realise I wont need the adsl part of the router) and then access through wireless on my various PC's I-pads?

Thanks in advance

I have the modem pictured plugged into a basic TP-Link Wireless router I bought from the UK. Sophon thought some of my issues were to do with this and they also lent me a Linsky's model. It turned out the router was not an issue but they also did all the set up to make sure it all worked when they installed. So the answer is it should not be an issue.

"Someone who has the Sophon fibre broadband could easily test this by opening a DOS command window and type "ipconfig" (without quotes), then <Return> -- That will report the IP address that is assigned to your PC -- if it is something like 119.xxx.xxx.xxx, that's NOT good news -- if it's like 192.168.0.x, then it has been NATted and that's good"

Unfortunately I am not in Pattaya at the moment so cannot answer Surf Rider's query above - but would be very interested in the answer!

[blubberboybob]

Please excuse my ignorance but if I move over to Sophon can I plug their modem into one of the network ports of my existing wireless router/adsl modem( i realise I wont need the adsl part of the router) and then access through wireless on my various PC's I-pads?

Thanks in advance

I have the modem pictured plugged into a basic TP-Link Wireless router I bought from the UK. Sophon thought some of my issues were to do with this and they also lent me a Linsky's model. It turned out the router was not an issue but they also did all the set up to make sure it all worked when they installed. So the answer is it should not be an issue.

"Someone who has the Sophon fibre broadband could easily test this by opening a DOS command window and type "ipconfig" (without quotes), then <Return> -- That will report the IP address that is assigned to your PC -- if it is something like 119.xxx.xxx.xxx, that's NOT good news -- if it's like 192.168.0.x, then it has been NATted and that's good"

Unfortunately I am not in Pattaya at the moment so cannot answer Surf Rider's query above - but would be very interested in the answer!

I just checked it and it is 119.xxx.xxx.xxx

[SurfRider]

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"I just checked it and it is 119.xxx.xxx.xxx"

That's definitely NOT GOOD! -- It means that your PC has been assigned the raw external Internet IP address directly from CAT. A much safer setup would be to have that IP assigned to a Router and have the Router assign Internal NATted IPs to your PCs, wi-fi, and other gear.

I ran into the same problem awhile back in the U.S. with a Cable Internet feed. I had to buy a Linksys Cable Router to interface between the Cable feed and my PCs -- Not too expensive as I recall, and it provides a hardware firewall between your computers and the Internet and that's MUCH BETTER than any software firewall.

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[somtampet]

I have had Sophon internet since May (4mb service) but contrary to what a number of posters have said mine is definitely piggy backed on the Sophon TV cable that was already laid to the house? The house is in a village in North Pattaya.

As I also ended up taking out Sophon TV I have a splitter on the cable that comes out of the wall. I was told that this did not affect the signal at all but would be very interested to hear from anyone who can technically vouch for this or explain why this is not true?

Their service has been excellent. I have had a number of issues but these have always been very quickly resolved by the contact at the Sophon office in Pattaya Tai. If I ring his mobile and get no answer he has always rung back and if necessary has come out to the house that same day.

Sophon cable on Pattaya Tai,Are u sure about that??????

[DickDastardly]

I have had Sophon internet since May (4mb service) but contrary to what a number of posters have said mine is definitely piggy backed on the Sophon TV cable that was already laid to the house? The house is in a village in North Pattaya.

As I also ended up taking out Sophon TV I have a splitter on the cable that comes out of the wall. I was told that this did not affect the signal at all but would be very interested to hear from anyone who can technically vouch for this or explain why this is not true?

Their service has been excellent. I have had a number of issues but these have always been very quickly resolved by the contact at the Sophon office in Pattaya Tai. If I ring his mobile and get no answer he has always rung back and if necessary has come out to the house that same day.

Sophon cable on Pattaya Tai,Are u sure about that??????

The Sophon Broadband office is on South Pattaya road about 100M West of the junction with 3rd Road.

[topt]

I have had Sophon internet since May (4mb service) but contrary to what a number of posters have said mine is definitely piggy backed on the Sophon TV cable that was already laid to the house? The house is in a village in North Pattaya.

As I also ended up taking out Sophon TV I have a splitter on the cable that comes out of the wall. I was told that this did not affect the signal at all but would be very interested to hear from anyone who can technically vouch for this or explain why this is not true?

Their service has been excellent. I have had a number of issues but these have always been very quickly resolved by the contact at the Sophon office in Pattaya Tai. If I ring his mobile and get no answer he has always rung back and if necessary has come out to the house that same day.

Sophon cable on Pattaya Tai,Are u sure about that??????

The Sophon Broadband office is on South Pattaya road about 100M West of the junction with 3rd Road.

I had always thought Pattaya tai and South Pattaya Road are one and the same - or am I misinformed ?

Surfrider - if you have a wireless router in between with a firewall presumably there is not so much of an issue?

[SurfRider]

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"if you have a wireless router in between with a firewall presumably there is not so much of an issue?"

True, and as I said earlier, in the States "I had to buy a Linksys Cable Router to interface between the Cable feed and my PCs"

The point is that people currently running Sophon-Broadband may not be aware that they're exposing their computers to the danger of being hacked (and worse) by not having a hardware firewall-- unless they've taken it upon themselves to add a Router. Sophon should make their customers aware of that danger, or better yet-- provide protection against it!

Here are a couple of possible options - probably around 1800 to 2100 Baht locally.

http://homestore.cis...9VVviewprod.htm

http://homestore.cis...9VVviewprod.htm

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[SurfRider]

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Just learned that Sophon sells an ASUS RT-N10 Wireless Router as an add-on to their fiber-broadband service. This unit will get around the IP exposure problem mentioned above, as well as providing wi-fi and four RJ-45 Cat-5 Ethernet Ports.

The report is that Sophon sells them for around 1500 Baht. I found a link where it's listed at 1249 Baht.

http://www.asus.com/...bPnstlXm6zKqtWW

http://www.pcresourc...ch-p-13466.html

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[foxxx]

sorry to dig up an old topic... but a single 100mbit connection from Pattaya to BKK, and they are selling it in 10mbit slices. so with 10 customers maxing their connections out they are over capacity... does anyone know their actual link speeds from pattaya to bkk?

[innerspace]

sorry to dig up an old topic... but a single 100mbit connection from Pattaya to BKK, and they are selling it in 10mbit slices. so with 10 customers maxing their connections out they are over capacity... does anyone know their actual link speeds from pattaya to bkk?

Can't remember the exact speed of the line to CAT but it is a high speed fibre trunk, no issues of over capacity there.

100Mb is the speed of the master/secondary modems positioned around Pattaya - the lines support much more (1000Mb +++) but the modems themselves are 100Mb.

These modems can easily be upgraded and will be when capacity becomes an issue.

Each modem has a limited number of users so capacities are not reached on a local level.

As for a 100Mb line only supporting 10x10Mb customers - google contention ratios.

Its a practice in use the world over and is key to making broadband affordable.

Put simple, at any split second only a small percentage of users are online and using their connection to the max, allowing more users than your direct split calculation without any noticeable drop in speeds.

[jackcorbett]

So what does everyone think? I have two internet connections. The first is now supplied by CAT. Before our condo building used Tot, TTNT and True and in each case the signal was up and down. Typically I could not upload for instance anymore than two jpg (digital pictures) due to the connection timing out. I then purchased an additional internet service plan through TTNT for just under 1200 baht. This was far superior. However in the last two weeks it's been out of action for four days, first three days, then a single day when I called their hotline. The Thai woman I was talking with told me to go "look at my modem." I went back upstairs to my condo and by the time I got there, I suddenly had an internet connection. My first outage was due to a wire that had gone bad, just outside my condo building but this time I suspect TTNT had just turned my connection off, perhaps in the mistaken assumption I had not paid my bill.

I still have the first internet service but this one is now being handled by CAT. The service is shared among the 55 condo units in my building and every unit gets it even if the owner doesn't want it. I use it when my much more expensive service from TTNT fails me so I'm not using if very often but so far I find it far superior to our basic condo service that had been previously handled by TOT, TTNT and True

I also want to mention that there is a main CAT fiber optic switch box that is directly in front of my condo building which is just seventy-five feet from the building's office that is set up to handle all television and Internet service. Our condo electrician has pointed this out to me, and when I asked him where the TNNT signal comes into he told me it's around 1 kilometer up the street close to Naklua Road. it would seem to me that if I purchased either the 4 megabyte per second plan from CAT or the 10 megabyte plan I'd get a more reliable and much faster connection due to the fact that the fiber optics switching station is so close to our condo office. I tend to be a heavy internet user by the way who does a lot of downloading of large files. I do my own web site and I will often upload large pictures, videos I've done for fun, etc. So what does everyone think...;I'd be well served by switching to CAT? And how does the 10 megabyte service compare to the 4 megabyte one?

[NomadicGuru]

What upload speeds are you guys experiencing. Particularly to US-based servers.

Thanks for any replies!

[bob4you]

I just ran Thai Visa Speed checks to Singapore and Bkk, I have fiber optics through my TV cable, been happy with them for over a year. Now paying B840 on annual contract.

Speeds for Singapore are: 978 KPS down 491 up and ping 456 Bangkok 1003 down 450 up ping 289 and my IP is 119 XXXXXXXXX. Very happy with the performance and the price.

[BugJackBaron]

I just ran Thai Visa Speed checks to Singapore and Bkk, I have fiber optics through my TV cable, been happy with them for over a year. Now paying B840 on annual contract.

Speeds for Singapore are: 978 KPS down 491 up and ping 456 Bangkok 1003 down 450 up ping 289 and my IP is 119 XXXXXXXXX. Very happy with the performance and the price.

just curious.do they block or throttle torrents? have heard conflicting reports..

[tropo]

I just ran Thai Visa Speed checks to Singapore and Bkk, I have fiber optics through my TV cable, been happy with them for over a year. Now paying B840 on annual contract.

Speeds for Singapore are: 978 KPS down 491 up and ping 456 Bangkok 1003 down 450 up ping 289 and my IP is 119 XXXXXXXXX. Very happy with the performance and the price.

just curious.do they block or throttle torrents? have heard conflicting reports..

No, they don't. You must bear in mind that this is CAT through fibre optic, so they are in control of the bandwidth, not Sophon.

They do have the best customer service I've ever experienced. On the 3 times I've called them they were at my house within an hour - amazing.

First time was to change from the TV cables to a dedicated cable. The next time to change a faulty modem and the last time to check a problem on the outside line.

Edited July 23, 2011 by tropo

[alexth]

I might be wrong, but for some reason, I wouldn't trust those guys as my internet provider. Quite happy with 3BB for the moment. Never had a problem in 5 months since I started with them

Edited July 23, 2011 by alexth

[tropo]

I might be wrong, but for some reason, I wouldn't trust those guys as my internet provider. Quite happy with 3BB for the moment. Never had a problem in 5 months since I started with them

An unfounded hunch based on nothing at all?

You are wrong.

I have both 3BB (5 years) and CAT-Sophon (6 months), so I'm basing my statement on experience. The main problem with 3BB is their atrocious customer service.