True Ultra Hi-Speed Internet

[jfchandler]

Pib, that graphic I posted was from AFTER my service came back this afternoon...

It turns out...when you're disconnected from True's network, you can't use the web interface to access your own modem's settings, as best as I can tell...

BTW, you're certainly correct about location... But what I can't figure out is the tremendous disparity in their system performance for my home between the first month or two, and the past two months that have followed. It's like night and day difference... Something changed....but I have no clue what.. And True certainly isn't helping with any answers.

Edited July 12, 2011 by jfchandler

[Pib]

If you have no internet/IP connection and you are using a "wireless" connection, you can't reach any web address to usually include your modem's web address/modem settings. But if you hook your computer directly to the modem you should be able to reach your modem/modem settings. That won't result in an improvement of the modem's power levels and SNR, as the modem determines the powel levels by sending/measuring signals back and forth to the headend equipment (kinda like the DSLAM on a ADSL line). The UpStream Power is based on your modem output and the amplification along the line to the headend equipment...and the DownStream Power is based on the headend equipment output and amplification along the line to your modem. Since your DownStream and Upstream Power Levels are low it sure appears there is a funky connection somewhere on the line (I know, telling you something you already know). Seems a True tech should be able to isolate the point where the power drop is occurring (i.e, the funky conneciton point), assuming it's not an "intermittent" connection problem that can be a pain to isolate....one minute the connection is good...the next minute the connection is bad. Good luck.

[jfchandler]

Pib, the equipment chain in my case is

--cable from street to cable modem

--ethernet cable from cable modem to wifi router

--ethernet cable from wifi router to my desktop.

When the True service is out, meaning my modem won't connect, I can't access the modem's IP address either from my desktop PC that's connected via ethernet or via my laptops that are connected via wifi... even though my local network among the different machines continues to operate... meaning I can still access shared network drives and such.

That doesn't make sense to me either about not being able to access the modem settings... You'd think I'd still be able to access the modem via its own local IP address... But it doesn't work that way here... any time True's service is out...

Edited July 12, 2011 by jfchandler

[Pib]

Try hooking the ethernet cable from the modem (currently going to your router) directly to your laptop, and then try accessing the modem via its IP address. Hook directly to the modem.

"Also be sure to close and reopen your browser before entering the local IP address." For whatever reason, by closing/reopening the browser it clears IP addresses which may prevent a newly entered IP address from connecting.

[jfchandler]

Thanks Pib... I'll give that a try the next time my cable service fails out... And I'm sure there will be a next time... sometime...

I had wondered that having the router installed between the PC and the cable modem might have been the reason I couldn't access the web interface for the modem....at those times when the modem can't connect.

The sun is shining this morning, and my modem's reading 41 upstream and -3.4 downstream....and everything seems peachy....

Unfortunately, the other day, close to one of my recurring outages, I remember seeing a -15 or -16 reading on the downstream power.... Not so peachy...

Meanwhile,I know you're working from spec sheets... But I went back through my notes and printouts from the various service calls I've had...and the advice given by the various True Online techs who've been out to my home...

One said he wanted a downstream power reading on the cable modem of between 0 and 4....and an upstream power reading somewhat under 50.

Another said they wanted an upstream power reading between 42 and 47.

BTW, I went back and checked the paperwork I got from my original True cable modem install... I got a single page "cable modem installation work order" sheet...But absolutely nothing on there that I can see relating to modem settings or value ranges.

[negreanu]

Sounds like the cable product is pretty dire with downtimes etc.

Had the VDSL 50mb product for a year now never had 1 hour of downtime...

[Pib]

Meanwhile,I know you're working from spec sheets... But I went back through my notes and printouts from the various service calls I've had...and the advice given by the various True Online techs who've been out to my home...

One said he wanted a downstream power reading on the cable modem of between 0 and 4....and an upstream power reading somewhat under 50.

Another said they wanted an upstream power reading between 42 and 47.

Sounds about right as above mentioned power levels are in the mid/sweet spot of DOCSIS operating specs; but the further you get away from these sweet spots, problems can start popping up....and when you approach the borderline specs you may or may not be able to make a connection, get slow speeds due to a lot of error retransmissions occurring, etc. I expect more problems occur when approaching the "low end" specs versus the high end specs. Right now at 12:45pm my Receive Power Level is +1.9 dbmV and Transmit Power Level +49.7dbmV. Internet speed/snappiness is very good, better than all day yesterday when accessing many international web sites seemed sluggish even though my power levels were basically the same as today....I figure True International Gateway was having issues yesterday.

At 12:45pm today running a MicrosoftOnlineServices Speed Test to Singapore gave me a 5.9Mb download speed...supposedly the MSOnlineService speedtest result is not easily skewed by True's hidden cache servers. Then at 12:47pm today running Speedtest.net to Singapore I got a 10.7Mb, but I expect True's hidden cache servers are skewing that result to the high side. Running an in-Thailand/to Bangkok speedtest I get the full 20Mb download speed.

[jfchandler]

Sounds like the cable product is pretty dire with downtimes etc.

Had the VDSL 50mb product for a year now never had 1 hour of downtime...

Glad to hear you've had that experience.... I'd certainly hope so..at the prices True is charging for VDSL...

For their regular cable internet service, I'd say it's too early to made any broad judgments about reliability...

In my personal case, I had True's DSL service for years and rarely had any prolonged outage.... It was at least reasonably dependable.

However, for some unknown reason, my True cable service after a promising start has taken a turn for the worse lately...with repeated and extended outages, apparently relating to the cabling connection somewhere out there coming to my home...

Unfortunately, there just haven't been enough TV member reports here on their experiences with True's cable internet, over any kind of extended period of time, to make any sweeping generalizations about its reliability...

As Pib said elsewhere, it's often a large factor of "location, location, location."

[Kvwielink]

Sounds like the cable product is pretty dire with downtimes etc.

Had the VDSL 50mb product for a year now never had 1 hour of downtime...

Glad to hear you've had that experience.... I'd certainly hope so..at the prices True is charging for VDSL...

For their regular cable internet service, I'd say it's too early to made any broad judgments about reliability...

In my personal case, I had True's DSL service for years and rarely had any prolonged outage.... It was at least reasonably dependable.

However, for some unknown reason, my True cable service after a promising start has taken a turn for the worse lately...with repeated and extended outages, apparently relating to the cabling connection somewhere out there coming to my home...

Unfortunately, there just haven't been enough TV member reports here on their experiences with True's cable internet, over any kind of extended period of time, to make any sweeping generalizations about its reliability...

As Pib said elsewhere, it's often a large factor of "location, location, location."

Hi JFC, just out of curiosity, which area are you living in? I'm considering switching to cable, but if I live in or near the same area as you do I might want to reconsider....

Thanks for all the useful feedback though on your experience, very helpful for us who are still considering.

[jfchandler]

Hi JFC, just out of curiosity, which area are you living in? I'm considering switching to cable, but if I live in or near the same area as you do I might want to reconsider....

Thanks for all the useful feedback though on your experience, very helpful for us who are still considering.

I'm in the Sukhumvit-Asoke area... But I think the quality of service issues really are probably more localized than that...

For price and speed considerations, I'd give it a try...and I did and have... And I'm still somewhat hopeful of being able to get to a better place in terms of service.

For the first month plus of my True cable service, it was perfect... fast... no outages or downtime... couldn't have asked for anything better... Then, suddenly the situation changed and all these problems began appearing. The only thing I know is, and this is confirmed by True, it's not related to anything having changed or gone wrong inside my home... It's something outside somewhere up the line.

But thus far, True has been useless in identifying the problem or effectively resolving it... And their customer service follow-through is SH###.

As I've mentioned above, if I was going to subscribe new to True cable internet, I'd also certainly be sure to keep whatever existing internet service you have, such as DSL, for a pretty good period of time until you can be sure that True's cable service will perform reliably for your location.

And be aware of the important upstream and downstream power readings on their cable modem, and how to access and see them... so you'll know first-hand what kind of connection you're getting...and if it's a good/stable one.

[jfchandler]

Well, a bit of an update here... and I must report that today has been a typical True Online day...

After me politely pounding on them daily for the past three days via telephone...and getting repeated promised to check and call back the next day, and then not a single call back each day -- today I not only got an unscheduled home service call from two tech guys totally out of the blue, with a 5 minutes advance warning phone call, for my cable internet service, and then also about three different phone calls from other folks at True Online about the restoration of my DSL account.

Although the tech guys didn't speak much English, in querying them about the 18 hour continuous outage I had on my cable internet service from last Monday night to Tuesday afternoon, the senior guy seemed to say they had had some kind of electrical equipment failure (not power outage) in something on my soi. And as best as I could tell from what he was saying, that it wouldn't have just affected me but also other cable internet subscribers on my soi, however many there may be. Though my TrueVisions cable service continued to operate normally during that time.

It sounded like he was saying they had fixed the problem that caused the outage on Tuesday afternoon, when my internet service was restored, and then done some kind of "rebalancing" of the power levels on the lines on my street. And indeed the numbers do seem a bit better today:

--Signal Noise Ratio of 33... whereas you want at least above 30 or 32 depending on which source you consult.

--Downstream Power of -3.4... whereas numbers between -4 and +4 or -8 and +8 are considered optimal.

--and Upstream Power of 36, which according to Pib's research is supposed to be pretty good.

At various times, other True techs have told me their target for that is in the mid to upper 40s... Today's guy said the acceptable range is 30-50...

But the best part of all today was, through our discussion, I finally managed to raise with them the idea of swapping out my current cable model for a different/new modem to see if that would make any difference in the service quality, since my modem has been continuing to show a variety of internal error messages on its own errors log.

It so happened the True tech guys had some cable modems, or at least one extra, on their truck. So one guy went out and brought it back in, hooked it up and turned it on... It powered up, but then didn't connect at all, even though the internet feed to my house was OK by that time. A bad modem, they said. So they sheepishly hooked back up my original cable modem and promised they'd be back tomorrow with a different new cable modem to try... hopefully one without recurring error messages.

I am, BTW, going ahead with restoring my DSL service under their 7/512 plan for 599 baht per month. Since their cable and DSL networks supposedly are separate and one failing supposedly wouldn't pull down the other, I'm hoping the DSL will serve as backup insurance for the next time the cable goes out...or we have lighting...or heavy rain... or someone at True forgets to feed their monkey.

I'm feeling a lot better now.. Before, I was worrying I wouldn't have anything to do with my life tomorrow... But now I know I at least have something to look forward to... another day with True Online's now-you-see-them, now-you-don't tech support folks.

[Pib]

Well, I'm feeling a little better about True service also. When signing up for cable TV and 20Mb internet at the same time I was suppose to get my 20Mb/2Mb plan at half price for 3 months plus a free month of TrueVisions. The TrueVisions bill appeared to give the free month with all the magic math since it actually covered a 6 week period...so I'm OK with getting that discount.

But my first TrueOnline internet bill did not include the first month at half price (i.e., regular price 1299 baht for 20Mb/2Mb; half price 650 baht). So the Thai wife and I visited a True Service Center to see what was going on. We talked to the Duty Manager, explained the problem, the manager said she would work it and call us back this week. Well, since the week is almost over and we hadn't got a call we made another visit to the service center since we needed to go to Tops anyway that was in the same building. The person we originally talked to was not on duty today, but we did talk to another CSR. That CSR pulled-up our account and it showed it had been marked to start receiving the half price discount beginning next bill....the CSR even let us look at the screen display where it clearly said that. So, True customer service came through...but the next bill will provide the proof as to if we truly get the discount, but I think we will since we saw what their system now says with our own eyes.

For jfc,

Now that you have DSL backup, your cable internet will never go down again....that just the way it works. For me, I'm 5 days away from having the cable internet for one month and so far through rain, lightning, and shine it been up and running practically 100% of the time. I say "practically," because there was a few seconds during the first week or so where I lost my IP connection for a few seconds a couple of times over a few days and I'm pretty sure it was a True problem versus my laptop just acting up since the cable TV signal also seemed to act-up for a few seconds. Wishing you plenty of uptime...and I'm knocking on wood (my head) my uptime stays good along with the speed which has indeed been good....I've about "YouTubed" myself out over the last few weeks since I can now watch streaming video without any pausing.

[jfchandler]

Well, everything has been peaceful, and uneventful, the past couple days...

The True guys did come back the next day, a couple days ago, and swapped out my cable modem for a replacement, just in case, as I posted in the other thread on True's cable modems. And of course, they showed up without any appointment or even calling first to say they were coming soon... But, the modem they brought the second time did and is working properly... and my cable service has been OK for the past few days....

Yesterday, as promised, True also did turn on my restored 7 Mbps DSL account (restored from the former 10 Mbps DSL account I had up until April when I canceled it for their cable service). I hooked it up and everything is working OK now as follows:

--the 10 Mbps cable modem (699 per month) hooked up to my main desktop, and feeding a Linksys wireless N WRT160N router broadcasting on N band only.

--the 7 Mbps DSL modem (599 per month) hooked up to my wife's computer, and feeding a Linksys wireless N E1000 router broadcasting on G band only.

That way, if either the cable or the DSL service goes out again, I should still have a good wireless feed (one or the other) throughout my entire house for laptops and mobile phones and anything else.

Last night around midnight, I also did a bit of a test... I streamed the same couple episodes of a U.S. TV series from a U.S.-only streaming service via the same VPN account, first using my wireless N/cable feed to a laptop in our bedroom, and then the same exact episodes from the same service using my wireless G feed to the same laptop. Each time, I used my watch to time in second the duration from my clicking of the play button to the start of the TV episodes actually playing.

The results surprised me a bit... though I'll need to do some more testing and tinkering:

Episode 1 -- Wireless N/10 Mbps cable 48 secs -- Wireless G/7 Mbps DSL 41 secs

Episode 2 -- Wireless N/10 Mbps cable 34 secs -- Wireless G/7 Mbps DSL 24 secs

Episode 3 -- Wireless N/10 Mbps cable 30 secs -- Wireless G/7 Mbps DSL didn't play/froze

I also ran the same comparison between the two internet feeds using Microsoft's US West Coast speed test site...and based on just one run, the cable/Wireless N feed showed a slightly slower download speed and a somewhat quicker ping time, while the DSL/Wireless G feed showed a slightly faster download speed and a slightly slower ping time.

Those results above are too limited, and with too many variables, to draw any definite conclusions. But they certainly aren't the results I would have expected.

[Pib]

For you folks that want to do a speed test using Microsoft Online Services to North America (U.S. west coast...LA I think), Europe (Ireland), and/or Singapore go to this Web Link and look near the bottom of the page for the speed test links.

Since the Microsoft Online Services speed test is not generally fooled by nearby hidden cache servers, be prepared to be humbled in how fast (i.e., how much slower) your connection really is to international sites...just so many hops we have to go through to reach most international sites....each hop has a chokepoint/delay affect on your connection speed and ping time. Your result will most likely be much slower than when using Speedtest.net which is usually fooled by hidden cache servers and gives you a faster-than-light/cached result.

As always, take any speed test with a big grain of salt (even the MS Onlines Services test).

[Pib]

--Signal Noise Ratio of 33... whereas you want at least above 30 or 32 depending on which source you consult.

--Downstream Power of -3.4... whereas numbers between -4 and +4 or -8 and +8 are considered optimal.

--and Upstream Power of 36, which according to Pib's research is supposed to be pretty good.

At various times, other True techs have told me their target for that is in the mid to upper 40s... Today's guy said the acceptable range is 30-50...

Today I finally got around to arranging/securing/re-tightening the mass of cables behind my cabinet that holds my internet cable/modem router, TV, DVD, C/KU band set-top box, TrueVisions set-top box, phone VOIP adapter, cordless phone, emergency power light, etc....a real mass of RG-6/11 cables, Ethernet cables, electrical wires, phone wires, cable power splitters, etc. This cabinet is almost like my home command center. Made the wiring all nice and neat, secured properly, and re-tightened all RG-6/11 cable internet/TV connections.

While all connections were still felt snug (to include those connections made my the True technicians almost one month ago when installing the 20Mb/2Mb cable internet and cable TV) the RG-6/11 cable internet/TV connections could still be turned about a quarter-of-a-turn and had probably loosened a little over the last month from cable movement caused by various factors (e.g., cable movement caused vacuuming/cleaning behind the cabinet which moved the cables around, movement of some of the devices which caused cable movement/connector loosening, etc.).

Anyway, once firing everything back-up I had a 3 dbmV drop in Upstream Power (modem power value changed from 49.7 to 46.7 dbmV) which is a good thing in this case (i.e., modem not needing to pump out as much Upstream power, puts the Upstream Power connection more into the sweet-spot zone versus getting close to an upper limit of 50-55 dbmV ). On the day True installed the system the Upstream Power value was 48.6 dbmV and a week or so later climbed to 49.7 dbmV...increase may have occurred due to the cable movement/connector loosening). My DownStream Power was still 5 dbmV range after the cable tidying-up. Cables are now secured to where they are much less likely to be affected by cleaning behind the cabinet, moving devices around, etc). Moral of this story: secure your cables to minimize movement, ensure connectors are tight, and check the cable/connectors periodically.

[Pib]

OK, today marks me having the TrueOnline Cable Internet 20Mb/2Mb package for one month. Uptime has been practically 100% except maybe for a few seconds about three weeks ago on a couple of different days when I noticed my computer's internet connection icon flashed I lost my IP address...at about the same time my cable TV went off for a few seconds....but "if" I did indeed lose my IP address/connection it was so brief it did not affect my browsing which I was doing at the time. Browsing is very snappy, email uploads/downloads are fast, and streaming video without pausing is now no problem, to include High Definition Streaming Video. My phone VOIP adapter works no problem. While very frequently checking my cable modem DownStream and UpStream Power Levels these levels have always been excellent rain or shine, day or night.

OK, what about the speed tests you may be thinking? Today I did run some standard speed tests around 11:00am (plus or minus 15 minutes) on the TOT speedtester, the Speedtest.net speed tester, the Microsoft Online Services speed tester, and the DSLReports.com speed tester. See below for some comments on the different speed tests. And as I've said before in other posts, take all speed test results with grain of salt as they may not be accurate. Tests ran in Wireless mode between my computer and the True-provided Cisco EPC2325 Wifi modem/router, which is a 54G wireless router.

Test results on the different speed test sites was all over the map as expected. I say "as expected" because each speed test site usually gives different results depending on whether it was fooled by the hidden cache servers, number of hops to the site, capacity of the speed tester server, time of day/night, and other factors.

The test to the Bangkok TOT speed tester as expected gave me full in-country/in-Thailand speed of 20Mb down/2Mb up, as did the Speedtester.net speed tester. The Speedtester.net site continued to give me pretty much full speed results to any international location I checked....it don't do this all the time but most of the time it does...no doubt it is being fooled speed- and ping time-wise by True's hidden cache servers within Thailand. But if those cache servers are relaying accurate/up to date internet content then that's a good thing.

Now when using the Microsoft Online Services and DSLReports speed tester sites I got much lower speed results....the affect of "not" being fooled by hidden cache servers or maybe something else.

Here are the various results....take all results with a BIG grain of salt. P.S. I'm happy with the True Cable Internet 20Mb/2Mb plan....your results and happiness level may vary.

TOT speed test to Bangkok

Speedtest.net speed test to Bangkok

Speedtest.net speed test to Singapore

Microsoft Online Services speed test to Singapore

Speedtest.net speed test to San Francisco

DSLReports.com speed test to Los Angeles.

Microsoft Online Services speed test to North America (U.S. West Coast)

Speedtest.net speed test to London

Microsoft Online Services speed test to Europe (Ireland)

As mentioned, I'm happy with the True Cable Internet 20Mb/2Mb plan. Your results and happiness level may vary. In Thailand, Location, Location, Location can make such a difference between people using the same ISP/internet plan.

Da End.

Edited July 19, 2011 by Pib

[jfchandler]

Pib, as you well know, anytime you're getting ping results of 13 or 14 ms to places far away as San Francisco, London and Singapore, you know the results are bogus.... Though the DSL Reports reading of 1.8K to Los Angeles with a ping of 355 ms seems reasonable...

I don't know how all these speed test sites are built or what they use... but anytime I've seen the logo "OOKLA" on a speed test site, whether it be Speedtest.net or others, the international results have been invariably bogus.... Whenever I see that little logo, I don't bother wasting my time...

[Pib]

Yeap, pretty much like I pointed out in my post. Hidden cache servers can really skew speed test results, especially on Speedtest.net. But a lot of people like seeing the resutls.

However, when I still had my TOT 6Mb ADSL I would never get bogus ping times and I don't think bogus download speeds as the speeds to international web sites usually averaged in the 500Kb to 2Mb ballpark...on a really good day I might get 3Mb to a few international sites...I just don't think TOT has hidden cache servers...that would cost them money. But True seems to spend money on cache servers. Cache servers are a good thing as they get content to you a lot faster but they sure can skew some speedtest programs depending whether they are built on Flash programming, Java programming, etc. I've read speed test programs based on Java Applets at not/the least affected by cache servers.

Always take speed test results with a BIG grain of salt as some of the tests may not be accurate/may be skewed/just not real world...and usually unrealistic/faster-than-light ping times are a giveaway a hidden cache server is causing inaccurate (a.k.a., bogus) speed test results. Yeap, BIG grain of salt....

[Pib]

One more bit of download speed information relating to files and my True cable 20Mb plan. I use IE8 and Orbit Download Manager. When I go to sites where you can download Small/Medium/Large files and using the Download Manager I frequently pull file download speeds ranging from 1MB (8Mb) to 2.5MB (20Mb). File downloads using a Download Manager are really fast from sites that don't limit/throttle the download speed.

When I had the TOT 6Mb ADSL plan and using the Download Manager, I frequently got download speeds in the 200KB (1.6Mb) to 450KB (3.6Mb) range.

Now these sites I'm downloading from are international web sites. Whether I really ended-up getting the file download from an in-Thailand cached server on the True or TOT plan I can't say. All I can say is what download speed the Orbit Download Manager reported.

[nikster]

Looks like your international bandwidth is severely restricted still - which is not surprising, they never promised true 20Mbit out of the country. Compare with the 2,500 baht / Month 5Mbit connection from 3BB to get an idea how much that would cost (and 3BB Premier isn't dedicated either, just less contended). Anyway a premier service at that speed would likely cost 10,000 Baht.

Speedtest.net has become pretty much useless.

Download manager results are interesting - at least those are real speeds. I don't really understand why the providers allow this, but it seems all of them do - whatever you download in parallel circumvents your international throttling. When I had 8Mbit 3BB it was crap - but download manager downloads, and torrents would still download a the full 8Mbit.

It's a moving target.

Another thing that has made internet speeds in Thailand better is dedicated lines by various providers. Google for example owns a pretty big line out of Thailand - so all your YouTube traffic is actually handled like a local in-Thailand connection, it's going to a Thai server in Thailand, from there via Google's international line to Google's servers in the USA. IP transparent dedicated lines are offered as a service by the ISPs here. A bunch of other corporations do this too, that's why Apple App store downloads are so fast, etc.

To the end user it's similar to caching though that's not what it's doing.

It's harder to measure your true, unbiased speed now. But our real world speeds are going up, so that's a good thing.

Edited July 19, 2011 by nikster

[RedCardinal]

Did anyone who signed up for 20Mb package and who already had True Visions get the 50% discount for first 3 months?

When they signed me up they sent 2 young guys around to house. These 2 guys told me I'd get first 3 months for half price, took down my True Visions sub number, and away they went.

Of course first bill arrives for full price, and we wait 2 months to get any info back from their customer support. Visited True Online store today, and was told someone from sales would get back to me. Guy phones saying offer only for customers who also sign up for new True Visions subscription at same time. I tell him what the 2 sales guys told me at the time and what was on the TrueOnline.com website, and his response is that "I don't understand" and "I should downgrade to 10Mb to save same money". He also told me the 2 "sales reps" aren't employees of True at all, as if to say True aren't responsible for anything they said.

This type of crap really grinds my gears. I've asked him to escalate it, but don't hold out much hope of anything other than wasting more of my time.

Their "EN" website is showing the offer in Thai:

http://www.trueonline.com/en/product/ultra_hispeed.php

Don't suppose anyone can understand what it says down bottom-right?

[arkom]

Did anyone who signed up for 20Mb package and who already had True Visions get the 50% discount for first 3 months?

When they signed me up they sent 2 young guys around to house. These 2 guys told me I'd get first 3 months for half price, took down my True Visions sub number, and away they went.

Of course first bill arrives for full price, and we wait 2 months to get any info back from their customer support. Visited True Online store today, and was told someone from sales would get back to me. Guy phones saying offer only for customers who also sign up for new True Visions subscription at same time. I tell him what the 2 sales guys told me at the time and what was on the TrueOnline.com website, and his response is that "I don't understand" and "I should downgrade to 10Mb to save same money". He also told me the 2 "sales reps" aren't employees of True at all, as if to say True aren't responsible for anything they said.

This type of crap really grinds my gears. I've asked him to escalate it, but don't hold out much hope of anything other than wasting more of my time.

Their "EN" website is showing the offer in Thai:

http://www.trueonline.com/en/product/ultra_hispeed.php

Don't suppose anyone can understand what it says down bottom-right?

My Thai reading skills aren't that great, but form what I can make out it says:

You need to have the Gold or Platinum package

-Free WiFi for 3 months

-50% discount for 3 months for Ultra Hi-speed for packages 20mb and higher

-Free ala carte channels for 1 month

-Free preview of HD channels for 3 months

There is one line I can't make though.

[Pib]

To get the 50% discount for three months on a 20Mb or higher speed package, you also had to sign up for TrueVisions Gold or Platinum at the same time.

See the blue text in the bottom of below English ad:

Now, in the recently installed True cable TV and internet installed in my moobaan I did signup for the 20Mb/2Mb internet plan (which is working fine) and TrueVisons Platinum plan at the same time (I already had the TrueVisons Platinum via satellite dish...I just signed up for the cableTV version and immediately canceled the dish version). When the first TrueOnline cable internet bill came I was charged full price...didn't get the discokunt. So,the Thai wife and I went to a True Service Center with my TrueVisions and TrueOnline recent bills, told them we didn't get the 50% discount advertised, two True CSRs looked into their magic IT account system and said they would call the wife back in a few days with an update. Well, the call never came, so we went back to the service center at week later and the CSR told and showed us in their IT system our account is now coded to get the 50% cable internet discount for 3 months starting next bill.

As FYI, we also got the first month free for our new TrueVisions cable plan as shown in above thumbnail. For whatever reason they got the TrueVisions discount correct from the get-go but not the TrueOnline discount. Probably a case of the left hand not talking to the right hand as TrueVisions and TrueOnline are two different business units within True.

[RedCardinal]

Thanks for the help. Apparently those Thai text conditions actually state that existing True Visions Gold or Platinum customers are also entitled to bonuses if they sign up to 20Mb package or higher.

I went back to True Online shop in Phuket Town and the duty manager was very cool about it. He applied the discount straight away and told me not to worry about what the sales guy had claimed (it seems there is little love lost between their sales and CS teams).

The offer applies to both existing True Visions customers and new sign-ups, so if you do apply for 20Mb+ make sure you actually get your discount.

[Pib]

Well, I'm feeling a little better about True service also. When signing up for cable TV and 20Mb internet at the same time I was suppose to get my 20Mb/2Mb plan at half price for 3 months plus a free month of TrueVisions. The TrueVisions bill appeared to give the free month with all the magic math since it actually covered a 6 week period...so I'm OK with getting that discount.

But my first TrueOnline internet bill did not include the first month at half price (i.e., regular price 1299 baht for 20Mb/2Mb; half price 650 baht). So the Thai wife and I visited a True Service Center to see what was going on. We talked to the Duty Manager, explained the problem, the manager said she would work it and call us back this week. Well, since the week is almost over and we hadn't got a call we made another visit to the service center since we needed to go to Tops anyway that was in the same building. The person we originally talked to was not on duty today, but we did talk to another CSR. That CSR pulled-up our account and it showed it had been marked to start receiving the half price discount beginning next bill....the CSR even let us look at the screen display where it clearly said that. So, True customer service came through...but the next bill will provide the proof as to if we truly get the discount, but I think we will since we saw what their system now says with our own eyes.

Just got my 2nd month bill and it does include the 50% discount. Been on the 20Mb/2Mb plan now for about 50 days and it has been running rock solid/up 100% of the time. And by including a True proxy server address into my internet/browser connection setup the browsing has been even more snappier and eliminated the problem of not being able to reach a few U.S. govt websites, such as the American Embassy in Bangkok ACS Appointment System (hosted on a U.S. State Dept server in the U.S.) and Social Security Agency (I ain't old enough for the benefits yet but I can see it not too far down the road). Not being able to reach these sites for True Cable folks and some other non-True internet folks was/is talked in a couple other TV topics. So far, I've been very pleased with my True UltraSpeed Cable Internet 20Mb/2Mb plan. In closing, knock on wood.

[RedCardinal]

To get the 50% discount for three months on a 20Mb or higher speed package, you also had to sign up for TrueVisions Gold or Platinum at the same time.

See the blue text in the bottom of below English ad:

Just to reply to this. They had a second panel which was for existing True Visions customers. This offered everything except the 1 month of free True Visions sub.

Sadly I've had hassle after hassle with this. The CSRs have basically told us that sales will offer anything to make their figures, and regardless of the fact that the sales people who came to my house told me "first 3 months 50%" and took my True Visions customer #, and this offer still being clearly available on their website at http://www.trueonline.com/en/product/ultra_hispeed.php they refuse to honour it.

I got the Thai leaflet which had this second panel, but alas we threw it out

Lesson learned - don't trust True sales.

[Pib]

In my case I "was" an existing True customer with their Digital Satellite TV (DSTV) service. Signed up for their Cable TV (CATV) and cable 20Mb plan at the same time, and they installed both at the same time. Went and canceled the DSTV the day after they installed the CATV and cable internet. Guess they treated me like a new customer since I signed up for the CATV and internet at the same time, even through I was really already a TrueVisions customer with their DSTV.

When I paid my first TrueVisions CATV bill it was really for about 41 day period and from looking at the bill nowhere did it say I got a free month but the bill did show a smoke and mirrors process/several deductions not on a normal bill. All the various deductions added up real close to a 2000 baht discount (I'm on their Platinum package). I say "real close" because I only did the math in my head.. Even my Thai wife couldn't figure out what the various deduction names really meant. But hey, I was OK with it since the deductions added up to 2000 baht with my head math and it appeared to me I was only paying for 11 days of service instead of the 41 days of service the bill covered (i.e., I was getting a free month of the basic plan cost). I paid the bill and when the receipt showed up in the mail about a week later there was also a separate type document called a credit for 2000 baht (not a check of any kind; just a document saying I had got a credit in my last bill)....I expect that was my receipt of sorts for the free month of the Platinum package. Yeap, smoke and mirrors but I did get my TrueVisions discount of one free month. Also now getting my 50% off for three months of 20Mb TrueOnline internet service.

I will have to say that True promotions almost require a lawyer's review of the fine print. And maybe occassionally taking a lawyer with you to one of their Service Centers to work out billing problems.

Edited August 10, 2011 by Pib

[yankee99]

I am curious what download speeds you are getting using uttorent. With a 10mb verison fios in the states connection i was getting up to 2mb. My 3bb never gets to 1mb ......Also is there a online shop in pattaya yet? They distributed the brochures to my moo baan 3 months ago...

[Pib]

I am curious what download speeds you are getting using uttorent. With a 10mb verison fios in the states connection i was getting up to 2mb. My 3bb never gets to 1mb ......Also is there a online shop in pattaya yet? They distributed the brochures to my moo baan 3 months ago...

Can't say as I don't do uttorents.

[paulian]

So hopefully you already have TRUE CATV (cable). You'll need it.

AFAIK TRUE & UBC have had cable internet continuously for a very long time. Most customers prefer ADSL.

I have sat TV & thus cable modem not possible.

yes, I have True cable TV, although the person I talked to from True said it wasn't necessary to have a True cable Tv subscription. Maybe for those that don't have cable TV they will just put the line in.

Incidentally this offer is only open until 28 February 2011.

Just phoned True online customer service. Person I spoke to had no idea when I asked about the 100mb cable product and can i get it installed... gave up in the end.

Ok, I have the latest news on this promotion.

It's true (no pun intended) that True customer service knows nothing of this promotion. You have to contact sales directly and I have the telephone number. Am I allowed to post it here?

It seems this promotion is only available in certain areas of Bangkok. I am on Thong Lor and the service is only available on a few sois on Thong Lor. Luckily I am on one of the sois.

I asked about reliability, up times and so on and was told that it is "VERY stable" (but then again what else would she say?).

They also told me that when I use their cable modem I won't have wi-fi. As I use 2 laptops around the house I need this. Is it possible to set up some kind of wi-fi from the main computer?

Yes, just get a wireless router, you hook your cable modem to it and you have wireless throughout your place. Make sure you WEP encrypt the router so it's secure.