True Ultra High Speed Problem

[shariq607]

Hey,

couple of days ago some one from true called me to tell me that now my mooban supports there ultra high speed internet.

after hearing about the speeds i immediately placed and order for 20/2 cable speed internet and today was my installation appointment day

so i didn't go for work because the appointment was scheduled morning 11 am, then the technician calls me to tell me that he will be late till 2 pm

after waiting for him till 2 he finally arrived to tell me that my house is not supported i asked him the reason behind this and he says my house is about 150 meters far from the junction or whatever and about after 100 meters the signal gets interrupted. then he tells sorry and leaves and tells me to contact true by phone.

I am really disappointed by true because first they said my house supports it and later says not.

however after researching on the internet cable internet can go without interruption as far as 500 feet with good quality cable .

so my question is any of you had similar thing in past? and is the cable length limited to 100 meters?

[Derifo]

They're very good at advertising services that they cannot render.

[Pib]

Well, what the technician told you could be true. From the TrueOnline ads regarding UltraSpeed Cable Internet they only mention the "Free wiring up to 70 meters (once exceeding 70 meters an additional wiring fee of 25 baht/meter well apply.)" Now I know this don't really say anything about max cable length for "good signal purposes" but it may be implying that they don't normally go much beyond 70 meters.

Didn't see anything about a max distance but I expect there is. Basically RG-6/RG-11 cable (i.e., round white or black 75 ohm TV cable) is used to connect between the tap on the cable trunk line on the poles to the residence. For about every 30 meters of RG-6/RG-11 an approx 5db power loss occurs at 500Mhz, which is the approx frequency used for the internet downstream signal. So, a 150 meter (492 feet) cable run would induce approx a 25db power drop which may not provide enough power to the cable modem which can operate within approx a -17dbmV to +17dbmV range, but the optimum power range is around the -5dbmV to +5dbmV. With this power drop/attenuation, a lot depends on how much power is available at the trunk line tap. This tap is nothing more than a splitter with 2 or 4 screw-on RG6/RG11 taps...just like the screw-on connector on the back of your satellite/cable TV set-top box.

Basically it boils down to how much power is available at the trunk line tap which would primarily determine the max length of the cable run. I expect the trunk line is setup to deliver a certain power level to each tap, the RG6/RG-11 that is connected to that tap will attenuate the signal by X amount per meter, and if after this attenuation there is not adequate power reaching the end of your cable which connects to the cable modem then you are too far away to receive reliable service. Cable modems are more sensitive to proper power levels than ADSL modems. Actually, the cable run from the tap to your modem may also go through an Isolator and a 3.5db splitter which would add another 4db or so of attenuation.

Now with a Satellite TV cable run from the dish to set-top box they normally say that if you have a 100 to 150 "feet" (30 to 45 meter) cable run then you'll probably have to add a 20db inline amplifier to boost the signal. Remember you are dealing with almost a 500 feet cable run. I don't know if True would use an inline amplifier to boost a signal due to a long cable run...if they did I expect they may have to use several. The problem with amplification is that unless it's a high quality amplifier and placed at the beginning point of the cable run (like the tap on the trunk line) you will get a signal "and noise" boost which can greatly lower/mess up the Signal to Noise Ratio. And inline amplifier must run of DC power running on the line, like the 13 or 18 volts on a satellite TV line.....I don't know if any DC voltage runs on a "cable" TV/internet line....if there is none then there would be no power for the inline amplifier.

In my moobaan True finally completed the trunk line installation for cable internet and TV about three weeks ago (they took about 5 months to complete the installation). From looking at where they placed the signal taps on the trunk line running up and down the sois it appears there would be no more than a 50 meter RG6/RG11 cable run from the tap to a residence/hookup to the modem. I estimate they only used approx a 25-30 meter run from the trunk line tap to my modem for the hookup of my 20Mb/2Mb plan.

You may be just too far from the trunk line tap...150 meters/492 feet is a l.........o..........n.........g RG6/RG11 run.

[CMSteve]

Ran into the same issue here just south of the old city. They said they had it in our area and would provide free cable for the first 70M, and charge us for anything afterwards. When the service tech came out, we were informed that it would not work for us because we are about 120M from the last box. Luckily, we were only looking to upgrade and had not cancelled our ADSL service with 3BB.

I can't say I was happy with how it turned out, but I think it a good thing that the service tech told me it wouldn't work, rather than setting it up and leaving it to another service tech to come out and inform me of a problem (this happened about a year ago with TRUE adsl.)

Fortunately they are adding more infrastructure (slowly) and there are signs creeping closer and closer to my road....

BTW, I have the TRUE 10/1 service at another location inside the old city. Tops out about 8M down and .9M up. Not too bad.

[Pib]

It seems that for many internet hookups the ISPs only have information in their service location database that will tell them its either a flat out no-can-do (i.e., we have no service to that area/moobaan), or they know they currently provide some service to the general area/most of the moobaan but may not provide 100% coverage...the technician will come out to determine if service can be provided to a residence. Unfortunately, that message seems to get lost in the written/verbal communications between Thai and English.

One of many rules of thumb for living in Thailand is never cancel the old service until the new service is hooked-up if possible. And actually for internet service, and if possible, you might want to let the old service continue to run for a few weeks after installation of the new service just in case the new service don't work worth a dam_n. Most of the time when you cancel a service during the month they don't prorate the monthly bill for early termination; you still end up paying for the whole month even if 29 days are left in the service month. This is basically what happened to me when switching from TrueVisions Satellite TV to TrueVisions Cable TV...after getting the Cable TV installed about 19 days through the service month we went the next day to cancel the satellite TV service...TrueVisions said they don't prorate early termination and the satellite TV would continue to work through the end of the service month before it would stop working...and 10 days later they would come out and pickup the satellite TV set-top box and remove the dish antenna so we could get our set-top deposit back in about 30 to 45 days. Thai companies will take your money fast; but returning any money owed you is usually slow and sometimes like pulling teeth. TIT.