True Cable Internet Modem

[Kvwielink]

Hi All, I'm just looking for a bit of information here. I currently have a True ADSL internet connection at home but I'm thinking of switching to their cable internet as it's the only way I can get faster speeds in our area.

My worry however is with the modem they will provide. When I got the ADSL connection installed they provided a really crappy HuaWei brand modem, which was password protected and couldn't be configured. I ended up replacing it with a D-Link modem-router instead because I wanted the connection to run continuously rather than using a login and password every time. On top of that I needed to be able to forward ports so that I can access my CCTV cameras in my home from outside.

Could anyone here tell me what sort of modem True will provide when I switch to their Cable services? Can it be configured? Does it support port forwarding? DMZ? Do I need to buy a separate wireless router/switch if I also want wireless support at home? Or is it possible to purchase your own cable modem/router similar as what I did when I got the ADSL connection?

Sorry if these questions are a bit duh, but I'm quite new to the cable internet stuff.

Thanks for the help!

[jfchandler]

I've seen either a web page (I believe on True Online's support page) that lists what modems True provides with their cable service. From my recollection, the models are different depending on what plan/speed of cable internet you select...

I have their 10 Mbps cable plan, and it comes with a very basic Motorola Surfboard cable modem.... just a power jack, Ethernet jack and cable coax in connection, not even an off-off or reset switch.... Very basic web based status/information interface.... nothing in the way of user configurability for that model.

TV member PIB has their 20 Mbps plan, and if you read the main thread of True's cable internet, I believe he talked about what particular model came with his just established cable service.

When I established my True cable service, they weren't offering wifi routers with any of their cable plans.... Subsequently I believe they did... I'm not sure about their current cable packages... Check with True about that, as their promotions and offers are constantly changing.

But in any event, you absolutely can hookup and use any wifi router of your own with the True cable modem if the model True gives you don't include one or you don't want to use it. The chain simply goes:

--cable from the street into your modem.

--Ethernet from your modem to your router....

--Ethernet from your router to an attached PC's Ethernet jack.

--Wifi from your router to the rest of your home.

The more interesting question to me that you raise is... could someone use their own cable modem instead of the True provided one... I've never seen that subject discussed here.

Here's a screen capture of True's current cable plan offerings...

BTW, you should definitely read the main True cable thread here... And, since I did what you're talking about doing what I did -- switching from True DSL to cable -- you absolutely want to keep your DSL service for at least a couple months after you get the cable service to make sure that you're getting a quality connection from the cable in your home... It does appear that True's cable internet system, while faster, is also more prone to localized problems than their DSL setup.

[jfchandler]

Here's one of the kind of pages I was thinking about showing their modem and router models for different plans.

http://support2.truecorp.co.th/detail.aspx?document_id=316

http://support2.truecorp.co.th/detail.aspx?document_id=317

[jfchandler]

BTW, one of the things I love about True Online is they seem to be going out of their way to make their web pages inacccessable to those who don't read Thai....

Not only do they seem to be taking down what used to be the English language versions of their web pages re their DSL and cable internet service, but they're also building the new pages as image-based pages instead of text-based one, meaning they can't be translated by Google or any other similar program/service that I'm aware off...

Brickbats to True for that one...

Here's the latest good example...

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

And when you think you might try replacing the "th" in the above address with "en", you get this...

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

Also not in English....

[Kvwielink]

BTW, one of the things I love about True Online is they seem to be going out of their way to make their web pages inacccessable to those who don't read Thai....

Not only do they seem to be taking down what used to be the English language versions of their web pages re their DSL and cable internet service, but they're also building the new pages as image-based pages instead of text-based one, meaning they can't be translated by Google or any other similar program/service that I'm aware off...

Brickbats to True for that one...

Here's the latest good example...

http://www.trueonlin...tra_hispeed.php

And when you think you might try replacing the "th" in the above address with "en", you get this...

http://www.trueonlin...tra_hispeed.php

Also not in English....

I know, it's ridiculous. I realize I live in a country where English is not the native language, and I can even live with it if they don't pretend to offer any english version of their site, but don't pretend there is one by giving a choice to select English as the main language and then only translate the main page and nothing else...

Anyway, thanks for all the info. I read the (lengthy) thread you recommended me to read, very useful. I posted a question to you in that thread as well concerning your location. Hopefully you're not too close to where I live, no offense

[jfchandler]

HA!! Thanks... None taken.... Of course I understand what you mean...

[SomTumTiger]

BTW, one of the things I love about True Online is they seem to be going out of their way to make their web pages inacccessable to those who don't read Thai....

Not only do they seem to be taking down what used to be the English language versions of their web pages re their DSL and cable internet service, but they're also building the new pages as image-based pages instead of text-based one, meaning they can't be translated by Google or any other similar program/service that I'm aware off...

Brickbats to True for that one...

Here's the latest good example...

http://www.trueonlin...tra_hispeed.php

And when you think you might try replacing the "th" in the above address with "en", you get this...

http://www.trueonlin...tra_hispeed.php

Also not in English....

I know, it's ridiculous. I realize I live in a country where English is not the native language, and I can even live with it if they don't pretend to offer any english version of their site, but don't pretend there is one by giving a choice to select English as the main language and then only translate the main page and nothing else...

Anyway, thanks for all the info. I read the (lengthy) thread you recommended me to read, very useful. I posted a question to you in that thread as well concerning your location. Hopefully you're not too close to where I live, no offense

Its called Google Translate - Been working pretty well for a while now. Give it a try.

[jfchandler]

Som Tum, the problem is, many of True Online's key internet service pages -- like those links posted just above -- are built as graphic image files...not text-based pages...

Graphic image files are not translatable with Google or anything else similar...

You also can't even copy and paste the text into any other site or service..because they're entirely image files.

You might look at the actual pages before posting useless advice.

Edited July 13, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

duplicate deleted.

Edited July 13, 2011 by jfchandler

[Kvwielink]

duplicate deleted.

Hey JFC, I have one more question for you. I'm trying to apply for the cable internet now (although they are now telling me that the service is NOT available in my area, even though they previously told me otherwise...), but I don't want their wireless router modem since it's not a N capable wireless router, only B/G. Also, Pib already confirmed in another post that some of the settings are blocked, which I just cannot stand.

I'm eyeing a TP-Link router, but I'm not sure if it would be compatible with the cable modem. Is there anything I should look for? The ones from TP-Link have come recommended by a friend as stable and affordable. I'm wondering if they are a router-modem combination though, since they also have a WAN port next to the 4 LAN ports. Do you think that would be an issue?

Sorry for the stupid questions, but networking never was my strong point.

Thanks again!

[jfchandler]

Kv... now you're getting in over my head in technicalese...

I'm not familiar with the particular equipment you're citing... But I can offer this general guidance....

For someone using True's cable internet... if their plan involves a True-issued cable modem only, then they ought to be able to add any router or any wifi router that's ethernet capable, and it should work fine...

If someone has a True-issued cable modem and wifi router combo... I'm not entirely sure, but I'd imagine it's possible to simply use the modem component and then use your own add-on wifi router of your choice. Such as True issuing B/G equipment, but you wanting to use your own N-based router.

Or, to make it simpler, it might also be possible to simply ask True, when signing up for a particular speed/plan, whether there's a choice of modems and if so, you'd prefer the modem only option.

At my home at present, I'm using a True issued cable modem only device with my own privately purchased N routers....just connected together by Ethernet cable... And they work fine.

When I signed up with True a few months ago, I don't believe they were offering any N equipment... Not sure about now...

Pib and I had an exchange a while back on that subject, wherein he pointed out that for the 10 and 20 Mbps cable service plans, a good G wifi router ought to be more than sufficient to handle the data flow... I'm not sure I ever responded fully on that, but I will now, by adding that from what I understand, apart from data speeds, N routers can have advantages based on reception distance and quality over their G brethren... But a lot depends on the particular brands and models involved...

The whole issue of networking equipment -- and performance variations among different brands and models even with the same class such as G or N -- can best be described as a jungle...

Perhaps others here can offer some additional insights.

[stat]

duplicate deleted.

Hey JFC, I have one more question for you. I'm trying to apply for the cable internet now (although they are now telling me that the service is NOT available in my area, even though they previously told me otherwise...), but I don't want their wireless router modem since it's not a N capable wireless router, only B/G. Also, Pib already confirmed in another post that some of the settings are blocked, which I just cannot stand.

I'm eyeing a TP-Link router, but I'm not sure if it would be compatible with the cable modem. Is there anything I should look for? The ones from TP-Link have come recommended by a friend as stable and affordable. I'm wondering if they are a router-modem combination though, since they also have a WAN port next to the 4 LAN ports. Do you think that would be an issue?

Sorry for the stupid questions, but networking never was my strong point.

Thanks again!

Folks so what about the real speed of this offering/downtime and ping to servers?

Thanks!

[jfchandler]

Consult the main TV thread on this subject...

But beware of some of the Speedtest.net site results that clearly are false, and often discussed as such, based on their ping times to international destinations.

[Kvwielink]

Kv... now you're getting in over my head in technicalese...

I'm not familiar with the particular equipment you're citing... But I can offer this general guidance....

For someone using True's cable internet... if their plan involves a True-issued cable modem only, then they ought to be able to add any router or any wifi router that's ethernet capable, and it should work fine...

If someone has a True-issued cable modem and wifi router combo... I'm not entirely sure, but I'd imagine it's possible to simply use the modem component and then use your own add-on wifi router of your choice. Such as True issuing B/G equipment, but you wanting to use your own N-based router.

Or, to make it simpler, it might also be possible to simply ask True, when signing up for a particular speed/plan, whether there's a choice of modems and if so, you'd prefer the modem only option.

At my home at present, I'm using a True issued cable modem only device with my own privately purchased N routers....just connected together by Ethernet cable... And they work fine.

When I signed up with True a few months ago, I don't believe they were offering any N equipment... Not sure about now...

Pib and I had an exchange a while back on that subject, wherein he pointed out that for the 10 and 20 Mbps cable service plans, a good G wifi router ought to be more than sufficient to handle the data flow... I'm not sure I ever responded fully on that, but I will now, by adding that from what I understand, apart from data speeds, N routers can have advantages based on reception distance and quality over their G brethren... But a lot depends on the particular brands and models involved...

The whole issue of networking equipment -- and performance variations among different brands and models even with the same class such as G or N -- can best be described as a jungle...

Perhaps others here can offer some additional insights.

Thanks again mate, you've been very helpful. The main reason I want an N capable wireless router is that I recently bought a WD TV Live Hub to stream media throughout the home and most of my devices are wireless. So streaming HD content will probably be smoother with the higher transfer speeds of an N router. Also, the place has thick walls so better reach is always preferred.

I was mostly wondering if a router as you are using is purely a router, or a router/modem combination (e.g. if you were still using ADSL, would your router also function as your modem, or would it require a separate modem as well). Other than that brand wise it probably won't matter much.

Anyway, I'll work it out. Thanks again for the advice, appreciate it!

[jfchandler]

Re your question, I've used standalone G Linksys routers before with True's modem only DSL box... And later N Linksys standalone routers with True's modem-only cable modem... All of those configurations work just fine...

I've never had a combo modem-router unit with any of my True configurations. They've always provided the solo modem, and I've always provided my own routers.

If I was making arrangements and had the choice, I'd take my own N routers every time over True's own provided equipment.

[nikster]

Don't know anything about these cable modems, but I assume that

- They have an ethernet port

- You can plug a Wireless-N router into said ethernet port

- You can use DynDNS to make your system accessible from the outside. Unless you have a fixed IP address in which case you don't even need that...

[Pib]

The Wifi Cable modem/router provided by True is the Cicso EPC 2325 (or at least that's what they gave me). If you get the regular/non-Wifi router/modem like jfchandler has then it's free; if getting the Wifi router/modem then it costs 1000 baht.

Here's the Link to the Cisco web page where you can download the manual.

In the router/modem setup menu a couple of tabs are not activated but I don't think they are really important as they appear they would only probably info only. The "Setup" tab pretty much lets you change a bunch of settings....more than enough settings to get in trouble (like I got in trouble with my VOIP adapter...but I fixed that setting issue). Download the manual to see all the settings you can change/fine tune/mess up. Good luck.

[jfchandler]

I believe the model of cable modem and/or modem-router you get from True depends on which speed plan you subscribe to...

The links posted above for the different True equipment show different models associated with different service/speed plans.

When I subscribed, the only equipment option for their 10 Mbps cable plan was a Motorola Surfboard cable modem with no wifi router included.

Interestingly, when I subscribed, 10 Mbps for 699 baht per month was the lowest priced/speed offering in their cable service.

Subsequently, I see they're now offering a 7 Mbps cable plan for 599 baht per month.

[Pib]

I wouldn't be surprised that True only offers two router/modem models for cable internet plans: The Motorola Surfboard SB5101N which is a non-Wifi modem/router and the Cisco EPC2325 which is a Wifi modem/router.

Since the Cisco EPC2325 Wifi model uses the "54G" Wifi standard (i.e., up to 54Mb wireless transmission speed) for the Wifi transmission, for the 100Mb cable internet package, and probably even the 50Mb package speed, you would need to connect your computer to a ethernet port on the back of the EPC2325 to get the full 100Mb speed (and probably 50Mb speed).

If you didn't plan to use any Wifi function, then just getting the Motorola model would be as good and cheaper. If True doesn't offer a N Wifi standard Wifi router/modem and the customer was getting the 50Mb or 100Mb package and wanted Wifi, then the customer should just get the Motorola modem and provide their own N Wifi router. Buy hey, getting a 54G Wifi router for only 1000 baht ain't a bad deal, you could disable the Wifi function if you wanted to avoid interference with your N router Wifi signal, and if your N router ever died you just re-enable the Wifi function on the Cicso 54G Wifi provided by True.

Yea, I see on the True web site they are indeed now offering a 7Mb cable internet plan. Cool. I'm a'guessing the 7Mb, 10Mb, and 20Mb plans will be the most popular. Getting any international speed approaching 20Mb will probably only be to Singapore on a good day and then around 5Mb average to the US and Europe on a good day---and I'm talking real world speed versus the probably bogus, hidden cache speeds you usually get on Speednet.net. And I don't know of any real use for higher speeds for "in-Thailand" web sites...heck, even under my 20Mb plan the Bangkok Post web sites still pulls up slow just like on my previous TOT 6Mb ADSL....Bangkok Post must be running a 80386 CPU server with 20Mb hard drive.

See True Web site: http://www.trueonlin...tra_hispeed.php for internet DSL and Cable speed plans.

[jfchandler]

Here's one of the kind of pages I was thinking about showing their modem and router models for different plans.

http://support2.true...document_id=316

http://support2.true...document_id=317

This post above had links True's various modems and the plans associated with them... Not sure if the info therein is current or out of date.

It looks like there is one Thomson brand N wifi router among the second group.

Edited July 15, 2011 by jfchandler

[Pib]

I stand corrected...your post above shows True does indeed offer various models based on the plan selected. Good info and good to hear that True can provide a N router if selecting the 30, 50, or 100Mb plans.

I think the cable Wifi routers have only become available recently. When I originally signed up for the 20Mb/2Mb plan in late Feb for a mid March install, the salesperson said they didn't have any Wifi modems/routers and even made a call to confirm while talking to me. Then True dragged their feet in completing the cable trunk line in my moobaan until mid June. A True CSR rep called to arrange an install date and also asked if I wanted a Wifi modem as they now have them...the rep said they got them in about a month ago which would have been May...but maybe she really meant they had just got Wifi routers meant for the 10 or 20Mb plans. I said yes to the Wifi modem/router for 1000 baht which turned out to be the Cisco EPC2325 for my 20Mb plan....and this router is working fine for me.

[jfchandler]

Just a quick update.... the True guys did come and swap out my prior cable modem and replaced it with another yesterday, and I got exactly the same model as before, the basic Motorola Surfboard with no USB jack.

As I've become accustomed to with True Online, they arrived without any appointment or even any phone call ahead saying they were coming, although they'd said the day before they would be coming sometime during the day. Fortunately, I happened to be home at the time they showed up knocking...

Because of the reliability problems I've had with my cable internet service lately, later today True is due to turn on my restored 7 Mbps DSL service with them, which I'll be keeping as a backup to my existing 10 Mbps cable service.

Curiously, under True's plans, they don't offer any included wifi router with their 10 Mbps cable internet plan for 699 baht per month, but they do now offer a free, included wifi router with all of their DSL plans, including the lowest tier 7 Mbps plan for 599 baht per month that I'll be using as a backup.

The tech guy who came out to my home yesterday seemed relatively knowledgeable, so with my wife's help, I engaged him in a conversation about their service. I wanted to know, basically, if he could choose only ONE internet account with True, would he pick their DSL or their cable service?

What ensued was, in Thai, a lot of hemming and hawing... But what it finally came down to was.... he said their DSL services, both by rated speed and in actual use, are likely to be relatively slower but probably more reliable and less subject to line issues... Whereas he said their cable service was likely to be faster both in rated speeds and in actual use, but because of its different signal delivery method, more prone to transmission problems such as when storms or thunder and lightning and such occur.

He also did confirm that the True DSL and cable systems are run separately. So, if one were to suffer a localized or even broader outage, the other ought to remain in service... Obviously, that would exclude catastrophic things like the power going out at my home or more broadly, or, I suppose, some kind of cut or failure of the international transmission lines connecting all of Thailand to the rest of the world...

[Pib]

Curiously, under True's plans, they don't offer any included wifi router with their 10 Mbps cable internet plan for 699 baht per month, but they do now offer a free, included wifi router with all of their DSL plans, including the lowest tier 7 Mbps plan for 599 baht per month that I'll be using as a backup.

Probably a case of a cable modem/router generally costing more than a DSL modem/router, especially since DSL service is more widespread in Thailand and True can probably get a bigger price break from modem/router manufacturers for mass DSL router buys. But for 1000 baht True will provide a Wifi modem/router with their cable internet plans. One thing for sure though, internet plans and associated freebies change quite frequently, so maybe True will offer free Wifi cable routers in the near future (or not).

Plan prices and freebies always seem to change for the better shortly after you get your service installed. That almost happened to me when I signed up for True Cable TV and internet in Feb for a mid March install but True got delayed in completing the cable line in my moobaan until June. Anyway, if they had installed in March I would not have got a free month of TrueVisions cable TV, would not have got half price on my TrueOnline 20Mb cable internet plan for 3 months, and could not have bought a cable Wifi modem/router for only 1000baht, which was their June promotion...and still may be the July promotion. For once, I lucked-out in an installation delay actually working out better for me promotion/price-wise. Now, I'm just hoping/waiting for TrueOnline to lower the price of their internet plans a little....I figure it will occur in less than a year because of all the internet competition among Thai ISPs. Cheers.

[jfchandler]

Pib, I think you're right about the free routers for DSL vs. no free routers for their cable service. The DSL has been around for years, whereas the widespread marketing of their cable internet service is relatively recent. So that and the related equipment pricing issues probably factor in...

Curiously, the other day when I was noodling around, I thought I came across some TOT info somewhere about some kind of "fiber to your home" project or service... But I think most of it was in Thai, so I couldn't quite tell what it was about. Made me think about Verizon's FIOS service in the States, and wonder if anyone here is working on anything similar. I have the feeling I've seen something about it somewhere...

[Pib]

About 15 months when TOT was installing my separate phone line for the 6Mb ADSL service I was signing up for (fastest to my moobaan at the time and still the fastest to my moobaan for TOT) I asked the TOT technician, who spoke descent English, why we could only get 6Mb to the moobaan although TOT had much faster DSL plans to many other places. He kinda beat around the bush on answering that and while beating around the bush he said TOT was installing fiber in some places but it was too expensive for most places. I expect TOT only installs the fiber where they know they will get a lot of bang for their buck, like central/high-rise Bangkok where a tall condo building with many customers gets wired up. But other than what the tech told me on that day, I've heard very little about TOT fiber. I expect it's one of those programs where it's more hype/short news releases than reality.

Although I don't have the TOT 6Mb TOT DSL anymore since I got True cable internet, I will have to say the TOT 6Mb ADSL was very, very reliable, gave me full speed in-country, descent speed to international sites, but just couldn't do streaming video worth a durn. But if I could have got a TOT plan in the 10-20Mb range, I may not have even changed to True cable internet (and cable TV). I will have to say the TrueVisions picture via cable is much sharper than via satellite...no rain fade...same price as TrueVisions satellite TV...and as I've mentioned in other posts the TrueOnline cable internet 20Mb plan is working good for me...does streaming video no problem...no complaints (yet).

[woodyleonhard]

Folks so what about the real speed of this offering/downtime and ping to servers?

We have about a hundred reported speeds with True "Ultra" - both 10 Mbps and 20 Mbps - at www.phuketinternetspeed.com . They're measured with DSLReports.com, which can't be cached. Go to the site's "Search" tab and filter for True Ultra service.

Based on the reported speeds, it looks like the 10 Mbps line is just about as fast as the 20 Mbps line. Reliability has been a problem at times, but it's getting better. One person reporting on the 50 Mbps service is getting outstanding speeds.

[Pib]

Good info on the www.phuketinternetspeed.com.

Funny how the page clearly tells folks to use the DSLReports.com speedtester and select the Los Angeles server but obviously some people are using another speedtester (probably Speedtest.net) which usually gives bogus/high speed results and bogus/low ping times when an in-Thailand True hidden, cache server is in play which is the great, great majority of the time with True. And then some people note code their results saying they are using a different speedtester. This kinda works against trying to standardize test results "by using the same speedtester and same speedtester sever/site." Oh well, all you can do is give the instructions and hope most will follow the instructions.

For you Speedtest.net folks out there, unless you get real world Ping Times to whatever Speedtest.net server you are using, like in the 250-350ms ball park to the U.S., your Speedtest.net results are being fooled by an "in-Thailand" cache server....you are not really testing against that server in the U.S., Europe, etc. When I was on the TOT 6Mb plan here in Bangkok I always got real world ping times and download times (don't expect TOT uses cache servers), but since I've been on True for a little over a month now there has only been one or two days where Speedtest.net gave me real world ping times and speed test results to the U.S., Europe, etc. Now hidden, cache servers are a good thing as they duplicate a server somewhere else in the world to speed-up data flow/make browsing much faster/file downloads much faster, but these hidden cache servers can fool certain types of speedtest programs depending on the programming/software technology used in these speedtest programs. Now, DSLReports.com supposedly is based on programming that is not or not easily fooled by hidden cache servers.

Anyway, on this fine Sunday morning at 9:40am after it rained all night, having a new and "currently" rainproof True trunk line to the moobaan, and having excellent modem power levels, testing my True Ultra Cable 20Mb/2Mb plan using DSLReports.com and using the LA server I got a 1.826Mb Download, 1.296Mb Upload, and a 249ms Latency Time (Ping Time). These download/upload times are about 3 to 4 times faster than my TOT 6Mb plan I had until switching to True Ultra Cable.

While the 20Mb plan gives more in-Thailand speed and probably more speed from farangland web sites who host/duplicate their content on servers in southeast Asia like in Singapore, I expect the international speed to western farangland web sites in the U.S. and Europe are about the same as the 10Mb plan due to the amount of international bandwidth being allowed per customer by True regardless of the speed plan being used (i.e., 20Mb, 10Mb, 50Mb, etc). That is, the in-Thailand internet spigot is wide open but the international internet spigot is only partially opened (i.e., the choke point).

[jfchandler]

One of the problems I've found with True cable internet, relating to their customer service or lack thereof, is that anytime your service goes out, you're basically at a loss for knowing or finding out whether it was some local problem in your neighborhood that needs fixing/a service call or some broader True network outage that you just have to wait out...

In all my contact with them, and there have been many lately, I've almost never been able to get a clear answer from the people who answer their phones of whether there's any kind of bigger problem occurring when I'm having an outage at my home.

In the past, and when I originally had their DSL service, I had a basic indicator to know... If I could get thru on their call center phone lines, then I knew I was having a local problem. But if I couldn't get thru and instead got their voicemail system, then I'd pretty much knew it was a broader outage and calls were overloading their system.. But now lately, almost any time I call True Online, I get their voicemail and rarely get thru immediately to a live person... So that indicator no longer works.

Sometimes, when I end up having a service tech out to my home, usually a day or two later due to their scheduling, they'll cough up if there was some problem on my soi or elsewhere with True... But that's little help on the day your service is out...and trying to know what to do...

I was less than amused lately, when I had to call them a couple times, and I got a True voicemail recording talking about them having some kind of "emergency." On those instances, when I finally got thru to a live person, I was wondering and asked... what kind of "emergency." And the CSR I was talking to claimed they hadn't had any emergency but that that message was mistakenly/wrongly surfacing in their voicemail system... And that they thought they had fixed the problem with it giving the "emergency" message...but apparently had not. I'm not sure I find that answer particularly reassuring.... They can't even get their customer voicemail system to work properly???

This past week, on Wednesday I believe, my True cable internet once again was dead...from about 2 pm to 5 pm... Tried calling True, but could only get their voicemail for leaving a phone number for a call back. The service just came back on after about three hours, but no one from True called me back on my number until almost 24 hours later...the next afternoon...and I missed that call...

At that point, I didn't bother to call them back on Thursday... But to their credit, they called me again on Friday to inquire about my original call and current status... I had a long discussion with the CSR, and she actually admitted they'd had some kind of broad service outage that same Wednesday, the CSR said around dinner time.... later than the time of my problem that same day...but perhaps close enough to be related.

In the past, when these kinds of things have occurred, I've broached with the True people I was talking with on the phone about the notion of a fee credit to my account for the service outage time...if it was substantial...as it's been on a couple of occasions....such as a day or more.... And each time, they weren't very receptive...and when pushed said they'd forward my request... And of course, I've never gotten any True Online billing credit from them....

This time, when I broached that with the CSR and cited to her the history of problem calls with my cable internet since I've had it, she actually claimed they had already processed a service credit for the last couple of outages...and that I'd see it on my next True Online bill.. I'll be interested to see, when the bill comes in the mail, if they actually do that.... It certainly would be a first in my experience with them.

BTW, when my cable internet was out for 3 hours on Weds. afternoon, this time, I was prepared, thanks to having my True DSL backup account and service...which I easily switched to....and was able to continue my things at home...

But, as I told the True CSR who called, it's a pretty sad commentary on the reliability of their cable service that I have to sign up for a backup internet account. But if True thinks they're going to perpetually get two monthly fees out of me, they're wrong.. Right now, their cable internet is on my probation list.. and I'll be watching to see how many and how frequent their outages are for the future...

If they continue at the same recent and unacceptable pace into the future, then I'll regretfully end up canceling the cable internet service and go back to just having a single DSL account and raise my speed level for that one...

[jfchandler]

While the 20Mb plan gives more in-Thailand speed and probably more speed from farangland web sites who host/duplicate their content on servers in southeast Asia like in Singapore, I expect the international speed to western farangland web sites in the U.S. and Europe are about the same as the 10Mb plan due to the amount of international bandwidth being allowed per customer by True regardless of the speed plan being used (i.e., 20Mb, 10Mb, 50Mb, etc). That is, the in-Thailand internet spigot is wide open but the international internet spigot is only partially opened (i.e., the choke point).

That's certainly the result we pretty much got from when you and I did our parallel speed tests using the same speed test sites at roughly the same times.... yours on True's 20 Mb plan and mine on their 10 Mb cable plan... Not really any advantage for direct connections to the U.S. But the 20 Mb plan obviously giving better results for local and perhaps regional content.

That was the result of our 10 vs 20 Mb test... I haven't seen anyone do that same thing with True cable using any of their higher speed cable plans for the test. But if anyone's got one of those, I'm assuming Pib and I would be willing to do our parts of it...

[Pib]

This past week, on Wednesday I believe, my True cable internet once again was dead...from about 2 pm to 5 pm...

jfc,

Must have been a local problem, my True cable internet was working. It been up 100% since I've had it now for about 5 weeks. But as mentioned in my other posts, the trunk cable line to my moobaan is brand new where your trunk cable is not new. But I know when it comes to downtime a person don't care whether it's a local problem, truly a wide spread problem, or a problem on the Moon, as the service is still down....as long as that downtime is very infrequent that's OK as all services have their problems at one time or another.

I'm sure my downtime is coming....it always does....whether you are on cable or DSL...old or new line...I just hope the downtime is a very infrequent and short lived occurrence. I would do the same as you, if the cable internet service goes out too often/for too long, and the DSL service gives good speed and is reliable, then it's time to cancel it and say the cable internet service was just not reliable enough, at least in your location.

I hear you about True Customer Service. My experience with True Customer Service over the years regarding TV or cell phone service has ranged from piss poor to very good. The cell phone problem (dealt with the monthly bill mailing for my post paid plan) was so bad that after giving them around six months to fix the problem, I dropped the service. The TV service when needing to swap out a bad set top box has been very good, but service relating to getting back my deposit for a set-top box turned-in was bad. My first issue with True internet billing where I'm was suppose to get half price for the first 3 months resulted in big smiles to fix the problem with a promised phone call back in a few business days to the Thai wife to confirm the problem was fixed....after a week and no call, we went to a Service Center to see what was going on....per the CSR the problem is fixed and my next 3 bills are suppose to be half price...but my next 3 bills will tell the real story on what the CSR told us. Yeap, the quality of True Customer Service for the Thai wife and I has been all over the map when dealing with them...they are always big smiles and courteous, but so many times the problem "just don't get fix without following-up with them over and over....over and over can get tiring and frustrating."

Cheers,

Pib