Buddy Broadband Comes To My Place!

[TVLover]

Okay, folks. Guess who came to visit us in our Bangkok condominium the past 2 days? The Buddy Broadband buddies, you know, those guys who want to take some market shares from True and CSLLoxinfo with a new ADSL service.

Brought with them a green and white booth, about the size of a DSLAM cabinet. Inside, from top to bottom: a TV screen, a computer monitor, and a keyboard & mouse.

As I was looking at it, I got approached by a nice fellow who looked like a post-graduate student: "Mister, can speak Thai?". "Mai dai". Then a little smiling lady came to me: "Now we have Broadband TV and High Speed Internet here. We have special promotion". I was then explained that there are 2 packages: the TV+PC at THB650/mth, and the PC only at THB500/mth. "During promotion, no pay entry fee, no deposit, only 1 month fee", I was explained. "How fast is the Internet?" "In our package, the download speed is 2Mbps for local sites and 1MBps for international sites" "OK, let's take a look", I replied.

I was first shown the BB TV, which requires a set-top box and remote control. About 10 channels available, mostly in Thai. I asked if there was any international content, maybe in English. "Not now, but in the future. Because of that, most farangs take Internet only". So, I asked if I could check the Internet.

First, I tried the CNN home page. It took about 30 seconds to display the whole page. Then, the New York Times, Le Figaro, the Bangkok Post and a few others I can't recall. For each site, it took between 30 and 45 sec to display the page. I decided then to make a speed test and I went to the speakeasy.net/speedtest page. First server I tested: 38kbps for the DL speed! (no typo here: thirty-eight kilobits-per-second) "Didn't you say that the speed was 1Mbps?". The guy (who apparently was the technical expert in the team) told me: "This is because of the server in USA!". I suggested to test the speed from a few other servers, the result was always between 35 and 45 kbps. "Is it always so slow?", I asked. "This is because you test with web sites in USA, outside Thailand". I did not tell them that, my guess would be that most of the sites I would access would be located in Yankee land...

The lady went back to me: "We can install in room you very quick!". "Probably as quickly as it takes to an IP packet to cross the BB gateway and come back", I thought. Then, I thanked her for the demo. I was then offered to write my comments in a notebook. I did, and, trust me or not, I refrained from writing too sarcastic remarks about what I just experienced (you know me, folks, it's not my style...). Just mentioned that I found the Internet service a little slow, and that I would be happy to try again BB once they have faster speeds. I left my contact info, just in case (who knows, I might receive a greeting card from them for the forthcoming holiday season...).

I finally went away, thinking that:

1. Those who send these kids out to do that kind of job must really be cruel...

2. Perhaps, I may just stop calling the True CS line more than once a month to complain...

Edited November 1, 2005 by TVLover

[spog]

Well thanks for the story. I have these guy's contact details on a piece of paper on my desk and was going to sign up for them.

Guess I'll stick with my unlimited Anet dial-up account instead.

In fact the only reason that I didn't sign up for them was that I needed the manager of my block to sign up for it (his phone line) and this was beyond his abilities to organise.

[melus]

"This is because of the server in USA!"

Great story TVLover. 38kbps on a 1Mbps connection? Maybe Thai ISPs should simplify their advertizing campaigns and come clean with potential customers. They could say they gaurantee 20kbps speeds on international sites at whatever packages they're selling. I think now they're running out of stock excuses for why web pages in the real world take painstakingly forever to load. When can we expect truth in advertising in this beautiful land?

[clokwise]

That's about the average speed I get with True 1024 running the same tests. I'm switching from True to Buddy next week. Wish me luck.