NBTC To Inspect DTAC Sites As Network Problem Recurs: Thailand

[webfact]

DTAC

NBTC to inspect sites as network problem recurs

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) suspects that problems experienced by Total Access Communication (DTAC)'s mobile network on January 5 were the result of network mismanagement, rather than technical glitches as claimed by the firm.

NBTC secretary general Takorn Tantasit said yesterday that the agency would send staff to examine DTAC's main mobile-switching centre in Surat Thani this weekend, and its centre in Bangkok on Monday, to evaluate the way DTAC handles its operations.

DTAC customers experienced problems making calls in seven provinces in the South and in some parts of Bangkok on January 5.

The NBTC yesterday called on DTAC to identify the cause of the problem. DTAC sent Darmp Sukontasap, newly appointed chief corporate affairs officer, to explain. Chief executive officer Jon Eddy Abdullah is on vacation in the US.

The DTAC executive told the NBTC its mobile-switching centre in Surat Thani, which serves 900,000 customers in seven provinces, experienced technical problems on the afternoon of January 5, reducing the rate of successful calls in the area to between 50 and 60 per cent. The problem also led to call-traffic congestion throughout the entire network, with 1.8 million customers experiencing difficulties making calls on that day.

DTAC said it moved quickly to solve the problem, and the situation was back to normal that night. It said the problem at the Surat Thani centre arose in the course of an equipment upgrade. It suspended the upgrade temporarily, apologised to customers and said it would compensate those affected.

The NBTC, however, reportedly believes the problem at the switching system in the South stemmed from network mismanagement.

This is the second time the NBTC has called in DTAC officials regarding a network problem, after a reported technical glitch disrupted DTAC customers' ability to make calls from the night of December 20 to the early morning of December 21.

-- The Nation 2012-01-07

[draftvader]

Does anybody know if Thailand operates the "number porting" system (taking your number from one network to another) that networks operate in other countries?

Would be useful to know around now for us DTAC customers.

[bubba]

Does anybody know if Thailand operates the "number porting" system (taking your number from one network to another) that networks operate in other countries?

Would be useful to know around now for us DTAC customers.

Yes.

[infernalman7]

Does anybody know if Thailand operates the "number porting" system (taking your number from one network to another) that networks operate in other countries?

Would be useful to know around now for us DTAC customers.

Talk to your new operator and they can arrange that for you.

Make sure you have the same billing info as your old number.

[thaimat]

Sounds like more hatchet jobs on DTAC. My TOT internet, and sometimes phone service, goes down very often, sometimes for a week at a time, yet I don't see any gov't accusations, nor public smearing, of TOT. They really have it in for DTAC. Sad...

[huahinjoe]

This is because the companies employ cheap thai labour and they dont have a clue how to operate a network..

In the IT factor is the same, most companies want only thais who wearing slippers and having long nail on their pinky fingers...

Probably with better work permit rules for foreigners they can bring some qualified workforce to cope with these issues, but until they have this protectionist rules dont expect anything better.

They doing the network updates in daytime without any backup, unqualified labour work at most internet companies too, specially in the south. They also dont speak english at all, but very good to say yes for everything.

If you want proper internet you should have at least 2 different providers at the same time.

[KKK]

A friend on pre-paid DTAC tried to call me (DTAC post-paid) in Pattaya many times from Bangkok airport and from his taxi to my house with very little luck from 21:30 to 23:30 news years eve. Made a connection once out of over 20 attempts. Mostly he got number unavailable and was diverted to my voice mail. When he arrived and told me of his difficulties I tried my land line to mobile and vice versa. No connection either way.

We put this down to system overload due to time of year but seems it may now be something else. I'm a 12-year DTAC customer and have never had cause for complaint until now.

[KKK]

Former PM Thaksin

Don't you mean convicted criminal, fugitive, ousted, former PM Taksin

please tell it like it is ....no need to smooth it over, he is a crook plain and simple, a Thai court has said so and sentanced him to two years imprisonment.

[Rimmer]

One post removed from view please see relevent rule number 31

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Re the question above about switching mobile carriers, yes, the operators in Thailand for the past year or so have had to operate under MNP - Mobile Number Portability. Meaning you can change mobile carriers and keep your same number. There's a small fee involved.... about 99 baht, I believe.

The process involves going to your current carrier first, settling any final bills and telling them you want to do MNP.... and to which company you want to move.... If you search "MNP" here on ThaiVisa, you'll find more detailed info. The changeover usually takes a few days from the time you initiate it.

[phiphidon]

Sounds like more hatchet jobs on DTAC. My TOT internet, and sometimes phone service, goes down very often, sometimes for a week at a time, yet I don't see any gov't accusations, nor public smearing, of TOT. They really have it in for DTAC. Sad...

Sounds like you're ready to blame the government for everything.

[phiphidon]

Former PM Thaksin

Don't you mean convicted criminal, fugitive, ousted, former PM Taksin

please tell it like it is ....no need to smooth it over, he is a crook plain and simple, a Thai court has said so and sentanced him to two years imprisonment.

Wrong thread, at least I hope it is!

[RKASA]

Why did they not investigate ToT when for a year they made me pay for viop which never worked. Not one sucessful call in or out in 12 months at 105baht a month extra. I was locked into that for the first year but never got the service - not once. My IpStar is finally un hooked awaiting pickup and I am on Dtac and could not be happier about it. If Dtac goes down here for 1 day in a year they will be out proforming Tot how many fold? I can't count the number of days I had no internet at all and the times I had less then dial up even in country for weeks at a time and it only cost 2400 baht a month. We have also been waiting 13 years for our phone line - how about someone investigating that.

[KKvampire]

And when i called customer services about the problem in the evening of the 5th I was told there wasnt any.pathetic DTAC.on the way to matching True service

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

[animatic]

Right now TRUE is hemorrhaging money. As sector media reports note.

Losing MILLIONS of DOLLARS every month,

and the Truevisions satellite is dropping channels they can't afford.

GMM Grammy has just opened a competing satellite service,

that will start poaching Truevision customers from January on.

The company is looking to go under if things don't change.

Management MUST be desperate for something to help.

And they are trying to hammer DTAC out of the business legally, and in every way possible it seems, because of the Norwegian Telnor / farang connection. TRUE are losing badly in an level field game.

And they can't, or don't dare, go after AIS.

The idea that this is 'repeated industrial sabotage' by 'a small TRUE contingent',

or even simply 'a losing TRUE shareholder',

is not at all beyond the realm of possibility.

DTAC has run very good systems for years, hardly any glitches,

but suddenly two major outages in under two months,

and suddenly the regulators saying their organization is flawed...

Bull poop.

The DTAC organization has run fine for the nearly 7 years I have had DTAC phones.

But suddenly TRUE is at war to save it's life, and suddenly DTAC is allegedly not managed well.

5555555 coincidense is unlikely.

Edited January 7, 2012 by animatic

[creck]

Former PM Thaksin

Don't you mean convicted criminal, fugitive, ousted, former PM Taksin

please tell it like it is ....no need to smooth it over, he is a crook plain and simple, a Thai court has said so and sentanced him to two years imprisonment.

Note ‘ousted’ here mean removed by military coup. Not political manoeuvring. Tell it like it is.

[animatic]

Former PM Thaksin

Don't you mean convicted criminal, fugitive, ousted, former PM Taksin

please tell it like it is ....no need to smooth it over, he is a crook plain and simple, a Thai court has said so and sentanced him to two years imprisonment.

Note ‘ousted’ here mean removed by military coup. Not political manoeuvring. Tell it like it is.

Removed from his self-appointed position as Acting Prime Minister,

after failing to run the election in his 'first Acting PM period' which had expired,

and then his not being renewed for a second try, renewal not being constitutionally required,

and his resigning, and his acting DPM taking over as Acting PM,

and then a week later Thaksin taking the job back and calling himself Prime Minister,

'unilaterally and not returning to the Palace to be constitutionally endorsed as required'.

Meaning he was:

'Constitutionally NOT the PM, under that '97 Constitution', when he was ousted.

Yeah, he was ousted from a job he gave himself, after he had resigned as acting PM.

A series of facts and actions always obscured in the 'Reddened Thaksin Legend' he tells.

Edited January 7, 2012 by animatic

[thaigold]

A friend of mine was going through the internet blues, as it is quite common here in the Kingdom. In my innocence, I recommended a certain ISP to him. He bought their aircard and installed it on his machine. Guess what? It wouldn't work. So, in firm and sure knowledge that Thais are much smarter than we silly dumb Farangs, I advised him to visit their shop in Siam Paragon. They fiddled around with his computer (all with big smiles) and in butchered Thenglish, mumbled out an explanation. The result, still no internet connection.

So my friend, in his discontent, asked me (the dumb assed Farang) to look at the set-up. After a moment I located the problem in the settings dialogue - and voila, internet - full-tilt-boogie. I still understand that my mind and education make me inferior to the average Thai - guess it was just my lucky day.

[astanhope]

Right now TRUE is hemorrhaging money. As sector media reports note.

Losing MILLIONS of DOLLARS every month,

and the Truevisions satellite is dropping channels they can't afford.

GMM Grammy has just opened a competing satellite service,

that will start poaching Truevision customers from January on.

The company is looking to go under if things don't change.

Management MUST be desperate for something to help.

And they are trying to hammer DTAC out of the business legally, and in every way possible it seems, because of the Norwegian Telnor / farang connection. TRUE are losing badly in an level field game.

And they can't, or don't dare, go after AIS.

The idea that this is 'repeated industrial sabotage' by 'a small TRUE contingent',

or even simply 'a losing TRUE shareholder',

is not at all beyond the realm of possibility.

DTAC has run very good systems for years, hardly any glitches,

but suddenly two major outages in under two months,

and suddenly the regulators saying their organization is flawed...

Bull poop.

The DTAC organization has run fine for the nearly 7 years I have had DTAC phones.

But suddenly TRUE is at war to save it's life, and suddenly DTAC is allegedly not managed well.

5555555 coincidense is unlikely.

Does you-know-who still have any interest in AIS or was that not the crux of the massive sell-of he made that [among other things] may have led to the coup?

Or do "they" dare not "go after" AIS simply because it of its legacy patronage by you-know-who?

[tragickingdom]

The network mismanagement is done by all the people around the Chroen Pkhand family. The corrupt gang that has both TOT and CAT in its pocket. Dtac is in the process of upgrading its system. Not like True and AIS by buying a bit from China a bit from Europe a bit from India and so on, depending on where they get most kickbacks but all from one place. Even 3G is working in most province now something others cannot say.

Maybe it is time to boot out the directors of their license holders CAT. Most of us have a CDMA subscription but are still not be able to use it in and around Bangkok. That is what you call mismanagement. But given the fact that DTAC and AIS are partially foreign owned it is much more interesting for these idiots to go after AIS or DTAC

[KKK]

Former PM Thaksin

Don't you mean convicted criminal, fugitive, ousted, former PM Taksin

please tell it like it is ....no need to smooth it over, he is a crook plain and simple, a Thai court has said so and sentanced him to two years imprisonment.

Note ‘ousted’ here mean removed by military coup. Not political manoeuvring. Tell it like it is.

ousted is ousted... it has no meaning about how the ousting took place....you are adding something that the word has no meaning over. So I did tell it as it is/was.

ousted = to force or drive out; expel, disposses etc....

To discuss how the ousting took place requires more words than just ousted which I'm not prepared to get into..he was ousted plain and simple......

[KKK]

Right now TRUE is hemorrhaging money. As sector media reports note.

Losing MILLIONS of DOLLARS every month,

and the Truevisions satellite is dropping channels they can't afford.

GMM Grammy has just opened a competing satellite service,

that will start poaching Truevision customers from January on.

The company is looking to go under if things don't change.

Management MUST be desperate for something to help.

And they are trying to hammer DTAC out of the business legally, and in every way possible it seems, because of the Norwegian Telnor / farang connection. TRUE are losing badly in an level field game.

And they can't, or don't dare, go after AIS.

The idea that this is 'repeated industrial sabotage' by 'a small TRUE contingent',

or even simply 'a losing TRUE shareholder',

is not at all beyond the realm of possibility.

DTAC has run very good systems for years, hardly any glitches,

but suddenly two major outages in under two months,

and suddenly the regulators saying their organization is flawed...

Bull poop.

The DTAC organization has run fine for the nearly 7 years I have had DTAC phones.

But suddenly TRUE is at war to save it's life, and suddenly DTAC is allegedly not managed well.

5555555 coincidense is unlikely.

Interesting post...makes me think about which of my 2 interent connections I should cancel. Was running 3BB for years then added a TRUE one.TRUE seems better so was gonna cancel 3BB. Now you say TRUE may go under..maybe I should cancel it and keep 3BB..any opinions?

[chrisinth]

A friend on pre-paid DTAC tried to call me (DTAC post-paid) in Pattaya many times from Bangkok airport and from his taxi to my house with very little luck from 21:30 to 23:30 news years eve. Made a connection once out of over 20 attempts. Mostly he got number unavailable and was diverted to my voice mail. When he arrived and told me of his difficulties I tried my land line to mobile and vice versa. No connection either way.

We put this down to system overload due to time of year but seems it may now be something else. I'm a 12-year DTAC customer and have never had cause for complaint until now.

Don't understand the logic of that; no complaints for 12 years, then suddenly a 2 hour connection difficulty period.

Cause for complaint? You set really high standards KKK. Hope you got a better service in your home country.

Doubt it though!

[MaiChai]

Sounds like more hatchet jobs on DTAC. My TOT internet, and sometimes phone service, goes down very often, sometimes for a week at a time, yet I don't see any gov't accusations, nor public smearing, of TOT. They really have it in for DTAC. Sad...

Sounds like you're ready to blame the government for everything.

This reminds me of a problem I had on my ToT phone line some years back. It took 4 months to get ToT to come and fix it. The amount of going back and forth I had to do. My recommendation: don't get any service from a government organisation.

[animatic]

On a number of points above.

Thaksin has no known 'direct interest' in AIS,

but no doubt there is some legacy connection through his friends at Temasek,

and there aren likely still Shinawatra clan links. And they DO run the government.

The foreign ownership of AIS is connected to them going back to

OWNING THAILANDS DEBT, that the government tried to

unload onto the central bank last week.

So True would be hard pressed to make a run at AIS for several reasons. Not least it makes THEM a target.

I have Truevisions Sat TV and did NOT take their near

'forced rental' terms agreement to 'upgrade' to HD boxes,

until I find where the lost channels are going to and then what other channels are joining them.

I own my box, and they want to take it away and force me to 'rent' a new box....

150 baht more each month per customer.

I smelled desperation and obscurance around the sales office.

No doubt the Comms. upgrades against CAT's wishes is working for DTAC,

and pissing off both CAT and True, and likely AIS too.

They tried to block them and were told to sod off.

These upgrades do provide a good opportunity to screw up DTAC,

and I suspect this is being done from any number of possible motives and players.

The Thai communications using PUBLIC be damned.

As to True going under:

Well they are in bad condition if legitimate media reports are to be believed.

But they have deep pockets behind them, so they won't just disappear suddenly one evening at 5 pm. But receivership and asset selloff or the like may be in the cards if they don't UP market share and services converting that to profits ASAP.

Losing all Disney channels, ASN sports, and Discovery are very bad signs for the TV services branch, not to mention showing very POOR judgment of what IS worth paying for....

And True hasn't exactly been stellar with their phones compared to AIS and DTAC.

And no reports give 'good customer service' in ANY of Trues branches including internet.

A poor corporate culture is likely the cause.

This has killed many a company in the past.

I could care less about how high your wei is,

I want my purchased product to be value for the baht.

Edited January 7, 2012 by animatic

[endure]

They doing the network updates in daytime without any backup, unqualified labour work at most internet companies too, specially in the south. They also dont speak english at all, but very good to say yes for everything.

They probably don't speak French or Farsi either. Strange that...

[naboo]

I had a DTAC post pay subscription for over 2 years. Fantastic customer service, never an issue. I left them as they had no 3G. Joined True. Signed up for an internet package at the same time.

Canceled the telephone service after 2 months, dreadful service both in store and over the phone, edge and 3G constantly dropping out, horrible, horrible, horrible in every way. The internet..... paid the bill the first two months as they tied the account to the telephone service. I have never actually received a bill for my internet package though. And having not paid it now for 4 months, they haven't cut me off. I'm not sure they're aware I exist. Absolute incompetence. Maybe one day I'll receive a bill, I live in hope.

Anyone reading this, don't leave DTAC, there isn't an alternative worthy of your consideration.

[fstarbkk]

DTAC continues to have outages here in Phuket. It doesn't look like they really have the situation under control yet. In most markets this length and severity of service failures could mean the end of a network, but not here i suppose.

I've been wondering: How come I could switch my mobile number freely and instantly from carrier to carrier 10 years ago in HK, but in 2012 I have to wait 7 working days and pay a fee in Thailand? Could it be the fact that there is REAL COMPETITION in other markets?

[wintermute]

Even prior to the UBC merger pay TV in Thailand has been total overpriced trash. I'm kind of happy to hear they are hemorraging a lot of money. Maybe they will finally be forced to totally shut down their service and allow competitors to flourish. CP is notorious for running the most heavy handed monopoly in Thailand.

[tinom]

What about AIS HSPA being slower than GPRS or even GSM data?

About never possible to reach basic pages in Bangkok...