Open Letter To Tt&t And Cat

[x-pat]

Dear CAT/Hi-Net Team,

I would like to thank you for the two months of adventure and excitement having used your Hi-Net broadband Internet service. It began with the parameter game, which left me fiddling with my the modem for hours, thereby learning all of its features. After I finally managed to configure it properly, I was able to achieve a whopping download speed of 10kByte/sec and less. The many line failures and breakdowns added to continued enjoyment.

In particular, I wish to congratulate you on the circular tech support scheme you have invented. This consists of a dialing a tech support number, and then being transferred several times until one is recommended to dial the original number again. I think this is a revolutionary approach to customer support.

During the last three weeks, when Internet access did not work at all, it was also very reassuring to know that everything looked fine on your side and that your status reports were okay. I regret that other obligations prevent me from continuing our interesting relationship and that I have to cancel the service.

Should you encounter any technical problems with the settlement of my bill, I will be glad to provide you with the phone number of my creditor support department.

Best Regards

[johng]

Ohh dear, it seems you will be looking for a new ISP then ??

My experience with CAT HI-Net in Pattaya has not been so bad, its certainly not brilliant though.

Where abouts are you located ???

[Thaipwriter]

welcome to the club

[x-pat]

That was Hi-Net in Chiang Mai.

Cheers, X-Pat

[Florin]

Well, shoddy tech support is a feature of most companies out there, while the speed problems are probably related to the number of users in your area. Do you have other options for broadband where you live?

If you're a DTAC subscriber, perhaps you should have a look at their EDGE package...999/month for 10-15k is pretty pricey, but it IS fully mobile as well (which would mean no need for WiFi hotspots if you have a laptop), and there can't be too many users yet.

[Plus]

How far does the Edge spread now? Used to be central Bangkok only but I read somewhere that it covers 10 provinces now.

Dtac apparently wants to fully test Edge before investing in 3G networks. 3G speeds here will be just a tad over Edge anyway.

[Florin]

I think we've been reading the same thing Their EDGE website is Thai-only and my aversion to Nokia phones has made EDGE temporarily a non-issue for me anyway, but considering that it seamlessly integrates with GPRS, it would make a good solution - EDGE at home and in a few heavily industrialized places (shopping malls, office buildings, etc.) and GPRS for a quick browse/chat/e-mail on the road.

[x-pat]

I have switched to TT&T Maxnet 512. So far I get 35kB average DL speed (70kB peak) and less outages. I've been considering cable, but it isn't yet available in our area.

Cheers, X-Pat

[meadish_sweetball]

Thanks for posting this, as I am also in Chiang Mai, and was considering changing from Maxnet4Life 512 to Hi-Net. Your experience has made me think twice.

But the router I got from TT&T as part of the Maxnet4Life package is pretty useless as routers go (it's a XAVi x8122r, Chinese made brand). The major problem with this router is that it is useless for modern filesharing technology - too many simultaneous connections and it runs away and hides, dropping the connection and restarting the entire connection process again.

I am now looking at getting a D-Link, Belkin or other more well-known brand of router. If somebody has a particular model which he uses successfully with BitTorrent, I´d be interested to hear your recommendations.

By the way - are you on Maxnet4Life 512/256 or on Maxnet4Home 512/256? Do you use BitTorrent?

Cheers

Meadish

[Florin]

Linksys, Netgear or Zyxel should get the job done nicely, they're all similarly priced...I'm using a Netgear with WiFi for my connection, works fine