Internet Speed Tests And Tot - Crazy Results

[craigt3365]

I'm having a lot of problems with speed right now. ToT is my provider. I was on the phone and they had me look at my modem and said I was getting 6Mbps, but only paying for 4. I tried to explain speed tests are showing different results. So she had me use this site:

http://www.adslthailand.com/ (link on right to speed test)

Initial results came in at 4Mbps! I couldn't believe it. I can't even run streaming video. But another test gave me 182647Kbps, another 61116Kbps! Right. Just ran it again, 30 minutes later and it show 1738Kbps.

The speed test here on Thaivisa, Singapore, has been consistently showing .4 or so. So I tried this one:

http://www.dslreports.com/

It has been all over the place. From 784Kbps to 4Mbps.

When ToT was on the phone, I ran the test using their recommended site. Of course, it showed 3.xxKbps.

Crazy results. Anybody have any thoughts on this? I'm having the ToT guy come out and have a look at things anyway.

Interesting side note, they called me but I couldn't answer the phone. So I called 1100 and the operator said "your problem has been solved, the tech just spoke with you". No...nobody spoke with me. They just said so and closed the problem report!

[Mobi]

These speed test results at different websites are puzzling.

I just tried your adsl site and got a d/l speed of 6Mbps

Thai Visa speed test shows a d/l speed of 10.43mbps

The recommended website by my BTV cable provider, (if you're interested it is http://speedtest.net/), is d/10.53 Mbps - very close to Thai Visa, although in the past I have recorded quite wide variances between the two.

I was having all kind of problems with my speeds up to a couple of weeks ago - it just got worse and worse and became so slow that it was unusable. There would be brief periods when it would whizz along but the speed would soon go back to under 100kbps.

I finally managed to get the engineers out to take a look and they replaced the cable to my house and also a 'dongle' which connected me to the ' broadband hub' on a nearby post and ever since it has been the best I have ever experienced since I have been in Pattaya.

So the solution may be to get your external connections replaced, although I admit that a cable broadband is not the same animal as broadband delivered via a terrestrial phone line.

Either way you need to get them out and take a look and test your speed.

[craigt3365]

Thanks Mobi! I tried your site and I got 3.86Mbps. TV gave me .45Mbps. Both against a BKK server. Not sure why such a variance. I ran both tests two times and got the same results.

I'm taking your recommendation and having the techs come out to my house. Rimmer suggested the same thing. It'll probably take them a week to get out here. I'll report the results!

Look forward to seeing you again soon...and glad you're on the mend.

[Derifo]

Using TOT for the first time and I can say it's the worst ISP in Thailand. My installation was done just one week ago and I was only able to use it flawlessly on the day it was installed. Since then it has been crap.

Can't stream movies or download torrents. My mobile phone and notebook ( running ubuntu ) can connect to the wifi, but nothing comes down.

[arkom]

Using TOT for the first time and I can say it's the worst ISP in Thailand. My installation was done just one week ago and I was only able to use it flawlessly on the day it was installed. Since then it has been crap.

Can't stream movies or download torrents. My mobile phone and notebook ( running ubuntu ) can connect to the wifi, but nothing comes down.

Couldn't agree more. TOT is crap, for me worked well for the first week after installation, after that it went downhill. I have to them come and change my port every month, cause they keep saying it gets hot.

[craigt3365]

After my complaint, things are running better now. But it's still hit and miss. I've always been able to download torrents at fair speeds, but again, up and down.

What I found crazy was the extremely high speeds reported by that one speed test website. Crazy.

[Jessi]

My TOT connection is just so bad.

Download Speed: 31 kbps (3.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 340 kbps (42.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

Latency: 259 ms

Friday, July 06, 2012 8:34:20 AM

Download Speed: 38 kbps (4.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 23 kbps (2.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

Latency: 279 ms

Saturday, July 07, 2012 6:44:12 AM

Download Speed: 0 kbps (0 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 38 kbps (4.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Latency: 208 ms

Saturday, July 07, 2012 9:17:43 AM

[craigt3365]

What are you using to check your speed? What site? I've noticed huge variations among the various sites.

[arkom]

What are you using to check your speed? What site? I've noticed huge variations among the various sites.

For me I always use tci.or.th to check speeds, as it usually gives accurate results. It is Thailand's version of the FCC.

When TOT is really slow, speedtest.net and adslthailand always shows 7-9 mbs no matter what, where as tci shows a more realistic number.

[lomatopo]

Speedtest results are almost entirely useless for determining anything other than basic connectivity.

If you can access, and share here, any line statistics that might go a long way towards identifying any issues.

Is this a new problem? Did the service ever work acceptably for you? Can you test actual throughput with an FTP, up or down (Dropbox up for example?) Has anything changed? Do neighbors have the same issues with TOT. Are you able to make/receive phone calls? Do you hear any noise on the line? What make/model modem?

Interesting side note, they called me but I couldn't answer the phone.

Not sure what you mean here, but this could potentially point to a line issue somewhere, including all the way back to the splitter in the CO.

Given the cabling here I am always amazed DSL works at all. It is not unusual to see my street-side cabinet open, and various people leaning ladders up against the wire bundles.

[craigt3365]

akrom: I can't even get past the latency test. It just fails my connection is sooooo slow.

lomatopo: What a pic! I'm having the guys come and and take a look at my wiring. Today was really good, but just now crapped out.

[arkom]

akrom: I can't even get past the latency test. It just fails my connection is sooooo slow.

Thats TOT for you, I'm just waiting for the day I can finally get rid of them for some another provider.

For me weekends are the worst as its day off and every is home and is unbearably slow.

[NHJ]

as with every adsl problem, check the value of your line, SNR of 10 is the minimum to get a stable connection, if your modem is also capable of reporting it have a look at CRC error.

Edited July 7, 2012 by NHJ

[Jessi]

What are you using to check your speed? What site? I've noticed huge variations among the various sites.

Thaivisa speed test

[rakman]

It would appear from the repeated tests that caching is a factor. The overall speed is affected by server load and internet (slowest spot is the limit) connections along the route from you to server.

Sometimes hard to find the IP or site name of the speed test (wireshark would do it) to run traceroutes and see where the bottle neck is.

Oversubscribed ISP connections both at your link and peering can cause intermittent high and low speeds. Pings are not usually the same priority as data packets, so you may see more variability with latency on pings.

From the US, TV's bkk test site gave me 10+Mbps and Singapore was only 8, which is usually the opposite. TV is hosted in Amazon aws in Singapore.

[Darrel]

Any tests done to servers outside of Thailand will probably be hopelessly inaccurate as all the Thai ISPs are inclined to use pretty savage traffic shaping and bandwidth throttling on international connections, when they aren't just plain overloaded.

I regularly connect for very long periods to an extremely robust Gigibit server in the US and from this I often get a completely flat 4Mbs (this is the total my Sophon cable line should provide) but this will suddenly drop down to a flat 1Mbs for several minutes then back up to 4Mbs. This looks like throttling being done by CAT who handle the connection from BKK onwards.

When I do speedtests here (which isnt often as they are pretty pointless) I always get 4Mbs to BKK servers but to international servers it varies hugely.

I think that given the high cost of internet access here the connectivity outside of Thailand should be much better than it is. The ISPs just don't want to put the money into it.

[roban]

especially "speedtest net" is very easy to fake....

You can run a "speedtest net" server on your local machine.

Than you just have to route all the requests for "speedtest net" to your local server. (via proxy or hosts file)

And voila, you have always the maximum line capacity.

This a screenshot from a test to destination Berlin (NOT Photoshopped!)

In this case, I was running the test and the server on the same machine...

Edited July 8, 2012 by roban

[THAIPHUKET]

Why is speed not speed? I can understand if TOT measures its speed from the nearest center. But international speed readings should more closer to each other, or?

[roban]

I have TOT in Pattaya too.

They don't fake "speedtest net" results. But most other provider do...

But international speed readings should more closer to each other, or?

No, if your provider wants to fake your result, your speedtest will always run against their own server in BKK, no matter which destination you choose.

Edited July 8, 2012 by roban

[garrya]

I have TOT in Pattaya too.

They don't fake "speedtest net" results. But most other provider do...

But international speed readings should more closer to each other, or?

No, if your provider wants to fake your result, your speedtest will always run against their own server in BKK, no matter which destination you choose.

I agree, and I think True does fake the results. Whenever I have internet problems and test against the True speedtest it shows perfect results but any other speed test sites will show slower speed.

[GreenSnapper]

Even if they fake the speed tests, a fast speedtest gives you one important information:

Your problems are not local. It is not your computer, it is not the crappy cabling. The problems are inside the infrastructure of your provider.

I found one solution I sometimes use when everything is slow as hell again: use a VPN in Singapore. A VPN normally slows down everything. But you can circumvent the crappy server infrastructure of your ISP as long the line to Singapore is stable.

It sounds ridiculous, but this is Thailand.

[THAIPHUKET]

Even if they fake the speed tests, a fast speedtest gives you one important information:

Your problems are not local. It is not your computer, it is not the crappy cabling. The problems are inside the infrastructure of your provider.

I found one solution I sometimes use when everything is slow as hell again: use a VPN in Singapore. A VPN normally slows down everything. But you can circumvent the crappy server infrastructure of your ISP as long the line to Singapore is stable.

It sounds ridiculous, but this is Thailand.

Care to explain a bit more in detail? I don´t follow one bit, I admit.

[Proffesor]

I'm not an expert. I'm living in Pratamnak with connections at 2 addresses about 350m apart ( View Talay 3a & Park Royal 3a ), both from 3bb ( 10/1 Premium ) - which on a good day are crap !

In order to try to prove the point, I did a search for an Upload / Download logging program and found ADAST This program produces a log and graph of various parameters ( Upload & Download speeds, Ping time, Packet loss and Jitter ). I've got mine set to test at 10 minute intervals

I had been having problems at my View Talay address for a week. Give them their due, 3bb sent an engineer to visit every day, but all he would do is log on to the 3bb speed test service and provided he got a result, turn arround and say "everything O.K. - internet very busy / very slow". After showing him a graph spanning 24 hours, where the packet loss was sometimes as high as 16%, Download speeds of less than 1Mb when I'm paying for 10 Mb, Upload Speed non-existent at times and 0.096Mb at best, etc. he spent 20 minutes on the 'phone to someone before spending 4 hours tracing my line all the way to the "Big Box" in the car-park which was pronounced "bad".

Now, I have Download speeds approaching 3Mb and Upload speeds approaching 0.7 Mb. Best of all, apart from a power cut this morning, the connection has been stable.

The default server for the Speed Test is BBC.co.uk

I have now installed this software on the PC at Park Royal, which is getting better indicated results and has certainly had a more stable connection.

As an asside - I'm looking to get a second ISP provider for my Park Royal address ( to which I'll be moving shortly ) to provide an element of redundancy. Can anyone give me a pointer as to which ISP / Service Provider I should consider ? TRUE don't have any cables into Pratamnak; 3 years ago they said they would have within 12 months, last week they said exactly the same - TiT !

As I said at the outset, I'm not an expert, so pleasedon't flame me if I've stated something that is technically inaccurate - I'm just reporting my experiences in the hope that it maybe of bennefit to others.

Regards

Proffesor

[sniffdog]

I don't trust any of those speedtests. The only download speed I trust is the indicator on my Usenet client (around 820-861KBs). Although I pay for 7Mbs True package, I get actually 9Mbs.

Edited July 24, 2012 by sniffdog

[121Advice]

Forget speed tests using BKK servers unless you are Thai and accessing local Thai websites. If you are a ferrang viewing international sites you have to link your speed test via an appropriately close server in the country of choice (in UK for example). You will notice a huge difference in speed and reliability as ISPs in Thailand throttle international access due to the simple fact that they do not pay enough money to provide super fast international access, period. Local speed tests are a complete waste of time unless you are Thai and viewing mainly localised content on the web. If you wish for super fast international access at an affordable price then unfortunately you will be sorely disappointed. Thailand hasn't even got 3G yet (still arguing over who gets what company infighting etc) when neighbouring countries are now rolling out 4G!! It is what it is and ferrang are minority international customers. Core users are Thai and 95% of thief web usage is on local sites. Things are slowly improving and costs falling, but its one of those frustrations we have to simply live with. It was only 10 years ago that I needed a satellite phone to check my emails here! Forget dedicated lines unless you are corporate as these are ridiculously priced.

[Damaz6052]

I have the 10mbit TOT Fibre(1500b per month)in Patong the fastest I've had is 2200mbit.... the upload is very good at 1003mbit.

[binjalin]

I have the 10mbit TOT Fibre(1500b per month)in Patong the fastest I've had is 2200mbit.... the upload is very good at 1003mbit.

I have no idea what this means but I ran speedtest (through Vientiane - automatically chosen).

ping: 2993

download: 0.03

upload: 0.33

and my internet is running like a dog - it was ok until 4 days ago

so what does it mean? and who is the best provider? (I live in chiang mai)