Bangkok - Tot Adsl Speed Problems

[DavidS]

I am on the eastern side of Bangkok. The last few weeks, TOT internet speed at night has been pathetic. I am aware that it is the peak period, but the degradation is terrible. All tests are to a Chicago server, as that is where the data servers I need to access are located.

=======================IP Address=====Download===Upload====Ping

9/13/2012 12:50 PM GMT 101.109.161.243 0.78 Mb/s 0.28 Mb/s 505 ms

9/13/2012 12:08 AM GMT 101.109.173.196 6.66 Mb/s 0.44 Mb/s 295 ms

9/12/2012 3:30 PM GMT 182.52.11.162 0.22 Mb/s 0.18 Mb/s 395 ms

9/12/2012 2:19 PM GMT 125.24.238.93 0.16 Mb/s 0.16 Mb/s 405 ms

9/11/2012 1:46 PM GMT 180.180.90.205 0.17 Mb/s 0.28 Mb/s 415 ms

8/30/2012 3:52 PM GMT 101.109.165.98 2.16 Mb/s 0.40 Mb/s 385 ms

8/29/2012 4:36 PM GMT 101.108.40.71 4.34 Mb/s 0.51 Mb/s 295 ms

8/28/2012 3:54 PM GMT 101.109.165.250 1.48 Mb/s 0.20 Mb/s 385 ms

8/28/2012 2:31 PM GMT 101.109.167.38 1.97 Mb/s 0.48 Mb/s 295 ms

8/27/2012 2:19 PM GMT 101.108.36.150 0.87 Mb/s 0.17 Mb/s 291 ms

8/27/2012 2:10 PM GMT 125.24.232.130 0.79 Mb/s 0.39 Mb/s 305 ms

Local server tests give speeds of 8.5 to 9.0 Mb/s. As you can see on 29th August, speed was OK. Half the local rate but enough for my needs. And off peak, as on 13th September, pretty good.

I have tried calling TOT, the moment they hear the problem is with international access, they lose interest.

I am having the same sub-1 Mb/s as I write this. Is anyone else having this problem with TOT? Is it any better with other ISPs? If you can run a check with Chicago servers and advise, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Pib]

From looking at your speeds and remembering the speeds I got when I was on a TOT 4Mb and/or 6Mb ADSL plan until Jun 11 when I was able to switch to True DOCSIS/cable 20Mb, your real world international speeds (i.e., compared to some bogus speedtest type results) look about right for TOT. When I was on the TOT 4MB and/or 6MB ADSL plan here in western Bangkok I got international/U.S. speeds in the 0.5 to 2Mb ballpark...and trying to view streaming video was pretty much a no-go due to the stop-and-go/valleys-and-peaks nature of the bandwidth flow....the video just paused too much. The 6Mb plan worked just a little better than the 4Mb plan for streaming video but still sucked. Had no problem in getting the full "in-Thailand" speed.

[DonaldBattles]

This TOT problem is the same in Chiang Rai. I have complained many times to TOT and last week went to the TOT office again. All they say is give their technicians a chance. I have 2 TOT ADSL lines at the 6mb price and they both are the same. Streaming video is next to impossible. They refuse to admit what causes the problem or what they can do about it. My speeds just move up and down from about 70 kbs to 1000 kbs. There is no other service available in my area so I can not switch service suppliers. When I call and complain, a few hours later some one will call back and ask if everything is OK. I asked them what could they do to make it OK and there is no answer. This problem is 24 hours per day. In central Bangkok I have never had this problem but Chiang Rai never stops.

[rakman]

Looks like a genuine case of over subscribed international links. Since your within-Thailand speeds are good, that's your SLA. No one guarantees the whole internet.

You can keep complaining, but it usually will fall on deaf ears.

Run some traceroutes and see where the line gets the most latency.

[worgeordie]

Its the same in Chiang Mai, I am supposed to have 7MB ,its a joke,

very bad last couple of months, could stream video reasonably well,

now its down to dial up speeds,bytes instead of Kbs.

Obviously they are overselling their product, selling to more and more

subscribers but not increasing their bandwidth,good for them, but I don't

think they care about their customers!!

regards Worgeordie

[tokyoblond]

Same problem here in Prachuap. I have been complaining to TOT for several months. Both international and domestic connections suck. First few times, the engineer came out, looked at the problem, looked again, scratched his head, said it's OK now and left.... after doing nothing! Eventually my frustration led me to call the TOT helpline every morning, with the promise that an engineer would come out/they would call me back.... but no engineer and no call backs ever came.

The latest in my three-month saga was their suggestion that fibre-optic cable would solve the problem - great, I though! I don't mind paying more per month if the problem is solved. Engineers came out, did their 'survey' and declared that it was possible if I paid for the cable installation to my soi from the TOT station. A sum total of 8,000 Baht.... then TOT could sell the cable connection to everybody else in the soi, which would degrade the service that I paid for! So TOT want me to pay for their infrastructure? Great bit of marketing, guys....

Interestingly, the times when the engineer did initially come out to check, the internet connection would 'miraculously' improve about 10 minutes before he arrived, and would very quickly revert to its original level about 1 hour after he left..... the cynic in me suspects that there is a secret cable connection that TOT keeps free for just such occasions, then the engineer is justified in saying 'look, everything ok now' when he gets off his lazy ass to do an engineering call. Now, that couldn't possibly be the case.... could it?

[muratremix]

Unfortunately Chiang Mai -- Bangkok line is very small, that causes overload on links. Imagine everybody elses internet goes via 2Gbit connection (not sure what is the real number). When I use my tot adsl in a village in Buriram, I get very good speeds. Downloads always max speed, 4-5Mbit to San Francisco over speedtest.net.

Same goes for people live in Sukhumvit area. Just too many farangs and not enough domestic connection to international gateway.

Here in North bangkok, in a less farang populated area, I get full speeds with True 20/2 cable internet.

[Pib]

Additionally, international bandwidth cost money and I just don't think Thai ISPs buy enough. There is plenty of undersea fiber optics capacity...but an ISP has to buy that capacity to use it.

Let's face it....this is Thailand....Thai's probably make up 98% of the general internet usage population with farangs making up the other 2%. Although many Thai's surf overseas sites I expect the great, great bulk of their internet usage is to "in Thailand" web sites. Sure international businesses in Thailand use a lot of internet, but most are probably on special leased lines and get good international speeds.

Plus, Thai's don't complain too much...so those who do use overseas sites a lot and probably get frustrated with the slowness really won't complain to their ISPs like farangs will....which brings us back to that percentage of people again...only 2% might complain regularly...the other 98% kinda just want until it hopefully gets better.