Ipstar Problems

[Gary A]

It has taken exactly 13 minutes to get to this point. I have used up all my curses and swear words and for the past four days I have cycled them again and again. What is wrong with this pathetic service? There is only one reason I would consider moving out of the boonies and that would be for a telephone line. ANYTHING is better than this!

[Rimmer]

Just stumbled in here from Pattaya, so do not know what has already been said about IPStar and this subject. Also not clear what your problem is from your post.

Maybe you have an equipment problem. Sometimes the modems that are issued are re conditioned and maybe nearing the end of their working life. They start to degrade slowly at first by not connecting or not downloading, this can go on for months or years and suddenly one day (if you are lucky) they stop working altogether.

I had this problem for three months until finally the modem quit and they replaced it with a new unit. The following month they replaced the satalite head so it now logs into Thaicom 2 not Thaicom 1 as it used to. Apparantly you need one of the new modems for them to do this.

If you are not already doing so try to log into the IPStar satalite page with your browser, this page shows if you are logged in or if there is a problem. A light on the modem will keep flashing when you are on the satalite page.

Keep this page up but minimized and bring up another page to surf on.

Works for me.

My system is now fine and working pretty much as advertised.

That's all I got but as I suspect it's probably all been said before, dunno!

[boneidlegit]

Gary A, Did you get your IPstar sorted, just interested as i am supposed to be getting it shortly, Like you i am also a " Sticks Dweller " and i have a telephone line, but for the last month my connection lasts anywhere from 10 seconds to 10mins, so this seems to be the only way to stop me climbing the walls. Did you take Rimmers advice, or is the service <deleted>.......

[Phil Conners]

Hm, solid state hardware don't wear down, but your dish might need realignment.

[LoveDaBlues]

Gary, today Ipstar was down (this morning) for the first time since I've had the service...about 6 weeks now I think. Anyway, the long-haired boss called and they told her something about a server being down and the problem should be fixed by noon.

I waited till around 2 pm or so and no more problems. I'm still happy with them. Not as reliable or fast as the states but better than any internet cafe I have been in since coming to Thailand.

Steve

[LoveDaBlues]

How do I know if I'm hitting Thaicom 2 or Thaicom 1?

[lampard10]

Hav'nt had a problem with IP star for four months. That's when I threw it down and installed t&tt

[dutch]

There he is with the same old story again

Last week I thought I had a problem and called to customerservice.I was connected with some service point and helped by a very reasonable english speaking lady.

The problem was not with my satelite but with my computer and is solved.

Also the agent in Korat (Tai fah) offered the visit of a service man (at costs) which I did not needed.

I am very happy with my Ipstar and have very regular talks with Holland (incl camera).

Also my TOT line dropped every moment.It's heaven on earth now

[Rimmer]

Hm, solid state hardware don't wear down, but your dish might need realignment.

What utter nonesense, have you never had a mother board go down?

Some of the modems that IPStar use are re conditined so they are already half way through their usefull life and they can degrade with an intemittant fault over a period of time.

If you are lucky they stop working in one day and you can get a new one. If you are unlucky it

will have an intermittant fault that will get worse over time. Mine degraded over a period of three months and finally stopped working altogether. The symptoms were that it would not log on the the satalite for hours on end then it worked fine for a couple of days and would stop again.

They finally replaced the modem when it stopped alltogether. Interestingly they told me that the dish heads also go down and they came prepared to replace either.

What is your signal strength? GaryA? That is the ES Number at the bottom of the screen. Anything over 9 is OK for Thaicom 1 and your dish does not need adjusting. Thaicom 2 signal is about 13 to 14. If you call or email IP Star they will give you the webgateway address page for your satalite and you can check the strength if you do not already have it.

"solid state hardware don't wear down" Yea right!!

[digitele]

To all in regard to ipstar. But first for Gary A, check your signal strength by typing this into your internet browser http://192.168.5.100:8080/xWebGateway.cgi this will get you to your ipstar modem. What is your signal strenth? Do you have a router or gateway plugged into your ipstar modem? and what speed are you paying for? Additionally, everyone was down yesterday for awhile.

I use a very nice smc gateway/router a SMCBR24Q(tweaked) and use a TCP/ip optimizer program.

I have played around with adjusting both for over a month, and I believe I've got it!

I could advise your setup if you tell me more. I signed up for 512/256 and get >470 down and >215 up.

Let me know.

[george]

I use a very nice smc gateway/router a SMCBR24Q(tweaked) and use a TCP/ip optimizer program.

I have played around with adjusting both for over a month, and I believe I've got it!

Details about optimal settings, please!

[digitele]

I use a very nice smc gateway/router a SMCBR24Q(tweaked) and use a TCP/ip optimizer program.

I have played around with adjusting both for over a month, and I believe I've got it!

Details about optimal settings, please!

first for all, use a speed test. there are many but this one is in malaysia and works well as the way ipstar earth station are connected to the IP backbone.

http://219.93.175.234:8080/speedometer/index.jsp. do a couple of times and give me an average.

[ianc66]

I live out west of Hua Hin far from phone lines. I have MCSE and CCNA worked in computers 30+ years.

The private estate I live on has a water tower -- so I mounted a wireless router (Linksys WRT54G 1 Ethernet in 4 Ethernet out and wireless good management either by wireless or one of the internet out ports) on the top (well I got a boy chimney sweep to do it) walked around with a laptop and got reasonable response. So then I ordered IPSTAR express 2 from CSLoxinfo -- this was late December so I got the special 2,500 baht installation -- the monthly fee is 4000 baht plus VAT.

Whilst waiting for delivery, had two conduits for power and two Cat 5 cables to the tower top installed, mounted the wireless router in a modified fat trap (it’s a plastic box about 300mm each side) to provide weather proofing and cooling. At the tower bottom built a box with mains power and a UPS.

The great day 17 January came and a cast of thousands, well six, came to install. Didn’t turn a hair about mounting the IPX-5100 indoor unit outdoor in a box -- (of which more later) had to trim a branch off a tree to point the dish in the right way (it is a shame that CSLoxinfo don't give details of aspect required province by province on their website --here it seems to be about due east). Attached CAT5 cable 1 to the Ethernet in socket of the Wireless router and the Ethernet port of the IPX-5100 and cable 2 to an Ethernet out port -- this is my fallback if the wireless has problems. It all leapt into life. Over the next couple of days got myself and two Neighbours more to come on to internet PC>Wireless>Satellite. In one case the Wireless signal was poor so I used the techniques described here http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/ to get about 10 dB improvement

All went well – if occasionally slow especially to sites outside of Thailand I could illustrate this by pinging. Then on Friday 3 January the link kept dropping checking my local IPX-5100 http://192.168.5.100:8080/xwebgateway.cgi showed the device was constantly going through the sequence

Initialising

Synchronize and Get CRC

Get login message

Aloha login

Login

DHCP

Messaging

Sometimes failing at login sometimes DHCP sometimes Messaging which should be success but in this case went back to Initialising called helpdesk waited ages advice was to turn off leave off for 15 Minutes, seemed to work.

On Saturday had the same fault ringing the helpdesk got a recorded message to say the gateway was down.

Monday 6 had the fault again help desk suggested that I power of 25 minutes and disconnect the Rx Cable (am I alone in thinking that this could induce a fault?) good for 10 minutes then failed. The installation team arrived change the head unit no fix changed the IPX5100 then waited for about 30 minutes (it seems that a new unit must be registered to login) this explains why they do the head change first – again likely to induce faults. Works again but for how long?

A few thoughts:-

It seems to me that the weak point in all this is the IPX-5100 see this specification http://www.camnet.com.kh/sbi.htm. Not all web details certainly not in Thailand mention the 30 degree operating limit the 60 Degree storage limit nor the requirement to be on a UPS (from the IPSTAR Users guide release 2.2 which you get on installation). It really seems that the RF side of the device is degrading in use, this consistent with the symptoms. Obviously I’m running an indoors unit outside so that is a risk – but a device that requires <30 Celsius to run is stupid in a tropical environment. I would prefer rugged and reliable to sleek and stylish. Other issues with this device no time of day clock displayed with Logon status hinders diagnosis.

It seems to me that Ipstar are aware of this as their corporate response to problems is to replace the unit, perhaps sending a team of six to do this is seen as service for me service is a quoted uptime, four nines (99.99%) would be nice and is not difficult to achieve -- this is not rocket science.

The problem on Saturday ‘a server was down’ what about redundancy.

Speed – obviously don’t get the quoted speed some of this is down to the ongoing issues concerning access out of Thailand but some is down to the earth station and CSLoxinfo – what do I base this on? This is a ping of their primary DNS server for about 20 hours until 14:00 today:-

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=1072ms TTL=246

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=789ms TTL=246

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=778ms TTL=246

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=551ms TTL=246

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=817ms TTL=246

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=874ms TTL=246

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=725ms TTL=246

Ping statistics for 203.146.237.237:

Packets: Sent = 75287, Received = 72398, Lost = 2889 (3% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 516ms, Maximum = 3397ms, Average = 805ms

Control-Break

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=669ms TTL=246

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=942ms TTL=246

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=875ms TTL=246

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=760ms TTL=246

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=696ms TTL=246

Reply from 203.146.237.237: bytes=32 time=582ms TTL=246

The minimum should be latency caused by slant distance to the satellite plus a few milliseconds at each end for the network gear

(I get this to the IPX-5100

Reply from 192.168.5.100: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=254

Ping statistics for 192.168.5.100:

Packets: Sent = 356, Received = 356, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 4ms, Average = 1ms

Control-Break

Reply from 192.168.5.100: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=254)

Higher figures in the ping to the DNS and losses show that their equipment is at times overwhelmed. Also of course if the DNS server cannot respond rapidly to DNS requests this in itself is a perceived delay, this seems to confirm the lack of redundancy. A DNS server is again not rocket science a decent rack mount server with 1GB plusmemory, RAID1 on two controllers and dual teamed NICs is a fair start. Incidentally see the TTL, implies eight network devices between the IPX-5100 and DNS (there is a delay).

So in the meantime my advice, get a UPS, don’t let your maid turn the aircon off and pray that the IPX-5100 has not been left in a vehicle in the sun during delivery.

Edited February 7, 2006 by ianc66

[Rimmer]

I live out west of Hua Hin far from phone lines. I have MCSE and CCNA worked in computers 30+ years.

The private estate I live on has a water tower -- so I mounted a wireless router (Linksys WRT54G 1

BIG SNIP

Very interesting ianc66, thanks for that 'splains a lot of stuff.

Maybe worth mentioning at this point that the webgateway does not support Firefox browser.

[croftrobin]

I am a happy IPStar customer. I have had my system now for 3 years - and it gets cheaper and cheaper every year!

My wife runs a business and an internet shop in the village and this also provides me with my internet access at home, which I have through a wireless router and a few repeaters on my property.

I use Skype and other VOIP packages to telephone mobiles and fixed line phones all over the world and I regularly download UK TV shows on Torrent’s.

To put things in perspective – I now only pay 7490 baht per month for an unlimited 1024/256 connection per month, last year I paid 10500 baht for a 256/64 unlimited connection. And before that my bills were 15k or so per month.

A satellite internet connection (2 way) in the UK will cost you:

@ 2000UK pounds (138,000 Baht) one off equipment fee ( NON REFUNDABLE)

& @ 1000 UK pounds per month (69,000 Baht) for the same connection I have now in Thailand) – (1024/256) (BUT NOT UNLIMITED)

I know as I have friends in the Highlands who use this for dealing. (Stock market not YaaBaa!)

When my system was installed I was provided with a UPS for the IPStar Terminal free (don’t know if that is still the case)

BUT if you do not use UPS’s for you PC’s and other equipment in Thailand (They only cost 2.5k for a reasonable one) then you obviously do not value your equipment which is plugged into the mains and must enjoy re-inputting data!

I live in the sticks (as some people call it) (Paradise to me!) and I am happy I do not have to make an international GSM call to my ISP in the UK @9.6k - as I happily did in 96/97/98 to collect mail on my laptop (And it only cost me £5 (340baht) per minute then!!!)

We must look at things in perspective; certainly internet access is not as reliable as it is in Europe.

ALL INTERNET CONNECTION METHODS ARE PROBLEMATIC IN THAILAND!

Look at the number of grumbles about True, JNET etc about ADSL connections in this forum.

Dial up access on land lines is just a joke as there is so much noise on the lines.

GPRS works (for me as a back-up or when travelling) but again network problems are regularly experienced!

What we should be saying is “good, month on month the external internet connectivity is growing and the price of connectivity is coming down”.

Do not come to Thailand and expect the same connection speeds you had when you worked/lived at home.

My experience with IPStar is that some people have been unlucky with a particular installer in certain regions.

However like all Service Industries, throughout the world, after a number of complaints by users, this is acted upon.

I am aware that CSLoxinfo have not renewed contracts for a number of installers/engineers as they were unhappy with the work carried out.

New contracts have been assigned in these areas and it’s just a matter of time before the cowboys are ousted.

If you are an IPStar customer then the last thing to remember is that the connection fault 50% of the time is completely out of the ISP’s hands as the problem is with the Satellite(s) Gateway on Thaicom2/3 or the new IPStar - so when you phone them with a problem 50% of the time they are chasing Shinsat up to fix the problem – so that’s why you are told to switch your terminal off for a period of time! (They are just buying time)

The poster outside Hua Hin with 30 years experience!

Your ping response times are what you will get 99% of the time on satellite comms.

In your 30 years have you never worked offshore using Satt Comms? Why not install a cheap solar powered cooling fan in the housing of your terminal?) Just bastardise 4 solar garden lights – connect them up and add a fan – free cooling !

[lampard10]

I had seven new IP Star boxes in six weeks.............................guess I'm one of the lucky ones

[Rimmer]

I had seven new IP Star boxes in six weeks.............................guess I'm one of the lucky ones

I think I had one of yours after you. The one with the coffee stains down one side right?

[Gary A]

My signal strength is 87 and the other, whatever it is is EsNO 9.6. I complained a lot so they sent the crew out. They re-positioned my disk and put in a new modem with pretty blue lights instead of red lights. Everything was hooked back up and I think it was actually worse. The serviceman hooked up his laptop and it also took forever to load Yahoo. He put my computer back on and told me the satellite was fine. I tried to keep my cool but failed. I was still bitching when he was trying to get out the door. I tried a lot those tweak programs and increase your speed crap. I finally managed to make things worse. I went so far as to re- format my hard drive and started over. Sometimes it isn't too bad but more often it stinks. I quit complaining. When it works I use it and when it stinks I turn it off.

To all in regard to ipstar. But first for Gary A, check your signal strength by typing this into your internet browser http://192.168.5.100:8080/xWebGateway.cgi this will get you to your ipstar modem. What is your signal strenth? Do you have a router or gateway plugged into your ipstar modem? and what speed are you paying for? Additionally, everyone was down yesterday for awhile.

I use a very nice smc gateway/router a SMCBR24Q(tweaked) and use a TCP/ip optimizer program.

I have played around with adjusting both for over a month, and I believe I've got it!

I could advise your setup if you tell me more. I signed up for 512/256 and get >470 down and >215 up.

Let me know.

[ianc66]

I’ve got to report that since the IPX-5000 change things are better still sluggish on occasion (especially out of country) but it seems reliable

croftrobin

I’m very pleased that you are reporting good reliability.

Take your point about pricing having improved over the years no doubt some of that is competition, some cheaper and better performing generic equipment etc, perhaps some changes in business practice could help, for instance why monthly billing why a team of six to do installs and why suffer with a fragile device like the IPX-5100.

You note

ALL INTERNET CONNECTION METHODS ARE PROBLEMATIC IN THAILAND!

Precisely and I have held in my hand one of the reasons for that, the fragile misconceived device the IPX-5100. IPSTAR was touted as a way of getting the internet to rural Thailand (and indeed Australia) that hot dusty place with poor electrical supply and a paucity of aircon, and what did we get a ‘sleek and stylish’ device for a Bangkok condominium.

So what did I do built the best environment I could for it including UPS and fan (but if the air is hotter than 30 Celsius it don’t get cooler) I guess an upcountry village will have to attempt the same from their Ample disposable income

Consider an alternative a device which:-

1. has electronics capable of 40 Celsius operating

2. an inboard sealed battery for backup run as an always on UPS

3. built on a sealed aluminium box with passive cooling,

4. mounted in a cradle underneath the satellite dish with two factory made RG6 cables less than 1 meter long.

5. And an Ethernet cable up to 100 metre. Also run a lighting circuit cable for power. I’d like to use Power over Ethernet to feed the battery but it looks like the electronics would need more than the 12.95 Watt PoE standard.

6. Remove the UBS interface

7. Add a lightening arrestor

Advantages/Rational

1. The electronics correspond to the real world.

2. Cheap battery backup not only does it keep working but not being switched off and on means no spikes, the mass of the battery minimises thermal shock.

3. Sealed and passive, the dish head end units use this already, no fan to go wrong, no dust on the electronics, impervious to coffee and mild acids. Although Chang and Fosters may be a challenge.

4. This site http://www.accesscomms.com.au/Specs/y8040spec.pdf gives standard RG6 attenuation of 31.82 DB/100Mte so the standard IPSTAR 20mtr cable loses about 6DB both transmit and receive. Factory made would have solidly mounted coax connectors with boots, much less likely to go faulty than made on site with electrical tape as sealing.

5. Ethernet cable so the transmission is digital no attenuation. PoE see this http://www.poweroverethernet.com/articles.php?article_id=271 for an introduction

6. The USB interface is more to go wrong and software to install and maintain on the host, hence increased costs.

7. Obvious really

Add tothis some better advice on the web site about preparing for installation and the device should save costs and be more reliable.

All this is just thinking aloud obviously there must be better solutions still.

And no I’ve not worked in offshore satellite comms, just a VSAT installation across erm.. Thailand.

Edited February 9, 2006 by ianc66

[LoveDaBlues]

Gary, My Signal Strength is a constant 87.00 and the ES varies from 8.6 - 8.7. My modem must be the newest model as it also has the blue lights and my system was installed roughly 6 weeks ago.

At this point you must be pulling your hair out - sorry

I guess ignorance is bliss.....I know maybe 10% of what some of the posters are talking about but my Ipstar system has been nearly flawless.

Are you running Windows XP?

[lampard10]

My biggest mistake was having I-P Star fitted on the special introductory offer of 20,000 baht. When the offer finished and it dropped to the normal 8,000 baht I was sick. I completely forgot for that instance that I was in Thailand.

[dive_mistress]

I just got my new IPStar satelite disk and am typing this using dial up again. I am somewhat computer saavy but i cant get it to connect!!! Its so frustrating!!!!!

I have NO paper work or any information about even WHO to call. the rep or who ever he was who installed it didnt leave me anything and said I would get it in the mail.

I have a Local Area connection Icon and a a 1394 connection icon. One the spped is 400kbs and the LAC says 100. It feels very slow. I looked and looked a tinkered just a bit with some settings but I would like to konw what my settings should be? How do i get the optimum speed? Im sharing with a neighbor and he has the router box in his house.

With 512 how long will it take to down load a movie approximately? This is all legit too. I tried to use bit torrent software just to test it and it said like 5 days!!! Agh.

Someone please help!!!!!!!!!

[Rimmer]

I just got my new IPStar satelite disk and am typing this using dial up again. I am somewhat computer saavy but i cant get it to connect!!! Its so frustrating!!!!!

I have NO paper work or any information about even WHO to call. the rep or who ever he was who installed it didnt leave me anything and said I would get it in the mail.

I have a Local Area connection Icon and a a 1394 connection icon. One the spped is 400kbs and the LAC says 100. It feels very slow. I looked and looked a tinkered just a bit with some settings but I would like to konw what my settings should be? How do i get the optimum speed? Im sharing with a neighbor and he has the router box in his house.

With 512 how long will it take to down load a movie approximately? This is all legit too. I tried to use bit torrent software just to test it and it said like 5 days!!! Agh.

Someone please help!!!!!!!!!

I believe you should have started a new thread on your problem.

Don’t hold your breath about configuration detail, guarantee card, registration and free T shirt dropping through your letter box……

You can email IPStar giving them the reference number off your modem, they will give you your email password or whatever else they have.

The LAN icon will show a speed of 100Mbps it means nothing.

If it will not log into the satellite use the web gateway page in a browser window to kick it into life and to see the status of the up link. It’s at: http://192.168.5.100:8080/xWebGateway.cgi

You will see the successful log in message in the window. If there is a problem logging in, this also will be reflected in the window.

You can then use that window (or another) to surf the net. The web gateway does not support Firefox.

The signal strength should be around 80 to 85

The ES Number can be anything up to or around 13 but if heavy cloud is around it can drop down to as low as 7 when it will then drop out altogether. I am told by IPStar engineers that the ES number is the important one to watch.

With a 512 package your bandwidth is around 450 kbps to 500 kbps and your D/L speed around 64 KB/sec. This will give you a 3MB download time of around 51 secs.

To test your download speed go to http://www.adslthailand.com/ use the local net test.

Let us know how you get on.

[YOOBEE]

It has taken exactly 13 minutes to get to this point. I have used up all my curses and swear words and for the past four days I have cycled them again and again. What is wrong with this pathetic service? There is only one reason I would consider moving out of the boonies and that would be for a telephone line. ANYTHING is better than this!

I have IPSTAR as from Feb 2008 with 256 kbit/s bandwidth. During Feb and March I had an average bandwidth of 40 to 50 kbit/s over 24 hours (about 20 to 30 kbit/s from 8:00 to 22:00). After complaining, the router has been replaced 3 times (!). It did not improve the situation. I refused to pay the 1500 Baht for the first 2 months and finally, I had an acceptable bandwidth from April to June. After that, it fell back to the worst. Right now, I have an average of about 30 kbit/s. Incredible. I was at TOT complaining for this and refused again, to pay the bills. It seems, that TOT has no solution for this problem, maybe they cannot cope with this technology. All talks to technology guys showed an astonishing lack of knowledge about this satellite communication technology. Normally, I go back to landline with 56kbit/s analog modem. As this connection is faster and allows me to chat in yahoo etc. (which with IPSTAR is absolutely impossible and very unstable (logouts every now and then)).

Just to avoid the impression, that I have not the right settings or something in my installation has a flaw, I am computer expert (Dr.ing ETH in computer physics).

My advise for all the disappointed subscribers of IPSTAR is, not to pay the bill and point out at TOT, why. 

[BlackJack]

i live in the south of THailand and so no real alternative to IPSTAR and TOT

I have a 256KBPS package at 1750 baht plus tax

When i speed test this connection i get

from my PC to BKK 256KBPS down and 90KBPS up - near enough to what i pay for

when i speed test to THAIVISA is get 50kbps down and 50kbps up - slow

when i speed test to USA UK Australia all tests are below 100KBPS down and up is 50KBPS

I called TOT

They tell me they can only guarantee 70% speeds in THailand - (i asked them to print this and send to me)

I said well how come I can get better speeds on ADSL ( drive to town to connect 700KBPS+ )

NO ANSWER except its cloud cover or rain - which it is not - its a perfectly good sunny day

i requested them to put me on a 512KBPS package so to test the cloud and rain theory

THEY would not

My hunch is that when speed tests are down by TOT its a dedicated machine that sits there all day simply being pinged and speedtesting - so its not a work horse etc and so the tests are flawed for a start

Second theory is that the IPSTAR TOT satellite link is connected to some machine or back bone thats slowing the whole works up. Hence speedtest BKK and get the right speed and speed test UK and get less than 50%

I have checked all equipment on my side and all works well (as I get the right speeds from BKK)

any ideas anyone

[monty]

Very simple reason, the cheap packages (cheap for satellite anyway) are heavily over subscribed.

Satellite has some drawbacks, namely high latency which can make a relative fast connection still seem slow.

Secondly, bandwidth on satellites is very expensive, so they are already introducing sharing at the section between your house and the ISP. Hence that even local speeds are only guaranteed at 70% of rated speed. At least with ADSL you have your own dedicated line to the DSLAM.

Then to top it of, TOT's international bandwidth is in very short supply, for all subscribers, whether they are using TOT adsl or TOT iPSTAR. Even expensive business ADSL packages are reported to sometimes slow down to dial-up crawling speed!

i live in the south of THailand and so no real alternative to IPSTAR and TOT

I have a 256KBPS package at 1750 baht plus tax

When i speed test this connection i get

from my PC to BKK 256KBPS down and 90KBPS up - near enough to what i pay for

when i speed test to THAIVISA is get 50kbps down and 50kbps up - slow

when i speed test to USA UK Australia all tests are below 100KBPS down and up is 50KBPS

I called TOT

They tell me they can only guarantee 70% speeds in THailand - (i asked them to print this and send to me)

I said well how come I can get better speeds on ADSL ( drive to town to connect 700KBPS+ )

NO ANSWER except its cloud cover or rain - which it is not - its a perfectly good sunny day

i requested them to put me on a 512KBPS package so to test the cloud and rain theory

THEY would not

My hunch is that when speed tests are down by TOT its a dedicated machine that sits there all day simply being pinged and speedtesting - so its not a work horse etc and so the tests are flawed for a start

Second theory is that the IPSTAR TOT satellite link is connected to some machine or back bone thats slowing the whole works up. Hence speedtest BKK and get the right speed and speed test UK and get less than 50%

I have checked all equipment on my side and all works well (as I get the right speeds from BKK)

any ideas anyone