Faster Internet In Thailand Does Not Mean Faster International Speed

[phuketrichard]

it really doesn't matter, ur in Thailand, they will lie to u about the speeds, it will work and than stop working. Everyday at 5 pm it will slow down

It is what it is and for those that compare it to Europe and the states, we don't live there an don't want to

[Pib]

speedtest.net uses a cache so no good for international speeds,'try this one

http://www.dslreport...eedtest?flash=1

No, don't use this one either because it's a "Flash" based speed tester which can be easily fooled for download speed and/or ping time.

So can you recommend a valid test tool? I found one a while ago from another thread here but lost the link.

Sent from my LG-P970 using Thaivisa Connect App

Your safest bets are "Java-based" speedtesters like the DSLReports Java-based tester, TestMy.net Java-based tester, or the Microsoft Network Connectivity Analysis tester about half-way down the page at this Link. etc. Just something Java-based.

In closing, I'm not saying Flash-based testers are always wrong, but they are easily fooled and a lot depends on how your ISP network is setup with cache servers. The Flash-based Speedtest.net is usually fine for testing a person's basic connectivity speed within Thailand...I do that every few days just to check if my True 14Mb plan is giving me 14Mb within Thailand....since I live in Bangkok I just do a speedtest using Speedtest.net, TOT's or True's Flash-based speedtesters to their Bangkok servers just to insure I'm getting at least 14Mb. In this case I'm not worried about what my international speed is and whether cache servers are involved because I just want to ensure I'm getting my basic 14Mb in-Thailand speed.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The very good sites Pib recommended above are most useful for measuring results between Thailand and various locations in the U.S. So in part it also depends on what other location Dharma is trying to measure his Internet connection to other than Thailand.

MS also has speed test sites for Singapore/Asia and Ireland/Europe last time I checked, besides their U.S. site. Different countries destinations also have different speed test resources. But as Pib pointed out, for measuring international results, Java based tests are going to tend to be more accurate.

[DonaldBattles]

Measuring the speeds is a big waste of time. If you can stream live video then you ar OK. Apparently in Bangkok and Pattaya where the rulers of the Peoples Republic Republic of Bangkok live they force TOT to provide acceptable service.

Here in Chiang Red Land TOT super sucks.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Don, beg to differ...

In BKK and some other cities, customers actually have choices of different ISP companies and different methods of delivery, cable, DSL, satellite, etc.

Assuming a person is staying in the same home over time, you'll eventually find out -- assuming you use reliable speed tests -- what's the best Internet package for your location.

For international connections, the rated ISP plan speeds are pretty meaningless. But it's only through testing that a customer is going to find out just what they're getting for their money.

Of course, you may be in a location where TOT is your only available choice for the time being. And so in that instance, maybe it's better to NOT KNOW what kind of connection you're getting.

BTW, don't feel too bad, TOT regularly sucks as an ISP for customers in BKK and other larger cities as well.

But as for your point about video streaming, everyone uses the Internet in different ways and for different things. All that matters is if a person's connection is fast enough to support whatever it is that they in particular want to do.

[shariq607]

I tried torrents on that university line but somehow it was blocked

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect App

[DonaldBattles]

As the "Peoples Republic of Bangkok" does not want any international down load bandwidth wasted by our red shirt province all we have available is TOT Sucks. They won't let anyone else sell the internet out in the country or the suppliers are afraid to cross TOT. Not sure which one. It has been like this now for 4 years and I don't expect that Bangkok will allow them to change things in Chiang Rai.

[wpcoe]

I tried torrents on that university line but somehow it was blocked

Actually, now that I think about it, that's not a bad university policy. Broke college students with access to fast, free (often illegal) stuff?

Still, it would have been interesting to see what speeds could be achieved on that line with, say, a well-seeded large download like a Linux distro.

[tinfoilhat]

Internet is as fast as the slowest connection...

unless you are running multiple threads

[The Pundit]

Cheapest true connection 10 Mbps/512 Kbps:

It's the upload speed that's important here and this is shameful!

[DonaldBattles]

After a stern letter to the head of TOT Chiang Rai. An army of people (6) came to visit me. They wanted to changes wires, sell me a new service fixed line for 1500 Baht per month and a lot of other excuses. I was told the fixed line could only guarantee me download access 10% of the time. God knows who would want to buy this. The other option was a new fiber optic line which was 25,000 per month. No guarantee on this.

I kept insisting that there was nothing wrong with any of my hardware and the Customer Service Manager did confess that they simply do not have the bandwidth for the customers that they have taken in. He stated that TOT Bangkok had promised them more bandwidth next month. I told him that I did not think that this would happen as the government was paying out its money for rice farming subsidies. He said that we would have to wait and see.

The group of people sent were very kind and understanding. While trying to test my two ADSL systems they could not get either one to work and stated that TOT Bangkok had a problem that shut down all of the upcountry ADSL service. They spent a lot of time at my computer trying to test things. The bottom line is that they said that the internet should be back on within aout 3 hours. So with the executive visit they did not change anything and said that the situation would continue to get worse unless Bangkok TOT gave them more bandwidth. I offered them a free drink at Don's Cafe but they all promptly left after a short internal meeting at 16:30. I have an older modem that they said was restricted to 6 meg, the other one was a Cisco TP Link and they would sell me a new one. This is At least they were kind enough to send a group of people to explain to me that things would not get better without the help of TOT Bangkok. Several of the people had a copy of my letter to their Director. I am sure that he must have been miffed at someone getting serious with them about not receiving what they are paying for. AMAZING!

[Dork]

Cheapest true connection 10 Mbps/512 Kbps:

It's the upload speed that's important here and this is shameful!

ADSL2+ technology only supports a maximum upstream rate of 1.4Mbps and you would need to be located fairly close to the DSLAM to get that.

Remember that these are home use internet packages. If you require a high upload speed, the assumption is that you are running some kind of server and should have a much more expensive commercial solution. It is the same worldwide and at THB599 (under USD20/month) you can't call it "shameful"

[DonaldBattles]

Dob't know where you get your information on ADSL 2 technology but it is not correct. As I sit here on Saturday morning am streaming video at 1.6 mbs. The reason that I am able to do this is most of the Thai users are still asleep.

[NeverSure]

I think we have to look at our own local systems too. Isn't wireless G a max of 54Mbps? and N is 300? That's optimal before loss over distance, from line of sight obstructions, radio interference, etc. In the end, I see about 1/2 of those. Then a lot of people still have "fast ethernet" (100BASE-TX) at 100Mbps. That's about 12 MBps, wired.

Now, in my past, MBps was megabytes per second, and Mbps was megabits per second. The former is 8X faster. In most speed test results I'm seeing readings of Mbps which is confusing me when some people talk of megabytes per second. ??

I know I have the fastest cable internet speed in the US, as stated by PC Mag reviews, my own provider, and others. I pay for 30 Mbps down and 4 up. Within the US, using tracert I see hop times as much as 50 ms to common sites like Amazon.com.

So FWIW my totally wired, 10/100 system often shows almost 30 Mbps down and 4 up, and the part which is wireless (have my main squeeze box wired into the "N" wireless router) is about 1/2 that. The router is out in the garage with noticeable interference which I could name some of. So I try to do the math. My router "should" carry 300 Mbps, and I'm getting 30, but only 15 is getting from the wireless part of the router to the other nodes.

Edited November 17, 2012 by NeverSure

[Dork]

Dob't know where you get your information on ADSL 2 technology but it is not correct. As I sit here on Saturday morning am streaming video at 1.6 mbs. The reason that I am able to do this is most of the Thai users are still asleep.

Did you read the post properly? Because If this is your level of understanding when we are discussing in English, it's not surprising you have problems with those poor technicians.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Dob't know where you get your information on ADSL 2 technology but it is not correct. As I sit here on Saturday morning am streaming video at 1.6 mbs. The reason that I am able to do this is most of the Thai users are still asleep.

Don, the prior poster was talking about UPSTREAM bandwidth...which means uploading... As opposed to downloading content from the Internet.

1.5 Mbps isn't a particularly fast download speed. But it IS a pretty fast upload speed with most ISPs.

BTW, at least consider yourself fortunate the TOT staff in your town showed up in response to your complaint letter. In BKK, you almost certainly would never have had any contact back at all.

Edited November 17, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[DonaldBattles]

Thanks for correcting me. I never heard the expression for up stream as uploading. To me upstream would be anything upstream no matter what the action is. However, I do believe that the average ADSL modem is capable of more than 1.4 meg of uploading. Never ever heard of such restrictions. If this is the case what good does a high speed internet do for you.

[tinfoilhat]

Dob't know where you get your information on ADSL 2 technology but it is not correct. As I sit here on Saturday morning am streaming video at 1.6 mbs. The reason that I am able to do this is most of the Thai users are still asleep.

Donald, key word = upstream

video streaming = downstream

[BB1950]

Thanks for correcting me. I never heard the expression for up stream as uploading. To me upstream would be anything upstream no matter what the action is. However, I do believe that the average ADSL modem is capable of more than 1.4 meg of uploading. Never ever heard of such restrictions. If this is the case what good does a high speed internet do for you.

Edited November 21, 2012 by BB1950

[MartinBKK]

Measuring the speeds is a big waste of time. If you can stream live video then you ar OK. Apparently in Bangkok and Pattaya where the rulers of the Peoples Republic Republic of Bangkok live they force TOT to provide acceptable service.

Here in Chiang Red Land TOT super sucks.

I am in Chiang Mai. i have TOT 7mb/512 ADSL and also TRUE DOCSIS 14mb/1.2.

TOT is far faster for international sites i download around 700kbps whereas on true i download around 200 kbps. I just got the TRUE looking for an improvement but now i have a 12 month contract for absolute rubbish.

[DonaldBattles]

e first was 6 people the second was one person and the 3rd was 6 people. They all wanted to change my wires and kept showing me their speed test on domestic speed checkers. I finally convinced them to stop messing with my hardware because there was nothing wrong with it. For the supervisors that came with both groups they admitted that TOT does not have the banAfter my strong letter to the local Chiang Rai head of TOT I received 3 separate visits from TOT staff. They admitted that they did not have the bandwidth to satisfy my need. During the last series of test the speed averaged about 70-300 kbps As I pay for 2 ADSL lines and they offered what they call a fixed fiber line and my total cost increase when deleting the two ADSL lines would only be about 300 Baht. I opted for this service and then they sent some more people here to tell me that they could not provide this service because they needed a printed circuit card that they could not buy. God only knows what this means. Anyway after all of the trips and wasting my time the service remains the same as for the past 4 years. There is no hope for improvement or providing the service that I pay for every month. They did explain that their service in Town was fast and if I wanted to move to town it would be OK.

[Lunghans]

Just ordered 13 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up for 900 thb. from 3BB in Nakorn Rachasima, Ampur Muang. My Thai family advised to go for 3BB and I must say I am surprised. Speed test shows these specs for BKK and this for Amsterdam, for New York. I never had such a good connection outside Thailand before (TOT). I pinged our own servers in Germany and this took 56 ms. I am more than satisfied.

But I am afraid they will crank it down to 13 Mbps, this is what I pay for.

Edited November 27, 2012 by Lunghans

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Your results for New York and Amsterdam are FALSE, as evidenced by the 22 ms ping times to those locations.

Your speed test results are showing cached results to the local BKK server, not to your international destinations.

It's an old ploy/trick that the ISPs use to make people think they're getting faster speeds than they really are.

Any connection to the U.S. for example, just by the thousands of miles distance from BKK, is going to take at least 200 to 300 ms... That's how anyone would know your 22 ms results are bogus.

But don't feel bad, you're only about the 10,000th ThaiVisa member to be similarly deluded at some point in time, before finally coming to understand how these things work.

Edited November 27, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[bangkockney]

I pinged our own servers in Germany and this took 56 ms. I am more than satisfied.

But I am afraid they will crank it down to 13 Mbps, this is what I pay for.

What are you using to ping servers in Germany that delivers that result? It's bogus.

Straight line distance BKK - Berlin: ~ 5350 miles.

Total trip: 10,700 miles

Packet speed: ~ 100,000 miles per second

Trip time: ~ 107 ms

That's without router delay (in the order of a few ms per hop) and clearly your cable is not following a straight line distance.

Run ping from a prompt and get a real result.

[DonaldBattles]

You may rest assured that the TOT situation will remain the same here as it has for the last 4 years. After all of visits and wire monkeying around everything remains the same. The connection breaks so frequently in the morning because of the party line that you can forget about using it. I was promised that they would look into purchasing a card they said they needed to improve my system but no feed back and I don't expect there will be. As long as everything is routed through Bangkok I expect that up country will get what every bandwidth is left over. AMAZING!

[wpcoe]

Just ordered 13 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up for 900 thb. from 3BB in Nakorn Rachasima, Ampur Muang. My Thai family advised to go for 3BB and I must say I am surprised. Speed test shows these specs for BKK ...

I agree that the Amsterdam and New York speeds are not accurate, but if you are getting 18Mbps on a 13Mbps 3BB package on a speed test to Bangkok, that is extraordinary.

[RandomSand]

There really needs to be a Sticky about bogus results when using Speedtest.net.

I use Speakeasy speedtest FWIW.

[RandomSand]

Can anyone advise me on how I can check to see how many hops my download signal is taking before it gets to me?

Using Windows:

Hit Start, type CMD into the quick search box (or the run box in xp), press return.

In the CMD window; type: tracert www.example.com ,press return

Some firewalls or routers block this query but mostly it works.

Something else that helps in understanding the internet core routing is looking at peering agreements. nice site with graphs of ASNs: http://bgp.he.net/

Edited November 28, 2012 by RandomSand

[Pib]

There really needs to be a Sticky about bogus results when using Speedtest.net.

I use Speakeasy speedtest FWIW.

When someone makes that Sticky they need to be sure Speakeasy is listed along with Speedtest as both are Flash-based/OOKLA-based speed testers. I just went to Speakeasy and did a test to San Francisco...pulled over 14Mb on my 14Mb True connection--bogus....cache server results. As soon as I opened the Speakeasy site and say OOKLA in the lower right hand corner which means its flash-based I knew I would probably get bogus results...I did.

Summary: Flash/OOKLA-based speed testers can be easily fooled by local cache servers. Use a Java-based speed tester.

[Dork]

You may rest assured that the TOT situation will remain the same here as it has for the last 4 years. After all of visits and wire monkeying around everything remains the same. The connection breaks so frequently in the morning because of the party line that you can forget about using it. I was promised that they would look into purchasing a card they said they needed to improve my system but no feed back and I don't expect there will be. As long as everything is routed through Bangkok I expect that up country will get what every bandwidth is left over. AMAZING!

If I was in your situation, I wouldn't automatically assume that the problem lies with TOT rather than my own ADSL modem. There can be a big difference in stability between various brands of ADSL modem/routers depending on how compatible they are with the local TOT DSLAM you are connecting to.

What are your ADSL statistics? i.e SNR margin, line attenuation and actual rate vs attainable rate. Can you look at the statistics page of your modem and post them here?