Are T O T Really This Useless

[Thomaspaul]

If you use T.O.T, for landline telephone or Internet access beware

10 days ago in the evening when there was rain and lightning about

24 people in a village 3k out of Thoeng towards Chaingkong lost

there connections

As of today they have not been reconnected because the control box which

blew cannot be repaired and they do not have a replacement

I find that this is unexceptable but given the fact that since 2006 the

level of service in Thoeng office has deteriorated badly not suprising

Beware because could happen to you

[robenroute]

Dear Thomaspaul,

As unacceptable as it may seem (to a westerner), things are a wee bit different here in Thailand. You're probably used to the service levels of your home country, but here in Thailand, there simply are no guarantees. If your existence depends so much on an Internet connection, you might ponder a satellite connection, but that also might just give it a rest during a heavy thunderstorm. Or, perhaps, depending on your location and availability, a wireless/mobile Internet connection. Your options and alternatives are somewhat restricted. Try to look at it a bit differently: you'll have much more time for real, face-to-face connections without the Internet... ;-)

[DonaldBattles]

Since the last storm came through Doi Hang the T.O.T internet here is really bad. It picks up and drops out about every 5 minutes. I have 2 adsl lines and both are the same. The speeds are next to nothing. If I had another alternative I would switch. I have had IPStar in the past and it was worse. A friend tried to use his AIS stick here and it was bad even though the tower is across the street. I use the internet for international business and it si important to me and no chance of face to face contact.

[Paul888]

I use TOT fiber optic which they told me would not be affected by storms and I must admit, does not seem to be affected by storms.

Not a lot of use when your electric goes off though !

[villagefarang]

I am pretty sure we would all appreciate better, more reliable internet service, but considering where we live, things could be worse.

They were only putting in the telephone lines as we were building our house, and even after they finished, it was a difficult task to get enough villagers to signup for phones and internet. Most already had mobile phones and saw no need for a landline. My wife lobbied everyone she could and our village finally got phones and adsl.

So things are not perfect, but I consider myself lucky to have internet at all, even if it isn’t perfect.

[robenroute]

I use TOT fiber optic which they told me would not be affected by storms and I must admit, does not seem to be affected by storms.

Not a lot of use when your electric goes off though !

Fiber isn't available everywhere...

[sunholidaysun1]

I think the service has improved over the years but occassionally for no real reason the service becomes near on useless . I am with 3BB and I have had many an issue with them here in the Rai and very heated debates with their head office in BKK . On my last heavy handed converstaion where I stated that their internet service was a sham due to over subscription and not enough bandwith to cover the amount of users and telling them I am Ex-IBM Global Operations leader , I know what I am talking about . The very next day , my service was totally restored , my internet connection never dropped, the speed was as fast as any I have experienced using and has been like this for the past few months without failure , even in bad weather . Last night however, the DNS server crashed and was out of use for several hours , when it was back the service is usable - just a bit slow .

For those living out of town I do sympathise with you , being out in the sticks has never been good for connections and sadly being so far from town little is done to restore connectivity .

[villagefarang]

You realize, the DSN server probably crashed because they were pumping all that bandwidth to you.

I call TOT from time to time, but use the low volume approach, and they usually get things connected again after a short wait.

[apache9441]

We've lost two of these routers in thunderstorms. recommend you remove the phone cable from the back of the router.

they replace them free of charge but they must be replacing hundreds if not thousands, or recycling them back to customers.

I think the TP-LINK routers they are using are not up to the Job. maybe worth buying your own.

[billd766]

We had a terrific thunderstorm on Friday evening and my TOT wireless internet died. I called the "local" office in Khampaeng Phet 65 km away but of course it was Friday night. I called them again on Saturday morning, Monday morning and Monday afternoon when they told me that the head on the tower has been hit by lightning and it should be fixed by Tuesday afternoon.

It finally came back on line on Wednesday afternoon around 3 pm, 3 hours short of 5 days.

TOT offices don't carry many spares and they have to be ordered from TOT Central but the local guys have to survey first before ordering. The local team are pretty good really considering that TOT is Bangkok-centric.

[Morden]

It's not just a matter of accepting inferior service just because this is Thailand.

We have a TOT 'phone and internet line. Even though the service is more reliable than it used to be, we still have interruptions to the internet access that don't seem to come to the attention of TOT until we call them. Some weeks ago, we reported that both the 'phone and internet service was inaccessible. Nothing was done for three days until a landfill truck driver said that he had damaged the line and would pay for the repair. TOT were on the spot within thirty minutes.

Turning up only because someone has agreed to pay isn't acceptable.

[Paul888]

Occasional loss of internet is not the end of the world.

At least it gives all the complainers something to complain about when it comes back

[Ebenezer]

I have had TOT in M. Chiang Rai for just over a year. There were teething troubles but after 4 complaints and visits the connection worked well and has been reasonable for the last year with outages of not more than 3 days. Recently the storm took the connection out and my wife phoned up every morning from the Friday (no reply on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday) for 6 days. There was never an assurance that they would come that day but they eventually came on the 7th day and fixed the problem which seemed to be in a junction box about 700m away.

I have now switched to 3bb which took only 3 days and was installed the same day as the TOT line was fixed (now cancelled). The 3bb connection seems fine (9-13Mb) but only time will tell if it is more reliable and has better customer support and service.

[pomchop]

I have had TOT in M. Chiang Rai for just over a year. There were teething troubles but after 4 complaints and visits the connection worked well and has been reasonable for the last year with outages of not more than 3 days. Recently the storm took the connection out and my wife phoned up every morning from the Friday (no reply on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday) for 6 days. There was never an assurance that they would come that day but they eventually came on the 7th day and fixed the problem which seemed to be in a junction box about 700m away.

I have now switched to 3bb which took only 3 days and was installed the same day as the TOT line was fixed (now cancelled). The 3bb connection seems fine (9-13Mb) but only time will tell if it is more reliable and has better customer support and service.

In my case my connection and TOT service seems to be getting better and better as time goes by. Is it perfect? no....but then again my hi speed connection in the USA also goes out from time to time and has it's share of challenges especially when big storms come through....