Thailand internet WHY SO SLOW AND OUTDATED!

[honoluabay]

What's the deal here in LOS the internet is the slowest weakest in the world? I can get better in 2 bit Mexican town better than here on Lan lines. When or will LOS join in with the rest of the world offering true internet speeds, or do we just say f it. Because its Thailand.

Sent from my A200 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[qdinthailand]

They're asking this same question about the internet in the U.S.

[hkt83100]

Check your hardware...

[falkan]

am getting great speed/ping from my 10mbit..

[Guest]

Welcome to the larger world. You are now physically far away from the servers you wish to use, which can never be as fast something very close by.

On the other hand, the services and servers within Thailand response faster from here, compared trying to use those from the western world.

[Somtamnication]

We all complain, but it is better than gprs or dialup when I first arrived back in 2000.

Yes, no 8 mbit minimum speeds as in Hong Kong or Seoul (as per my students), but it is getting better.

Now, if the govt would just stop bottlenecking the data through Bangkok for "data review", it would be a helluva lot faster.

[AyG]

The monopoly that CAT had over international connections for many years led to high prices and limited capacity - there was no financial incentive for them to provide a faster service. We're still suffering from that legacy underinvestment.

[steelepulse]

I'm getting dial up speeds on CAT Hinet for the last 24 hours.

[LivinginKata]

I've seen significant speed and connectivity increases over the years and price per Mb has decreased in real terms. I'm not complaining.

[Pib]

Welcome to Thailand....when it comes to good internet in Thailand Location, Location, Location can make all the difference. And when I say location, I don't mean like the next city over....I mean sometimes it can be just the next soi over. The speed of my True DOCSIS (cable) 15Mb plan here in western Bangkok is just fine...now that 15Mb is just my local connection speed...speeds I get to international sites is only going to be around 2 to 6Mb. And that 2-6Mb international speed pretty much applies even if you have a 50Mb local connection (xDSL, cable or fiber) as Thai ISPs limit their international bandwidth as bandwidth costs money....and the great majority of Thais know little English so much of their surfing is done within Thailand. Now you can get a business grade internet connection versus the typical consumer grade plan and get better international speed but you pay 3 to 10 times more per month.

But hey, it has got better in many locations...three years ago the fastest internet connection to my moobaan was a 6Mb ADSL; now it's 200Mb DOCSIS. Then we still have folks jin other parts of Thailand just waiting for copper lines/landline service to reach their moobaan...and it may not ever show-up as a person will have to continue to use Satellite, Wifi, or 3G service which can be pricey and not that fast out in the sticks. Location, Location, Location.

[Tywais]

To put things into perspective: When I first started working at Chiang Mai University 20 years ago I decided my 1st priority was to get Internet capability at our lab. At that time the university computer center did not allow anyone to piggy back on their link so the electrical engineering department set up their own leased line to Bangkok. I met with them and requested our being allowed to use it. They agreed and I set up a linux server and a full time PPP link via modem from our lab to engineering. Later they established a consortium for others who wished to use it they could register and pay a small monthly fee.

I also set up another modem on our linux server for call in. I had a modem at home and was able to get Internet access from home and in the vast minority that had home Internet access until Loxley and KSC got running with dial in capability. That link to Bangkok - 9600 Baud and I was very happy to have that.

Fast forward, now running at 13Mbps at 950/month trouble free and getting paid for speed. International of course is a different story but with torrents, usually cap the max speed most of the time.

So, be happy technology actually has advanced in Thailand to very usable speeds. Just think you could be still listening to this:

[prallo]

The internet is really slow today !!!

No like the days before. I am using TOT and everybody in Bangsaray, Sattahip area has the same problems.

[Cloggie]

If you complain about the internet speed you will have a very hard time here!!!!

[SpaceKadet]

There is a very simple answer... Monopolistic GREED!!!

[prallo]

This doesn´t answer my question why is it so slow today !

[Chicog]

Because not only is it a third world country with the Internet infrastructure run by lazy idiots, but it's also a paranoid one who insists on intrusively monitoring internet traffic.

[Turkleton]

The internet is really slow today !!!

No like the days before. I am using TOT and everybody in Bangsaray, Sattahip area has the same problems.

yepp,

TOT is today much more crappy slowly than usual.

I guess, it has something to do with the today's "event".

Maybe a *little bit* more monitoring in Bkk today...

[sniffdog]

Live in Bangkok and have no problem at all with my True Hi-Speed 16Mb connection. Get easily 1.9-2 MB downloads on usenet. And it's always up. Can't remember it being down (other than maintenance) in he last 4 years.

[stevehaigh]

mine's fast and reliable, 3bb, no complaints at all

[taiping]

I remember the old days with 56 Kbps dial-up in Bangkok - be happy !!

I've had CAT fibre-optic "On-Net" 20 / 3 Mbps for the last few weeks. Works fine except for the downtime last Saturday/Sunday due to the political demos when power was cut at CAT, and a couple of other short down-time periods lasting a few minutes each.

Speed to LA this morning was 19.36 / 2.88 Mbps.

[BB1950]

I remember the old days with 56 Kbps dial-up in Bangkok - be happy !!

Back in the days of dial-up connections, webpages didn't have a ton of flash-based layouts and advertising. Slow connections are miserable when it comes to accessing many web sites of today. You wouldn't be able to access many web pages of today without giving up in frustration, with a dial-up connection these days!

[jacko45k]

Mine has seemed particularly bad of late.

But I can only blame myself as I should have dumped the crappy one I have years ago but can't be bothered.

Better alternatives have reached the area, but I want to retain the land line and do not want any cables hanging in the air off my house.

Hanging on for the advent of 4G or whatever which will give me a wireless network source at home via my phone. (Currently ADSL)

[craigt3365]

If I am not mistaken, one issue is the connection to the US. There's only a few "pipes" that provide access, and everybody is using them.

When I was in the US, speeds varied dramatically based on where you were. My brothers speed in Farmington, New Mexico was about 25% or less of what I was getting in NYC. For the same price.

Here's a good report of the top countries internet speeds. Latvia? 55555

http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/23/akamai-average-u-s-internet-speed-up-28-yoy-now-at-7-4-mbps-but-south-korea-japan-and-hong-kong-still-far-ahead/

[Pib]

I remember the old days with 56 Kbps dial-up in Bangkok - be happy !!

I've had CAT fibre-optic "On-Net" 20 / 3 Mbps for the last few weeks. Works fine except for the downtime last Saturday/Sunday due to the political demos when power was cut at CAT, and a couple of other short down-time periods lasting a few minutes each.

Speed to LA this morning was 19.36 / 2.88 Mbps.

I expect you are using a Flash/Ookla-based speedtester like maybe Speedtest.net to get those results....such testers can make a lot of international connections look very good...they can even make bad international connections look OK...then you wonder why your surfing to some sites or video streaming is still slow/always buffering.

Anyway, you might want to try a speedtester such as testmy.net which probably simulates real word surfing better that easily fooled Flash/Ookla-based speedtesters. See this recent ThaiVisa thread started by another person who has a CAT 25/3Mb fiber plan probably pretty similar to your CAT 20/3Mb fiber plan.

When I tested to LA this morning using Speedtest.net I got almost 8Mb international speed from my True DOCSIS (cable) 15Mb plan; but when testing to San Jose using testmy.net I only got 1.5Mb...I believe the testmy.net based on just how responsive my internet surfing feels this morning.

[jackflash]

In my experience the internet in Thailand is surprisingly good.

There is a big difference however between ADSL and Cable.

ADSL connects via a phone line (copper wires) and has the advantage that you have your own line back to the exchange.

With Cable however (coaxial cable) you share the connection with many others in your street.

While Cable has good max speed, it is notorious for slowing down during peak hours.

So check the connection to your modem. Is it Cable (like a TV cable) or is it a normal phone line?

Another possibility is that you are using WiFi and are sharing the modem with many others (in a hotel, etc).

If one or two others are downloading large files, everything slows to a crawl.

Edited December 6, 2013 by jackflash

[zig]

Here's a good report of the top countries internet speeds. Latvia? 55555

http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/23/akamai-average-u-s-internet-speed-up-28-yoy-now-at-7-4-mbps-but-south-korea-japan-and-hong-kong-still-far-ahead/

Well, very reliable and fast internet connections are indeed widely available in Latvia.

The whole communication network was overhauled and new lines and communication hardware were installed everywhere after separation from USSR, and nowadays it is easily possible to get inexpensive, yet very fast DSL and fiber optics connections in most locations. As an example, 400Mbps fiber optics line costs just 40 USD/month.

[Joe Mamma]

Time to spend more time outdoors and away from a screen anyways.

[BlueSkyCowboy]

They're asking this same question about the internet in the U.S.

I "assume" that as soon as Thaksin "approves" it it will happen.

[BlueSkyCowboy]

Here's a good report of the top countries internet speeds. Latvia? 55555

http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/23/akamai-average-u-s-internet-speed-up-28-yoy-now-at-7-4-mbps-but-south-korea-japan-and-hong-kong-still-far-ahead/

Well, very reliable and fast internet connections are indeed widely available in Latvia.

The whole communication network was overhauled and new lines and communication hardware were installed everywhere after separation from USSR, and nowadays it is easily possible to get inexpensive, yet very fast DSL and fiber optics connections in most locations. As an example, 400Mbps fiber optics line costs just 40 USD/month.

$40 US, what percentage of average workers net income is that in Latvia?

[craigt3365]

Here's a good report of the top countries internet speeds. Latvia? 55555

http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/23/akamai-average-u-s-internet-speed-up-28-yoy-now-at-7-4-mbps-but-south-korea-japan-and-hong-kong-still-far-ahead/

Well, very reliable and fast internet connections are indeed widely available in Latvia.

The whole communication network was overhauled and new lines and communication hardware were installed everywhere after separation from USSR, and nowadays it is easily possible to get inexpensive, yet very fast DSL and fiber optics connections in most locations. As an example, 400Mbps fiber optics line costs just 40 USD/month.

WOW! That's amazing!!!

Based on the wiring here, which looks like a rat's nest, I'm happy with what I've got. $20 a month, 8Mbps (most of the time), and an up time of probably better than 95%.

Again, I think it really depends on where you live here.