Is unlimited internet really unlimited?

[Chicog]

You'd be hard pushed to find any ISP that doesn't do an "Unlimited" package without a fair use clause.

<snip>

All of them drop down to a slower speed when the limit is reached, but there is no extra charge. On two of them I have the option of carrying on at full speed and paying one testicle per gigabyte downloaded or something...

... with lifetime limitation of 2 Gb...?

Oh dear....

However, I was merely trying to illustrate that it's normally so prohibitive that you wouldn't even consider it.

For example, if I want to roam in Thailand using data, it costs 800 baht per megabyte!

[Rorri]

aneemeesedammai, on 19 Feb 2014 - 14:44, said:

My 3bb 10mb package contract seems to allow them to throttle me, more or less whenever they can get their hands round my throat.

It says

Service conditions

The company reserves the right in case the connecting speed is lower than advertised due to network limitation factors.

The company reserves the right to grant service, considering network and technical limitations.

Seems they can cut whoever's speed when and where they like and the only way to challenge them is to have a level of technical expertise comparable to their own.

I suppose market pressure is the only thing that inhibits them.

If I was less cynical I might say that they just can't guarantee trully unlimited downloads so they have to cover themselves.

I wil upgrade.

And thanks for the support Ghostnigel.

The other pertinent contract details are

Download1

10MB and upload is 512k

Cost

The price is 631.30 Baht per month including Vat.

The connection can support 1-2 computers at a time.

If permission to borrow to pay for insurance, equipment, Router 1 Port 100 Baht.

ADSL Router 1 Port WIFI 650 THB or ADSL Router 4 Port WIFI 999 THB (Price Include VAT)

The "Service conditions" are in fact miss-leading, therefore, could be considered illegal. Before I go any further, I acknowledge there is limited international bandwidth, however if the limit for your connection is "technical" then we should see international connections varying due to increases and decreases in internet usage, due to kids not playing games, businesses closing for the day etc. What we have is an "administrative" limit not a "technical" one. If you approach 3BB and complain, they will sell you a more expensive package... once again an "administrative" limit NOT "technical." I am on 3BB 13Mbps, simply because I needed the higher upload bandwidth for Skype, if you are paying for a higher package, you are wasting your money, you do get "bragging" rights, but not necessarily higher download/uploads. Check here to compare speeds http://www.khunwoody.com/phuket-internet-speed/ Another thing when testing your speed, try to avoid OOKLA/Speedtest sites as these are often miss-leading as the popular sites are cached by Thai ISP's, this was proven by the people using the site I gave the link to. My background, 40+ years in telecommunications.

[bbbbooboo]

lol.....I suggest that "unlimited " refers to the amount of frustration you will experience in trying to get unlimited internet access in Thailand

[Chicog]

aneemeesedammai, on 19 Feb 2014 - 14:44, said:

My 3bb 10mb package contract seems to allow them to throttle me, more or less whenever they can get their hands round my throat.

It says

Service conditions

The company reserves the right in case the connecting speed is lower than advertised due to network limitation factors.

The company reserves the right to grant service, considering network and technical limitations.

Seems they can cut whoever's speed when and where they like and the only way to challenge them is to have a level of technical expertise comparable to their own.

I suppose market pressure is the only thing that inhibits them.

If I was less cynical I might say that they just can't guarantee trully unlimited downloads so they have to cover themselves.

I wil upgrade.

And thanks for the support Ghostnigel.

The other pertinent contract details are

Download1

10MB and upload is 512k

Cost

The price is 631.30 Baht per month including Vat.

The connection can support 1-2 computers at a time.

If permission to borrow to pay for insurance, equipment, Router 1 Port 100 Baht.

ADSL Router 1 Port WIFI 650 THB or ADSL Router 4 Port WIFI 999 THB (Price Include VAT)

The "Service conditions" are in fact miss-leading, therefore, could be considered illegal. Before I go any further, I acknowledge there is limited international bandwidth, however if the limit for your connection is "technical" then we should see international connections varying due to increases and decreases in internet usage, due to kids not playing games, businesses closing for the day etc. What we have is an "administrative" limit not a "technical" one. If you approach 3BB and complain, they will sell you a more expensive package... once again an "administrative" limit NOT "technical." I am on 3BB 13Mbps, simply because I needed the higher upload bandwidth for Skype, if you are paying for a higher package, you are wasting your money, you do get "bragging" rights, but not necessarily higher download/uploads. Check here to compare speeds http://www.khunwoody.com/phuket-internet-speed/ Another thing when testing your speed, try to avoid OOKLA/Speedtest sites as these are often miss-leading as the popular sites are cached by Thai ISP's, this was proven by the people using the site I gave the link to. My background, 40+ years in telecommunications.

There's nothing illegal about them. They're basically saying they can do what they like, and when you sign the contract you're agreeing to it. No one makes you sign it.

[Rorri]

Chicog, on 19 Feb 2014 - 16:35, said:Chicog, on 19 Feb 2014 - 16:35, said:Chicog, on 19 Feb 2014 - 16:35, said:

Rorri, on 19 Feb 2014 - 16:25, said:Rorri, on 19 Feb 2014 - 16:25, said:Rorri, on 19 Feb 2014 - 16:25, said:

aneemeesedammai, on 19 Feb 2014 - 14:44, said:aneemeesedammai, on 19 Feb 2014 - 14:44, said:aneemeesedammai, on 19 Feb 2014 - 14:44, said:aneemeesedammai, on 19 Feb 2014 - 14:44, said:

My 3bb 10mb package contract seems to allow them to throttle me, more or less whenever they can get their hands round my throat.

It says

Service conditions

The company reserves the right in case the connecting speed is lower than advertised due to network limitation factors.

The company reserves the right to grant service, considering network and technical limitations.

Seems they can cut whoever's speed when and where they like and the only way to challenge them is to have a level of technical expertise comparable to their own.

I suppose market pressure is the only thing that inhibits them.

If I was less cynical I might say that they just can't guarantee trully unlimited downloads so they have to cover themselves.

I wil upgrade.

And thanks for the support Ghostnigel.

The other pertinent contract details are

Download1

10MB and upload is 512k

Cost

The price is 631.30 Baht per month including Vat.

The connection can support 1-2 computers at a time.

If permission to borrow to pay for insurance, equipment, Router 1 Port 100 Baht.

ADSL Router 1 Port WIFI 650 THB or ADSL Router 4 Port WIFI 999 THB (Price Include VAT)

The "Service conditions" are in fact miss-leading, therefore, could be considered illegal. Before I go any further, I acknowledge there is limited international bandwidth, however if the limit for your connection is "technical" then we should see international connections varying due to increases and decreases in internet usage, due to kids not playing games, businesses closing for the day etc. What we have is an "administrative" limit not a "technical" one. If you approach 3BB and complain, they will sell you a more expensive package... once again an "administrative" limit NOT "technical." I am on 3BB 13Mbps, simply because I needed the higher upload bandwidth for Skype, if you are paying for a higher package, you are wasting your money, you do get "bragging" rights, but not necessarily higher download/uploads. Check here to compare speeds http://www.khunwoody.com/phuket-internet-speed/ Another thing when testing your speed, try to avoid OOKLA/Speedtest sites as these are often miss-leading as the popular sites are cached by Thai ISP's, this was proven by the people using the site I gave the link to. My background, 40+ years in telecommunications.

There's nothing illegal about them. They're basically saying they can do what they like, and when you sign the contract you're agreeing to it. No one makes you sign it.

I did say "could" be illegal, the reason being they say for "technical" reasons, when in fact it is purely an "administrative" reason, which legally is technically wrong, I hope you now understand. There is a difference. When I signed I agreed to "technical" limits" NOT "administrative" limits.

What we need is a consumers coop, with numbers we could make a difference.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Rorri

[DGIE]

Your problem is about 3bb unlimited. Mine is the 3G DTAC. This is also unlimited and experienced the same. Throttling.

I also love watching youtube!

I noticed that on the first 3 days of loading, the speed is OK but the next days, it becomes very slow that I had already finished tooth-brushing and showering and still didn't reach one fourth of what I am viewing.

And when it is in the 28th and 29th days, the speed is OK again. I begin to think that they can control the speed so that

what you have paid is proportioned to what you consume

[HaveFun]

What we need is a consumers coop, with numbers we could make a difference.

It's nearly impossible and likely not gonna happen.

Thailand's law enforcement is really weak; many things favored big companies.

Even if there are laws

no method to enforced it on big companies

thus some laws simply fade off.

One example in telecommunication field:

Once Thailand has a law that forbid ISP from forming any kind of contract to a user which result in monopolization.

Users can move to other internet provider whenever they feel like.

The purpose of this law is to mitigate anti competition scheme from big companies and also

make them unable to hide setup cost. (They have to tell users in order to bill them.)

Here the remnant of this law on government website

http://tcp.nbtc.go.th/tci_uploads/userfiles/files/book/wavePower09.pdf

(look at Q&A section on page 15 (It's in Thai))

My background: I'm some journalist about telecommunication (especially Internet) in Thailand. (my articles is in Thai.)

Edited February 19, 2014 by HaveFun