Proxy to Singapore to speed up internet – can be used with a smartDNS?

[samran]

Hi all,

I’m a bit of a computer numpty when it comes to all these things so I’ll explain the situation and see if someone can help.

Recently there was an interesting discussion on the fact that while Thai ISP’s tend to restrict the usage and bandwith available overseas, especially during peak hours, the channel to Singapore remains unrestricted and is very fast.

This is all interesting for me as during peak hours now, our internet connection is so lousy on our TOT 10Mb plan that we can barely watch netfix without regular stoppages (and that is with the data streaming for Netflix set to the lowest quality). For apps such as ABC iView and BBC iPlayer, which in our house live on the iPad (streamed to the Apple TV), well, they don’t even get past loading during peak hours due to insufficient bandwidth.

So presuming I understood that the background correctly (and excuse my bad usage of terminology), I was wondering if it was possible to use a Proxy server to Singapore (put into my iPad internet settings), while using a smartDNS (overplay), so that everything on my iPad (ABC iView, BBC iPlayer etc) runs quickly?

If so, which Singapore proxies are recommended. I’ve seen some for $5 per month. Is this the way to go?

Many thanks in advance.

[shariq607]

Yes you can use them together, however I am not sure if tot has a fast connection/routing to Singapore due to high ping response time.

Can you go to testmy.net and select Singapore as your server on the top of the page and post your results here. If you do get high bandwidth to Singapore then setting up proxy via Singapore in addition with smartdns would work better than direct connection.

[samran]

Thanks for the info. So who has the fast link to Singapore these days? Or is it just not TOT?

[shariq607]

Thanks for the info. So who has the fast link to Singapore these days? Or is it just not TOT?

True i believe has fast un throttled bandwidth to Singapore. Tot has a shit connection to Singapore.

[samran]

Thanks for the info. So who has the fast link to Singapore these days? Or is it just not TOT?

True i believe has fast un throttled bandwidth to Singapore. Tot has a shit connection to Singapore.

Thanks! And guess who can't serve where I live....

How about 3bb?

[THAIPHUKET]

I'm on 3B too in Chiang Mai. What is a smartdns?

Sent from my HTC One using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[THAIPHUKET]

What the .f........ Ookla against Bangkok gives 11Mbps and testmy 0,9 Mbps against multiservers.

3B staff asks always for Ookla results, so for them it sounds ok for a 13 Mbps line.

Do I have a basis for complaint or not ?

Edited March 13, 2014 by THAIPHUKET

[shariq607]

What the .f........ Ookla against Bangkok gives 11Mbps and testmy 0,9 Mbps against multiservers.

3B staff asks always for Ookla results, so for them it sounds ok for a 13 Mbps line.

Do I have a basis for complaint or not ?

Can you test using single threaded to singapore on testmy.net

[RandomSand]

I set up a proxy using OneHostAsia VPS. Premium bandwidth plan with SSD. Speed was full rate SG-TH but only 1meg US-SG. My ISP was CAT premium 8meg.

So it would seem that it's not simply "escaping" the TH links that's important, the SG firm must also have good bandwidth... and you can only find that out with by settings up a dedicated VPS and testing it yourself.

Proxy was Dante on Linux VPS CentOS x64 --direct hardware virtualisation.. Software used on Windows 7 was called proxifier which is pretty good as it enabled you to funnel DNS through the proxy AMD control via rules which apps/ports/IPs are sent to the proxy. Worked really well and totally transparent... but not full rate bandwidth. Some stuff was really fast; youtube for instance... 1080HD no problems ...but for my intended usage it was better to have a "direct" connection to the states.

Edited March 13, 2014 by RandomSand

[shariq607]

I set up a proxy using OneHostAsia VPS. Premium bandwidth plan with SSD. Speed was full rate SG-TH but only 1meg US-SG. My ISP was CAT premium 8meg.

So it would seem that it's not simply "escaping" the TH links that's important, the SG firm must also have good bandwidth... and you can only find that out with by settings up a dedicated VPS and testing it yourself.

Proxy was Dante on Linux VPS CentOS x64 --direct hardware virtualisation.. Software used on Windows 7 was called proxifier which is pretty good as it enabled you to funnel DNS through the proxy AMD control via rules which apps/ports/IPs are sent to the proxy. Worked really well and totally transparent... but not full rate bandwidth. Some stuff was really fast; youtube for instance... 1080HD no problems ...but for my intended usage it was better to have a "direct" connection to the states.

According to recent threads about this topic , digital ocean seems to have good bandwidth between SG and US. Edited March 13, 2014 by shariq607

[samran]

And can it be used on an iPad?

[Morakot]

Very interesting!

What kind of proxy are you looking at in Singapore? HTTP or VPN?

I use TOT too and it's hopeless watching a program on demand on BBC iplayer after 12noon until midnight. I have to pull the program with a script to watch it later; it works OK, but makes spontaneous watching on demand imposssible.

Edited March 13, 2014 by Morakot

[VocalNeal]

Didn't Loxinfo have a direct lnk to Sing. Did they get bought out?

It been a problem for years that all overseas traffic goes through TAT. 10mb is OK within Thailand as soon as you go outside Thailand.......

Frankly it doesn't affect me much as I don't stream except the occasional Youtube documentary which yes rarely hang but if I reconnect it starts where it left off. Off more concern to me is the plethora of gaming shops that seem to be on the same hub as me :-) and then Internet grinds to a slow speed in the late afternoon.

Movies can be downloaded sure it might take a few days but..... then delete them when done.

[samran]

Very interesting!

What kind of proxy are you looking at in Singapore? HTTP or VPN?

I use TOT too and it's hopeless watching a program on demand on BBC iplayer after 12noon until midnight. I have to pull the program with a script to watch it later; it works OK, but makes spontaneous watching on demand imposssible.

To be honest, I don't even know where to start.

I already have overplay, which has both a DNS service and VPN.

All I really want to do is have all my traffic routed via singapore, if that is the only way to speed things up....

[Morakot]

Very interesting!

What kind of proxy are you looking at in Singapore? HTTP or VPN?

I use TOT too and it's hopeless watching a program on demand on BBC iplayer after 12noon until midnight. I have to pull the program with a script to watch it later; it works OK, but makes spontaneous watching on demand imposssible.

To be honest, I don't even know where to start.

I already have overplay, which has both a DNS service and VPN.

All I really want to do is have all my traffic routed via singapore, if that is the only way to speed things up....

I see. The problem with VPN is that it has quite a lot of overheads and can potentially reduce bandwidth. Hence "Smart" DNS seems to be the more common choice. But the point is that with your envisaged setup --as DNS does not route actual streams-- you need some protocol that physically puts your stream through SG. VPN does this but it's not ideal for streaming because of the possible bandwidth implications which you're trying to compensate in the first place.

A normal web proxy does not have this issue, but it may not be commercially offered on a micro scale. A viable alternative might be hiring rackspace with a on the fly installed standard distro, where you can run your own proxy. While rackspace might be cheap, I am not sure about the costs of traffic for watching a fair amount of HD TV via such a server. You might end up paying business rates.

It feels like a catch 22; I would be glad to hear other people's ideas and experiences, but I don't pin my hope high at the moment. With my current set up it's like in the olden days: like programming a VCR --after having perused the Radio Times-- that records my predefined choices of TV programs over night on my home server that is hooked up a TV, where I then can watch the items at my leisure.

[RandomSand]

Very interesting!

What kind of proxy are you looking at in Singapore? HTTP or VPN?

I use TOT too and it's hopeless watching a program on demand on BBC iplayer after 12noon until midnight. I have to pull the program with a script to watch it later; it works OK, but makes spontaneous watching on demand imposssible.

To be honest, I don't even know where to start.

I already have overplay, which has both a DNS service and VPN.

All I really want to do is have all my traffic routed via singapore, if that is the only way to speed things up....

So did Overplay-SG VPN not solve the problem ?

That would route via Singapore for sure.

You could try H.K and JAP VPNs... some decent unused bandwidth over those routes with some Thai ISPs. TH-US is congested (default route that all traffic takes) and TH-EU even more so.

You could try setting your MTU to a lower value. (windows 7/8) Suggest 1400. http://www.richard-slater.co.uk/archives/2009/10/23/change-your-mtu-under-vista-windows-7-or-windows-8/

Edited March 14, 2014 by RandomSand

[Turkleton]

Very interesting!

What kind of proxy are you looking at in Singapore? HTTP or VPN?

I use TOT too and it's hopeless watching a program on demand on BBC iplayer after 12noon until midnight. I have to pull the program with a script to watch it later; it works OK, but makes spontaneous watching on demand imposssible.

To be honest, I don't even know where to start.

I already have overplay, which has both a DNS service and VPN.

All I really want to do is have all my traffic routed via singapore, if that is the only way to speed things up....

AGAIN:

If you use TOT and want (live) streaming from EU/US, a VPN or Proxy via Singapore is absolutely useless!

Because TOT is throttling the speed to Singapore too.

I'm on TOT and have a vserver in SG (digitalocean)

The vserver has a really good international speed.

But using it through a VPN/Proxy with TOT doesn't improve anything.

The speed/ping times are crap, so or so.

It seems, the only solution is to change the ISP.......but which ISP is the least worst?

[shariq607]

Yes the only solution is to change your isp to anything except TOT, Tot has the worst routing than any isp i have ever seen.

[geoffphuket]

Yes the only solution is to change your isp to anything except TOT, Tot has the worst routing than any isp i have ever seen.

It makes no difference which IP provider you use (in Thailand). At the end of the day, they're all connected to the same limited routing

[balo]

I am only stuck with TOT and have tried everything to get a decent video stream , VPN servers in Singapore and EU didn't help at all , during peak hours here which is between 7 and 11 pm I get 100 to 300 kb/s , I am so tired of this , my DTAC 3G is working better than TOT .

[shariq607]

Yes the only solution is to change your isp to anything except TOT, Tot has the worst routing than any isp i have ever seen.

It makes no difference which IP provider you use (in Thailand). At the end of the day, they're all connected to the same limited routing

No they are not, get your facts straight.

[lomatopo]

No they are not, get your facts straight.

Well if everyone moves to CAT, or True, or whomever, and routes via Singapore using a VPx, then eventually, either they'll (ISPs) have to add more capacity, or begin to limit usage, or everyone will be contending for a limited resource.

[shariq607]

No they are not, get your facts straight.

Well if everyone moves to CAT, or True, or whomever, and routes via Singapore using a VPx, then eventually, either they'll (ISPs) have to add more capacity, or begin to limit usage, or everyone will be contending for a limited resource.

Agreed, i was referring to his post that not all isps use the same pipe, for instance true online has a good bandwidth between TH-SG and tot uses other route , one can confirm it via trace-route.

[THAIPHUKET]

Error

Edited March 15, 2014 by THAIPHUKET

[lomatopo]

FWIW, these maps were updated last week:

http://internet.nectec.or.th/webstats/internetmap.current.iir?Sec=internetmap_current

Domestic bandwidth: 1,613.515 Gbps

International bandwidth: 778.194 Gbps

A ratio ~ 2:1, I guess I would have expected it to be more like 10:1.

[samran]

Very interesting!

What kind of proxy are you looking at in Singapore? HTTP or VPN?

I use TOT too and it's hopeless watching a program on demand on BBC iplayer after 12noon until midnight. I have to pull the program with a script to watch it later; it works OK, but makes spontaneous watching on demand imposssible.

To be honest, I don't even know where to start.

I already have overplay, which has both a DNS service and VPN.

All I really want to do is have all my traffic routed via singapore, if that is the only way to speed things up....

AGAIN:

If you use TOT and want (live) streaming from EU/US, a VPN or Proxy via Singapore is absolutely useless!

Because TOT is throttling the speed to Singapore too.

I'm on TOT and have a vserver in SG (digitalocean)

The vserver has a really good international speed.

But using it through a VPN/Proxy with TOT doesn't improve anything.

The speed/ping times are crap, so or so.

It seems, the only solution is to change the ISP.......but which ISP is the least worst?

The million dollar question I guess. Am going to hunt around for a new provider. 3BB seem to be able to service where I live, but not true. May ask them.

Their packages seem to imply that the higher packages get better international access

http://www.3bb.co.th/3bb/product/details/2084

Though it all may just be marketing, but it has to be better than TOT.

[CWMcMurray]

Also interested in this... Currently using DNS but occasionally do have some issues with buffering for Hulu and on rare occasion for netflix

Using True...Speed test right now... with Bangkok server is 13 Mbps ... Singapore server is 11 Mbps ... Portland server 3 Mbps

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Morakot]

Their packages seem to imply that the higher packages get better international access

http://www.3bb.co.th/3bb/product/details/2084

Though it all may just be marketing, but it has to be better than TOT.

Pls let us know how you get on with this, if you decide to opt for this deal. Cheers!