The mystery of what speed I should be getting.

[worgeordie]

Called out TOT yesterday ,I upgraded to Fiber2 U 15/1,as I thought it

would give better results than the ADSL line 10/525? that i had before.

The first month it was better (not a lot),then it started to get slower,

so called TOT and they fiddled about with something their end and it

was a bit better, then slowed again after few weeks,so the repair man

was sent out, He basically did nothing,Speed test ,going to believe that !

then the usual Thai excuse,its Farangs overseas slowing it down ! and

off he went.

When I stream movies,series etc, the maximum speed I get is 300 Kbs,

thats the most,I check it with Networx app which I think is quiet reliable,

so the maximum is approx 300 ,but not stable,next second it can be

15 Kbs,65 Kbs,up and down.

Streaming from servers in BKK, I get average 500 Kbs, thats in morning

after 7 at night its really bad,cannot stream any thing from overseas servers,

Maximum is about 65 Kbs,not enough to watch without buffering.

Are these the speeds I should be getting on 15/1 ?, the pcs are clean as a

whistle ,no malware,use win 7 firewall,no crap installed.

So I am paying approx 50 % more,and what i am getting is no better.

regards Worgeordie

[lopburi3]

You are paying for the added capacity between you and Thailand IP. You should be able to send at close to double the speed now most of the time but most of us without web sites do not need send speed. But for receiving you are still subject to the normal bandwidth limitations out of Thailand (and even within during high periods of activity). You may find that if you have more connections that you can overcome some of this issue (such as used for USENET and torrent type connections. Or if downloading more than one thing at a time. But streaming often does not work well as one second you have speed and the next none - very erratic in my experience.

[NHJ]

tot has a contention ratio of 50:1 so 300ko/sec is exactly what you should get when using international bandwidth

[belg]

you forget it is summer ... no school ...; all the kids using it ...

and you are indeed paying for the infrastructure, not the speed... would never UPGRADE

[Turkleton]

you forget it is summer ... no school ...; all the kids using it ...

Yes, but these extremely crappy speeds seem to be a special "TOT feature".

Everything is capped at 300-500 Kbps, the ping times, even to neighbouring countries are abysmal.

An (uncached) file from my dropbox can be dl. with 350Kbit/s, whereas my friend can dl the same file with 11 Mit/s. (True)

Today, a simple translation via Google needed ~30 seconds.

Only solution is to change the ISP, since TOT becomes crappier every day.

[alexviseu]

Use a vpn. I noticed my speeds stop being throttled when my isp has no idea what i'm using the internet for.

[Andyfez]

Yes, you get a fast speed, but they don't guarantee how many people you're sharing it with.....

The only way you can guarantee high speed is if they will limit the number of users to your line.

[Turkleton]

Use a vpn. I noticed my speeds stop being throttled when my isp has no idea what i'm using the internet for.

Useless with TOT.

They throttle everything, even VPN connections.

But might work with TRUE or 3BB or CAT

[khunPer]

If you have a “home connection” you may be sharing with a number of other people, for example 10 other. At some points you may have full speed, at some points a lot less. You can pay more and share with less. International connections may be limited, often a problem getting out in the “big world”; may not gain much from a faster connection. I’ve tried both an expensive 3k/month business “Internet Café” connection with dedicated IP-adress from 3BB and a normal cheap 599b/month shared home 7Mb connection from TOT; the latter is the best and fastest.

[ghworker2010]

If Im in a condo with LAN how do I test the speed?

[khunPer]

If Im in a condo with LAN how do I test the speed?

Your ISP will normally have a speed test, however it may only check the speed from your connection to the proxy server or your ISP’s server.

You can google for speed test at specific locations around the world to check your speed, for example:

http://www.cnet.com/internet-speed-test/

The speed check shows you “right now” only, can be different if you share your line with other users and the amount of traffic on the Internet out in the world.

[manfred ihms]

Download free app. Speedtest. Tells you what speed you are getting in seconds

[Pib]

Many people get fiber or DOCSIS (cable) thinking it's going to improve their speed, both domestically and internationally. Unfortunately many times they are usually disappointed with the results due to unrealistic expectations...that is, thinking the fiber/DOCSIS is going to give them lightning speed to all points on Earth....it don't work that way. Remember that fiber/DOCSIS is the the "Last Mile of the Connection" so to speak. After that last mile it joins up with the backbone infrastructure which everybody is using...the ADSL connections and the fiber connections...and that backbone infrastructure may be overloaded and the international gateway is throttled. While you may be zipping along in your car on your soi, as soon as the soi connects with the jammed-up highway you are poking along again.

[Pib]

Download freeapp. Speedtest. Tells you what speed you are getting in seconds

Speedtest.net is fine to check your local/domestic connection but for international speed testing it's easily fooled by hidden cache servers which results in high but false download speeds and faster-than-light ping times (i.e., inaccurate results).

[Windy]

Do any companies have a business option, ie very good international connections, if you are willing to pay extra?

[Emster23]

My crap connection lists 54 mbps. In my dreams..... looking at windows task manager and network usage, the fastest it ever gets is 0.1% of capacity. You may have a two meter wide water main, but they are using an eyedropper to supply what you actually get.

[Turkleton]

My crap connection lists 54 mbps. In my dreams.....

I guess, that is the wifi connection speed between your PC/Laptop and your router...

But this has nothing to do with you "Internet speed".

[Pib]

My crap connection lists 54 mbps. In my dreams.....

I guess, that is the wifi connection speed between your PC/Laptop and your router...

But this has nothing to do with you "Internet speed".

Yea, that's your Link speed between your device and Wifi router...most likely a 54g connection. As mentioned, got nothing to do with your internet connection speed which could be 5Mb, 10Mb, 15Mb, 20Mb, etc...etc...etc.

[Pib]

Do any companies have a business option, ie very good international connections, if you are willing to pay extra?

yes, they do but you usually have to call to find out what plans they have and the cost. And the cost will be significantly higher...3 to 10 times higher than a standard plan of same advertised speed.

[oztaurus]

I remember years ago having a problem with my True internet at home.

Technician came out, hooked up a custom=made test device, sent a single ping to the True test server and delared the result was within service parameters. End of story, nothing to change even though real world usage patterns were impossible.

[kbelyeu]

I have True now and pay for the 20Mb/s package.. quite happy with it as I can consistently get 2Mb/s to 3Mb/s downloads via international sites.

Kurt

[BORRISGOODENUF]

I too, in the north east have pretty much the same issue with my fibre optic. paying for min' of 25mbps, lucky to get 13mbps, and now , at most times to stream anything is almost impossible till about 2130 hrs.after which it may work on netflix.

[fstarbkk]

Download freeapp. Speedtest. Tells you what speed you are getting in seconds

Speedtest.net is fine to check your local/domestic connection but for international speed testing it's easily fooled by hidden cache servers which results in high but false download speeds and faster-than-light ping times (i.e., inaccurate results).

Correct - Speedtest.net reslults can be (and usually are) cached on your ISP's server. For a more realistic long-haul speed check, try http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

According to reliable sources, these tests cannot be cached and schould be accurate at the moment they are performed.

[worgeordie]

I have a handy little app I use,its called Networx, tells you in real time

actually what speed you have, just point to it and it tells you,also does

lots of other things that I have not looked into yet.and its free.

regards Worgeordie

[Pib]

Networx does show you the speed but the OP already knows the international speed sucks via other speed measuring programs.

[oTwoPies]

Hi Worgeordie

I see you have some interesting posts on TV and I seem to only reply to technical requests so here goes:-

My background is in mobile comms design so I do know a little about what I say but on the same hand I cannot claim to be an expert on Internet BW especially in Thailand though I have learnt a great deal over the last year or so.

I don't really want to get into a slanging match but this is exactly what happened on one of my posts regarding this topic so, no offence intended but the choice is yours, listen and learn or whatever; it is 'up to you.'

It's no skin off my nose as they say.

As I said, no offence intended to you but I take umbrage at replies that insult my technical ability as happened recently.

Apologies for that little rant but I was good, correction, very very good at my job as a consultant in mobile comms so I know a little but not a lot in this field............

Apologies if I repeat what has been stated in a previous post but I have not read the complete thread.

My findings, for what they are worth, are that you have chosen the absolute worst Thai provider for international Internet connections. Notice the emphasis on international. I do not want to get too technical but it is all down to the IIG (International Internet Gateway) that each of the ISP's pays to access. My current connection is in a CM GH with a 50Mb/sec fibre optic link. This should be brilliant but I have seen my download speed vary from around 30Mb/s to less than 100kb/sec, UK - CM. I have had numerous discussions with the owner and slowly they are beginning to listen when I tell them their 'IT Expert' has set their Internet BW allocation wrongly. I am sure you can imagine the difficulty of my task in hand. The good news, from my point of view, is they will permit me, as per the other farangs, to install my own connection so I have been researching the pro's and con's of the various ISP's for both ADSL and fibre optic links. Recently I was at Central Airport Plaza talking to TOT and after a call to the TOT customer services center I was offered a contract for their 30 Mb/sec FTTx + Internet TV. I pointed out I wanted to test the download speed but this TOT office only had an ADSL test connection. They sent me to their customer services offices were I was assured I could test the fibre optic connection. At the customer services offices it was a long and extremely illuminating conversation. I was asked what I wanted to connect to and I explained the Beep iPlayer (for non UK readers this is the BBC and ITV catch-up services and live streamed TV.) TOT customer services advised me to go to another provider because TOT have many farangs that complain about the international gateway speed. This may be unbelievable but I assure you it is true, I was with a CM local so maybe this influenced matters. Anyhow, the customer services let me test their FTTx connection so I used the following websites on my personal pc:-

http://www.speedtest.net/

This site is a good datum but note, the default setting is only testing the Thailand internal Internet speed and not the IIG

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

This site is good for testing the US - Thailand IIG and has been recommended by some other seemingly knowledgeable farang that has had many heated discussions on other forums. (See, I do respect others that seem to know what they are talking about and therefore I will listen.)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics

This test is good for testing the UK- Thailand IIG

I am not sure, at the present time, why there is a large discrepancy regarding the down load and the stream speeds on my Beeb tests. I am seeing maybe 800kb/sec download and 5 Mb/sec stream. Anyone have any ideas? There are 3 stream tests because the Beeb is using 3 different stream providers but that is digressing so, back to TOT.

As I said, TOT customer services recommended I went elsewhere and the results of my tests at the TOT customer services center, early afternoon (2-3 pm) on TOT FTTx where as follows:-

Ookla download, BKK - CM was 8.5 Mb/sec

Speakeasy San Francisco - CM 200 kb/sec

BBC UK - CM 100 kb/sec

as can be seen, the TOT customer services guy was both honest and accurate. It does not matter that you are paying for a high speed TOT fibre optic connection, TOT do not have the necessary IIG BW to meet supply and demand.

I repeated the test on a TOT ADSL connection at 5 pm and the results were similar to the above but at 7pm they were close to unusable (I cannot remember the figures as I had already ruled out TOT as an ISP.)

I also have test results for CAT, True and 3BB but that would be off topic and I am not sure I wish to publish on a public forum. Suffice to say all are significantly better than TOT FTTx.

Worgeordie: If you, or others, want to continue this conversation either on this forum or as I would prefer, in private, then pm me. I am a relative newbie to TV so you will have to advise me on pm's ( I have not had a pm so may miss one though I am following this topic)

Why my aggression: That is so simple, I replied to a previous op who had a similar question asking for some advice myself and I got the normal TV bar room c..p hence my suggestion of a pm.

cheers............. and mine is a Chang

[cnx37]

I am not a tech head! Please excuse my ignorance.

I live in Chiang Mai - 14th floor condo - I have subscribed to TOT for several years - B590/mth. Lately, my internet speed seems to be getting slower. I used Baidu to test internet speed. I have a landline telephone & a desktop modem (supplied by TOT).

Results - Baidu

Ping - 26ms

Download - 5.9Mbps

Upload - 0.6Mbps

Results - aasithailand

Ping 47ms

Download - 0.98Mbps

Upload - 310kbps

(Thailand)

Results - Speedtest TOT

Ping - 49ms

Download - 2.13Mbps

Upload - 0.42Mbps

(Thailand)

Results - True Internet

Ping - 88ms

Download - 4.0Mbps

Upload - 0.32Mbps

(Thailand)

All tests were carried out at approx 9pm on Tues, March 25, 2014.

Recently, I endeavoured to download some large files from the internet - failure (consistently) - 10-40MB!

What is your opinion of my internet speed? Supplier? Package?

Any alternatives - Supplier? Contact? Package? Retain TOT & same package? My interest is for private purposes only - email, download foreign exchange - BKK bank, Facebook, Thai visa etc.

Don'y forget! You are communicating with a layperson.

Edited March 25, 2014 by cnx37

[Pib]

I am not a tech head! Please excuse my ignorance.

I live in Chiang Mai - condo - I have subscribed to TOT for several years - B590/mth. Lately, my internet speed seems to be getting slower. I used Baidu to test internet speed. I have a landline telephone & a desktop modem (supplied by TOT).

Results -

Ping - 26ms

Download - 5.9Mbps

Upload - 0.6Mbps

Recently, I endeavoured to download some large files from the internet - failure - consistenly - 10-40MB!

What is your opinion of my internet speed? Supplier? Package?

Any alternatives - Supplier? Contact? Package? Retain TOT & same package? My interest is for private purposes only - email, download foreign exchange - BKK bank, Facebook, Thai visa etc.

Not enough information. Like you didn't mention what speed package you currently have. But I'm going to assume you have some package faster than 6Mb which means you probably have a local connection problem....then again, I don't know where this Baidu tester is testing to. Assuming you probably tested to Bangkok...or not? Not familiar with any Baidu speed tester. What does the TOT Speed tester give you at: http://speedtest1.totbb.net/

[Pib]

I am not a tech head! Please excuse my ignorance.

I live in Chiang Mai - 14th floor condo - I have subscribed to TOT for several years - B590/mth. Lately, my internet speed seems to be getting slower. I used Baidu to test internet speed. I have a landline telephone & a desktop modem (supplied by TOT).

Results - Baidu

Ping - 26ms

Download - 5.9Mbps

Upload - 0.6Mbps

Results - aasithailand

Ping 47ms

Download - 0.98Mbps

Upload - 310kbps

(Thailand)

Results - Speedtest TOT

Ping - 49ms

Download - 2.13Mbps

Upload - 0.42Mbps

(Thailand)

Results - True Internet

Ping - 88ms

Download - 4.0Mbps

Upload - 0.32Mbps

(Thailand)

All tests were carried out at approx 9pm on Tues, March 25, 2014.

Recently, I endeavoured to download some large files from the internet - failure (consistently) - 10-40MB!

What is your opinion of my internet speed? Supplier? Package?

Any alternatives - Supplier? Contact? Package? Retain TOT & same package? My interest is for private purposes only - email, download foreign exchange - BKK bank, Facebook, Thai visa etc.

Don'y forget! You are communicating with a layperson.

The name and speed of your internet package should be on your monthly bill...it sure was for me when I use to be with TOT about 4 years ago. Or you could call them and ask. Bt590/mo used to apply to their 6Mb plan back in 2010 (and maybe later)....but now I think it applies to the 10Mb (or higher) plan. Maybe you never got automatically upgraded...that is, they would maintain your current price but automatically upgrade your speed. But with all the speed variations you are getting and especially since you are getting a low speed even when using TOT's speedtester, it's probably time for you to call-in the problem to TOT. If you are on a 6Mb plan you should be getting 6Mb with the TOT speedtester (and other testers when testing to nearby locations like CM, Bangkok)...if you are on a 10Mb plan you should be getting 10Mb speed....etc....etc....etc.

And TOT may only guarantee the speed/quality of connection up to the building/condo main internet connection point and the TOT techs could show you a good or bad speed at the building entry point using one of their digital testers (they did this for me before at my home when I had some home/inside the wall wiring problems), They also may tell you they can't help with the "building internet wiring" which is messing up the internet signal/speed because that wiring is not their responsibility and they may not be allowed to do much work on it without building management permission....they may say you must contact building management...but sometimes they will troubleshoot the problem in the building, with or without a little tea money offered. A lot depends on how the wire reaches you room on the 14th floor....by a TOT wire all the way up the side of the building to the 14th floor (doubtful) or just to the building entry point where the building wiring takes over. Good luck.

[oTwoPies]

I am not a tech head! Please excuse my ignorance.

Don'y forget! You are communicating with a layperson.

No problem

I regularly download large files of between 300MB and 1.5GB (1500 MB) from the BBC iPlayer website.

Typically the download time varies between a few hours and many hours but sometimes this many hours can extend to overnight and this is on a shared 50 Mb/sec fibre optic link.

Recently I upgraded to Win8.1. As this is a 3.2GB (3200 MB) download I expected this to take days but was astonished to find the download completed in about 1.5 hours. I have checked with others and their Win8.1 download time is similar. This is a sustained download speed of 4.75 Mb/sec. This leads me to believe the ISP's have configured their networks to provide fast links to certain sites, Microsoft in this example. I have some info that bears this out but nothing conclusive yet.

If you use the 3 links I provided in my previous post to test your connection speed then you may have an idea as to where the problem lies from the test results. If you want my opinion then post the results here.

FYI: It is useful to test multiple times in a short time period i.e. test link 1,2,3 pause, 1,2,3 pause etc. letting each link speed test complete before trying to test the next link. This is MOST important. Also try to test at quiet times ie 6am and peak times ie 7pm ish.

I am of the personal opinion (and this means I have no technical data to back this up) that it is waste of money investing in a hi-speed link unless you are regularly doing large downloads AND can choose your connection time appropriately. The reason I make this statement is simple:-

Lets assume I have two links, an ADSL 10 Mb/sec and Fiber at 30Mb/sec from the same ISP provider. In an ideal world we all expect the fiber to be 3x the speed of the ADSL so lets assume this is the case. However, these speeds are the maximum speed that may be provided. I have seen 13 Mb/sec on a 10 Mb/sec link and I have also seen 100 kb/sec on the same link. What you have paid for on the hi-speed link is the possibility of an increase in the maximum download speed but you still have no guarantee on the minimum speed. If you are doing a large download from a site in the UK, the beeb iPlayer for example, and the international network is congested then your download speed will be slower. It is possible the 10 Mb/sec ADSL line is reduced to 100 kb/sec and therefore the 30 Mb/sec fiber link may be reduced to 300 kb/sec. 300 kb/sec equates to over 2 hours for a 300 MB file download. At the full 30 Mb/sec speed the download from the fiber connection would take just 80 seconds!

Yep, you have paid for 3x the speed and, in the above example, you have 3x the speed but 3x nothing is still nothing.

C'est la vie

You need to invest in a business connection for a guaranteed speed and I really do not know what the Thai ISP's will guarantee on their portion of the IIG.

cheers and I hope this helps and does not confuse too much

p.s. for those that are interested there are sites on the web that show the increase in IIG BW over the last 10 years that Thailand has access to.