4-yr old Speedtouch modem...is it slowing me down?

[bamboozled]

Hi folks, every time I have a problem with the internet and call TOT they tell me my modem is old and that it causes a lot of problems. After saying that, they always do their hocus pocus and my internet works again. That being said, it is maddeningly slow at times. Hard to say where my problems stem from, probably many places. However, is my modem a part of the problem? Let me add that it is connected to an equally old Linksys wi-fi (yes, they are two separate devices).

TOT tells me to buy a TPLink +Wifi1300 for 1200 baht.

Any advice, Tech Wizard?

Thanks so much.....Bam

[RichCor]

When you do a TOT Speedtest are you receiving at or near your subscribed speed?

When you have connection issues, can you power cycle your Speedstream and Linksys and have the connection restore at full speed?

Exactly what kind of issues are you having?

[bamboozled]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for your reply. I just ran the test and I'm getting download 8.68 mbps (I think I have the 10 mb plan) and upload 0.34 mbps. What does power cycle mean/entail?

My problems are slow upload speeds which I have been told are pegged to be slow to save bandwidth for downloads which is what most people need. Is there any way to up the upload speed/bandwidth? Also loading web pages on my browser that I guess are not in Thailand, probably from a US server. The computer just seems to hang or jam up a lot. I sometimes lose uploads in the middle and have to start again. Or I'm filling out a form on the internet and after spending an hour on it losing the whole thing due to....something. Just seems I lose the link/connection with the page. That's not fun.

The problems I have when I call TOT are when I can't get on the internet at all, there is no connection. I have learned to plug into the modem with the cable and type in what I guess is my internet address or whatever you call that number such as 10.1.133.111 (not the real one). What I will do is change some parameter and then change it back and after that it seems to work. Come to think of it, at these times, the internet often seems to work with the cable but not with wifi. So perhaps there are a few different things going on. Sometimes when I call them they will do something down at "central" and it will work again. They invariably tell me my modem is old and creates problems.

A friend of mine who is rather techy couldn't believe I still had a modem and wifi that were separate machines. Does that have any significance?

Thanks again, Rich.

[RichCor]

What does power cycle mean/entail?

Power Cycling is the act of powering-off then powering-on a piece of equipment.

Some people put their Modem/Router and WiFi on a power strip and power-cycle that. Others might need to do each box manually so that the Modem/Router starts up first then the WiFi so it connects in the correct order.

Is there any way to up the upload speed/bandwidth?

A 10mbps/512kbps connection should be more than adequate for most when web surfing or using email as the data going out is minuscule when compared to the data coming in. Greater upload speeds are generally only needed when uploading many hi-res photos, video or when hosting your own server.

A friend of mine who is rather techy couldn't believe I still had a modem and wifi that were separate machines. Does that have any significance?

Some people like consolidated equipment, others like separate components (especially if you need to replace or upgrade one piece).

Buying a replacement might solve many issues for you, but only if those issues are truly in those units.

Also loading web pages on my browser that I guess are not in Thailand, probably from a US server. The computer just seems to hang or jam up a lot. I sometimes lose uploads in the middle and have to start again. Or I'm filling out a form on the internet and after spending an hour on it losing the whole thing due to....something. Just seems I lose the link/connection with the page. That's not fun.

Are you willing to try an experiment?

Try downloading and installing the HOLA! Better Internet browser extension. This software will place a small 'flame' icon near your browser menu bar and when clicked will allow you to set a Country from which requests for that website will be made. If you are having an issue reaching a website, click the flame icon and try setting it to US, UK, or Singapore (my favorite because it's fast).

Your browser will now remember this setting for THIS website and from now on (or until you reset the Country) the HOLA! software will make all requests for that website through that Country. It will have no effect on other websites unless you also set them to connect through a specific country.

Why do this? Hola! is an automatic PROXY SERVICE. Many people use it to bypass local Internet Traffic Congestion. It can also speed up your International connections by forcing the connection to take alternate. possibly less congested or more reliable route over the Internet. Others use it to have access to country-specific content. Either way using a proxy service can many times make your connection to web content more reliable.

Edited May 16, 2014 by RichCor

[noise]

When I had ADSL and had problems, I got a tech to come to come to the house and test my equipment vs my contracted speeds/performance. A couple of times it turned out to be poor connections outside on the pole. The boxes for the phone line are not water proof, so the last couple of inches of wire were corroded. The tech cut 3 inches off, reconnected, and I was good for a couple of years.

I, too, have a modem and wireless router because I wanted better wireless coverage than the modem/router was providing. Turned off the wireless signal of the modem/router and hooked up the new wireless router.

I moved to fiber/cable and, after a while, was not getting my contract speeds (e.g., 12.5Mbps vice 15Mbps program). Tech came to the house made a few tweaks and told me to connect my PC to the modem, not the router. Speeds went up to full 15Mbps. I do not understand since the connection modem to router is the 100Mbps ether net cable, but it corrected the problem. If you are only connecting wireless, such hardwire connection does not apply.

But I would still recommend you get a TOT tech to come test your equipment and make recommendations.

If you are only wireless,

[bamboozled]

...Rich, thanks for that info and the link. I'm going to give Hola a try. I'll let you know how I fare. One thing, I do upload a lot of photos. Is there any way to increase my bandwidth for upload?

...Noise, I am connecting only via wifi. The few times that I did connect by cable I got the impression the speed was quicker but those few times I was focused on getting the connection going again and wasn't really paying attention about speeds cable vs. wifi. I'm going to give it a test, however.

Your talk about corroded wires got me thinking and I did have this problem in the past. I've taken a picture of my connecting wires outside the house. The story here is when internet was installed by TOT they connected it through that plastic doohikey box with the circuit and ground in it. At some point after that, I had some problems with the connection and the TOT guy that came bypassed that box and just twisted the wires together, as you can see in the photo. They were never covered or protected. I just shrugged my shoulders since the internet worked again. I did have some problems after that...the wires broke...and I snipped them and hooked them back together and the internet worked. I'm going to do that now, thanks for your reminder. That being said, the plastic box doohikey is for....? I'm thinking now it is for lightning or huge power surges that could fry everything, is that correct? I don't know why he unhooked it but I'm thinking I might be better off getting it hooked up again...thoughts (see story below)?

Short story: I was living in Italy and came home and the house smelled of smoke and my modem was on the floor in exploded melted pieces of plastic. Turns out a lightning strike about a km away had fried something and sent the current down the line. I was SO SO lucky because I usually connected via cable and just by chance that day I had been trying out the wifi (this is about 10 years ago before wifi was ubiquitous). If I had been connected by cable I would have lost everything...my Apple tower, two montors, scanner, 2 or 3 external hard drives...Lucky I was. Had to have the all the internet cable replaced out to the telephone pole. My neighbor across the street said that when the lightning struck his TV turned on and the washing machine started going on its own accord.

I'll report back how things proceed.....

[lomatopo]

Presumably you have DSL service from TOT? And the advertised speeds associated with your package are 10 Mbps/512 Kbps? Do you also have a plain, old telephone associated with this TOT service?

Further, these service worked acceptably in the past, but at some point you started experiencing myriad issues? the quoted speedtest results seem reasonable if the line is indeed 10 Mbps/512 Kbps. What applications are you running which require increased upload speeds.

when I can't get on the internet at all, there is no connection. I have learned to plug into the modem with the cable and type in what I guess is my internet address or whatever you call that number such as 10.1.133.111 (not the real one). What I will do is change some parameter and then change it back and after that it seems to work. Come to think of it, at these times, the internet often seems to work with the cable but not with wifi. So perhaps there are a few different things going on. Sometimes when I call them they will do something down at "central" and it will work again.

Yes, it appears as though there are "a few different things going on". You are connecting to, changing, modifying so many variables that it is challenging to figure out what might be wrong.

My best guesses are that there are issues with the physical cabling between your home and the (TOT) serving network device, or provisioning issues within TOT. Further I suspect you are also experiencing DNS/routing issues. We used to support a few TOT DSL customers, and we always had recurring physical cable issues, or cross-connects, or bridges/taps, or rain/moisture/rodent related issues. Thankfully we migrated all customers to True or 3BB.

Wedging those devices into that shelving is not helping with cooling.

Personally I would talk with neighbors to see if they are also having issues with TOT, maybe directly attache to the Speedtouch modem to examine the line stats, or take a known, good, working modem/router and examine the DSL line statistics, change to Google DNS.

Failing that, you'll have to rely on TOT to replace the modem/router, or purchase your own single, integrated DSL modem/router WiFi AP, if only to get TOT to address and fix the underlying issue(s).

The age of your equipment isn't necessarily causing your problems

[RichCor]

...Rich, thanks for that info and the link. [...] One thing, I do upload a lot of photos. Is there any way to increase my bandwidth for upload?

Hopefully trimming up your wires will help to bring your connection speed back to your max contract rates.

For higher upload speeds you'll need obtain a different package. TRUE Online now offer 1.5Mbps upload via ADSL and also offers 1/2/5/10/15Mbps upload with their Cable Broadband.

Many ISPs also offer SDSL and VDSL connections that give higher upload rates (though you need to be within 1.5km to qualify).

You might also want to ask if FTTx Fiber Optic is available in your area.

Edited May 17, 2014 by RichCor

[astral]

Personally I doubt the router is affecting your external internet connection

Possibly the wireless speed in your house maybe affected by the old Linksys

if it does not support the N protocol

and your computers and other devices do.

[bamboozled]

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay in reporting back. Things got busy here. I cut the corroded wires and hooked them back up fresh copper to copper. Got a satisfying jolt, too, when I guess I connected the circuit with my fingers. Silly me, I didn't realize that could happen with these wires; learn a new thing everyday.

Lomatopo, yes, I have the package you describe. I'm uploading photos through Safari (I have an Apple machine). You seem to be suggesting that I change to a different provider. You might be right but in searching the forums it seems like a crap shoot. You find complaints and praises about each one. The modem and router do get very hot. I assumed something like heat would eventually and suddenly result in total failure but not cause a gradual slowdown. Am I wrong about that?

Just did the speedtest again and got the exact same results. Perhaps it's just heavy traffic? I live in an area popular with students so a lot of internet going on...I would imagine. If it is true, will getting a faster package make any different or will I always suffer speed loss due to too many users? And Rich, thanks for the links to that info. I'm going to look into it.

Lastly, Astral, how can I find out about N protocol and which machines have it and which machines don't?

Cheers!

I often can't stream video, for example. Can most folks do that in Thailand?

[robblok]

Personally I doubt the router is affecting your external internet connection

Possibly the wireless speed in your house maybe affected by the old Linksys

if it does not support the N protocol

and your computers and other devices do.

I am not so sure, twice have i changed routers from the cheap ones they deliver to a more expensive one from Asus and both times did i see an improvement in speed and stability. The same happend when i gave my Asus router to a friend who used True (i went over to optic fiber so i needed an other router) and also at his place did the connection get better.

With heavy use a more expensive router with memory and faster processor will give an overall better connection.

[bamboozled]

Lo and behold the other day there was an advert from True stuck in my front gate. I know have, for better or worse, True service internet with 15 mbps download and 1.5 upload, new modem/wifi combined, new cables/wires to the house and into the house, etc... I have not noticed much change in my download speeds to be honest. I'm assuming this is because most of what I'm looking at comes from an international server? My gf, however, looking at what I guess are Thai hosted sites, says it is much faster. My uploads have gotten much quicker which is lovely.

I did a few speed tests and they came back with 30 mbps download and 1.5 or 1.8 upload, hmmmm. But those were in Thailand, I believe. I just ran a test while writing this with http://testmy.net/download and I got only 2.1 mbps download and 1mbps upload from Dallas, TX.

RichCor, I still have to try Hola. I have my fingers crossed for that.

I was intrigued by the fiber optic cable but didn't want to double my internet expense. But I'll keep an upgrade in mind if I can't abide with the speeds I have now. However, if the bottleneck is the international connection I don't imagine it will change anything. Unless Hola really helps out.

Cheers.....

[RichCor]

testmy.net/download results for my TOT FTTx connection:

SERVER: Dallas, TX 2.1 mbps download (Hola! Proxy disabled) [multiple tests ranged from 2.1 - 6.0, route heavy congested]

SERVER: Dallas, TX 4.2 mbps download (Hola! Proxy with USA selected)

SERVER: Dallas, TX 1.8 mbps download (Hola! Proxy with SG selected)

SERVER: San Jose, CA 6.2 mbps download (Hola! Proxy disabled)

SERVER: San Jose, CA 4.7 mbps download (Hola! Proxy with USA selected)

SERVER: San Jose, CA 1.7 mbps download (Hola! Proxy with SG selected)

As you can see, my current TOT FTTx connection I can obtain 6+ mbps International Internet to the US

I usually like to connect directly, but many times local congestion on supposedly direct international routes will slow throughput to a crawl and I will try Hola! Proxy to force a more stable route. Testing today was just inconsistent. While I was able to determine the top speed of my FTTx connection over the International Internet Gateway, the throughput over multiple tests varied greatly.

[bamboozled]

Hi Rich,

Which browser are you using? I have an Apple and use Safari but I just downloaded Torch and now the Torch browser opened. Can I also use it with Safari?

[bamboozled]

I need a google account to use it? I hate when they force me to do that...

[RichCor]

Hola is a browser add-on for Firefox and Google Chrome, cross-platform (Mac OS X, Windows and Linux). I happen to like Hola because all it lets me choose which websites get redirected through what countries and it retains those settings until cleared.

There are other Proxy and VPN alternatives for MAC (ie: Tunnelbear, Zenmate), but as a Windows User I am unfamiliar with any of them.

While Chrome browser is made by Google, they do not require that you have a google account or run through google services to use it.