Tt&t Adsl

[johng]

konangrit :

Excellent idea of yours to mark the coverage areas on a map of Pattaya city.

When I move to Soi 15 I will let everyone here know if ADSL is available there or not,judging by your map it looks highly likely

[holm188]

Hi iang,

I use now the SMTP server at www.fastmail.fm, costs 15$ (one time) as was recommended to me on this thread. Otherwise there are SMTP software (1stSMTP for example, google free SMTP), but it is not very reliable, but it is free.

with fastmail you need to send as the messages are ready as there is an hourly limit, also if sending several large messages at the same time sometimes they bounce back.

[iang]

Thanks for the TT&T HiNet SMTP server suggestion.

I'm delighted to advise that I received a very prompt reply too from TT&T that the SMTP outgoing email server for their HiNet DSL is mail.cis.cattelecom.com

Unlikely as this address may sound for an SMTP server, I've tried & tested it and it actually works!

Others using the TT&T Baht 999 per month HiNet DSL service may be interested.

[holm188]

iang,

thanks for sharing that. will try out right away.

when I inquired about a month ago the answer was no SMTP server, so I'm quite satisfied with the DSL plan now, it eliminates one more drawback.

[grrr]

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, if you care about your email actually getting delivered at least most of the time, using a dedicated SMTP service (such as excellent Fastmail) instead of your ISP's SMTP server. On the plus side, I just checked out mail.cis.cattelecom.com and at least it's not using a Microsoft product (it's running Postfix) so it might be just fine!

[camerata]

I'm delighted to advise that I received a very prompt reply too from TT&T that the SMTP outgoing email server for their HiNet DSL is mail.cis.cattelecom.com

Unlikely as this address may sound for an SMTP server, I've tried & tested it and it actually works!

Others using the TT&T Baht 999 per month HiNet DSL service may be interested.

CAT Telecom is the name of what we used to know as the Communications Authority of Thailand - now transformed into a public company without actually having an IPO. Since they are acting as the ISP for the TT&T service, I guess they finally brought up their own mail server and registered the cattelecom.com domain.

[ChiangMaiThai]

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, if you care about your email actually getting delivered at least most of the time, using a dedicated SMTP service (such as excellent Fastmail) instead of your ISP's SMTP server. On the plus side, I just checked out mail.cis.cattelecom.com and at least it's not using a Microsoft product (it's running Postfix) so it might be just fine!

Can one of you computer people explain how to switch to a dedicated SMTP server and what the benefits will be? Thanks!

[monty]

T-Speed started some fancy promo tour in Pattaya! Just saw a T-Speed pick up driving around with blaring loudspeakers and some beautifull promo girls. They drove all the way down Jomtien Beach road, so there might be some adsl coverage over there! Am certainly going to try and find out!

[grrr]

Can one of you computer people explain how to switch to a dedicated SMTP server and what the benefits will be? Thanks!

Just sign up with a service (such as fastmail or whatever) and then set your email program (thunderbird, eudora, outlook, etc.) to use that server instead of the one you are using now. It's called "outgoing mail server" or "SMTP server".

An advantage is the companies that offer this only concern themselves with email, so they tend to know what they are doing and things tend to work.

[holm188]

Hi grrr,

my experience with fastmail is not 100% satisfactory. When sending messages with large attachments (2 - 5 MB), the SMTP server disconnects or times out and the email is not sent. You get a notification, but the hassle of checking and resending is there. With the SMTP of hinet so far it seems okay.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Holm

[holm188]

Got the first invoice for tspeed and was happy to see that they did not charge for April when the service was very unreliable. These days it is a little slow end of afternoon but otherwise pretty good.

[iang]

Just got my first CAT Hi Net bill in yesterday too for the 999 (plus 69.93 VAT) for the month of May. I was pleasantly surprised too that they didn't charge for April when I was connected. Good Stuff!

I thought the 1st bill was a bit of a test for the Hi Net service - everything I was told was unlinited this & unlimited that but I still had a worry at the back of my mind that they'd find some way of levying additional charges somewhere but not so!

I'm now permanently on line from 8.30am through to at least 5.30pm every day for work & accessing primarily an overseas company computer + volumes of email & given no maximum hours or uploads / downloads, I think the service is fantastic value and the overall speed is pretty good & more than fast enough for my needs.

Sure the service is up & down a bit, not to mention a 24 hour outage last week! But overall, when considering I'm not paying 3 Baht a time for dial up connection costs, Hi Net is not only far far faster than my old CSLoxinfo service, I reckon I'm saving money too!

[camerata]

I see the Chief Financial Officer of TT&T has just been made CEO of CAT Telecom. In the long run, I think this will be good news for all you guys using CAT/TT&T broadband services - IF this guy can overcome the bureaucratic ways entrenched at CAT for so many years.

[thebear]

I see the Chief Financial Officer of TT&T has just been made CEO of CAT Telecom. In the long run, I think this will be good news for all you guys using CAT/TT&T broadband services - IF this guy can overcome the bureaucratic ways entrenched at CAT for so many years.

It's not often that we get the opportunity to throw out boquets but when it comes to TT&T they at least try. When I moved into my present home more than 2 years ago the local TOT/TT&T offices were quoting a 2 year wait for a land line - a fax to the President of TT&T saw not one, but two lines installed within 3 days!!!

A similar situation occured recently when I applied for ADSL. The original promotion was back in March I think when they were offering the free modem but I dithered and missed the boat. (Beware the small print of the present promotion of free modem - I'm told it only covers outlying areas, not the 'established' areas such as CM city & boundaries). When I checked in the TT&T office four weeks ago, the guy in the shop quoted a 6 month wait for my area (near CM prison). I took the forms anyway, filled them in and faxed to BKK, service in 3 weeks!

So if its not the CFO at TT&T himself who is responsible for the good service, they do at least seem to have a responsible corporate attitude.

For those of you interested in the ADSL what can I say? Compared to dial up it is brilliant. We had a bit of a shaky start though because the modem sat there for five days blinking away with no connection. Numerous calls to the customer support (*997, 24 hours, English speaking, very courteous), to configure/reconfigure eventually led to a Technician calling at the house who after methodically checking through everything discovered that the ADSL link had not been made at the exchange! Teething problems perhaps within the organisation but at least they tried and eventually solved the problem.

Once connected, I found the service to be like a breath of fresh air - there has been the odd occasion where the CAT server was down (quickly verified by a call to *997), and yes at busy times it can slow down a bit. Again to TT&T's credit they include a link to the McAfee speed checker on their website TTT Broadband Speedometer which when I checked 10 minutes ago was registering 355Kbps but 200kbps is nearer the norm, and it can drop to as low as 40kbps at busy times but at least it doesn't drop out!

All of the above coincided with a very timely bit of abuse from Loxinfo whereby they arbitarily locked out my connection claiming non-payment of account which was untrue. A patient conversation with their service rep ended when he told me I should be 'more disciplined' in the payment of my accounts - the bill arrived yesterday, I was not iin arrears and the due payment date was 20th June!

Loxinfo service in my opinion has been rapidly deteriorating since the introduction of CSLoxinfo so all this spurred me on to look for alternatives - enter 'Inet Gold'. a prepaid service of 1 year/300 hours for appprox. 4,200 Baht.

I now think that I have a pretty solid set up (in Thailand) for static and mobile computing on the internet in terms of reliability/speed/access through the combination of TT&T ADSL @ 999Baht per month, Inet Gold @ 4,200/year and Yahoo Pop Plus @ $19.97/year. Since my business is largely internet dependent I reckon that in terms of economies of scale versus what I had before that I am a lot better off, and I'm failrly sure that in the long run I will save money.

For those of you asking why buy Inet/Yahoo as well as ADSL?

* You do not get an email address with ADSL but you can use the service to send mail if you have a free email address SMTP (Outgoing server mail.cis.cattelecom.com)

* ADSL is a fixed service, no mobility (which is a must for my business)

*TIT - the CAT server can, and will go down from time to time - dial up is a good back up hence Inet Gold (ISP email address/dial up)

* Yahoo Pop Plus again mobility but is also great back up if the ADSL or INET servers are busy with slow response as you bypass these direct to the Yahoo server which is often quicker.

No doubt in time the service capacity will be oversold (as it was with the Mobile phone in the early days - TIT), and service may slow down at busy times, i.e. early evening. But then again perhaps not? Let's hope the new CFO at CAT at least has the wherewithall to make sure that the capiital expenditure budget has plenty of padding to support system infrastructure expansiion/upgrade.

For now, I'm well happy - and I still have my fax at the ready should I need to rattle the CFO's cage if the service deteriorates...

[ChiangMaiThai]

A progress report: I'm back on TSpeed after realizing that CMNet's guarantees minimum speed of 128K for 3000 baht a month was just bullshit.

The VCI 66 settings on TSpeed now work and I'm happy to say that performance is quite good. Apart from a couple hours in the late afternoon, I get speeds between 220K and 450K. Downloads are quick, but watching the Du meter you see peaks and valleys. It doesn't hold steady at 50 or 60, but instead reaches those levels and then drops to single digits and then starts over again. Also, there seem to be a number of times throughout the day where connection is lost for 2 or 3 minutes, but no big deal.

So overall, with VCI 66, this is a very good deal, expecially if you live outside BKK. I expect there will be periods of down time in the future, but it does seem that they are working out the problems.

One more thing. I'm using the Xavi router from TSpeed. This is the one you had to pay for. 1000 baht or something. They told me to turn it off at night because it will get hot, but I prefer to leave it on all the time as I use the phone over the internet. I do notice that it gets quite hot. Can anything be done to cool it down and allow me to leave it on all the time? If it does get hot, is this dangerous?

[igotworms]

The VCI 66 settings on TSpeed now work and I'm happy to say that performance is quite good.

What are these settings?

[ChiangMaiThai]

Enter http://192.168.1.1

Click on 'Quick Configuration'

Look kfor VCI. Change to 66.

Go to the bottom and click 'submit'.

I don't know what it is exactly but if its on 33, the speed is limited. 66 hasn't always worked...

[udon]

Can anything be done to cool it down and allow me to leave it on all the time? If it does get hot, is this dangerous?

Hi CMT,

Have you tried focussing a 9" fan at it, if practical?

Dangerous..... hmm, I'd keep a close eye on it.

Chock dee.

udon.

[udon]

Whoops!

[dms]

hi

i think TT&T is a big bullshit shared with 50 user LOL

why did i see nowere in this thread the TOT offers???

TOT Promotion and cofferage test

thy offer 1024/256 no #shared shit the exchange is near carrefour the cofferage area would be around 3km around there with better lines on 3rd road as the cables are newer than on 2nd road

thats what i will get when i am moving after Xmas...

[holm188]

Hi,

3 km around Carrefour does not cover a lot of Chiang Mai!! I live not that far from Carrefour and my TOT number is not in the coverage area.

TT&T is not perfect but much better than dial-up.

Good luck when you move here and smooth surfing :-)

Holm188

[igotworms]

hi

i think TT&T is a big bullshit shared with 50 user LOL

why did i see nowere in this thread the TOT offers???

TOT Promotion and cofferage test

thy offer 1024/256 no #shared shit the exchange is near carrefour the cofferage area would be around 3km around there with better lines on 3rd road as the cables are newer than on 2nd road

thats what i will get when i am moving after Xmas...

Easier said than done. If you don't have TOT at present, you will be inserted on the bottom of the waiting list, and in some cities it may take a year or two till they get to your installation.

On a different note, has anyone noticed a significant and consistent drop in the overall speed of TT&T ADSL lately? Perhaps its just Phuket.

[sabaijai]

Bear, what's that BKK fax number?

thanks

[grrr]

I'm still quite happy with this, sure it gets slow now and then, but I've seen the same in the US with both cable and xDSL. For 999B anyone who CAN get it but opts for dialup is spending more and getting WAY less.

My Xavi router gets hot too, but not as hot as my laptop! I keep a fan on both of 'em when I'm working, and turn everything off at night.

[ChiangMaiThai]

Do you mean that the TOT coverage will only include a 3km radius around carrefour? If that's the case, its pretty much useless for the vast majoity of Chiang Mai residents.

And you'll need a TOT number. I live in an apartment and it would be a big hassle and long wait to get a TOT line.

But if you do get it, let us know how it goes.

---I will try buying a small fan to cool the router down. Thanks.

[monty]

I guess nobody bothered to look for TOT's promo's....

Our governement monopoly is not really known for something even resembling service quality

Anyway, I punched in my phonenumber in their "check coverage page" and it came up green as being on an adsl switch already. I contacted them on the given number (1100) and they told me in my location I can not get ADSL! My number starts with 231, all 231 numbers are in Jomthien and there is NO coverage in Jomthien. So what's the point of having a number check page which turns out wrong info?

[grrr]

VC - Virtual Circuit
A circuit connection created to connect two devices between two networks. This connection is identified by a VPI/VCI pair and can be a permanent connection or a switched connection.

By the way, my router has been set on VCI 33 (not 66) and I'm getting (mostly) consistent hight speed. Presently I'm downloading Thunderbird 0.7 source code from ftp.mozilla.org in the US at about 52K/s, so about 10 minutes for a 32MB download. Don't try that with dialup!

[WarOrc]

I've had this TT&T for a few weeks now. It is SO undependable! Anyone else having the CONSTANT disconnects where the ADSL line goes down (ADSL light starts blinking) and comes back up after a few seconds or minutes? I have this problem constantly. If I have a good day I can be on for up to 1 hour then it starts on me usually. Once in a blue moon I've had quite trouble-free days but most of the time I have these line-drops frequently. It makes it impossible to play ANY online games etc., since you go "link-dead" constantly.

I just would LOVE to find out if anyone or EVERYONE has this same problem as I am having? I have the Billion Astra USB ADSL Modem connected to my USB port setup (the 1000 baht per month special crap).

Please let me know.

Thanx,

Stranded in Phuket...

[ChiangMaiThai]

I've had this TT&T for a few weeks now. It is SO undependable! Anyone else having the CONSTANT disconnects where the ADSL line goes down (ADSL light starts blinking) and comes back up after a few seconds or minutes? I have this problem constantly. If I have a good day I can be on for up to 1 hour then it starts on me usually. Once in a blue moon I've had quite trouble-free days but most of the time I have these line-drops frequently. It makes it impossible to play ANY online games etc., since you go "link-dead" constantly.

I just would LOVE to find out if anyone or EVERYONE has this same problem as I am having? I have the Billion Astra USB ADSL Modem connected to my USB port setup (the 1000 baht per month special crap).

Please let me know.

Thanx,

Stranded in Phuket...

Could very well be the modem. I started with their free ZyXEL modem and it just didn't work. So they brought in a router for 1000 baht. They also recommend setting VCI to 33 when its having problems. Initially with my shitty modem connection was as you describe, but now its quite good. There's a few minutes a day when it goes down, but that's about it.

Try changing to a quality modem/router and then report back.

[WarOrc]

I think it may be my phonelines. I have two in this house and they both suck. One stopped giving me dialtone and on the other one (the ADSL one) you can hear the frickin' wind blowing outside!

So I'm having (in my dreams if they ever show up) TT&T come and look at the lines. Maybe if they find whatever rusty/waterdripping part of the cable is out in the weather maybe it will help?

Well waiting (and calling them every other day nagging - learnt you need to here) to see if the repair guys can do anything. Else I need to get a better modem I guess. See it's never been good. But now it's so bad it's impossible to play ANY online game.. if it behaves okey you can atleast download some stuff.

/Orc