SurfRider Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 . Is anyone having Internet access problems with sophon broadband in Jomtien? Basic connection appears ok, but cannot access Google DNS. No answer @ Sophon office all day, thus no Net access. Route trace shows 6 hops dead to Google servers. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartender100 Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 I did already start a thread about this, but not much reaction, so the problem must be localized, or people just cant log on to make a post http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/781137-sophon-broadband-issues/ As you say their phone is constantly engaged or they don't answer. I fear the company has problems, good job its only a monthly bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeseeker Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Yesterday had similar problem to OP. I am in south pattaya and use TOT and also use condo building Wi fi. Both ISP's able to connect but not download.. Today is.....so far.....OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
konying Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 They changed all the staff, from reception to tech guys. All their new staff are well lets just say "challenged" Reception if i had to guess, was just bought out from a bar. Tech guys have no clue at all. They have a problem with equipment which they can not fix, because the tech guys do not have a clue. They simply changing lines around and hence problems travel from zone to zone. Not sure why people have a problem reaching them, i can always reach them and always get the same answer, to switch off.on the router for 30 mins, which naturally does not fix equipment problem. Last time, ie few days ago, i told them unless someone is over to fix it in less than 1 hour, there would not be forthcoming payment. Someone was over, only to tell me its internal and they do not know how to fix Tech gave me his direct number and said not to waste time calling the office, because the ex bar girl who answers the phone has no clue and can not even pass on the message of what the problem is. Unless they do something drastic this month, they would be loosing my 2 accounts 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KittenKong Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 My objection to Sophon was that they changed their bog-standard cable modems to remote-managed EOC routers a few months ago, and these cannot be put into bridge mode (or at least they dont know how to do it properly). As a result most of my own fairly specialised equipment stopped working well, so I got 3BB DSL instead and did not renew my Sophon sub. The 3BB modem/router works fine in bridge mode, and I get much more bandwidth than I did with Sophon for a similar cost. 3BB also came out several times and redid various sections of cable inside and outside the building, since when it has worked fine with no drop-outs. The most ridiculous part was that when I said to Sophon that I wanted bridge mode so that I could use my own VPN Gigabit router and IP phone etc without any hassle, they said "maybe you want to use your router to resell our connection in your condo, and anyway we cant put bridge mode on our router without reconfiguring our entire network". B*oody stupid. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartender100 Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 KittenKong With this new equipment they are installing, can you still use a VPN? This is the reason they told me today about the slow speeds, our condo has not been converted yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KittenKong Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 With this new equipment they are installing, can you still use a VPN? I found that a VPN from my PC outwards worked but the VPN function built into my router didnt work. I also had trouble with one VOIP connection, but oddly not with another. All in all it was just simpler to get 3BB which came with a modem that could be put into bridge mode, and everything works with that. I'm sure that bridge mode would have solved the problem with the Sophon connection, had they been willing to do it. Or indeed a plain modem like they used to provide. (The new equipment that Sophon fitted was described to me as being "expensive" but in fact I suspect that it is a cheap no-name product. The web configuration pages looked very shoddy, and the numbers on the four Ethernet ports on the back didn't correspond with the numbers on the four LEDs.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartender100 Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 With this new equipment they are installing, can you still use a VPN? I found that a VPN from my PC outwards worked but the VPN function built into my router didnt work. I also had trouble with one VOIP connection, but oddly not with another. All in all it was just simpler to get 3BB which came with a modem that could be put into bridge mode, and everything works with that. I'm sure that bridge mode would have solved the problem with the Sophon connection, had they been willing to do it. Or indeed a plain modem like they used to provide. (The new equipment that Sophon fitted was described to me as being "expensive" but in fact I suspect that it is a cheap no-name product. The web configuration pages looked very shoddy, and the numbers on the four Ethernet ports on the back didn't correspond with the numbers on the four LEDs.) Thanks for the answer, when I moved into this condo nearly 4 years ago, I brought my 3bb account with me, but it just was so problematic for months and they could not seem to be able to sort it out, thats why i swopped to Sophon, who I must admit up till now was fine. This morning it seems back to normal, but I bet tonight when i really need it, they will divert the speed somewhere else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petercool Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 I have used Sophon Internet for some time up around lake Mabprachan and generally it has been OK given that I have the cheapest package. It is enough for streaming videos from YouTube though. They had some recent system issues but I find they seem to fix things quickly and respond well to calls re service or equipment. I understand that all internet providers had issues in the last few weeks and local storms and power outages don't help. Additionally, it only takes an earthquake tremor somewhere in Asia to disrupt cabling so maybe all providers in Thailand suffer from occasional down time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurfRider Posted December 6, 2014 Author Share Posted December 6, 2014 . Konying: Can you post the phone number you have for Sophon? Both numbers I have are not answered. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petercool Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 ^^^ This could be the same number you have but the one I use that gets answered at most times is 038 423 000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurfRider Posted December 6, 2014 Author Share Posted December 6, 2014 . Thanks for the phone number. Finally got a call through - couldn't understand much of whatever they said - then they hung up the phone . Now, no answer again. Does anyone know the current status of the problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartender100 Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 . Thanks for the phone number. Finally got a call through - couldn't understand much of whatever they said - then they hung up the phone . Now, no answer again. Does anyone know the current status of the problem? Mine has been fine today so far, only hotmail I can't access, put your fone on re-dail , fingers crossed its ok later today for what I need to do, have you leaving router off for a while today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurfRider Posted December 6, 2014 Author Share Posted December 6, 2014 . Yes, I did the standard 30 minute power cycle with the router. No change. I have a route trace running - shows 5 OF 12 hops to Google DNS servers are dead - 100% packet loss. So, the problem is not the link to the Internet, it's the inability to access a DNS server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petercool Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Are you using DNS 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 which seems to work best for Google Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurfRider Posted December 6, 2014 Author Share Posted December 6, 2014 (edited) . Yes, but I believe the alternate is .4.4, not .8.4 - neither of those can be accessed thru Sophon, at least with my connection that is. There are 12 hops on the path to the Google DNS servers - 5 of those show 100% packet loss. You can test your path with the App at PingPlotter.com if you want. If anyone has the IP for a non-google DNS, I'd like to try that. Edited December 6, 2014 by SurfRider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJCM Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 (edited) Maybe try a program called DNS Jumper: http://www.sordum.org/7952/dns-jumper-v1-0-6/ In some cases, you can increase the browsing speed or improve your security by replacing the DNS provided by your provider , DNS Jumper is a tool which makes it easy for you Edited December 6, 2014 by MJCM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
konying Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 . Konying: Can you post the phone number you have for Sophon? Both numbers I have are not answered. Thanks! 038 423 000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartender100 Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Went off at 7pm tonight, been off ever since, sick off it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurfRider Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 . Sophon been down here 4 days - many promises "will be fixed in 30 minutes" from lame office staff (TiT). Finally got through to CEO - technicians allegedly arriving in the AM. (not holding my breath ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartender100 Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 . Sophon been down here 4 days - many promises "will be fixed in 30 minutes" from lame office staff (TiT). Finally got through to CEO - technicians allegedly arriving in the AM. (not holding my breath ) Came back on around 10am this morning after being off 15 hours, have you got CEO number please? PM me with it if you don't want to put on the open forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
konying Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 . Sophon been down here 4 days - many promises "will be fixed in 30 minutes" from lame office staff (TiT). Finally got through to CEO - technicians allegedly arriving in the AM. (not holding my breath ) Came back on around 10am this morning after being off 15 hours, have you got CEO number please? PM me with it if you don't want to put on the open forum. Yep daily outage now, usually every evening till the morning. If i had to guess, they need to restart the servers in the evening to make it last through the morning. Phone number of CEO would be great , may be if we all start to call, he might actually employ skilled staff and fix the problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petercool Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Also lost all connections at around 9.30pm last night at Mabprachan and it come back around 10am or so today. Might just be temporary but my download speed doubled from its normal today so maybe they were upgrading something ? No phones were being answered when I finally got through after a dozen tries so I guess a few others were calling and staff got worn out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurfRider Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 . Sophon tech says their current problems stem from a bad server which has been replaced but apparently not yet quite got its head together. Also, a fire yesterday on Pattaya Tai took out some of their cabling and caused another outage. "CEO...maybe if we all start to call, he might actually employ skilled staff and fix the problems" Antagonizing and harassing the CEO isn't the answer. They have very competent and skilled people - I worked with two of them this morning. Their current problem is somewhere in management. I made sure that both the owner and CEO are aware that some of their customers are concerned about that and they may lose customers if the problems aren't solved soon. My guess is that they will be and the old reliable Sophon will resurface. (fingers crossed ) . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
konying Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 . Sophon tech says their current problems stem from a bad server which has been replaced but apparently not yet quite got its head together. Also, a fire yesterday on Pattaya Tai took out some of their cabling and caused another outage. "CEO...maybe if we all start to call, he might actually employ skilled staff and fix the problems" Antagonizing and harassing the CEO isn't the answer. They have very competent and skilled people - I worked with two of them this morning. Their current problem is somewhere in management. I made sure that both the owner and CEO are aware that some of their customers are concerned about that and they may lose customers if the problems aren't solved soon. My guess is that they will be and the old reliable Sophon will resurface. (fingers crossed ) . . . Antagonizing and harassing CEO is the ONLY answer, because staff could not care less if company lost customers, staff could not care less of your satisfaction and in all honestly i also believe staff could not care less if you spoke to CEO If they had skilled staff, there would not be an ongoing problem for a while now. Sophon has grown, and has a large customer base, only CEO did not grow or prepare the company for growth. More clients means more servers, more tech staff and more office staff. Instead the have less tech staff, less office staff and god knows what is happening with servers. Once CEO and owner starts to feel financial loss and pain, only then they will actually start to do something, otherwise neither of them could care less as staff gets all the headaches, but they keep getting all the money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petercool Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I must also chip in to say that when I ever got the lady taking calls she was very informative and concerning and phoned back to ask if the technicians had solved the issues etc. The technicians that have come are always friendly and helpful and I have no complaints about the staff at all. This morning was quite unique in that it took so many calls to get through and then to have no one answer. But different areas may have different guys who do the house calls ....and different areas will have different cabling issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardog Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I think most of the companies are having issues with the Gateway out of Thailand or within Thailand. I was at the internet shop & their connection was down totally yesterday & I fortunately had my AIS surfboard with me & got some service. Another person had D-Tac & had some issues also. So even if it was perfect Sophon alomg with most other comanies had some problems. My True surfboard didn't even connect at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KittenKong Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I think most of the companies are having issues with the Gateway out of Thailand or within Thailand. Zero problems with 3BB. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KittenKong Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I must also chip in to say that when I ever got the lady taking calls she was very informative and concerning and phoned back to ask if the technicians had solved the issues etc. The technicians that have come are always friendly and helpful and I have no complaints about the staff at all. On the very rare occasions that I had problems with my Sophon connection they always came out the same day to fix it. It didnt happen often. I stopped subscribing because of their new modems, not because of poor or unreliable service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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