Switch to TOT fiber from DSL in Chiang Mai

[kilt]

Hi out there...

I think I'm about to switch from TOT DSL to Fiber 2U in Chiang Mai.

I can get 35/5 for 1200baht per month.

If anyone has done this, I have 2 questions.

TOT wants to supply the fiber modem (ONU 4 port is all the info they have listed) which I have to buy.

I currently have an ASUS DSL - N55U modem which I love and I can manually set DNS Servers to my VPN and stream from USA.

Does anyone know if I can do this with the TOT modem? Or would I need to set the fiber modem in bridge mode and use my current modem to control DNS etc??

(This is getting just a little above my head but I'm sure I could figure it out)

2nd... they want me to pay for the full year up front. I paid my ADSL bill monthly so not sure what's up with that, but probably because I'm a foreigner.

Does anyone in Chiang Mai have experience with TOT fiber, modems and up front payments and maybe advice or tips?

Thanks much.

[worgeordie]

I did exactly what you are thinking of doing, i went from 10/1 DSL

to 25/3 Fiber 2U, thinking it must be a lot faster,and finding out its

not,whatever they promise,is only guaranteed for inside Thailand,

on speed test i do get the 25/3 to BKK, but i find streaming from

ilikeHD is not any better,their servers are in BKK,than when i had

10/1 DSL,,?

I did not have to pay for their router,and only pay monthly, I suspect

they want you to pay for a year up front,as they will have the upper

hand when you find it does not live up to your expectations,don't do it

The router they supplied me the instructions are all in Chinese,so its

not easy to change anything,and it does not have WiFi,so i had to

connect my Dlink router with Wifi.

I hope this helps, if providers were doing the same in any other business

they would be done for fraud as they never deliver what they promise,

they keep upping the offers of higher bandwidth,but don't seem to buy

anymore International bandwidth.which is what we are all looking for.

regards Worgeordie

[rwdrwdrwd]

Just plug your router into the tot router, if it's the same one I have then it doesn't come with wifi anyway. It's purpose is really just to mediate an optical signal to ethernet.

I have a couple of wireless routers plugged in, one with vpn (well, dns via unotelly now, but previously a vpn setup) for TV and one for general use.

I echo the comments about speed, can only get TOT here, my TOT ADSL line was unreliable, but there is no great speed difference between then (when it worked) and now. It is far more reliable though, which was the major issue for me.

As opposed to the ADSL line I had it works consistently, I can stream telly slightly more reliably and download torrents a bit faster, but there was no major jump in speed, only reliability.

I had to take a business package to get them to even connect me, they had to pull the line quite a way and it took 3 months to get them to do so, but it's not really worth it for me to have a quick connection to BKK alone so will certainly be going to the basic cheapest fiber package at 1 year.

Edited January 19, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[kilt]

Thanks guys,

Taking your advice. Sticking with DSL. I have just started living here full time and got my internet package years ago - only 2Mb

Upgrading to 10Mb so hopefully it is better. Same price pretty much too, Ha!

Basically using it for email and streaming Netflix, Hulu etc.... It hasn't been horrendous at 2Mb so it's got to be better... we'll see.

Thanks again

[chiang mai]

I on the other hand went from 3BB ADSL to TOT fibre and see a world of difference, speeds went from 9mb (3 actual) to 15mb (15 actual). Just North of Chiang Mai.

[briley]

Kilt - if you have been with TOT long enough to have the 2Meg package they should have upgraded you to 6meg by now for no cost - I'm still paying 450 baht a month - think that is for auto speed up 2555 (the year).

[KhunBENQ]

The ToT device will likely not be a full blown "access point" with modem function (as for DSL), but only a WiFi router.,

It is connected to the optical/electrical converter with an Ethernet(!) cable.

You can continue to use your router in WiFi router mode.

(all the DSL modem functionality becomes obsolete/deactivated)

Simple exchange it for the ToT device and do the configuration as "WiFi router (only)" with the access data (user name/password) etc.

Thats about it.

I have done similar after changing to fibre optic.

Edited January 20, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[innerspace]

The tot fibre device is a full modem/router/wifi device and although it confused the tot techs it can be turned into bridge mode making it essentially a modem for your other router to use. This is the best option if you have a device you like already.

You cant remove the provided router unless you have a compatible optic modem...unlikely.

While all packages have international speed limitations I have found both speed and reliability improvements with the new fibres.

Was happy with cat and tot fibre before, 3bb doing well in new business and about to give true a try.

[KhunBENQ]

You cant remove the provided router unless you have a compatible optic modem...unlikely.

So you have a different installation. I did not get an optical modem but a dedicated converter (call it modem?) before the router.

At my site: optic cable goes into an optical/electrical comverter and from there with a normal Ethernet cable to the WiFi router.

Any router will do the job.

1 ) optical cable from outside

2 ) this simple plasitc box seems to be there for protecting the "spliced" connection of 1) with another optical cable 3).

3 ) optical cable with optical plug connecting to 4)

4 ) optical/electical converter with Ethernet output

5 ) Ethernet cable

6 ) WiFi router (I replaced this one later with another model)

Device nr. 4 is not a router, not visible to the computer, no parameters.

"Fiber optic media converter" seems to be another popular name for such a device.

Edited January 21, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[RichCor]

OP,

You may find your DSL Connection will become unreliable at higher speeds.

We initially had 7mbps and was offered to push it to 10mbps at no cost. Unfortunately the 'copper' lines run years ago for telephone service being repurposed for DSL are not really 'copper' and are badly deteriorating. Our service was barely able to deliver 7mbps and required I force the DSL Modem to renegotiate whenever it used fallback speeds to compensate. It just kept getting worse so decided to jump to Fiber at the first opportunity.

Currently have 15/1 fiber connection, no issues. When it was installed the installer didn't have WiFi capable ONU but connected the old DSL/WiFi to use as an WiFi Access Point Only device.

I would suggest Fiber to anyone who has had unreliable connection/speed issues, or anyone wanting in-country speeds above 10mbps.

As said, even a faster fiber service will do nothing (nothing!) to improve speeds via the International Internet Gateway.

And... if you want to use a different router you can ask the installer to put the ONU into BRIDGE MODE. You'll lose use of the additional ONU Ethernet Ports but your local router will have full control.

[Guest StephenB]

On 1/21/2015 at 1:31 PM, KhunBENQ said:

So you have a different installation. I did not get an optical modem but a dedicated converter (call it modem?) before the router.

At my site: optic cable goes into an optical/electrical comverter and from there with a normal Ethernet cable to the WiFi router.

Any router will do the job.

1 ) optical cable from outside

2 ) this simple plasitc box seems to be there for protecting the "spliced" connection of 1) with another optical cable 3).

3 ) optical cable with optical plug connecting to 4)

4 ) optical/electical converter with Ethernet output

5 ) Ethernet cable

6 ) WiFi router (I replaced this one later with another model)

Device nr. 4 is not a router, not visible to the computer, no parameters.

"Fiber optic media converter" seems to be another popular name for such a device.

 

Most helpfull post, I know your post is 3 years old. I am going to order the #4 media converter, and just have my router handle everything. Been having a issue trying to get port forwarding to work on a TOT ZTE F660 modem/router, spent allot of time already trying to see where the failure is at. Seems the firmware on the TOT supplied modem/router is borked/neutered somewhere. To anyone else interested I found the Fiber to Ethernet converter in KhunBenQ's picture on Lazada, and have the PPP login credentials from TOT. If you dump the backup config of the ZTE modem you can get all the credentials from that, or you could call TOT and get it from them. Fingers crossed.