Does upgrade to 3BB FttHx make sense?

[thuisinthailand]

We are currently having the 3BB 10MB package. It is quite ok, but there are disruptions from time to time, and sometimes the line gets very slow, without any apparent reason. So, we are considering to upgrade ourselves to the FTTHx 30Mb package (some call it a dedicated line). It will raise our monthly cost from about 600 baht to 1284 baht. That is in itself not a problem, but it's only worth it if our connection then really gets a speed upgrade. We are about 200 meters away from the nearest fiber 'station' in our village (we are living on Koh Samui), and according to 3BB we should experience the speed upgrade without any problems...

So, my question is this: does anyone of you have any experience with the 3BB FTTH package? Does it really boost the internet speed or is it just a marketing thing? Expert comments appreciated!

[Chicog]

Chances are the interruptions and degradation are further down the line, so if you aren't getting 10Mb on an ADSL line, I doubt you will get 30Mb on fibre.

[bamnutsak]

Without a clear understanding of what might be causing your current issues (slow speed, disruptions), or your application requirements, it is difficult to make a fact-based recommendation.

Is there anyone nearby who is using 3BB FTTx? Maybe see if they are satisfied.

Personally, I would make this change immediately as FTTX, once it is stable and all the connections are good, is much more reliable, and the bump from 15/1 to 30/3 is fantastic, at least in Bangkok, IME. And while thieves are stealing wire here at an alarming pace here, there is less street-value in installed fiber.

Edited July 26, 2015 by bamnutsak

[muratremix]

If you use 10mbit cheapest option, it could be the reason why your speeds are getting low. 3bb throttles 10mbit 590 baht + vat package heavily.

Perhaps try upgrading it to higher adsl package first (13mbit?) and see if it'll work out for you.

FTTx is not dedicated line. Dedicated lines are for business and have 1:1 ratio (full bandwidth)

[thaicatbuyer]

Had 3BB fiber to the home installed in my condo 150 meters from the street, they ran a dedicated line to my room on the 5th floor 4 months ago, get 34 mb down 3 mb up, never a missed moment , had cable 15mb plan from Sophon Cable, wasn't a week gone by

we had cut offs for 6-10 hrs at a time, and lucky if I got 10mb down and 1.5 up, Condominium has 3BB fiber and mine doesn't run off theirs, I have my own line, must pay installation about 10K Baht and 1 year up front, best internet service had so far, on my 3rd company.

Here in Central Pattaya.

Edited July 26, 2015 by thaicatbuyer

[schaffhausen]

I have Fiber 30Mb ( Just now: Ping 16ms, Download 36.7 Mbps, Upload 3.27 Mbps)

At the beginnig there where some problems but after a few calls to the hotline

they came a few time and did fix the line.

Now i have it sins more than a year without any probs.

I stay in Hua Hin

[Jeffrey346]

I have had 3BB Fibre for over 1 year with no issues. I usually get 35-42 up and 3-4 down.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Anyone reading here should understand:

When you guys post speed test results from the CAT website or the 16 ms ping and 37 Mbps speed from Hua Hin, those are AT BEST local inside Thailand speed test results, and have no relation to what those connections are providing for international Internet connections.

And, it's equally possible those speed test results won't even reflect the actual speeds those users will get to other content providers inside Thailand, since the speed test results are often cached by the Thai Internet providers, so all it's really showing you is the connection speed between your home and their local server.

For any individual user, a lot of going to depend on whether the content they're accessing is based in or mirrored in Thailand, or whether you're having to go out onto the international internet in order to retrieve it. You can have a high Mbps Thai local Internet plan, but if your ISP has poor connections or bad routing internationally or throttles their international content, you'll only end up getting a fraction of the rated speed for your ISP plan.

But you can run SpeedTest.net speed checks all day and night or run the similar speed tests available online from True / CAT / TOT / 3BB, and of course, they'll tell you every time that you're getting the full speed of your ISP plan or even a bit better. It's a good way to reduce their customer complaint volumes.

Edited July 26, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Nuddy]

It does not seem baht to try it out

i would go for it

And complain if it does not work

Or else cancel it

An extra $10 bucks a month and you want to research it? Amazing.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Don't know about Samui... But in BKK, if you are a farang, 3BB demands a year's service contract in order to install their fiber service.

But, AFAIK, if they do the same install in the same place but the service/billing is in your Thai spouse's name, then they don't require a year's commitment.

[Pib]

Just for comparison and using the CAT Speedtester here is what my True DOCSIS (cable) 15Mb/1.5Mb at Bt599/month gives me this Sunday evening at 7:17pm.

The True DOCSIS plans have "bursting" capability which lasts longer than the speedtest period which ends up giving me a much higher speed that what I pay for. Great for surfing, emailing, etc. I'm in Bangkok.

[JetsetBkk]

Don't know about Samui... But in BKK, if you are a farang, 3BB demands a year's service contract in order to install their fiber service.

But, AFAIK, if they do the same install in the same place but the service/billing is in your Thai spouse's name, then they don't require a year's commitment.

Note: ^^^

I'm waiting to see what people are charged after July 31st.

http://www.3bb.co.th/3bb/promotion/details/2256

[muratremix]

Don't know about Samui... But in BKK, if you are a farang, 3BB demands a year's service contract in order to install their fiber service.

But, AFAIK, if they do the same install in the same place but the service/billing is in your Thai spouse's name, then they don't require a year's commitment.

www.3bb.co.th.3bb.promotion.details.2256.jpg

Note: ^^^

I'm waiting to see what people are charged after July 31st.

http://www.3bb.co.th/3bb/promotion/details/2256

Prices are same every month for the last XXX years. They are not promo prices, false marketing Thai style!

[thuisinthailand]

Thanks for all your comments, appreciated! Will do some local research too of course.

[bamnutsak]

I would use the 3BB speedtest page to test 3BB connections; yes it only gives you a snapshot of your "local" connection: 15/1 (DSL), 30/3, 50/10.

http://speedtest.3bb.co.th/

International performance is going to vary, as if that needs to be stated.

Prices might come down, or there may be new promotions. There's too much competition for them to increase.

Edited July 27, 2015 by bamnutsak

[Pib]

The promotional price will most likely stay the same. Common for the Thai internet service providers and cell service providers to use a "valid through date" and then after that date the price remains the same...see it all the time. And when the pricing is very similar to other competitors then the price is really not on promotion/sale although it's being advertised as such. Sure they are "promoting" the price but it's really not on sale/a cut rate....just normal pricing. Thai style advertising.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

If you think back over the trends in Internet service pricing over the past years, the consistent trend has been higher speeds for lower prices....as the technologies improve.

I have a supposed 30 Mbps plan today for 799b per month with True.... A few years ago, that same plan would have cost thousands per month.

[Pib]

If you think back over the trends in Internet service pricing over the past years, the consistent trend has been higher speeds for lower prices....as the technologies improve.

I have a supposed 30 Mbps plan today for 799b per month with True.... A few years ago, that same plan would have cost thousands per month.

TallGuy,

I'm a little suprised you moved up to the 30Mb plan after your many posts of saying how a lower speed plan such as a 10-15Mb plan provided the basically the same "international" speed as a higher speed plan. You almost approached the number of posts preaching that as my number of posts saying the same thing.

Anyway, can you help satisfy my curiosity regarding the True DOCSIS 30/3Mb plan at Bt799/mo compared to my True DOCSIS 15/1.5Mb plan at Bt599/mo as to what speed the 30Mb plan gives domestically by running a speedtest at the CAT speedtester to see what you get. I just ran the test (Wifi vs direct connection to router) at 12:57pm and got below for my 15/1.5Mb plan.

Edited July 27, 2015 by Pib

[bamnutsak]

I think True Online is moving away from DOCSIS; it's expensive to deploy, challenging to manage, doesn't scale well and getting a bit long in the tooth. They seem to be pushing fiber solutions now, as is 3BB, AIS, CAT, et al.

True Online's 30/3 FTTx is 1,299 per month; their 15/1.5 FTTx is 599/month.

[JetsetBkk]

The promotional price will most likely stay the same. Common for the Thai internet service providers and cell service providers to use a "valid through date" and then after that date the price remains the same...see it all the time. And when the pricing is very similar to other competitors then the price is really not on promotion/sale although it's being advertised as such. Sure they are "promoting" the price but it's really not on sale/a cut rate....just normal pricing. Thai style advertising.

It's really a crazy advertising style as the fact that it is advertised as a promotional price for one year only, is what put me OFF going for it! Maybe something's got lost in the translation.

Also, they used to advertise the regular, non-promotional price - it was double the promotional price - and was stated to come into effect after the first year. Now, all that has gone from their web page.

The last time I looked at that 3BB page, the note at the bottom which now says "This promotional price is valid to July 31, 2015", used to say "This promotional price is valid to May 31, 2015".

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/820347-3bb-fiber-vs-12mb-dsl/#entry9367977

So next month it will probably say: "This promotional price is valid to August 31, 2015".

Anyway, I'm still fairly happy with my in-Thailand speed. So, if it ain't broken...

[Pib]

I think True Online is moving away from DOCSIS; it's expensive to deploy, challenging to manage, doesn't scale well and getting a bit long in the tooth. They seem to be pushing fiber solutions now, as is 3BB, AIS, CAT, et al.

True Online's 30/3 FTTx is 1,299 per month; their 15/1.5 FTTx is 599/month.

True installed the Cable TV/DOCSIS in my Bangkok moobaan in mid 2011...both cable TV and cable internet on the same line. About six months ago they strung some fiber optics also down the main sois in the moobaan (like a trunk line maybe) but not down the side sois that all the house are on...around 750 houses in my moobaan. Not sure at all what they strung the fiber optics for....maybe to supplement the DOCSIS trunk line, maybe to offer fiber optics in the moobaan, etc. If they do offer fiber optics internet now also in my moobaan they sure haven't be advertising it like setting up sales booths nor have I seen or heard of any houses getting fiber optics internet.

Until True put the DOCSIS in my moobaan TOT had a captured market of low speed ADSL (only up to 6Mb at that time)...they lost most of their customers to True. Then the big flood came in late 2011....the True cable TV/internet continued to work even with a meter of water in the moobaan for almost a month...people with TOT ADSL lost their internet and phone service day one of the flooding. About two years ago TOT strung a fiber optics trunk line in the moobaan which is still ADSL service with the final couple hundred meters to your home being regular copper phone line...but they have speeds up to 20Mb now...I don't think they have got too many customers to return because off the DOCSIS low cost plans and reliability.

Their DOCSIS which True now calls "Fiber Cable" (it's still just special TV cable) and their fiber optics Fiber To The Home (FTTH) have basically the same pricing. However the DOCSIS (Fiber Cable) only goes to 200Mb where their fiber optics FTTH goes to 1000Mb speed. See this TrueOnline webpage for more info.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

TallGuy,

I'm a little suprised you moved up to the 30Mb plan after your many posts of saying how a lower speed plan such as a 10-15Mb plan provided the basically the same "international" speed as a higher speed plan. You almost approached the number of posts preaching that as my number of posts saying the same thing.

Don't worry Pib... I haven't changed my tune or thinking on these matters.

Rather, True was, and maybe still is, running a promotion they call Suk X3 that has a variety of pricing and service levels, but all of them combine all THREE of True's services under one bundle/price -- cable internet, cable TV and a True Move H mobile account.

So, before, I had been paying 699b per month for just an 18 Mbps cable internet plan only.

A few months back, under Suk X3, I upgraded to a 799b per month plan (so only 100b per month extra) that bought me a 30/3 Mbps cable internet plan for 1 year (after which it supposedly will drop back to 18 Mbps, if I do nothing else meanwhile), a 90+ some channel TrueVisions digital TV package that has nothing I care to watch and is almost entirely Thai language, and a postpaid ISmart TrueMove H SIM with 100 calling minutes and 500MB of 3G data included for free every month.

Just the postpaid True Move H SIM with 100 minutes and 500 MB of data would normally cost a couple hundred baht per month solo. So I figure I'm coming out ahead.

Frankly, I haven't noticed much of a difference for my international use with the current 30 Mbps True cable internet plan vs. the 18 Mbps plan I had until a few months ago. Although, when they first installed it, they brought out a new router that caused holy He** with my upload speeds, literally down to almost nothing. And so, it took probably a half dozen service calls and a couple of router box replacements before they finally managed to provide one that gives me something remotely resembling the service that my plan says I'm supposed to have.

As I said above, the basic plan speeds keep getting faster and the prices for those same speeds keep going down, generally, as faster and faster (supposedly) options become available. As for cable vs fiber, last time I checked a couple months back, True was saying they still wouldn't have fiber internet to my central BKK neighborhood anytime soon... Though perhaps it's time to check with them again.

I'm not entirely sure that a lot of their so-called FIBER system isn't the same old infrastructure they've had all along, but they're just calling it a different name. The last time I spoke with them a few months ago, their reps were continuing to insist that they only had actual FTTH service available in a couple of designated housing projects and a few newer condo buildings, but no kind of broadbased deployment across Bangkok...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Anyway, can you help satisfy my curiosity regarding the True DOCSIS 30/3Mb plan at Bt799/mo compared to my True DOCSIS 15/1.5Mb plan at Bt599/mo as to what speed the 30Mb plan gives domestically by running a speedtest at the CAT speedtester to see what you get. I just ran the test (Wifi vs direct connection to router) at 12:57pm and got below for my 15/1.5Mb plan.

OK... you asked for it!!!

As I said above, for international connections, I don't believe the speeds I'm going to post here below are any faster under my current 30/3 Mbps plan with True than they were with my prior 18 Mbps plan. In fact, both the True with and without VPN I believe are pretty much comparable to what I had under 18/1.8 Mbps.

On the other hand, the inside Thailand speeds as measured by True and CAT's bogus speed test sites are much faster. Only problem is, NOTHING that I do on the Internet, including things strictly local to Thailand, runs at those kinds of speeds in real life. So frankly, both of their speed test measurements are, IMHO, an exercise in Internet "self pleasurement".

OK... here's real life -- 25 MB download from TestMy.net's San Jose CA server about 5:15 pm today -- first with TrueOnline connection only, and then with True Online paired with an Astrill Open VPN connection to their Los Angeles server... It would run even faster if I were using Astrill's Singapore server instead, but that doesn't provide the U.S. IP that I sometimes want, though it is fast if the IP doesn't matter.

True Online 30/3 Mbps solo

True Online 30/3 Mbps with Astrill Open VPN L.A. server

And then, there's the Internet fantasy self-pleasurement with CAT's and True Online's own speed test measurements, designed to ensure their customers always THINK they're happy.

BOTTOM LINE for me: I got a True Move H SIM and calling time and 3G data service, plus a Thai language digital cable TV plan, for an extra 100 baht a month, so I'm satisfied with that.

But, if all I was doing was paying some amount extra each month in the hopes that my True Online Internet speeds would be meaningfully faster by doing so, I'd be a pretty dissatisfied and unhappy camper right now.

Edited July 27, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Pib]

TG,

Thanks. Here's my testmy.net to San Jose without VPN and then via StrongVPN PPTP. My 15Mb plan pulled a 2.3Mb where your 30Mb plan pulled a 2.4Mb. Then using VPN mine pulled a 15.3Mb where yours pulled 10.9Mb. See my graphs below.

I think these results once again show having a faster plan, twice as fast in this case, does not mean you'll get twice as faster international speed...instead, you'll get about the same as a speed plan down around 15Mb due to Thai ISP throttling their international speed via their international gateways. And it don't matter if your last mile connection is via ADSL, DOCSIS, or fiber optics because all of these lead to the Internet Service Providers main lines/system/gateways....a person's connection is no faster than the weakest link in the chain so to speak and that appears to be the ISP's gateways not having enough international bandwidth....intentionally not having enough since bandwidth costs money and the great, great majority of the ISP's customers are Thais primarily accessing domestic websites vs international websites. Preaching to the choir I know.

Pib

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Yep... that's pretty much it, Pib... So, as I said above, I haven't changed my/our idea about these things at all. In terms of international connections, paying for a more expensive plan above a certain basic service point just doesn't lead to any better/faster international Internet performance, at least not with True.

I'll also add, just for others reading here, that ANY speed test results, including those from TestMy.net, are going to be variable, because Internet connections/speeds here bounce up and down quite a bit, especially for international connections. And most speed tests are only capturing a brief snapshot of speed for your connection, maybe 10 seconds, as opposed to a longer, more sustained measurement that's going to be more representative of what you get on average. So when you do the short-duration speed tests, you might hit it on a down/slow cycle, or you might hit it on a fast/up cycle, and the results would be very different.

Two questions in that direction, Pib:

1. When you did your TestMy.net test posted above, did you use their automatic download test, or did you pick a specific DL file size? For example, when I do mine on TestMy.net, I always choose at least a 25MB download, and often 50 MB, which is quite larger and longer than the automatic test that the site runs, because I consider those results to be more representative/accurate.

2. When you did your StrongVPN test, what location server of theirs were you connecting to at the time? 15 Mbps, if it's representative of their service overall, is a good result, assuming it's a U.S. server connection.

[bearpolar]

I don't understand why some of you always complain about slow single channel downloads out of thailand? It's 2015, most things that require bandwitdh uses multiple connections. If you have 50mbps, you'll get 50mbps even with 0 seeders from thailand on any decen torrent or whatever else you are using. If you are downloading single files on regular websites, theres programs for that.

Edited July 27, 2015 by bearpolar

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Streaming video, as opposed to torrenting or downloading, is still pretty much a single stream proposition.

So, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Now, ESPNNow, Sling TV, etc etc are all single streams.

And, at least for my part, I wasn't complaining at all. My Internet service is fast enough and stable enough, most of the time through the use of a VPN, to do what I want to do.

But there is some questionable advertising going on here. For example, when I click to ThaiVisa web pages or even those belonging to True Online using just True Online's 30/3 Mbps service, those pages aren't loading on my computer at any rate close to the 45 Mbps speed test results that True and CAT's sites show I should be getting.

[Pib]

1. I just did the auto test.

2. VPN server location is SF. Yes, StrongVPN gives good speed and the above result is typical. Since I predominately just browse and email I don't use VPN much except when needing to reach certain U.S. govt web sites or when some websites just seem slow like ThaiVisa.

[bearpolar]

What you can do is steer away from all these terrible VPN services, move to a more private one in SG or an other close by country that thailand has good links to which will get top speed on your streams and then you'll get top speeds from your vpn. The one i posted in an other thread that does residential IPS would work execpt im not sure if they are unlimited. If anyone is interested i can ask the owner if they are