TOT 13mb in the village

[ryanhull]

Hi all

We recently had the internet fitted in our house, we live out in a village so it cost me a fair whak to get it installed from TOT as no one else has the internet near by so I had to pay for lines etc.

I was in the UK and my wife dealt with it at the time but all was good, it took them 2-3 hours to sort it aparently.... when I got back to Thailand in the first few days I was very happy... I was doing speed tests and always getting a solid 13mb down and 30 ping... this what tested at busy times of the day and night time and always got the same result and seemed very stable.

Now a few weeks later it is barely usable, I get at most 2mb download speeds but usually under 1mb.... my wife mentioned as we paid our last bill a few days after it arrived they may have lowered our speed, I dont think she is correct in saying that and really she isnt very techie savvy.... I am confused to why it has suddenly gone down, I have attatched a pic of our modem and another device they installed. I have tried unplugging the rooter/other device and leaving it 5 minutes then plugging back in but still very slow dl speeds.

Does anyone know why this might have happended? as far as I am aware we have no data limit so its not like we have downloaded 50gb and then our line has been capped to a low speed, and as far as I know you do not get data limits with TOT or do you?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[lopburi3]

That appears to be the same TP Link type modem I use and once you sign onto it you should be able to select STATUS and at bottom of page will be Download and Upload Data Rate figures. That will be your connect speed and you should get close to that on a speed check to Bangkok. But if connection (as shown on modem) speed is low there is likely something wrong with your line and needs to be repaired.

Expect the log on will be 192.168.1.1 and believe default is Admin/Admin but hope that was changed and you know how to access.

Do remember that downloads from outside Thailand can often be very slow if single thread and lines are busy - there were reports this weekend of very show circuits so if better now perhaps that was the problem.

[apetley]

TOT has been very erratic for about a week and a half now connecting to International sites. Story seems to be a damaged undersea cable.

[ryanhull]

Thanks all.... at the point now we cannot even connect to the wifi network regardless of if its even connected to the internet....

We called the TOT techie today direct and he said he cannot see any issues from his end but is going to come over in the morning and take a look.... my prediction is he will come and fix it, it will work great for a day or so then slow right down again. Although as you guys say it seems we have some kind of problem regardless of speeds going on here... currently using my 4g modem which gives me great speeds and full 4g signal out in the sticks, just a shame true do not offer a truely uncapped full speed service as the 12gb or whatever they give in a package would be gone in a few days with our smart TV and what not.

Cheers

[RichCor]

Ryan, that looks like a PoE (Power over Ethernet) device, connected to a standard TOT-issued router.

Did you get TOT WiNet service installed (the Wireless broadband service using a directional antenna)?

If so, you should really say that. It's very important as it plays into how we discuss and diagnose service issues.

If you have WiNet service then the speed should NOT reduce down when connecting to sites within Thailand.

The WiNet will also have a separate login (that TOT may not be willing to give you) to check on connection and point-to-point radio statistics.

[rizla]

Ryan, that looks like a PoE (Power over Ethernet) device, connected to a standard TOT-issued router.

Did you get TOT WiNet service installed (the Wireless broadband service using a directional antenna)?

If so, you should really say that. It's very important as it plays into how we discuss and diagnose service issues.

If you have WiNet service then the speed should NOT reduce down when connecting to sites within Thailand.

The WiNet will also have a separate login (that TOT may not be willing to give you) to check on connection and point-to-point radio statistics.

You are correct Sir, that is TOT WiNet for sure....to the OP, TOT do cut your band width as and when it pleases them.

I have the same service and speed 13mb, but i am only getting 9mb for the last week, time for another phone call to them me thinks..

If they dont speed you up , get them to install the round dish if they have not already, and if that does not improve get them to align you to another mast as your current one may have a huge amount of customers on it....

[ryanhull]

Guys, thanks for the replies... how would I know if I am on TOT WiNet ( I am taking your word as given I am though) , according to the wife, the wire or device is on my perants in laws house (they live next door to us although do not use the net) then sent to our modem/rooter then wifi`d out? I notice the black device is hard wired into the electric line/tubing the main sockets are... I really do not get it... she said I should look on the roof of my in laws and see it, its a wire or device or some sort? (sorry my wife is vague with this type of thing and I have yet to take a look as I have been so busy lately)

But yes, the black device with the light on my pic I have not seen before, we lived in bangkok some years ago and had TOT 10mb and we did not have that device... also we are using the modem we originally got in bangkok from TOT so that is probably slightly old now.

As for calling TOT, its funny... I told the wife to call the call centre, however she just calls the techie direct who actually fitted it... she said if she was to call the call centre, the call centre would call the local TOT branch who would then call him! so makes sense to just call him direct.

Although I am not a novice when it comes to IT in general, I have boxes of devices ive collected over the years, industrial wifi antennas, wires, macs/pc`s, graphics cards, psu`s, external monitors etc setup I am a bit of a novice with the whole internet/village internet and how it all works. I understand 4G/3G etc and am a good coder but this all just confuses me... why it worked so well for sometime then nothing tells me someone has lowered my speeds, or maybe a recent thunderstorm has shorted something?

I appreciate your responses and your probably correct in my issues... hoping the TOT man will sort this as I have had no TV today (my tv uses the internet) and although it does not bother me my 8 month old son likes his cartoons and the wife likes her TV/Music streaming, when your in the sticks and you pay so much to get the net sorted you really want it to work, there isnt a whole lot to do here so it helps keep us entertained although I am always busy personally with my son/dogs/pottering around.

Hoping one day true will offer completely uncapped full speed 4g tetherable like some phone companies do in the UK then we wont have these problems, or even a fair use of 300gb or something.

Thanks guys really appreciated and sorry for being such a novice with it.

[ryanhull]

p.s am I correct in thinking if I replace the standard SMA antenna on my rooter (in the pic) I will get a better signal from the antenna strapped to the roof of my in-laws? thnx again

[Crossy]

Your wife is correct, always get the techie's number and call him direct, also wise to give him and his mate some 'lunch' money, guarantees first class service every time.

We had WiNet for some time before fibre arrived courtesy of the resort in the village, mostly worked well. There will be a small dish on the in-law's roof pointing at a tower up to 15km away.

EDIT The antenna on the in-laws roof connects via the black CAT-6 cable from the POE box, so no, replacing the antenna on your router won't help. It will however improve your Wi-Fi around the house if it's not good.

[ryanhull]

Your wife is correct, always get the techie's number and call him direct, also wise to give him and his mate some 'lunch' money, guarantees first class service every time.

We had WiNet for some time before fibre arrived courtesy of the resort in the village, mostly worked well. There will be a small dish on the in-law's roof pointing at a tower up to 15km away.

EDIT The antenna on the in-laws roof connects via the black CAT-6 cable from the POE box, so no, replacing the antenna on your router won't help. It will however improve your Wi-Fi around the house if it's not good.

Thanks for the information mate I now am starting to get this whole setup.... seems like he will come over and re-align the dish on the in-laws roof, I guess as my rooter does not even get the internet now I have reset, or done something when trying to sort it out. So hopefully he will fix that issue, re-allign the dish and ill be sorted? if I get slow speeds I was always under the impression I should unplug the rooter in the pic for 10 minutes then plug it back in but in this setup that seems not correct and it will make no difference?

I will be slipping him a few hundred bhat as your rightly say (petrol money and what not) and to be fair to the guy, he was very nice to my wife on the phone today which is a Sunday so cannot fault the guy for the service, I guess if someone rang me on a Sunday about work related issues I would not be so nice heh... do you think the dish on the in-laws house could be upgraded? I would rather not pay anymore money to be honest becuase I already spent a bit on all this and I know it is capable of working well as I say I had 13mb down for a good few days... and I got obsessed and was testing it every hour for those days (sad I know)

I would much rather use ethernet on my mac I find it more stable then wifi however my macbook has no ethernet port and just the thunderbolt port is used to plug into my large monitor (I know you can get thunderbolt to ethernet adapters)

Anyway thanks alot I will update this tomorrow

Edited October 4, 2015 by ryanhull

[AlQaholic]

The undersea cable outside Vietnam is damaged again, under repair but not sure how that is going currently with the stormy weather and all....

[William27]

Make sure your WIFI is protected with a good password.

Change it. (Your wife may have "given" it to one person and now the neighborhood has it)

If you are the first WIFI in the area you are probably have a few free boarders.

[gandalf12]

Sounds like others are using your link. As one poster here has said change the password. The easy way is connect the switch to your computer and type the IP address in the browser and enter. You will get the set up interface. Find the password and change it also set encryption and reboot the switch. Then install it in your system

[GuyL]

I am pretty sure that you are using a TOT WiNet access point. That's what I have at home too.

Two things happened to me recently.

1) TOT has changed (maybe is still changing) some settings on their side, and TOT customers were not able, for several hours on Sunday and Monday last week, to access several major websites (such as Twitter) directly, but it was possible to do so when using a VPN. Many other websites, like ThaiVIsa or Wikipedia for instance, were very slow for a couple of days, and sometimes, it was necessary to refresh their pages several times to access their contents.

2) The weather is really bad at the moment (at least, at my place), and I have noticed long ago that my WiNet connection is not much reliable when the weather is bad. Actually, I know a few hours in advance that I'm gonna soon have heavy rains here because my Internet connection is getting unreliable (and usually much slower than usual) when really heavy rains are coming.

You might have other specific problems, but my guess is that it's partly due to some changes (since last week) on TOT's side and also weather related.

Edited October 5, 2015 by GuyL

[gandalf12]

If you are on a wireless network there is a good chance the affect is due to the weather but not if you are connected by copper. Wi-Fi within the house wont be affected by the weather, just the transmission from the main base

[chudless]

Looking at that pic I would say you have no Internet at thr timr it was taken...thr little globe light is not on which is your actual Internet feed indication

[GuyL]

If you are on a wireless network there is a good chance the affect is due to the weather but not if you are connected by copper. Wi-Fi within the house wont be affected by the weather, just the transmission from the main base

I am almost certain that he is using a TOT WiNet connection: it's a sort of long distance wireless network with antennas relaying the signal. That's why I do believe that current bad weather conditions might affect his Internet access.

[rizla]

If the antena on the roof is the small flat square type, get him to change it to the round dish type they have , as they are better under windy and long distance conditions....and or try a different mast location if there is one line of site to your house

[whiteman]

tot 555555 TOT is a joke got rid of them I had the very same probs so swooped to there top other service CAT you will never look back but it costs money see if they can run cat Cables to your house.

[gandalf12]

If you are on a wireless network there is a good chance the affect is due to the weather but not if you are connected by copper. Wi-Fi within the house wont be affected by the weather, just the transmission from the main base

I am almost certain that he is using a TOT WiNet connection: it's a sort of long distance wireless network with antennas relaying the signal. That's why I do believe that current bad weather conditions might affect his Internet access.

If that is the case then weather will be affecting it. Once you get over 300MHz the attenuation of rain rockets up. The normal internet would have a carrier of 2.4GHz and possibly 5GHz if using new technology. Rain attenuation at these frequencies is very high.

[Shaunduhpostman]

Agreed, it is probably weather and the international cable being damaged probably explains a lot of other irregularties I am having myself.

That said, you can't count on TOT to provide the speeds they say they'll provide. It has been the best its ever been up until about a week ago and steadily disintegrating. I hope things get back up soon but that hasn't been my past experience. It is almost as though, once things get fouled up, they see you'll keep paying your bill, so why bother to fix things. We usually have good connection speed for 6 months and then 6 months of mostly very poor speeds, not even half a megabyte. Very late at night you can get very good speeds for a few hours, so I don't think it has to do with us.

Also, different areas seem to get very different levels of service and different kinds of responses from TOT. We learned, in fact through a helpful techy sent out to fix our problems, that it isn't the best idea to call the call center. They simply won't or can't relay the message. Problem in our area is that the employee turnover is so great that everytime we call the technical guy he says sorry he doesn't work for them anymore or that he's been transferred to a desk job or another area. It never occured to me to give them a tip, so maybe that is the real reason.

I noticed too that there is never a problem with their end, according to TOT. The stock response is that your problem is the wi-fi router. A few guys have tried to sell me an upgrade which I bristle at and tell them nothing doing. Then they go ahead and fix the problem. So they will, as you might expect fib and even try and exploit the situation if you let them. We already fell for a scam one tech guy pulled on us, early on, for a claim that our antenna was broken that we needed a new one. We bought a new one, another 4 thousand baht, but I have since learned i can fix the same problem simply by unplugging the router and the antenna waiting 5 minutes and starting up again. I told the guy I wanted to keep the old antenna, maybe have it fixed, but he grabbed it when i wasn't looking. So I suspect that was his way to make a living wage was tell non-tech savy people their antennas were broken and then probably re-sell the antenna to smeone else. Anyway, the point is, you have watch TOT. If I had another option out here I would have ditched them long ago.

Also, I discovered that by running a speed test by OOkla, you can Google that or internet speed test and find the site, you can actually solve some of the bad connection problems. I have no idea how that works, perhaps by running the speed test TOT understands that someone is now watching and they get into PR mode and suddenly your speed is back up to 9.5 megs for a 10 meg connection you are paying for. Anyway, that used to work a charm, but dosn't seem to work anymore, tho as I said, the connction has been at top level for about 6 months until last week. The speed test by Ookla ma ybe be something to try anyway. I've never have gotten 10 megabytes from TOT which is what I pay for, but 9 or even 6 suits me pretty well, I can even run baseball and basketball streaming on 6.

Good luck with them, it really is a part time occupation we have just trying to keep the internet going.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Shaunduhpostman

[Shaunduhpostman]

One more tip is to network with other people nearby. When one of us calls TOT and complains and asks for the speed issues to be fixed, they are slow to deal with it. If we all call at once there is a much better response. Unfortunately, in my area, the others are so fed up they just use their phones for internet now.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Shaunduhpostman

[gandalf12]

Agreed, it is probably weather and the international cable being damaged probably explains a lot of other irregularties I am having myself.

That said, you can't count on TOT to provide the speeds they say they'll provide. It has been the best its ever been up until about a week ago and steadily disintegrating. I hope things get back up soon but that hasn't been my past experience. It is almost as though, once things get fouled up, they see you'll keep paying your bill, so why bother to fix things. We usually have good connection speed for 6 months and then 6 months of mostly very poor speeds, not even half a megabyte. Very late at night you can get very good speeds for a few hours, so I don't think it has to do with us.

Also, different areas seem to get very different levels of service and different kinds of responses from TOT. We learned, in fact through a helpful techy sent out to fix our problems, that it isn't the best idea to call the call center. They simply won't or can't relay the message. Problem in our area is that the employee turnover is so great that everytime we call the technical guy he says sorry he doesn't work for them anymore or that he's been transferred to a desk job or another area. It never occured to me to give them a tip, so maybe that is the real reason.

I noticed too that there is never a problem with their end, according to TOT. The stock response is that your problem is the wi-fi router. A few guys have tried to sell me an upgrade which I bristle at and tell them nothing doing. Then they go ahead and fix the problem. So they will, as you might expect fib and even try and exploit the situation if you let them. We already fell for a scam one tech guy pulled on us, early on, for a claim that our antenna was broken that we needed a new one. We bought a new one, another 4 thousand baht, but I have since learned i can fix the same problem simply by unplugging the router and the antenna waiting 5 minutes and starting up again. I told the guy I wanted to keep the old antenna, maybe have it fixed, but he grabbed it when i wasn't looking. So I suspect that was his way to make a living wage was tell non-tech savy people their antennas were broken and then probably re-sell the antenna to smeone else. Anyway, the point is, you have watch TOT. If I had another option out here I would have ditched them long ago.

Also, I discovered that by running a speed test by OOkla, you can Google that or internet speed test and find the site, you can actually solve some of the bad connection problems. I have no idea how that works, perhaps by running the speed test TOT understands that someone is now watching and they get into PR mode and suddenly your speed is back up to 9.5 megs for a 10 meg connection you are paying for. Anyway, that used to work a charm, but dosn't seem to work anymore, tho as I said, the connction has been at top level for about 6 months until last week. The speed test by Ookla ma ybe be something to try anyway. I've never have gotten 10 megabytes from TOT which is what I pay for, but 9 or even 6 suits me pretty well, I can even run baseball and basketball streaming on 6.

Good luck with them, it really is a part time occupation we have just trying to keep the internet going.

I have had the same response from 3BB that I use. Unfortunately for them I work in the field of Communications including networks so I tell them where the problems most likely are. Then they back down and look into the problem

[crabdog]

The undersea cable outside Vietnam is damaged again, under repair but not sure how that is going currently with the stormy weather and all....

First time I've heard about a cable outside Vietnam. Last time it was supposedly Malaysia. Where did you get that info?

[ryanhull]

Hey All,

Lots of replies and thanks for taking the time to read my thread.

The TOT guys have just left, it is the small square type dish on the roof... however they have stated that the problem is not at our end, our rooter/modem etc all are fine now yet the problem seems to be with the modem up on the mask. I can see the direction the antenna on our roof is pointing and driving just a bit out of the village I can see a large mask to which I assume it is pointed at that one, infact it is not that far... 3km at most.

They said as they have not brought a new modem/antenna for the mask they are unable to replace it today but will come back in the morning and do that.

They are a good set of lads to be fair and seem more than happy to help, they also assured us none of this will come at our expense.

I am assuming the latest storms have struck the modem on the mask and done something to it? well I know nothing I guess but thats a wild guess.... thing is it was working great so I know the potential it can be working good. As for others knowing the pass, the wifes little cousin knows it but to be fair she can only use it when she is in our house as when she walks up the road obviously she looses signal, she would not give it out anyway and we know her very well fully trust worthy but I will change the pass when it is all back up again but I will give her the new one as I dont want her paying out for 3g when she can use ours with her being a student and money tight I like to help them out.

I have learnt alot about all this thanks to you guys and understand how this TOT wi net works now, all is not totally lost as I am using my 4g phone will full signal sharing to my pc so its no big deal for a few days. Given those guys have spent a fair few hours trying to sort it and you can tell they genuinly want to fix it for us I do not want to put too much pressure on them, end of the day they work for TOT and it is not there fault.

Out of interest does anyone know how much the upgrade would be from the square roof antenna to the round antenna? as rizla suggested (cheers mate)

Thanks all again for your help and giving me understanding of how this all works appreciated... will update tomorrow for those who are facing simular issues

[RichCor]

Ryan,

It would be a good idea to get very familiar with your TOT provided setup.

As you already know, you were too far away a larger district that could run a direct wired line to provide Internet (so no Fiber or XDSL/ADSL over copper).

It seems TOT was able to provide you with TOT WiNet (Wireless Broadband) service.

WiNet service originates from a cell tower (so probably shares a data backhaul with all the mobile customers connected to that tower).

A special 'segment' antenna on the tower maintains a high-speed radio link with multiple point-to-point clients like yourself.

A directional antenna (actually a combo device consisting of a Directional Antenna, High-Speed Transceiver, and Ethernet Router) is placed high up on a pole or tower to be in line-of-sight contact with the paired tower device. An Ethernet cable then is run into your residence and connected first to a Power over Ethernet (PoE) device, that sends Electrical Power back up to the device over the common Ethernet cable, then connects to your TOT supplied Router.

At this point things can get a bit tricky. You already have a Router (integrated with the radio up on the pole) so the second TOT supplied Router is actually a repurposed device meant to utilize its built-in Ethernet Ports (called a Switch) and the WiFi segment. The rest of the "Router" goes unused. The Ethernet cable from the PoE block/filter should ONLY be plugged directly into a LAN port.

So the white box is your Router/WiFi, with the Router features disabled so only the WiFi Access Point is used.

This box will have a different IP address to that of the gateway. Usually the TOT technicians set it to x.x.x.2 (one IP address above that of the WiNet Gateway).

Connect to the webconfig of this box when you want to change the WiFi Access Point parameters.

As already mentioned, your working Router is actually the one integrated with the radio up on the pole. While it would be nice/neat to be able to access this Router most TOT technicians do not provide the Admin login credentials, or only provide 'User' login credentials that don't allow making settings changes. Login access to the WiNet Router will usually provide you with radio link statistics (neat graphics that show you signal strength, link quality, distance, link speed, etc). Admin login credentials are also usually needed to establish port forwards (for use with P2P Applications or home CCTV Internet Cameras). This Router provides the actual Internet Connection, (NAT Gateway and DHCP services).

When checking Internet speeds it's best to FIRST test the speed to the ISP NOC (Network Operations Center) before testing speeds to other ISPs or other countries. Doing the local test first will establish the condition/integrity of your local WiNet link. If the local speed test run from the ISP's support page fails or is slow then an issue may be isolated to your local WiNet link. If the local speed test is fine, but connectivity to other websites or services is erratic or non-existent then the issues is most likely further upstream and not associated with the WiNet link.

TOT SpeedTest

ThaiVisa (ookla) SpeedTest

TestMy.net the 'other' SpeedTest

[RichCor]

<...>

Out of interest does anyone know how much the upgrade would be from the square roof antenna to the round antenna? as rizla suggested (cheers mate)

Thanks all again for your help and giving me understanding of how this all works appreciated... will update tomorrow for those who are facing simular issues

WiNet usually uses integrated devices (small Directional Antenna, Radio Transceiver, Router), but the device usually have an external antenna port or connecting to a external antenna array when more signal gain is desired or a narrower/tighter confinement beam is needed to boost signal or reduce signal interference from other near-sight sources.

If the current signal level and signal quality are providing a stable link (as seen on the WiNet Router statistics page) then an external antenna is not needed or even desired. Too 'hot' of a signal creates its own problems.

WiNet service is usually provided from a mobile phone radio tower (allowing the ISP to create point-to-multipoint radio links connecting to a common Internet backhaul). But the same client devices when used in 'pairs' can be used to create a single point-to-point wireless bridge to link to some nearby location that has a wired Internet Service that serves only you, though I've never heard of TOT WiNet doing this.

Were these antennas facing each other, or were both facing a common direction ...like a tower in the near/far distance?

[CharlieH]

I have the same set up but the round dish was used.

I couldnt have any other company as their masts were in the wrong direction and obscured.

As it works on line of sight to the mast, make sure any trees nearby are kept cut back, one poster on this forum lost his internet for that very reason.

Just another aspect to consider.

[ryanhull]

Rich/Charlie thanks for your replies again, alot of good info....

I would say I am very lucky as the mask that the antenna is on is probably the highest house in the village plus the line of sight is pretty much fields only, if it is the mask I think it is which it seems to be aimed at taking a slight drive a bit out of the village I would say it looks directed spot on and wouldnt be going through many layers but I may be wrong, as its kind of going up the direction from the house slightly up to the mask I think the signal should be fine. Also as I know it worked spot on for a few days giving me a solid 13mb down it also tells me that the direction and obstacles are not the problem... unless someone has planted a tree in the last few days! heh

Were these antennas facing each other, or were both facing a common direction ...like a tower in the near/far distance?

Were these antennas facing each other, or were both facing a common direction ...like a tower in the near/far distance?

I believe as above its a good clear route from one to the other, I honestly think the lightening has done something to the modem on the mask... bare in mind we have had some crazy storms over the last few days with crazy lightning I dont see much here,

Will update tomorrow, cheers guys again

[rizla]

Ryan,

It would be a good idea to get very familiar with your TOT provided setup.

As you already know, you were too far away a larger district that could run a direct wired line to provide Internet (so no Fiber or XDSL/ADSL over copper).

It seems TOT was able to provide you with TOT WiNet (Wireless Broadband) service.

WiNet service originates from a cell tower (so probably shares a data backhaul with all the mobile customers connected to that tower).

A special 'segment' antenna on the tower maintains a high-speed radio link with multiple point-to-point clients like yourself.

A directional antenna (actually a combo device consisting of a Directional Antenna, High-Speed Transceiver, and Ethernet Router) is placed high up on a pole or tower to be in line-of-sight contact with the paired tower device. An Ethernet cable then is run into your residence and connected first to a Power over Ethernet (PoE) device, that sends Electrical Power back up to the device over the common Ethernet cable, then connects to your TOT supplied Router.

At this point things can get a bit tricky. You already have a Router (integrated with the radio up on the pole) so the second TOT supplied Router is actually a repurposed device meant to utilize its built-in Ethernet Ports (called a Switch) and the WiFi segment. The rest of the "Router" goes unused. The Ethernet cable from the PoE block/filter should ONLY be plugged directly into a LAN port.

So the white box is your Router/WiFi, with the Router features disabled so only the WiFi Access Point is used.

This box will have a different IP address to that of the gateway. Usually the TOT technicians set it to x.x.x.2 (one IP address above that of the WiNet Gateway).

Connect to the webconfig of this box when you want to change the WiFi Access Point parameters.

As already mentioned, your working Router is actually the one integrated with the radio up on the pole. While it would be nice/neat to be able to access this Router most TOT technicians do not provide the Admin login credentials, or only provide 'User' login credentials that don't allow making settings changes. Login access to the WiNet Router will usually provide you with radio link statistics (neat graphics that show you signal strength, link quality, distance, link speed, etc). Admin login credentials are also usually needed to establish port forwards (for use with P2P Applications or home CCTV Internet Cameras). This Router provides the actual Internet Connection, (NAT Gateway and DHCP services).

When checking Internet speeds it's best to FIRST test the speed to the ISP NOC (Network Operations Center) before testing speeds to other ISPs or other countries. Doing the local test first will establish the condition/integrity of your local WiNet link. If the local speed test run from the ISP's support page fails or is slow then an issue may be isolated to your local WiNet link. If the local speed test is fine, but connectivity to other websites or services is erratic or non-existent then the issues is most likely further upstream and not associated with the WiNet link.

TOT SpeedTest

ThaiVisa (ookla) SpeedTest

TestMy.net the 'other' SpeedTest

A good idea would be to install a software key logger on your lap top, and ask the TOT guy to check your PoE block/filter for any issues, then when he is gone you can log in too...i was looking over the guys shoulder when he did mine but did not catch his log in details...but they were in english.

For the OP, just asked the missus re. the cost of the small dish on fresh install, she recalled around an extra 500bht, but as she says now if you ask for one they will probably ask full price what ever that may be...

Let us know..