Tot Satellite Internet

[minimart]

I just had a TOT satellite internet promotion drop through my letterbox with the telephone bill. Living about 5k outside of town I'm on dial up which is painfully slow. The promotion is 2k baht to install and the price varies from 1500 baht per month for 256kbps to 2600 baht for1024kbps. Has anybody installed this service and does it make a noticable difference? Yesterday I opened a football gallery page with 50 pics and 5 minutes later it was still loading on dial up. Too frustrating!

Thanks.

[hacker]

Are you talking about ipstar?

[minimart]

I'll have to get my wife to check as it's all in Thai. My spoken Thais not too bad but I'm a bit rusty on the reading and writing!

[Gary A]

That is the Ipstar service. TOT is MUCH better and cheaper than Loxinfo. I have the 512/256 service for 2,200 per month. It's not perfect by any means but it does work most of the time. If you are using dial up you will be thrilled with TOT Ipstar.

[laxman1960]

That is the Ipstar service. TOT is MUCH better and cheaper than Loxinfo. I have the 512/256 service for 2,200 per month. It's not perfect by any means but it does work most of the time. If you are using dial up you will be thrilled with TOT Ipstar.

I have the Loxinfo service and have not been very happy with it. It has improved somewhat but still sucks. I have complained and not been paying the bill from when the service was terrible. I have heard that the TOT service is much better, find that hard to believe since I would think the system is identical but many have reported that TOT is better.

Dan

[Gary A]

That is the Ipstar service. TOT is MUCH better and cheaper than Loxinfo. I have the 512/256 service for 2,200 per month. It's not perfect by any means but it does work most of the time. If you are using dial up you will be thrilled with TOT Ipstar.

I have the Loxinfo service and have not been very happy with it. It has improved somewhat but still sucks. I have complained and not been paying the bill from when the service was terrible. I have heard that the TOT service is much better, find that hard to believe since I would think the system is identical but many have reported that TOT is better.

Dan

I had Loxinfo for about a year and a half. I got tired of complaining and nothing getting better. Loxinfo SUCKS!

At least the TOT works most of the time and the speeds are more than double what I EVER had with Loxinfo. I have no idea what the difference is between the systems. All I know is what I see.

[hacker]

It is quite odds that TOT is better than LOXinfo because they all are from ipstar which is owned by shin coporation. isn't it? Anyway, u guys know more than me as I have never used ipstar as I live in downtown.

[Wash]

We installed TOT IPStar 1024 on Oct 5, 2006. The system when working is good and I would say downloading things that you wouldn't even consider before will become routine using the speedy connect. You will also find that there will be lots of data transmission errors which are no big deal with web sites, but when you download program files you are more likely than not to have to do it several times.

The big problem that I am having that is very serious to me is the send mail issue. This has been discussed at length in other forums, but for me it is and continues to be a big problem. I use Outlook for email and receice works just fine all the time but when I want to send email it refuses to send it and then all of a sudden after 1.2.3 or 4 days of not working it will start to work without you doing anything to change settings at all.

I had the technicians out last week and they did not understand the nature of the problem but after about an hour of demonstrating send mail to them they got the picture. They have promised to return next week with a new modem and will seek advice from more experienced technicians.

If the email problem gets resolved soon I would give the service about a B and if the email does not get resolved soon it will ge graded as F and I will cancel the service since email is that important to me.

Good luck and for sure if you do decide to try it, I hope you don't do like I did when they come to set it up. They did their thing and then plugged it into my computer and I was so excited that I just told them yes, it works just great. Take your time and check out a few sites and even try to download a file and for sure check that you can send and receive an email before you tell them it is working.

[Gary A]

We installed TOT IPStar 1024 on Oct 5, 2006. The system when working is good and I would say downloading things that you wouldn't even consider before will become routine using the speedy connect. You will also find that there will be lots of data transmission errors which are no big deal with web sites, but when you download program files you are more likely than not to have to do it several times.

The big problem that I am having that is very serious to me is the send mail issue. This has been discussed at length in other forums, but for me it is and continues to be a big problem. I use Outlook for email and receice works just fine all the time but when I want to send email it refuses to send it and then all of a sudden after 1.2.3 or 4 days of not working it will start to work without you doing anything to change settings at all.

I had the technicians out last week and they did not understand the nature of the problem but after about an hour of demonstrating send mail to them they got the picture. They have promised to return next week with a new modem and will seek advice from more experienced technicians.

If the email problem gets resolved soon I would give the service about a B and if the email does not get resolved soon it will ge graded as F and I will cancel the service since email is that important to me.

Good luck and for sure if you do decide to try it, I hope you don't do like I did when they come to set it up. They did their thing and then plugged it into my computer and I was so excited that I just told them yes, it works just great. Take your time and check out a few sites and even try to download a file and for sure check that you can send and receive an email before you tell them it is working.

I've never had any problems with my email but until a couple of weeks ago most of my downloads were corrupted. They seem to have solved that problem because for the past couple of weeks they have been fine. I guess that after having Loxinfo ANYTHING is an improvement.

[minimart]

Thanks all. I'll give it a shot. As mentioned, anythings got to be better than dial up!!!!

[Maigo6]

That is the Ipstar service. TOT is MUCH better and cheaper than Loxinfo. I have the 512/256 service for 2,200 per month. It's not perfect by any means but it does work most of the time. If you are using dial up you will be thrilled with TOT Ipstar.

Hi Gary, you live near Nong Hin, right?

I live close too, I was wondering how you went about getting your Ipstar connected, did you go to the TOT office in Wang Saphung. If so, how long did you wait and what was the process?

Cheers.

[Gary A]

That is the Ipstar service. TOT is MUCH better and cheaper than Loxinfo. I have the 512/256 service for 2,200 per month. It's not perfect by any means but it does work most of the time. If you are using dial up you will be thrilled with TOT Ipstar.

Hi Gary, you live near Nong Hin, right?

I live close too, I was wondering how you went about getting your Ipstar connected, did you go to the TOT office in Wang Saphung. If so, how long did you wait and what was the process?

Cheers.

I live within 6 kilometers of Nong Hin. I happened to be in Wang Saphung and noticed the TOT office. I stopped in and asked them if they offered the Ipstar service. Indeed they do. I paid in advance for the installation. It was an odd amount. I think 2,140 baht. They promised installation within two weeks and that's about how long it took them. The 512/256 service is 2,200 baht per month. I think I'm going to upgrade to the 1024/512 for 2,600 per month.

[Maigo6]

I live within 6 kilometers of Nong Hin. I happened to be in Wang Saphung and noticed the TOT office. I stopped in and asked them if they offered the Ipstar service. Indeed they do. I paid in advance for the installation. It was an odd amount. I think 2,140 baht. They promised installation within two weeks and that's about how long it took them. The 512/256 service is 2,200 baht per month. I think I'm going to upgrade to the 1024/512 for 2,600 per month.

Thanks Gary,

I think I'll have a drive over to Wang Saphung myself next month when I get back home. I know where the office is as I once went there to enquire about phone lines in my area, or lack of phone lines as it happens. They finish in Nong Hin and don't start again till Phu Kradung.

Thanks again.

[Gary A]

I know where the office is as I once went there to enquire about phone lines in my area, or lack of phone lines as it happens. They finish in Nong Hin and don't start again till Phu Kradung.

Thanks again.

...........................................................

When I first got up here I tried to get a phone line too. I could have gotten one for the sum of 300,000 baht. Yes, they would have had to run the line from Nong Hin.

[friend2]

What bothers me perhaps a littlebit is that all broadband services in Thailand are quite expensive, and lightyears away from the developed world in stability.

Gees, my friend in Sweden just got a 10 mb connection for around a 1000 baht a month....

Edited November 12, 2006 by friend2

[Gary A]

What bothers me perhaps a littlebit is that all broadband services in Thailand are quite expensive, and lightyears away from the developed world in stability.

Gees, my friend in Sweden just got a 10 mb connection for around a 1000 baht a month....

You are absolutely correct and the fact is that while they are called broadband, they still leave a lot to be desired. Unfortunately if you want Internet access here you are VERY limited as far as what is available.

[monty]

Unfortunately if you want Internet access here you are VERY limited as far as what is available.

Let me correct this...

We are very limited in what's available at afordable prices!

Very fast, very reliable internet access, along with excelent support is definately available in Thailand.

I know somebody who has the Ji-net premium account, 2mbps over an ADSL line. Had only 2 problems in over a year, which both were attended to by a technician which showed up within 30 minutes of calling.

Speeds are rock solid at 95% of the rated speed (the 5% probably getting lost in the overhead generated by the ADSL error correction system and the IP/TCP protocol)

Only slight problem, he pays 41,200 Baht/month for the privilege

Edited November 12, 2006 by monty

[Gary A]

Unfortunately if you want Internet access here you are VERY limited as far as what is available.

Let me correct this...

We are very limited in what's available at afordable prices!

Very fast, very reliable internet access, along with excelent support is definately available in Thailand.

I know somebody who has the Ji-net premium account, 2mbps over an ADSL line. Had only 2 problems in over a year, which both were attended to by a technician which showed up within 30 minutes of calling.

Speeds are rock solid at 95% of the rated speed (the 5% probably getting lost in the overhead generated by the ADSL error correction system and the IP/TCP protocol)

Only slight problem, he pays 41,200 Baht/month for the privilege

Depends on where you are located. I have the choice of Ipstar or GPRS. There are no telephone lines available in many places in Thailand including the boonies of Loei where I live.

[monty]

That's an infrastructure problem Thailand still has. Although in my homecountry, out in the sticks is no adsl either, and getting phonelines can be close to impossible as well!

Oh, and do leave Australia out of the "developed world" category as far as broadband goes!

Just came by a company called Dodo, and they have their cheapest offering up at Au$14.90 (410 Baht/month), 5$ less if you also subscribe to their home phone offering...

No too bad until you read the small print, telling you this includes the whopping amount of 70mb data transfer, with each additional mb billed at 18 cents(5 Baht) !!!

Luckily they cap the maximum bill at 69.9 $ (1930 Baht), which you already reach after downloading some 370 mb....

An unlimited 1.5 mbps package comes in at 99.9$ (2750 Baht/month), making them at least as expensive as most offerings in Thailand. At 2200/month you can get the 4mbps True home package which probably will deliver around a quarter of the promised speed quite often....

[friend2]

I guess it's that expensive in Australia cause of the huge infrastructure

costs.

After all, Australia is more of a continent than a country.

Comparatively speaking, US is also large, but they must have a much larger users base.

I guess lots of Aussies have to lay down their wool trimmers and get a computer

[mikeriza]

Just a little addition to the thread regarding iPstar. We had it installed for our business and had a few problems to say the least but at other times the download speed went off the rails.. 350Kb/sec recorded at one time.

I found that because it was a business registered installation that when we went from 'business hours' to 'social hours' the speed fell through the floor.

It appears that the service is graded to your anticipated usage and the bandwidth 'could' be trimmed when they think you are not using it. Unfortunately in my case I work 7 days a week and really suffered on the weekends.

If the installation is put in correctly and setup correctly it is superbly fast. But be prepared for little hiccups like the service getting cut when the country had its recent 'change of government’ because we 'lost' the service for 3 days.

Now we have had telephone lines installed and one is dedicated to ADSL and our problems seem over.

To simply put it forward, satellite CAN be stunningly fast but it does still get its occasional glitches.

I cannot qualify this next statement but I was told Loxinfo and True buy their access from TOT and charge you not only their own fee but also the fee you would pay going to TOT direct. So why pay extra for a 'rented' service, go direct.

[dsfbrit]

Useful thread, I reckon IPStar / TOT looks acceptable in its performance.

I guess they offer a choice of network interfaces methods to the PC - do they offer via USB 2 (or 1).

If not what are the options ?

[monty]

There is a USB port on the back of the iPSTAR box, but I've never seen it used!

It's very well possible it's only there to set up the box.

The normal way of hooking it up is through the LAN port. The box got a dhcp server built in so no worries there!

[astral]

It was an odd amount. I think 2,140 baht.

2000 baht plus 7% VAT

[dsfbrit]

Thanks for that - I was buying a new laptop today and the brochure/spec didn't show a Lan port, so thought I may have to use a USB port. It turns out it does have a Lan port - so no worries.

[friend2]

Even if you don't have a lan port, it's an easy and cheap fix.

The card costs about 300 baht.

[listenup]

Have you guys thought about GPRS? Running GPRS via a little USB widget off the mobile. I use it when I am in Loei and works great and is even faster than dial up when I'm in my apartment in Bangkok.

It's also cheaper, although this could vary due to my apartment block making a profit from my land phone calls.

[Gary A]

I'm in Loei province also. I have TOT Ipstar but still use AIS GPRS quite often. It's now better than it has ever been. Since I purchased a Nokia N80 I have even given up lugging my laptop around. Before the N80 I was using the laptop and my Nokia 6230 with Bluetooth to connect the GPRS. I was kind of a rebel and stayed away from Nokia for a long time, BUT, if you can't beat them, you have to join them. I had two Sony Ericsson phones fail on me. The 6230 made me see the light and the N80 is nothing short of spectacular. I subscribe to the AIS monthly 6 hour package. It cost 53.5 baht per month. The GPRS is up and down too. Sometimes it is surprisingly fast and other times it stalls.