3BB gone

[MZurf]

I lost my 3BB internet connection on Friday morning and it's still not reestablished. Called their call centre on Friday and have called them daily. Today they revealed that it's not only my connection but a more general problem in the Banglamung area.

Anyone else with more info on what's going on? BTW, I told them that if the connection is not reestablished by Friday I will cancel the subscription.

Suggestions as to alternative providers is most welcome.

[Suradit69]

I'm in central Pattaya and my 3BB connection seems to be OK.

Years ago I had TOT and switched to 3BB, which was a major improvement, but it really is location specific. In some areas one can be far better than the other and a short way down the road, the opposite may be true.

[OMGImInPattaya]

Was out for an hour or so on Friday or Saturday but back on in an hour or so...just a usually short-term outage. Otherwise, very good 18 MBPS connection out here near tail end of ?NPW near Wat Sattuwas

And I'm sure your threat to cancel your line really spurred the company to action

[patsfangr]

I live in the same general area as 'OMG'. I, and 2 other friends of mine who are 3BB customers, have been having frequent problems with low speed and frequent short disconnects for the last 2-3 weeks. The problems seem to occur only in the morning hours. By mid-afternoon, and all evening, rarely any difficulty. In fact, when I left to go shopping at about 11:00 this morning, it was running fine. I came back at about 1:30, and it was out. I called and reported it. But it came back on again about 10 minutes later.

I wish I knew what's going on; but I'd bet they're doing some sort of "upgrade" or change to servers. They never want to give customers information about what they're doing.

I measure speed from an international source, since that's what I normally use. Right now, I'm getting a solid 111ms Ping, with a 5.36 MBPS download speed.

[tropo]

I live in the same general area as 'OMG'. I, and 2 other friends of mine who are 3BB customers, have been having frequent problems with low speed and frequent short disconnects for the last 2-3 weeks. The problems seem to occur only in the morning hours. By mid-afternoon, and all evening, rarely any difficulty. In fact, when I left to go shopping at about 11:00 this morning, it was running fine. I came back at about 1:30, and it was out. I called and reported it. But it came back on again about 10 minutes later.

I wish I knew what's going on; but I'd bet they're doing some sort of "upgrade" or change to servers. They never want to give customers information about what they're doing.

I measure speed from an international source, since that's what I normally use. Right now, I'm getting a solid 111ms Ping, with a 5.36 MBPS download speed.

111 ms ping? Where's that to? It couldn't be the US or Europe as that would be impossible due to distance.

[elgordo38]

I'm in central Pattaya and my 3BB connection seems to be OK.

Years ago I had TOT and switched to 3BB, which was a major improvement, but it really is location specific. In some areas one can be far better than the other and a short way down the road, the opposite may be true.

Patience I have 3BB and their service is excellent. You could be stepping from the frying pan into the fire by changing providers.

[patsfangr]

I live in the same general area as 'OMG'. I, and 2 other friends of mine who are 3BB customers, have been having frequent problems with low speed and frequent short disconnects for the last 2-3 weeks. The problems seem to occur only in the morning hours. By mid-afternoon, and all evening, rarely any difficulty. In fact, when I left to go shopping at about 11:00 this morning, it was running fine. I came back at about 1:30, and it was out. I called and reported it. But it came back on again about 10 minutes later.

I wish I knew what's going on; but I'd bet they're doing some sort of "upgrade" or change to servers. They never want to give customers information about what they're doing.

I measure speed from an international source, since that's what I normally use. Right now, I'm getting a solid 111ms Ping, with a 5.36 MBPS download speed.

111 ms ping? Where's that to? It couldn't be the US or Europe as that would be impossible due to distance.

That 111ms is to Hong Kong, via my VPN.

[patsfangr]

I'm in central Pattaya and my 3BB connection seems to be OK.

Years ago I had TOT and switched to 3BB, which was a major improvement, but it really is location specific. In some areas one can be far better than the other and a short way down the road, the opposite may be true.

Patience I have 3BB and their service is excellent. You could be stepping from the frying pan into the fire by changing providers.

I agree with you, Elgordo. I switched to 3BB from TOT 6 years ago. Overall, I've been happy with their service. They've had some bad periods, as seems to be happening recently; but the speed is usually good enough for downloading and streaming, and the downtime has been minimal. My primary internet activities are downloading torrents of TV shows and movies, and watching NFL games via the NFL Game Pass package. As long as I can do those things - especially high video quality and dependability on my NFL games - I'm a happy camper.

I should add that I'm on the cheapest 3BB package. I pay just 630 baht/month.

[chakatee]

Mine went out during the heavy storm on Sunday evening. Middle of night weather calmed down but nothing yet, restarted modem and still nothing.

Called them around 2am, lady at (English) call center re-booted my signal and there it was again, problem fixed.

Read: "English", "2am" and "problem fixed" ... a fine but rare combination of customer service

[patsfangr]

Mine went out during the heavy storm on Sunday evening. Middle of night weather calmed down but nothing yet, restarted modem and still nothing.

Called them around 2am, lady at (English) call center re-booted my signal and there it was again, problem fixed.

Read: "English", "2am" and "problem fixed" ... a fine but rare combination of customer service

I've always been able to get a rep who speaks English at the Call Center. They are always pretty helpful there. The only customer service problem I've had with 3BB is that I rarely get a prompt call back from a tech when the Call Center tells me they'll have a tech call me. Sometimes they'll call me 2 days later. The problem is nearly always fixed by then. And the English of the techs isn't nearly as good as that of the Call Center reps.

No major problem with any of that for me. Just a little irritating when I'm told that a tech will call me, and they don't.

[Henryford]

If you cancel what are you going to do? go with TOT? best of luck with that.

[n210mp]

If you cancel what are you going to do? go with TOT? best of luck with that.

"True" I recently moved from 3BB because of low and inconsistent supply.

I paid 630 ish baht for 10 gig DL , 1.5 UL

Now with True , they had / have a promotion

30G internet DL 3.5 UL

100 TV channels (all seem to be in Thai though)

Free Set top TV box

Free Sim card for mobile phone (fits any phone ) plus 100 minutes call time

Free WiFi on Sim card, first ten hours free then 1 Baht a minute after

All for 799 Baht a month , one year contract

And after 2 months they seem to be delivering what they promised, so there are alternatives

[balo]

3bb has been out the last late nights due to the heavy thunderstorms. You can almost time it , just before midnight the thunder starts and my 3bb line lose connection, but only for 30 minutes.

[OMGImInPattaya]

I'm not sure if you guys have the local or international packages...it seems like you have allot of outages and call the service center quite regularly. I've had my service for around 3 years and never have had to call them once. Sure, every once in awhile the service goes down for a few hours or once for a day or so but it eventually comes back on. In any case, my calling and b#tch#ing to a call center rep isn't going to do anything about it. It's not my individual line that is down...something is going on in the area or the system and they surely already know about it and are fixing it.

Also, I doubt a localized storm, or other weather phenomena, would have any affect on a land-line based ADSL phone-line internet service, unless it caused a general power outage in the area or where the main 3BB switching or relay stations are located.

[Henryford]

If you cancel what are you going to do? go with TOT? best of luck with that.

"True" I recently moved from 3BB because of low and inconsistent supply.

I paid 630 ish baht for 10 gig DL , 1.5 UL

Now with True , they had / have a promotion

30G internet DL 3.5 UL

100 TV channels (all seem to be in Thai though)

Free Set top TV box

Free Sim card for mobile phone (fits any phone ) plus 100 minutes call time

Free WiFi on Sim card, first ten hours free then 1 Baht a minute after

All for 799 Baht a month , one year contract

And after 2 months they seem to be delivering what they promised, so there are alternatives

Last time i asked True they would not supply any condo above the 3rd floor which rules out most expats.

[MZurf]

Mine went out during the heavy storm on Sunday evening. Middle of night weather calmed down but nothing yet, restarted modem and still nothing.

Called them around 2am, lady at (English) call center re-booted my signal and there it was again, problem fixed.

Read: "English", "2am" and "problem fixed" ... a fine but rare combination of customer service

I've always been able to get a rep who speaks English at the Call Center. They are always pretty helpful there. The only customer service problem I've had with 3BB is that I rarely get a prompt call back from a tech when the Call Center tells me they'll have a tech call me. Sometimes they'll call me 2 days later. The problem is nearly always fixed by then. And the English of the techs isn't nearly as good as that of the Call Center reps.

No major problem with any of that for me. Just a little irritating when I'm told that a tech will call me, and they don't.

Well, I've been told a tech will call me for the last 6 days but still nothing. Getting seriously pissed off.

[MZurf]

If you cancel what are you going to do? go with TOT? best of luck with that.

No, TOT is not an option. I would probably have to go with True, even though I don't like the company (having previously used their sat tv service).

[patsfangr]

If you cancel what are you going to do? go with TOT? best of luck with that.

"True" I recently moved from 3BB because of low and inconsistent supply.

I paid 630 ish baht for 10 gig DL , 1.5 UL

Now with True , they had / have a promotion

30G internet DL 3.5 UL

100 TV channels (all seem to be in Thai though)

Free Set top TV box

Free Sim card for mobile phone (fits any phone ) plus 100 minutes call time

Free WiFi on Sim card, first ten hours free then 1 Baht a minute after

All for 799 Baht a month , one year contract

And after 2 months they seem to be delivering what they promised, so there are alternatives

Last time i asked True they would not supply any condo above the 3rd floor which rules out most expats.

LOL! Did you seriously just say that MOST expats live in condos above the 3rd floor?

[MZurf]

Well, I finally had a 3BB tech come and fix my connection. He said the reason it took 6 days was that there had been a fire on the darkside that had interrupted the connection for several hundred people there so he had been working his behind off fixing the problem. I find this very mysterious as I suspect we would have seen more than my b!tch!ng in the Pattaya forum regarding lost internet access.

Any darksiders that can shed any light (no pun intended) on this?

Edited June 9, 2016 by MZurf

[patsfangr]

Well, I finally had a 3BB tech come and fix my connection. He said the reason it took 6 days was that there had been a fire on the darkside that had interrupted the connection for several hundred people there so he had been working his behind off fixing the problem. I find this very mysterious as I suspect we would have seen more than my b!tch!ng in the Pattaya forum regarding lost internet access.

Any darksiders that can shed any light (no pun intended) on this?

I wish I knew what's going on, MZurf. As I reported earlier, I've been having problems with low speed and frequent short outages for the last 3 weeks or so. That continued today. Something is definitely going on with 3BB in this area, but I have no idea what it is.

The "good news" is that it IS still operating. But this decrease in speed and continuous signal is irritating. I hope it clears up soon.

[ace]

If it's localised & weather related you might want to check the junction box into your condo. Some are pretty ropey, mine included, though it holds up surprisingly well. The customer service desk at Tesco Pattaya Nua are good, good English too.

[MZurf]

Well, I finally had a 3BB tech come and fix my connection. He said the reason it took 6 days was that there had been a fire on the darkside that had interrupted the connection for several hundred people there so he had been working his behind off fixing the problem. I find this very mysterious as I suspect we would have seen more than my b!tch!ng in the Pattaya forum regarding lost internet access.

Any darksiders that can shed any light (no pun intended) on this?

I wish I knew what's going on, MZurf. As I reported earlier, I've been having problems with low speed and frequent short outages for the last 3 weeks or so. That continued today. Something is definitely going on with 3BB in this area, but I have no idea what it is.

The "good news" is that it IS still operating. But this decrease in speed and continuous signal is irritating. I hope it clears up soon.

It's a shame they can't be more forthcoming with their customers. All I was told was that there was an "issue" in the Banglamung area.

If they had told me that there had been a fire (if that is indeed the truth) and they were working their behinds off rectifying the problem then that would have saved me a lot of Antacil tablets.

[patsfangr]

I've lived in the Pattaya area for just over 10 years now, and one of the consistent negative business practices I've seen is this refusal to give honest, accurate information to customers. I guess they see admitting any type of failure or difficulty as a "loss of face". I can think of no other reason for this behavior. They don't realize that, for western falang customers, it is much more negative to conceal or withhold information than it is to acknowledge a problem, and project a timetable for its solution.

Just one of our many true cultural differences, I suppose. TIT, all that. But it really is frustrating to me, as a guy who lived in the USA for over 60 years. We, as customers, want to know reasons for problems ... even if they make them up! Same goes for an estimated timetable. Being kept in the dark just sucks for most falangs.

[OMGImInPattaya]

I've lived in the Pattaya area for just over 10 years now, and one of the consistent negative business practices I've seen is this refusal to give honest, accurate information to customers. I guess they see admitting any type of failure or difficulty as a "loss of face". I can think of no other reason for this behavior. They don't realize that, for western falang customers, it is much more negative to conceal or withhold information than it is to acknowledge a problem, and project a timetable for its solution.

Just one of our many true cultural differences, I suppose. TIT, all that. But it really is frustrating to me, as a guy who lived in the USA for over 60 years. We, as customers, want to know reasons for problems ... even if they make them up! Same goes for an estimated timetable. Being kept in the dark just sucks for most falangs.

I'm sure if you spoke fluent Thai they could explain the problem in minute detail to you. I don't imagine Thai speakers in America get very satisfactory answers to service calls from their internet providers either.

[Henryford]

If you cancel what are you going to do? go with TOT? best of luck with that.

"True" I recently moved from 3BB because of low and inconsistent supply.

I paid 630 ish baht for 10 gig DL , 1.5 UL

Now with True , they had / have a promotion

30G internet DL 3.5 UL

100 TV channels (all seem to be in Thai though)

Free Set top TV box

Free Sim card for mobile phone (fits any phone ) plus 100 minutes call time

Free WiFi on Sim card, first ten hours free then 1 Baht a minute after

All for 799 Baht a month , one year contract

And after 2 months they seem to be delivering what they promised, so there are alternatives

Last time i asked True they would not supply any condo above the 3rd floor which rules out most expats.

LOL! Did you seriously just say that MOST expats live in condos above the 3rd floor?

Ever looked at the Pattaya skyline recently? notice any tall buildings?

[patsfangr]

I've lived in the Pattaya area for just over 10 years now, and one of the consistent negative business practices I've seen is this refusal to give honest, accurate information to customers. I guess they see admitting any type of failure or difficulty as a "loss of face". I can think of no other reason for this behavior. They don't realize that, for western falang customers, it is much more negative to conceal or withhold information than it is to acknowledge a problem, and project a timetable for its solution.

Just one of our many true cultural differences, I suppose. TIT, all that. But it really is frustrating to me, as a guy who lived in the USA for over 60 years. We, as customers, want to know reasons for problems ... even if they make them up! Same goes for an estimated timetable. Being kept in the dark just sucks for most falangs.

I'm sure if you spoke fluent Thai they could explain the problem in minute detail to you. I don't imagine Thai speakers in America get very satisfactory answers to service calls from their internet providers either.

Thai speakers, probably not. But no problem for Spanish or Arabic! ... But, seriously, I'm talking about Thai customer service people who speak reasonably good English. I've found that those at 3BB Call Center can carry on a fairly in depth conversation in basic English. They most certainly could give a customer a report of the general nature of a significant known problem, and an estimate for resolution of it, if they were given that information by their superiors. So I don't buy your explanation on this one, OMG.

[patsfangr]

Last time i asked True they would not supply any condo above the 3rd floor which rules out most expats.

LOL! Did you seriously just say that MOST expats live in condos above the 3rd floor?

Ever looked at the Pattaya skyline recently? notice any tall buildings?

C'mon man. Take a look at the number of low level apartment buildings in Pattaya. Then check out the similar appartment buildings and private homes in East Pattaya, Jomtien, Na Jomtien, and other nearby towns. And let's not forget the occupants of the first 3 floors on those "tall buildings" (although I realize that many have shops on floors 1 & 2). No way to get actual numbers, so this discussion is moot. But, if there were a way to get numbers, I'd bet you that there are more expats in this area living below the 3rd level of "tall buildings" than there are occupying those lofty condos. ... Also note that most of those buildings are well below full occupancy.

Of course, you can reply if you wish. But, as I said, I consider this a dead subject. You may keep your opinion. I'll definitely stick to mine.

[OMGImInPattaya]

I've lived in the Pattaya area for just over 10 years now, and one of the consistent negative business practices I've seen is this refusal to give honest, accurate information to customers. I guess they see admitting any type of failure or difficulty as a "loss of face". I can think of no other reason for this behavior. They don't realize that, for western falang customers, it is much more negative to conceal or withhold information than it is to acknowledge a problem, and project a timetable for its solution.

Just one of our many true cultural differences, I suppose. TIT, all that. But it really is frustrating to me, as a guy who lived in the USA for over 60 years. We, as customers, want to know reasons for problems ... even if they make them up! Same goes for an estimated timetable. Being kept in the dark just sucks for most falangs.

I'm sure if you spoke fluent Thai they could explain the problem in minute detail to you. I don't imagine Thai speakers in America get very satisfactory answers to service calls from their internet providers either.

Thai speakers, probably not. But no problem for Spanish or Arabic! ... But, seriously, I'm talking about Thai customer service people who speak reasonably good English. I've found that those at 3BB Call Center can carry on a fairly in depth conversation in basic English. They most certainly could give a customer a report of the general nature of a significant known problem, and an estimate for resolution of it, if they were given that information by their superiors. So I don't buy your explanation on this one, OMG.

I agree the 3BB counter girls at Big C Extra are very pleasant and helpful (in basic English). I'm just saying this is a bonus and should not be expected as the norm. ?

[patsfangr]

I've lived in the Pattaya area for just over 10 years now, and one of the consistent negative business practices I've seen is this refusal to give honest, accurate information to customers. I guess they see admitting any type of failure or difficulty as a "loss of face". I can think of no other reason for this behavior. They don't realize that, for western falang customers, it is much more negative to conceal or withhold information than it is to acknowledge a problem, and project a timetable for its solution.

Just one of our many true cultural differences, I suppose. TIT, all that. But it really is frustrating to me, as a guy who lived in the USA for over 60 years. We, as customers, want to know reasons for problems ... even if they make them up! Same goes for an estimated timetable. Being kept in the dark just sucks for most falangs.

I'm sure if you spoke fluent Thai they could explain the problem in minute detail to you. I don't imagine Thai speakers in America get very satisfactory answers to service calls from their internet providers either.

Thai speakers, probably not. But no problem for Spanish or Arabic! ... But, seriously, I'm talking about Thai customer service people who speak reasonably good English. I've found that those at 3BB Call Center can carry on a fairly in depth conversation in basic English. They most certainly could give a customer a report of the general nature of a significant known problem, and an estimate for resolution of it, if they were given that information by their superiors. So I don't buy your explanation on this one, OMG.

I agree the 3BB counter girls at Big C Extra are very pleasant and helpful (in basic English). I'm just saying this is a bonus and should not be expected as the norm. ?

OK. I agree with that, for the most part. The exceptions, IMO, are any and all businesses that have English speaking people as a significant percentage of their customer base. "Customer Service" means that you serve your customers. If many of them speak English, you should be able to interface with them in English.

[MZurf]

I've lived in the Pattaya area for just over 10 years now, and one of the consistent negative business practices I've seen is this refusal to give honest, accurate information to customers. I guess they see admitting any type of failure or difficulty as a "loss of face". I can think of no other reason for this behavior. They don't realize that, for western falang customers, it is much more negative to conceal or withhold information than it is to acknowledge a problem, and project a timetable for its solution.

Just one of our many true cultural differences, I suppose. TIT, all that. But it really is frustrating to me, as a guy who lived in the USA for over 60 years. We, as customers, want to know reasons for problems ... even if they make them up! Same goes for an estimated timetable. Being kept in the dark just sucks for most falangs.

I'm sure if you spoke fluent Thai they could explain the problem in minute detail to you. I don't imagine Thai speakers in America get very satisfactory answers to service calls from their internet providers either.

I don't think that their knowledge of English is the problem at all. All of those I have talked to at the 3BB call center have been more than capable of explaining to me that there (as the service tech claimed) has been a fire that extensively disrupted their services.

I tend to agree with patsfangr that this is more of a cultural thing as I've seen it many times with different companies over the years.

BTW, the ping speed has been dismal for hours. Will seriously look for alternative suppliers.

Edited June 11, 2016 by MZurf