Woould moving to a different 3BB package be beneficial to me?

[lungbing]

We are on a package from 3BB that we've been on for some years now.

I think it's called 'Premier' and it's certainly not offered any more.

The cost is 1,167 baht per month including VAT. I think the speed is 3Mb down and 0.5 up

I was told the advantage of this package was that the is a limited number of people

on it in our area so we should always have good download speed.

We were given a modem with 4 telephone type ports on the back. It connects via an ordinary

telephone line. My PC is connected via one port by cable as the modem sits next to my PC.

My wife and two daughters also use the modem via wireless links.

I am connected to my Epson L355 printer via cable but my wife and daughters use wifi.

Would swapping to a faster and cheaper package be beneficial to me , and, if so, which one?

Maintaining concurrent access for all four of us is necessary.

Thanks for any advice.

[RKASA]

The 3bb standard (adsl which you have) is 18.8mbps down and 1.8mbps up inside Thailand @ 590baht a month - mine works in Thailand fine. Outside can vary but 4-5mbps from most servers in US is pretty normal - if you are paying extra for better connectivity - some sort of premium package - I would think you should at least get the same 18mbps speed local such as a speed test inside Thailand.

Better ask again what your package is and google up some speed test inside and outside Thailand - you may have been up graded already and don't know it. Recall that the sites you go to effect your speed also - slow site slow speed fast site fast speed up to your package will allow.

"Maintaining concurrent access for all four of us is necessary." your 4 port wifi router takes care of that.

Edited July 2, 2016 by RKASA

[lungbing]

• Thank you for your help.

I did a number of speed tests at gone midnight.

test site Up Down

OOkla 2.98 0.51

broadbandspeedcheck.uk 2.88 0.58

speakeasy 2.45 0.36

speedtest.net 2.84 0.35

speedofme 3.15 0.30

At&t 2.98 0.54

bandwidthplace 2.64 0.50

ozspecialist 2.89 0.36

dslreports 3.00 0.31

cnet 2.17 not measured

fast.com 2.80 not measured

timewarner 2.79 0.36

They are fairly consistent. I would obviously gain in speed by moving to the 50/10 package at 700 baht,

but would that be slower by fact of there being too many people on it?

I can't justify the FTTx package, even if it's available , as I don't need those speeds.

[JayBird]

have you tried: testmy.net

It seems to get more realistic results (true sustained averages rather than burst peaks)

[casualbiker]

• Thank you for your help.

I did a number of speed tests at gone midnight.

test site Up Down

OOkla 2.98 0.51

broadbandspeedcheck.uk 2.88 0.58

speakeasy 2.45 0.36

speedtest.net 2.84 0.35

speedofme 3.15 0.30

At&t 2.98 0.54

bandwidthplace 2.64 0.50

ozspecialist 2.89 0.36

dslreports 3.00 0.31

cnet 2.17 not measured

fast.com 2.80 not measured

timewarner 2.79 0.36

They are fairly consistent. I would obviously gain in speed by moving to the 50/10 package at 700 baht,

but would that be slower by fact of there being too many people on it?

I can't justify the FTTx package, even if it's available , as I don't need those speeds.

The FTTX package is about 120b more expensive than what you currently have and will certainly do what you want. if you are happy with what you have then do not change. if on the other hand you want a bit more say 10/3 then talk to 3BB they are really the only ones that can confirm what is available (note you may have to be insistent that you keep the "Premier")

[muratremix]

get VDSL 50/10 package.

You will get min. 2 - 2.5 mbits/s to almost every location. No need to pay for old premier 3/0.5 account.

[sniffdog]

If you already pay 1167 baht it's a small step to fffx. Get the best with their 100/10 mb package. Only go for the 50/10 package is you need to save a couple of hundred baht. Check first if fffx is available in your area.

[Shaunduhpostman]

The only problem we had out here in Isaan when we switched to 3bb 3 months ago was 3BB gave us our new account and we immediately went through 6 weeks of 12-24 hour service outages every 2-3 days. It was better than what TOT had become which was no connection at all for two months and which caused us to switch, the confused looks on their faces at the TOT offices when we went in to cancel the account were almost a consolation. "Cancel the account? Are you sure? We should be getting the problems fixed very soon!"

But It took 6 weeks of quite intensive nagging to get 3BB to fix the problem with our new 20 meg/sec. account Perhaps it was simply a case of the usual post-Songkran dysfunction many Thai organizations seem to go through, however, during this time that 3BB could not or would not fix the problem with our connection, we received several rather mercenary pushes to upgrade our account. In one case a serviceman actually came all the way out to our place and did nothing towards fixing the problem other than to say what had to be done to solve our connection problems was an upgrade to the 40 meg/sec1000 baht/mo. account, that with 20 megabytes/sec. it wasn't enough to even connect to their server if we wanted to access foreign websites. Never mind that we could not access any websites at all, it was all due to problems with foreign websites he told my wife. He refused to have me show him what we were seeing on the computer as to the source of the problem which was, according to our computer's trouble-shooting indicators, with their servers not sending any requests for connections onward, he refused to look at the problem saying he didn't speak English, never mind that my Thai was clearly fluent. We reported the incident and to 3BB's credit that seemed to open their ears a bit more, and an upper management type gave us his personal phone number to call if we had similar problems again, tho he stopped answering his phone after one call to complain about continuing failures to fix the extended connection drop outs. Perhaps just seeing that it was us calling again was enough to alert him that nothing was being done by his staff but it took about another two weeks before they fixed the connection. During those two weeks we heard two more times that we might want to consider upgrading as a solution to the problem, including one time when staff told my wife that not only did we need to upgrade but they needed to confirm the identity of the foreigner using the connection, that if they did not have id info and a face to face meeting with me as confirmation of my identity, they were not interested in fixing our connection. Of course, it was no matter that we live an 4 hours drive from their offices in Khon Kaen and of course I refused to drive to Khon Kaen to prove my identity and hear them tell me again I didn't have a powerful enough download connection at 20 meg/sec. However one day a month ago, the constant disconnects stopped and we've had a solid 20-22 megabyte connection everyday since. For the last month, for the first time ever in Thailand, I can easily say slow or glitchy connections seem to clearly be with the foreign websites such as Major League Baseball which is often unwatchable if you want to watch live games.

[lungbing]

As it happens I live about 1km from 3BB's office in Khon Kaen so I'll be going in with the next bill to ask if FTTx is available. If not then it's the 50/10 package.

To their credit I can't remember when my current system last went down.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

A lot depends on if your family's internet use is primarily to Thai sites (local), or international sites abroad.

If it's to local sites, then the performance difference between the 50 and 100 Mbps 3BB plans for local connections isn't going to be very meaningful. I mean, local websites and such are only going to load so fast.

But if it's primarily international, the 3BB fiber 100/10 plan is basically about the same cost as what the OP is paying now.

You won't get 100 Mbps download from most international sites or even particularly close to that. But you will get VASTLY improved performance from what the OP is getting right now, at virtually the same price.

[Pib]

I wouldn't definitely be switching from any plan that only gave the low speeds the OP is getting...plus paying such a high price for it. Brings back memories of being on TOT 4Mb ADSL around 8 years ago.

Switch to one of the new 3BB or AIS fiber plans "if" fiber is available in your area. Seems fiber is expanding its coverage area at a very fast rate (even out in the sticks in many cases) since fiber optics cable is so cheap now and it can be strung for long distances without any speed degradation unlike ADSL or VDSL lines (a.k.a., copper phone/xDSL lines).

[Dillpickles98]

Living in the heart of Pattaya, got 3BB when our condo went with an internet monitor, they knew who was on-line by apartment number, and where you were online, downloading (Bittorrents) was not possible, and they didn't allow dishes on the outside balconies, the area is not covered by fiber optics. I got a D-Link 7520 router. 6 yrs. ago the first plan with 3BB was 6?? THB for 6 Mbps down and 1Mbps upload speed. I went for the next plan up, 976 THB for 13Mbps down and 1.5 Mbps.up. Then they upgraded the 6?? THB to 10Mbps. But they wouldn't let you go back if you already had a more expensive plan.

Can't count the number of service calls, service was intermittent, almost never got the speed I was paying for. They always shifted the blame, "It's you telephone line from the junction box in the soi to your condo, it's the wiring in your condo". They would tweak something my speed would come back for a day or so. They even gave me a rebate, once I proved my service was down on the next months bill.

We moved to whats known as "The Darkside" to a housing development, I thought for sure we'll get the service I was paying for. No, worse with a hint of rain, no connection, speeds worse than when in the condo. They have a dedicated service tech & truck to our development. Their phone reps knew my voice, I didn't even have to give my account number. They blamed the phone line from the pole to the plug in the wall. Finally the tech ran two wires over our fence, across the carport, and through the front door. I though I'm not living with jackleg wires through the front door and across the floor to my computer desk.

I noticed a lot of people with True Vision dishes in their yards, but I don't need a few hundred channels and a bill for over 2,000 THB a month with internet service. I already have Sophon basic cable, called True Internet service their plan is 599 THB / mo., plus vat for 15Mbps down and 1.5Mbps up, fiber optics. They sent a little hottie and a guy as service techs, did a pro installation job, through the ceiling, down the wall right next to the outlets. I have to use their modem, but it's a new Turbospeed 4 DSL ports, wifi, two phone ports, and a USB. I have two PC's, desktop, laptop, & my phone, the wife has 2 phones & a tablet.

Uninterrupted service, sometimes speeds of 24Mbps but now I rarely check because it's stable, no problem with Skype calls to the U.S. just like I'm there. I've said all this the say True is far above 3BB and cheaper for reliable, dependable service. If it's option for anyone, get it.

So now I'm waiting for my rebate of 602 THB from 3BB, they didn't even want their trashy DSL one port modem back, still in it's original packaging, never used. They robbed me for 5 yrs.

Just got my first True bill online as a downloadable attachment, called them to setup online Bangkok Bank bill pay, and to make the following bills come by mail as the one online was barely readable, 1,782 THB for installation & modem, the following bills will 599 THB plus vat.

DP.

Edited July 5, 2016 by Dillpickles98