3bb vs ais fiber vs true online ( fttx)

[parryhandy]

update using a lan cable better but upload still short

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2019 by parryhandy
remove info

[dr_lucas]

The international test speeds are irrelevant to the discussion if 3bb changed your package or not, which it seems they already did.

The 50 Mbit upload speed limit could be due to something in your router configuration, QOS configuration, network configuration, computer's network configuration, drivers or something on 3bb side.

As they don't have a 300/50 Mbit package, I assume it is something at your end.

[parryhandy]

yes I just put the international speeds for people to compare, the Bangkok test is showing I do have 300 download but 50 upload. I've noticed all the years I've been with 3bb on every package and connection type the uploads have never been anywhere near as advertised but this is pretty irrelevant for most people including me.  

[ExpatOilWorker]

21 hours ago, dr_lucas said:

The good thing about 3bb is that, based on my experience, they are the only company that proactively upgrade customers packages/speeds to the pricing level they are paying if and when they offer better promotion.

For example, I was on their 1,200 baht 200/100 MBit package and they upgraded my package this week to the matching new 1,200 baht 500/500 Mbit package without even notifying me or waiting for me to call them.

I wish other Thai ISPs did the same.

AIS have also done that to me.

[dr_lucas]

2 hours ago, parryhandy said:

I've noticed all the years I've been with 3bb on every package and connection type the uploads have never been anywhere near as advertised...

I've always got the advertised upload rates. Even my local speed test now shows 500+/500+ Mbit. That makes me suspect even more that it's something at your end. You may want to check your entire network configuration.

 

 

[KarlS]

16 minutes ago, dr_lucas said:

I've always got the advertised upload rates. Even my local speed test now shows 500+/500+ Mbit. That makes me suspect even more that it's something at your end. You may want to check your entire network configuration.

 

 

We use a 3BB fiber connection- speeds as advertised - verified by Ookla to servers in Australia, the UK, and the USA.

[parryhandy]

4 hours ago, dr_lucas said:

I've always got the advertised upload rates. Even my local speed test now shows 500+/500+ Mbit. That makes me suspect even more that it's something at your end. You may want to check your entire network configuration.

 

 

its been using different routers, different pcs , dsl, adsl ,fiber, using wireless and lan and also different addresses but on the same housing estate. The network is what the engineers have set up apart from some port forwarding in the router I did years ago.

Edited March 14, 2019 by parryhandy

[dr_lucas]

None of us here knows your network configuration except for yourself. The best way to do a local speed test is to simply connect a LAN cable from a 1Gbit computer port to the first device on your network, which is usually the modem-router from 3BB and test. If it still comes up with less than 300Mbit upload, I'd try another computer and a 3bb modem-router reset (make sure you know how to set it back up with your PPPoE login credentials if required). Finally, if none of this helps, just call them.

Edited March 15, 2019 by dr_lucas

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Checked again today on an Ethernet connected PC on my 3BB Fiber 200/100 Mbps plan in central BKK.

 

Still only on those speeds, despite the promise of 500/500 Mbps coming for my 1280 baht per month plan.

 

3BB never did call back, as they had promised, with any update as to when we'd be getting the upgrade.

 

 

[mtls2005]

We have one 3BB 200/100 (1,200) which has apparently been upgraded to 500/500, prior to receiving the email.

 

I did not have to power down the router for ~ 10 minutes, although I see some comments on this recommendation on Thai social media. (As well as checking the ethernet controller, firmware and cables.) It also seems like it is taking 3BB a while to cycle through all customers to upgrade them as it is a manual process.

 

 

 

 

 

[mtls2005]

FWIW, it also seems like our AIS Fiber Home Plus 100/40 (699 baht as Serenade) has been upped to 200/100.

 

http://www.ais.co.th/fibre/en/package_homeplus.html

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2019 by mtls2005

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 3/17/2019 at 6:49 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Checked again today on an Ethernet connected PC on my 3BB Fiber 200/100 Mbps plan in central BKK.

 

Still only on those speeds, despite the promise of 500/500 Mbps coming for my 1280 baht per month plan.

 

3BB never did call back, as they had promised, with any update as to when we'd be getting the upgrade.

 

 

As mentioned in the above post, I never did hear back from 3BB regarding my call of about two weeks about asking about the status of my formerly 200/100 fiber account in BKK, which supposedly was to be upgraded to 500/500 Mbps. So I decided I'd take another crack at it today.

 

Ran some speedtests, didn't get anywhere close to 500, but did get better than 200, so that at least suggested to me that 3BB had lifted the prior 200 Mbps limit on my account. Restarted my router, and ran some more tests, still didn't get anywhere close to 500/500 on local tests to BKK using 3BB's own speedtest site and a direct Ethernet connected computer with Gigabit ports and cabling.

 

So I finally called 3BB customer service again today, and the only new thing they could tell me was that their system now showed my account/service had been upgraded to 500/500. But of course, the folks answering the phone couldn't tell me anything about why my local connections were still coming nowhere close that, and promised once again to pass along my service request to tech support.

 

Here's what today's speed test results looked like, and some of the numbers are very odd, almost like the speedtest sites aren't working properly, e.g. having an "average" number higher than a "peak" number. And then, the huge difference in upload speeds between what 3BB's own higher test site reports vs. the much slower upload results reported by the Speed of Me website, just as one example.

 

FWIW, I've noticed ZERO difference in the past week or so in the performance of our home internet connection, notwithstanding what 3BB's test site is reporting. I had a hard disk die, and had to download a very large backup and then upload a different very large new backup, and none of that activity appears to have moved along at any quicker speeds than before (even though those were intl connections).

 

3BB test site before router restart:

 

 

 

3BB test site after router restart:

 

 

 

Other sites:

 

ADSL Thailand:

 

Speed of Me:

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I realize this may be a first-world problem, but still pertinent to other 3BB subscribers here...

 

The regular 3BB tech for my BKK area showed up at my home today to check on why I wasn't getting anywhere close to the 500 Mbps/500 Mbps plan, even for local speedtests, that 3BB had upgraded my account to recently. And the answer he ended up providing was more than a bit surprising!

 

Basically, the tech informed me that 3BB customers who do their speedtests even on the 3BB speedtest website using Chrome or Firefox or other assorted browsers -- pretty much anything other than Internet Explorer -- are likely not going to be able to get much more than 400 Mbps performance. He claimed it's a known problem that other customers have already complained about, and that 3BB is working on trying to address/solve.

 

And, he backed up what he said by sitting down at my desktop PC without changing anything, and using Internet Explorer to do a speedtest on the 3BB speedtest site, which promply showed 600 Mbps up and down (my 500 Mbps plan plus a 100 Mbps upgrade I did recently under their rewards program).  However, back to Firefox or Chrome on the same PC, and the same test tops out again at -+ 400 Mbps down.

 

Internet Explorer:

 

 

Firefox:

 

The 3BB tech who was out to my house said the networking people at 3BB are working to try to solve the problem, but he had no idea if/when such a resolution would be forthcoming.

 

I asked if using a different and/or more powerful PC would make a difference -- he said no.

I asked if any other browser besides IE didn't have the speed constraint -- he said no, not even MS Edge.

 

In searching a bit, I don't find anything out in the big world that somehow suggests Firefox, Chrome, et. al. have any kind of inherent speed limitation. So the suggestion from the 3BB tech was more along the lines of it's something about the way 3BB has configured their network that's the issue, and thus something that perhaps they have the ability to fix.

 

But for right now, barring feedback from others here to may have the same or different experiences, it has me wondering whether I ought to downgrade to 3BB's 300/300 plan for 900b per month until if/when they can fix their problem with Firefox and Chrome. Because I'm sure as heck not going to switch over to using MS IE just to go beyond 400 Mbps down on my internet plan.

 

So, has anyone else who's been upgraded by 3BB to 500 Mbps or better tried similar testing with Firefox, Chrome and IE, and been able or not to get their rated plan speeds with Firefox and/or Chrome???  When you hear thing kind of thing from a Thai ISP technician, you're never quite sure whether they know what they're talking about or just are blowing smoke.

 

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

 

Edited March 31, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[dr_lucas]

Haven't heard such nonsense as what this technician told you for a long long time. Browser got nothing to do with it. Your IE results are strange to say the least.

By the way, why didn't you post Ookla's results in FF and Chrome, instead of nPerf?

 

Here are my results (using Chrome):

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 minutes ago, dr_lucas said:

By the way, why didn't you post Ookla's results in FF and Chrome, instead of nPerf?

 

 

For whatever reason, when I try to load the 3BB NPerf speedtest website in IE, the plug-in won't load.

 

Here are the other results I've gotten on what should be a 3BB 600/600 plan at the moment, on the same PC with nothing changing except for the browser used:

 

Opera seems to run the best:

 

 

 

Chrome not so good:

 

 

Edge very erratic:

 

 

 

 

 

[dr_lucas]

I asked why don't you use Ookla's (www.speedtest.net) instead of nPerf. Not the other way around.

I don't like or trust nPerf results.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I have, and now, I'm not getting anywhere near 600 Mbps on any of them including IE... but I did get it on IE this afternoon when the 3BB tech was here... (Sunday night is a busy time for internet here....I know).

 

Again, as I said above, part of the reason I posted about this was to determine whether anyone else was experiencing the same kind of situation, that is, having below plan speed tests on other browsers but different results with IE...  So any feedback from others here is helpful in dealing further with 3BB.

 

On what should be a 600/600 Mbps service for my home right now...

 

IE now:

 

 

 

Chrome now:

 

 

 

IE during the afternoon:

 

 

Edited March 31, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[dr_lucas]

Your results look just fine to me. 500/500 package for sure.

Try changing server to AIS. 3bb test server is unstable sometimes, especially at these speeds.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 minutes ago, dr_lucas said:

Your results look just fine to me. 500/500 package for sure.

Try changing server to AIS. 3bb test server is unstable sometimes, especially at these speeds.

 

I'm supposed to have a 600/600 package at present. So not so fine.

 

Especially when the 500/500 plan results  you posted above were in the 530-550 range.

 

 

Edited March 31, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

41 minutes ago, dr_lucas said:

 

Try changing server to AIS. 3bb test server is unstable sometimes, especially at these speeds.

 

So per your comment, here are the Speedtest results using Firefox and testing to the AIS server.

 

And the results are worse than those using the 3BB servers. So I'm not sure if that's good or bad!

 

And all of them well under what should be a 600/600 3BB service.

 

 

 

And yet I go back to IE, last one of the night, and I get this again....

 

 

Perhaps there is something going on re what the 3BB guy was saying....

Edited March 31, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[dr_lucas]

On 3/31/2019 at 8:59 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

But for right now, barring feedback from others here to may have the same or different experiences, it has me wondering whether I ought to downgrade to 3BB's 300/300 plan for 900b per month until if/when they can fix their problem with Firefox and Chrome. Because I'm sure as heck not going to switch over to using MS IE just to go beyond 400 Mbps down on my internet plan.

I start to agree with you. I think downgrading to 300/300 is a good idea.

I ran some tests on my 500/500 line and while all speed tests show I have this speed, downloading files, even on multi-threaded local connections (from Thai 1Gbit and 10Gbit ports) give me only up to 30MB/s which is the approximate equivalent of the 300/300 package.

I believe 3BB are skewing speed test results. They seem to also mess with international connections downloads, when you get a boosted max speed at the first 10 seconds and then it gradually drops to around 20Mbit (2MB/s) [tested single-threaded file downloads only], similar to what TRUE has been doing for years on consumer packages (not sure about SME or Corporate packages tho, I think they don't mess with those) .

Edited April 2, 2019 by dr_lucas

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

22 minutes ago, dr_lucas said:

I believe 3BB are skewing speed test results. They seem to also mess with international connections downloads, when you get a boosted max speed at the first 10 seconds and then it gradually drops to around 20Mbit (2MB/s) [tested single-threaded file downloads only], similar to what TRUE has been doing for years on consumer packages (not sure about SME or Corporate packages tho, I think they don't mess with those) .

 

In my recent testing to the U.S. West Coast with a single stream connection, I can usually get around 20-25 Mbps via my 3BB fiber connection, but not any better than that.... But then again, 3BB and the other Thai ISPs have never made any promises or commitments that I'm aware of about the speed of their international connections.

 

[dr_lucas]

Wasn't talking about commitment, 3BB & True clearly & deliberately throttle the intl speeds.

Anyhow, it was just a side note.

Edited April 2, 2019 by dr_lucas

[Pib]

On 3/12/2019 at 9:12 PM, Pib said:

Durn...and just a few days ago at the start of my billing month I upgraded from Power4Max 200/50 to Power4Maxx 200/100 package (which actually gives me around 235/110Mb speed).  Now the 200/100 Power4Maxx package is not even shown...been replaced by the 300/100 package.  But I do notice one other change where the SIM for the 200/100 package provides 20GB per month full 4G/3G speed the 300/100 package has dropped that down to 15GB.    15GB is still more than enough per month for the tablet I use the SIM in.  Also, instead of a 12 months free movie package it's only 6 months.  So, the upped the download speed while dropping the SIM data from 20GB ot 15GB and free movie package from 12 to 6 months.

 

So, I guess I contact AIS Fibre and say "Hey, just a few days ago I upgrade to the Power4Maxx 200/100 package at Bt999/month...now a few days latter the package is no longer available because you are now offer 300/100 at the same Bt999.    A person just can't keep up with the new/revised AIS Fibre packages.

 

But I'm not going to lose much sleep over this is because I pretty much operate via Wifi connection within my house and achieving 300Mb speed via Wifi where I use my devices isn't going to be possible with some of my devices due to their specs, distance/obstructions between the devices and the router, etc. And the few devices that use ethernet connection like my Playboxes and VOIP devices, which only need around 25Mb speed to stream 4K and around 128Kb for VOIP.  Around 275Mb via Wifi is about the best I can consistently get in my home for my main devices (laptops/smartphones/tablets) based on where I use them (which is not close to the router).  

 

I did contact AIS Fibre in late March to upgrade/switch "again" from their Power4Maxx 200/100 plan to their Power4Maxx 300/100 plan.....same cost.  This was after I had just updated a month before from their Power4Maxx 200/50 to the Power4Maxx 200/100 plan at a slightly lower cost.  Seems every few months AIS keeps coming out with new plans or revising current plans to make them better and/or cheaper.  I've never got thru a 12 month contract with AIS without upgrading to a new plan.

 

I'm not complaining about better or cheaper....I'm great with that.  It's just AIS does not automatically updated a person unless you contact them, switch to the new/better/cheaper plan, and then you are in another 12 month contract period. 

 

Anyway, new 300/100 plan went into effect O-dark early/4 Apr which is the start of my monthly billing cycle.  The basic difference is now my download speed is 300Mb vs 200Mb on the old plan.  However, since I predominately use home Wifi connections with the majority of my devices I can only get the 300Mb speed on some of my devices "if close to the router with no obstacles like furniture, walls, etc., in the Wifi signal path."  I don't use my Wifi connect devices that close to the router and my house does have walls and furniture to obstruct (slow down) Wifi speed, so about the best I can achieve on most of my devices on the 5Ghz band where I normally use the devices is around 250-275Mb....but get real close on a Wifi connection or use ethernet I get the 300Mb+ speed.  And the international speed on the 300Mb plan is no better than the 200Mb plan.

 

300Mb download speed is really overkill for me based on how I use my devices....the age of my devices...etc.....200Mb is really plenty.   Now if AIS comes out with a say a 500/100 Power4Maxx plan over the coming months say at a slightly higher price than the 300/100 plan "normally" I would upgrade, but with 300Mb being more than enough--just plenty--I just may be sticking with a 300Mb download speed plan for a while....maybe actually get thru a 12 month contract before switching plans regardless of the temptation of new, faster plans.  The thrill of plan upgrades is gone....which is actually a good thing because it means internet plans have improved greatly over the last few years or so thanks to fiber optics being strung up and down sois.

[markcm19]

I have the 300/300 MB 3bb package and rarely see >1 MBPS download speeds.

[muratremix]

21 hours ago, markcm19 said:

I have the 300/300 MB 3bb package and rarely see >1 MBPS download speeds.

Thats on you bro. I get 40-100 Mbps per single connection and I get a lot more if I use multi connections.

[parryhandy]

Well I'm on the 300/300 3bb package and I'm  going in to see them this week about downgrading to the 100/100 because every day starting about 4.30 pm my speeds degrade that much from outside Thailand it's useless. I'm lucly to get 3mbps. The engineers come out and just blame it on everything else bar them.

The higher packages just subsidize everyone else until they have enough money to properly upgrade the network, I was better off before the upgrade. For local content 100mbps is plenty of speed and nearly half the price of what I'm paying now.

[parryhandy]

just downgraded to 100/100 and my IPTV for the 1st time is working perfectly. my tests outside of Thailand are now reading better than when I was on 300/300. As I suspected (in my area)there is no real life difference for a normal customer between any of the packages. Madness to buy anything but the lowest.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 5/27/2019 at 3:03 PM, parryhandy said:

just downgraded to 100/100 and my IPTV for the 1st time is working perfectly. my tests outside of Thailand are now reading better than when I was on 300/300. As I suspected (in my area)there is no real life difference for a normal customer between any of the packages. Madness to buy anything but the lowest.

 

I tried to inquire tonight in BKK about downgrading via the 3BB Call Center EN section, and was told by the woman who answered the phone that she couldn't help me, and I'd have to go and contact the 3BB shop in our area about any plan speed changes up or down.

 

I also asked for existing fiber customers, once you make a change in your plan speed, is there any period of time you're locked into that new plan speed, or you can change any time without restriction. And she claimed to have no idea as to the answer to that question.

 

In short, she was totally and completely useless.

 

[parryhandy]

^ I must have pissed them off in the office because the engineer rang my mrs to check  things after the down grade ( which has made no difference to my internet, infact my IPTV is better) and told her to ring 1530 next time.