BKK: 3bb fiber - will only go to the 3rd floor of a condo? Need it extended to the 5th floor

[DrWats0n]

I could have sworn I read a similar story here before - tried to search but the search function seems a bit flaky at the moment. 

After weeks of unusable service from True, we are interested in switching to 3bb fiber but currently stay on the 5th floor of an 8 floor condo.

3bb says they can take it up to the 3rd floor and it's our responsibility to get it up the remaining 2 floors.

 

I'm happy to pay cash to anyone that can take it up the extra 2 floors.

I spoke to the juristic person at the condo and he said he would try to find somebody as well but I'd rather get it done sooner vs. later. 

My questions are as follows....

1. Does anyone know a fiber tech or somebody that works for 3bb, TRUE, etc or a company that would have the skills / tools needed and could do this job?  Location in Silom area of Bkk. If so, kindly PM me their contact info. 

2. Has anyone had any similar experience with placing the order and getting the installer out and then giving him a few quid to extend the line the additional 2 floors?

 

Any help or advice is appreciated. 

 

Edited November 9, 2016 by DrWats0n

[Peterw42]

Cant you just pay 3bb to run it in. It doesnt quiet make sense, they provide internet and run cables, but they want someone else to run the cable, When they say its your responsibility, do they maybe mean they will run it but its your cost. I had AIS fibre put on and they ran the cable from the other end of the soi, up to the 3rd floor.

[DrWats0n]

I agree! - It makes no sense. 

I have had TOT, 3BB and AIS all run fiber to other houses / condos without issue as far as the length of the run from the main road.  

The only differentiation here that I can tell is that this run is going up to the 5th floor vs. out to a main road.  To my mind it's the same length of cable either way, perhaps less than previous runs they've done for me in the past without any issue. 

 

I asked them for a quote to run it or to just send a guy with plenty of fiber and I'd sort it out with him and they specifically said they cannot run it higher than the 3rd floor.  When I asked for more detail I got "sir, we cannot. Can only chan saam" aka third floor.  

 

So, it seems they refuse to quote it or even set install appointment knowing I am on the 5th floor.  I also have service with them at other properties and have been a customer for years, they don't seem to care. 

 

If anybody else has any other ideas, please let me know.

 

 

[KittenKong]

True in Pattaya have a similar and equally bizarre rule about installations above the third floor. They seem to be completely unaware that such installations in high-rises are done entirely through internal conduits and service ducts and so are identical to working at ground level. Easier, in fact. A simple step-ladder is enough in my building to get to any unit on any floor and to access all parts of the building.

[Pib]

OP,

Is your current True plan an xDSL plan...that is,  the internet wire from your modem/router plugs into a phone jack in your condo?  

 

If so, maybe your condo building does not have built in capability to handle fiber internally (that is, run it through conduit, walls, etc).  Only an outside wall run could be done and 3BB don't go higher than 3 stories for such a setup.

 

 

[Peterw42]

23 minutes ago, Pib said:

OP,

Is your current True plan an xDSL plan...that is,  the internet wire from your modem/router plugs into a phone jack in your condo?  

 

If so, maybe your condo building does not have built in capability to handle fiber internally (that is, run it through conduit, walls, etc).  Only an outside wall run could be done and 3BB don't go higher than 3 stories for such a setup.

 

 

 

What you are saying makes a lot of sense, if it can only be run outside and the 3rd floor is the limit of a ladder or cherry picker. 

[Pib]

If it can only be run on the outside of the building it boils down to a simple safety issue (yea I know, safety and Thailand are two words that don't go together).   Heck I have a 24 foot ladder and it don't even reach to the roof of my two story home. 

[KittenKong]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

If so, maybe your condo building does not have built in capability to handle fiber internally (that is, run it through conduit, walls, etc).

 

I dare say that high-rise buildings like that do exist, but I have yet to see one. And in Pattaya True at least dont care one jot about how the building is constructed: it's a blanket "no" for anything above the 3rd floor.

[Naam]

3 hours ago, DrWats0n said:

I agree! - It makes no sense. 

I have had TOT, 3BB and AIS all run fiber to other houses / condos without issue as far as the length of the run from the main road.  

The only differentiation here that I can tell is that this run is going up to the 5th floor vs. out to a main road.  To my mind it's the same length of cable either way, perhaps less than previous runs they've done for me in the past without any issue. 

 

I asked them for a quote to run it or to just send a guy with plenty of fiber and I'd sort it out with him and they specifically said they cannot run it higher than the 3rd floor.  When I asked for more detail I got "sir, we cannot. Can only chan saam" aka third floor.  

 

So, it seems they refuse to quote it or even set install appointment knowing I am on the 5th floor.  I also have service with them at other properties and have been a customer for years, they don't seem to care. 

 

If anybody else has any other ideas, please let me know.

 

 

my suggestion: do it yourself. we bought our own cable installed 700 meters and 3bb connected us without any problems. of course we live in a one-story, installed the cable in a storm drain (where all utilities run). your problem is to get an approval from the condo management and figure out what installation options exist. where there is a will there is a way.

[Naam]

Just now, Naam said:

When I asked for more detail I got "sir, we cannot. Can only chan saam" aka third floor.  

and if you'd asked "why cannot chan ha?" the answer would have been "cannot because no can do chan ha". and then you realise that This Is Thailand!

[dddave]

I live in Phra Khanong (Bangkok) on the ninth floor of an older, 13 story apartment building.  Earlier this year, 3BB wired my soi with fiber .  When I inquired about getting it put in I was told nothing could be installed above the 5th floor.  

I've been stuck with True ADSL for 10 years so I really pushed 3BB, talking first to the foreman of the crew doing the wiring of the soi:  flat "Mai dai" from him..likewise from the three different 3BB offices I visited.

I don't know why.  They were adamant and offering to pay for the whole thing made no difference.

"Chan gaow mai dai!"

[thaicatbuyer]

Hello

Not sure where you are, i'm in Pattaya on the 5th floor or a condo, 3BB fiber to the home was installed 18 months ago, by 3BB, installed all the way to my room from the street

about 150 meters from the pole, they charged me 50,000 baht installation and 1 year @ 1200 baht per month up front, took them 3 weeks to install and get it working.

[johng]

4 minutes ago, thaicatbuyer said:

50,000 baht installation

 

Wow that was expensive   did you get an official receipt for that installation ?

[KittenKong]

8 minutes ago, thaicatbuyer said:

they charged me 50,000 baht installation

 

Crikey.

[Sphere]

50k sounds a bit too much. I just paid the chaang from True 9k+ baht for a fibre optic conversion from their roadside port to our house. Because, True said they will only give 70m free RG6 cable, and installation outdoors and indoors will not be concealed. The 9k charge included using RG11 instead of RG6 cabling and concealing the cables - underground outside and in the existing wall channels indoors.

[Pib]

The fiber from the 3rd to 5th floor was golden fiber and blessed by 4 monks for reliable service and fast speed.

[pee paub]

50k sounds a bit too much. I just paid the chaang from True 9k+ baht for a fibre optic conversion from their roadside port to our house. Because, True said they will only give 70m free RG6 cable, and installation outdoors and indoors will not be concealed. The 9k charge included using RG11 instead of RG6 cabling and concealing the cables - underground outside and in the existing wall channels indoors.

But RG6and RG11 are coax, not fiber.

[Pib]

42 minutes ago, Sphere said:

50k sounds a bit too much. I just paid the chaang from True 9k+ baht for a fibre optic conversion from their roadside port to our house. Because, True said they will only give 70m free RG6 cable, and installation outdoors and indoors will not be concealed. The 9k charge included using RG11 instead of RG6 cabling and concealing the cables - underground outside and in the existing wall channels indoors.

 

You are not talking fiber optics but talking DOCSIS (a.k.a., cable) installation which can carry cable TV or cable internet.   It is very high speed also and can currently go up to around 2000Mb but I think True only goes to 1000Mb with DOCSIS/cable.   And True does indeed usually limit the coaxial cable run from the DOCSIS trunk line connection to your residence to 70 meters due to signal strength loss for long standard coaxial cable like hooks into your cable modem/TV setup box/TV...but for fiber optics the final run to your house can literally be many kilometers with very little loss of signal strength.  A DOCSIS trunk line is also a type of coaxial cable but it's about a half inch thick in diameter, kinda hard to bend, can carry signal for long distance with little loss of signal especially since the trunk line has amplifiers along the way....it kinda like regular TV cable except on steroids which makes it a different animal.   And RG11 is basically just a higher quality/lower signal loss version of standard RG6.  RG11 is what they run from the trunk line to the cable modem/TV settop box.  

 

True used to call their DOCSIS/Cable internet plans exactly that, DOCSIS/Cable plans and they called their fiber optics Fiber To The Home (FTTH), but around 2 years ago they merged the two and changed the name to SuperSpeedFiber.   I expect name DOCSIS didn't really click with most people (just game them a deer in the headlights look) and True wanted to get the buzz word of "fiber" into their internet plans name as most people automatically related fiber optics with very fast speed.   Plus many people though the word "cable" meant phone/xDSL cable which is something completely different (and generally much slower).  And technically True is not lying by saying their DOCSIS installations are fiber because upstream the DOCSIS (and even xDSL) connects into their fiber optics backbone network.   

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2016 by Pib

[Sphere]

Pee & Pib...yes sorry about that....was referring to DOCSIS. My bad.

 

[Eagleizer]

21 minutes ago, Sphere said:

50k sounds a bit too much. I just paid the chaang from True 9k+ baht for a fibre optic conversion from their roadside port to our house. Because, True said they will only give 70m free RG6 cable, and installation outdoors and indoors will not be concealed. The 9k charge included using RG11 instead of RG6 cabling and concealing the cables - underground outside and in the existing wall channels indoors.

The way this works is that if you are the first one in your neighborhood to

install the fiber, you will cover all the costs. Later, when your neighbor across

the street wants fiber, he will only pay for the installation from the box they

have already made for you, and you will get nothing back. 

 

Sophon wanted 45.000 to connect to my condo, which included 700 meter 

from the main road. On top of that I had to pay the normal installation fee and

monthly fee. Luckily I was already pissed off with them, so when they were late

for the appointment, I started looking for other provider. 3BB had already installed

fiber at a hotel across the street, so I only paid the normal fee. Nothing extra to

3rd floor and plenty of extra cable if I should choose to rearrange my furniture. 

 

Only problem I have with 3BB is that it normally takes 3-4 days for them to come 

and fix things. Last time they were here, they were teaching a new guy, so maybe 

they can respond faster now.  They do compensate you for the time you have to

wait.

 

One thing to be aware of if you live in a condo, is that the router that 3BB uses 

is only operating WiFi in the 2.4GHz band. This means only 14 channels, so if

there are many people using WiFi, you will quickly run out of channels and get

interference which could lower your speed considerably.  I have to use cable 

from my router to my TV-box to avoid this problem. 

 

Have been very happy with 3BB, and the price have gone down more about 60% 

the last 10 months. At the same time, the speed have gone up about 400%. 

I did pay for a year upfront, which means I have paid too much, but they have

been giving me insane speeds to compensate, and I now enjoy 370-400Mb/s

down, and  50-55Mb/s up.

 

[Pib]

I was on True DOCSIS internet for 5 years and only switched about 4 months ago to AIS Fibre 50/10 to get a higher speed plan "at a fair price."   My definition of a high speed plan is above 30Mb.  Up until only around 2 months ago did True finally start "very significantly" lower the price of some of their SuperSpeedFiber plans....like when they dropped their 50Mb plan price by around 3 fold to Bt899 and then less than a month about dropped their 100Mb by a big, multifold amount also....and while reducing the prices they increase the upload speed of those plans.  Obviously much cheaper 3BB and AIS fiber plans was draining off too many True customer and True had to try to stop the bleeding.

 

I can say that I would have probably stayed with True by just upgrading to their 50/20 plan and quickly upgraded again to their 100/30 plan if they had only come out with the plans earlier.....I would have probably not bled off from them because for me their service was super reliable for the 5 years I was with them....very close to 100%.  Your results may vary.  Heck during the great flood of late 2011 when my western Bangkok moobaan was under a meter or more of water for a month my True cable TV and cable internet never went down since all the cable equipment/lines are up on poles; however with ADSL internet/phone lines which had junctions boxes at ground level lost their internet/phone connect within a day of the flood water arriving....and they didn't get it back until around a week after the flood waters receded.    

 

[malt25]

58 minutes ago, Pib said:

The fiber from the 3rd to 5th floor was golden fiber and blessed by 4 monks for reliable service and fast speed.

Plus lots & lots of string wrapped around & around everything.

[DrWats0n]

12 hours ago, Pib said:

OP,

Is your current True plan an xDSL plan...that is,  the internet wire from your modem/router plugs into a phone jack in your condo?  

 

If so, maybe your condo building does not have built in capability to handle fiber internally (that is, run it through conduit, walls, etc).  Only an outside wall run could be done and 3BB don't go higher than 3 stories for such a setup.

 

 

Thanks for all of the replies.

My current plan is True Cable and it is provided via coax cable to the condo.  Valid point about not having the capacity - that being said, I'd be happy with an outside run. 

[DrWats0n]

10 hours ago, Naam said:

my suggestion: do it yourself. we bought our own cable installed 700 meters and 3bb connected us without any problems. of course we live in a one-story, installed the cable in a storm drain (where all utilities run). your problem is to get an approval from the condo management and figure out what installation options exist. where there is a will there is a way.

I'd be happy to explore this option further, was this 700 meters of fiber that you ran? Can you share where you sourced the cable itself?

Edited November 10, 2016 by DrWats0n
Clarity

[Naam]

31 minutes ago, Eagleizer said:

The way this works is that if you are the first one in your neighborhood to

install the fiber, you will cover all the costs. Later, when your neighbor across

the street wants fiber, he will only pay for the installation from the box they

have already made for you, and you will get nothing back. 

 

Sophon wanted 45.000 to connect to my condo, which included 700 meter 

from the main road. On top of that I had to pay the normal installation fee and

monthly fee. Luckily I was already pissed off with them, so when they were late

for the appointment, I started looking for other provider. 3BB had already installed

fiber at a hotel across the street, so I only paid the normal fee. Nothing extra to

3rd floor and plenty of extra cable if I should choose to rearrange my furniture. 

 

Only problem I have with 3BB is that it normally takes 3-4 days for them to come 

and fix things. Last time they were here, they were teaching a new guy, so maybe 

they can respond faster now.  They do compensate you for the time you have to

wait.

 

One thing to be aware of if you live in a condo, is that the router that 3BB uses 

is only operating WiFi in the 2.4GHz band. This means only 14 channels, so if

there are many people using WiFi, you will quickly run out of channels and get

interference which could lower your speed considerably.  I have to use cable 

from my router to my TV-box to avoid this problem. 

 

Have been very happy with 3BB, and the price have gone down more about 60% 

the last 10 months. At the same time, the speed have gone up about 400%. 

I did pay for a year upfront, which means I have paid too much, but they have

been giving me insane speeds to compensate, and I now enjoy 370-400Mb/s

down, and  50-55Mb/s up.

 

check your "insane" speed again with www.testmy.net and report

[Naam]

12 minutes ago, DrWats0n said:

I'd be happy to explore this option further, was this 700 meters of fiber that you ran? Can you share where you sourced the cable itself?

check your Private Message please.

[nahkit]

1 hour ago, Naam said:

check your "insane" speed again with www.testmy.net and report

I checked my internet speed several times this morning using both ookla and testmy.net.

 

I have TOT 35Mb/15Mb Fibre Plus.

 

According to ookla, my avg. download speed is  0.84 Mbps and my avg. upload speed is  15.36 Mbps.

 

I find the ookla download figure hard to believe, testmy.net shows an avg. download speed of 18.03 Mbps.

[Pib]

18 minutes ago, nahkit said:

I checked my internet speed several times this morning using both ookla and testmy.net.

 

I have TOT 35Mb/15Mb Fibre Plus.

 

According to ookla, my avg. download speed is  0.84 Mbps and my avg. upload speed is  15.36 Mbps.

 

I find the ookla download figure hard to believe, testmy.net shows an avg. download speed of 18.03 Mbps.

 

What locations did  you test to?   Where you say OOKLA I assume you mean Speedtet.net which has hundreds of locations to test to.    Lots of OOKLA based testers in use, and Speedtest.net is just one of many.   Testmy.net has around a dozen locations to test to.

[nahkit]

17 minutes ago, Pib said:

 

What locations did  you test to?   Where you say OOKLA I assume you mean Speedtet.net which has hundreds of locations to test to.    Lots of OOKLA based testers in use, and Speedtest.net is just one of many.   Testmy.net has around a dozen locations to test to.

Yes, I used Speedtest.net and referred to it as OOKLA because that's the name that was displayed in your screenshot so I thought it would be easier for people reading the post.

 

As for locations, Speedtest default was Khon Kaen, Testmy.net used Japan (Tokyo).

 

Just ran it again (Speedtest) using Tokyo download speed now a more believable 14.66 Mbps

Edited November 10, 2016 by nahkit
Update

[Pib]

Getting 18Mb download speed to Tokyo is good for a 35Mb plan....in fact it's still good for a higher speed plan (not to imply higher speed plans don't get much higher speed...a lot of factors affect international speed....some totally within your ISPs control and some not).   And of course international speed can vary greatly throughout the day and night.

 

However, only getting 0.84Mb download speed with Speedtest.net when you are testing to a nearby server like you did just don't sound right....some problem there....not a problem in only getting that slow speed because I'm sure it actually much higher....should be 35Mb or a little more....sounds like a glitch in the test.   Have you tried rerunning the test...maybe test to Bangkok.

 

Just as FYI, here is what I just got to Tokyo using Testmy.net on my AIS Fibre 50/10 plan....and what I got to Bangkok on Speedtest.net.  I'm located in Bangkok.

 

 

 

 

And here is what I got from Bangkok to Khon Kaen...basically just a little longer ping time due to the greater distance.

 

Edited November 10, 2016 by Pib