True internet speed, what can you expect?

[thai3]

we pay for 50 mbps connection but it's about 8-12 and does not seem to alter though the day, not slower at busy times. This is from their own test page as well. Does this seem normal? when mentioned to them they claim it would be faster if connected direct to the router and not using wi fi, why do they lie or are not able to provide what they claim?

[Peterw42]

There is some truth to what they say about WiFi being slower than Ethernet, this often happens in a big condo block were everyone is on the same wifi channel. in my condo block everyone has TOT and everyone has a TOT router set to the standard channel 11. sitting next to the router the speed is very slow as the channel 11 is full. Switch to an empty channel and the speed is the same as ethernet, and close to the package speed.

There are wifi analizer apps that show what channels are full in your location. 

In the attached image you can see that channel 1 and 11 are full and the speed will be slow, my router is set to channel 13 with full speed.

 

 

[brewsterbudgen]

True's speeds are way below what is advertised, especially during peak periods. They have admitted this. More concerning are the frequent drop-outs. We have been without internet (from True) for over 36 hours now -Sukhumvit 48.

[Pib]

thai3,

   My understanding is you are using a Wifi connection versus a direct ethernet connection from your computer/device to the True router.    A Wifi connection, especially if a 2.4Ghz connection and you also have some obstructions (i.e., walls/floors/furniture) between your device and the router or a considerable distance between your device and router, could easily result in a Wifi speed like you are getting.

 

    And take a good look at Peterw42 graphic above showing all the Wifi signals which are competing (i.e., interfering, fighting among themselves, etc) in a area where a lot of people of Wifi are living.  All those Wifi signals interfering with each other can "greatly" slow down a Wifi connection, especially if a 2.4Ghz connection.  Less so on a 5Ghz  connection.

 

    If possible you need to make an ethernet connection between your device and router....you will most likely get the 50Mhz speed then.

 

    Once confirming your are getting the 50Mb speed (which I would bet your are), then its just Wifi interference....the Wifi equipment....Wifi obstructions....etc....in your residence.   You can most likely overcome most/all of that by using a 5Ghz band Wifi router which means your devices/computers must also be capable of using the 5Ghz band.    

   

[thai3]

6 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

There is some truth to what they say about WiFi being slower than Ethernet, this often happens in a big condo block were everyone is on the same wifi channel. in my condo block everyone has TOT and everyone has a TOT router set to the standard channel 11. sitting next to the router the speed is very slow as the channel 11 is full. Switch to an empty channel and the speed is the same as ethernet, and close to the package speed.

There are wifi analizer apps that show what channels are full in your location. 

In the attached image you can see that channel 1 and 11 are full and the speed will be slow, my router is set to channel 13 with full speed.

 

 

 

we live in a house, how do you switch to an empty channel anyway? Seems like wi fi analyser only works on OS 10

[Peterw42]

3 minutes ago, thai3 said:

we live in a house, how do you switch to an empty channel anyway?

Even in a house there can 3-4 routers close by all on the same channel. To change the channel your router has a webpage, i think its 192.168.1.1 for true routers, you can change the wifi channel, passwords etc.

As others have said, test with ethernet first. 

[thai3]

Thanks very much for the help, for some reason the house next door shows a better signal than we have

[maxpower]

52 minutes ago, thai3 said:

Thanks very much for the help, for some reason the house next door shows a better signal than we have

From reading your original post, my first question would be - Does a speed check over wifi increase dramatically when the device is only 2-3 meters away from the router without obstructions.

[thai3]

No but I connected with an ethernet cable and it is 50 mbps , amazing how it drops off on wi fi, have to get a long cable!

[maxpower]

15 minutes ago, thai3 said:

No but I connected with an ethernet cable and it is 50 mbps , amazing how it drops off on wi fi, have to get a long cable!

Good news - now you know what to work on.

[Pib]

1 hour ago, maxpower said:

From reading your original post, my first question would be - Does a speed check over wifi increase dramatically when the device is only 2-3 meters away from the router without obstructions.

It might or might not.   If your problem was purely a weak signal "due to distance/obstructions" then the speed should increase.

 

However, if your Wifi speed reduction is due to other Wifi and/or "non-Wifi" signals interfering with your Wifi signal/equipment then getting closer will probably make little difference in speed.   By non-Wifi signals I mean signals coming from radars, radio transmitters, and just a wide variety of possible signal sources.

 

Wifi can be a pain when you are in an area with other Wifi signals inferring/competing with your signal....like in a condo building or even standalone houses that are close together. 

 

The 2.4Ghz band can be especially crowed; the 5Ghz band currently less so.   Like for me, I operate my various computer and smartphones/tablets totally by Wifi in my house and I have a 100Mb speed plan.  I can not approach getting the full 100Mb via Wifi on the 2.4Ghz band, but I have switched to the 5Ghz band and from some testing I've done using my home server as a signal source I know my current Wifi setup can now handle speeds up to approx 275Mb....and reaching that 275Mb capability really didn't require top end routers or having high-end Wifi chips in my devices....instead it pretty much just basic 5Ghz band Wifi capable equipment.

 

Now if I wanted to go above 275Mb Wifi speed I would need to by some better 5Ghz routers....and computers/smartphones with faster Wifi circuitry.   But I think having a 275Mb Wifi capability within my two story home is more than enough....it satisfies my current AIS 100Mb plan and if I go to a 200Mb plan in the future I will still be good to go.

 

[Pib]

5 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Even in a house there can 3-4 routers close by all on the same channel. To change the channel your router has a webpage, i think its 192.168.1.1 for true routers, you can change the wifi channel, passwords etc.

As others have said, test with ethernet first. 

Preaching to the choir I know, but even if getting lucking in being able to switch to a channel you neighbor's are not currently using, most routers now days have an Auto channel select default feature that automatically selects (changes) the channel to give a better signal.

 

However, and just for example, say the neighbor's router was on 2.4Ghz Ch 1 and your router was on 2.4Ghz Ch 6, which means no interference between the two routers, however, the neighbor's router decides one day to change to Ch 3 or  6 to give better transmission...that channel change is now going to compete/interfere with your signal.  

 

Or the channel change may not be occurring automatically but just your neighbor manually changing the channel attempting to get a better/faster Wifi signal.  And if you have a half dozen or so routers close by and some or all of them changing channels occasionally which causes less or more interference for you, it can drive you crazy in trying to figure why some days  your Wifi speed is good and other days it sucks.  While the first reaction is all too often to blame your internet service provider, it really just Wifi interference from your neighbors.

 

I watched & experienced that happen in the Wifi signals from my neighbor's routers...creates a real problem on the 2.4Ghz band.  But on the 5Ghz band I'm the only one using a 5Ghz routers (I have upstairs and downstairs  routers on different 5Ghz channels) among my neighbors, so I'm operating without any Wifi interference and no longer cuzz and pull my hair out like I use to when using the 2.4Ghz band channels.

 

As mentioned...preaching to the choir I know.  But maybe my sermon will be helpful to 2.4Ghz band sinners.   Try the 5Ghz band (assuming your router and devices are 5Ghz capable) and you just may free yourself of slow Wifi demons.

 

 

[maxpower]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

It might or might not.   If your problem was purely a weak signal "due to distance/obstructions" then the speed should increase.

 

However, if your Wifi speed reduction is due to other Wifi and/or "non-Wifi" signals interfering with your Wifi signal/equipment then getting closer will probably make little difference in speed.   By non-Wifi signals I mean signals coming from radars, radio transmitters, and just a wide variety of possible signal sources.

 

Wifi can be a pain when you are in an area with other Wifi signals inferring/competing with your signal....like in a condo building or even standalone houses that are close together. 

 

The 2.4Ghz band can be especially crowed; the 5Ghz band currently less so.   Like for me, I operate my various computer and smartphones/tablets totally by Wifi in my house and I have a 100Mb speed plan.  I can not approach getting the full 100Mb via Wifi on the 2.4Ghz band, but I have switched to the 5Ghz band and from some testing I've done using my home server as a signal source I know my current Wifi setup can now handle speeds up to approx 275Mb....and reaching that 275Mb capability really didn't require top end routers or having high-end Wifi chips in my devices....instead it pretty much just basic 5Ghz band Wifi capable equipment.

 

Now if I wanted to go above 275Mb Wifi speed I would need to by some better 5Ghz routers....and computers/smartphones with faster Wifi circuitry.   But I think having a 275Mb Wifi capability within my two story home is more than enough....it satisfies my current AIS 100Mb plan and if I go to a 200Mb plan in the future I will still be good to go.

 

The might or might not be, is part of what we call the logical approach to fault finding when the end user is unable to provide detailed information. So lets start with weak signal and work up. Flooding the situation with technical jargon is counter productive. Too many cooks spoil the broth as they say.

 

[Pib]

Would not surprise me the folks with funky/low speed Wifi are using 2.4Ghz routers provided by his internet provider as that is what most usually provide instead of a router that does both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.  But I have seen where some providers are now providing a router that do both 2.4 and 5Ghz. And of course the person's computers/smartphones/tablets/etc., need to have 5Ghz capability which most newer model do have.

 

Now when AIS initially installed my 50Mb fiber optics plan the primary fiber optics router they provided only had the 2.4Ghz band....about the best consistent Wifi speed you could get if close to the router was approx 45Mb.  However, they also provided free of charge a low cost router (an Edimax router that cost around Bt1700 at local stores) that did both 2.4 and 5Ghz bands. Hook that router to the primarily router and then you got a 5Ghz Wifi signal to connect to...no problem at all getting 50Mb Wifi speed from the 50Mb plan then.

 

Moving to 5Ghz capability means a person may need to buy his own router capable of 5Ghz...a person can get some pretty cheap....all depends on what router the internet provider gave the customer.   As mentioned, many are still just handing out a 2.4Ghz router which is going to struggle to reach 50Mb unless conditions are right.  

 

 

[Mann33bkk]

I got true docsis 3.0, 50/5 Mb internet. When i did this test i am connected to 5Ghz. Dowload speed will drop to about 32Mb when connected to 2,4Ghz. When conneced with wire, it will be about 63Mb. 

[anon467367354]

I pay for 100MBs and get this:

 

[01322521959]

I pay for 13mb. Can be a little slower but does what I want it to do. At 630baht per month I'm happy

Sent from my i-mobile_i-STYLE_219 using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[dentonian]

I had the same problem as the OP after a new installation.

Normal engineers couldn't resolve the issue, but after escalating my complaint their trouble-shooter resolved the problem by changing configurations. It's a 'true' problem he confided that standard engineers just aren't trained for when installing.

 

What PPPPP's me of is the constant drop outs, which you never notice until you hit the send, only to get the you are not connected message and your work is lost..

[Dan5]

speedtest.net usually shows I get between 15 and 20 Mb/sec here in Bangkok. Sometimes over 20. That's cable modem service.

[Pib]

Always remember if you are not getting the domestic speed you are paying for and connecting to your router via Wifi the problem could very well be your Wifi connection.

If connecting via ethernet cable from your computer to router and then getting the full speed you are paying for then it's time for you to work your Wifi connection problem.

[AjarnMartin]

22 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Even in a house there can 3-4 routers close by all on the same channel. To change the channel your router has a webpage, i think its 192.168.1.1 for true routers, you can change the wifi channel, passwords etc.

As others have said, test with ethernet first. 

Peter,

 

At the risk of going slightly off topic, how does one check VPN speeds? I use it to access BBC TV progs in the U.K. and the VPN constantly drops the signal so I have to disconnect and reconnect the link. I know there have been some 'differences of opinion' on recent news coverage by the afore-mentioned so is there a possibility that there's some kind of tourniquet at this end.

 

Thanks,

 

AjMartin

[Peterw42]

1 hour ago, AjarnMartin said:

Peter,

 

At the risk of going slightly off topic, how does one check VPN speeds? I use it to access BBC TV progs in the U.K. and the VPN constantly drops the signal so I have to disconnect and reconnect the link. I know there have been some 'differences of opinion' on recent news coverage by the afore-mentioned so is there a possibility that there's some kind of tourniquet at this end.

 

Thanks,

 

AjMartin

I think any international speed issues has a lot to do with Thailand's limited international bandwidth, local internet providers throttling some international content and traffic etc. There have been a couple of threads with people showing higher international speeds using VPNs. 

[Blue bruce]

is it possible to connect an RCA cable to my computer with some sort of adapter. Sorry to say I am not a tekkie. Any answers would be appreciated

[Pib]

If you are talking going from a computer VGA or HDMI output to the RCA input of a TV/monitor you can buy an VGA to RCA or HDMI to RCA adapter like the ones shown in the "image" area of below google searches.

 

Google Search 1   VGA to RCA

 

Google Search 2  HDMI to RCA

 

 

[guzzi850m2]

I am getting 50mb on my True 50 plan most of the time.

The supplied combi router from True gives both 2.5 & 5 MHz but I only use the 2.4 one as we don't have much interference from nearby houses and I have to use 2.4 because of the quite big distance out to the patoi from the router and doubt I can get a good signal from 5 MHz radio.

[Pib]

13 minutes ago, guzzi850m2 said:

I am getting 50mb on my True 50 plan most of the time.

The supplied combi router from True gives both 2.5 & 5 MHz but I only use the 2.4 one as we don't have much interference from nearby houses and I have to use 2.4 because of the quite big distance out to the patoi from the router and doubt I can get a good signal from 5 MHz radio.

 

You "doubt" you can get a good signal with the 5Mhz?  Sounds like you haven't even tried.  

 

Now I will admit if you only compare "signal strength" of a 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz signal, the 2.4Ghz signal will most likely be a little better....maybe around 10-15db better after going through some walls.  But there is a high probability the 5Ghz connection would still give you more speed than a 2.4Ghz connection....possibly much more.     This is because the two frequencies are using completely different technology/modulation for the connection....it's simply not just because they are different frequencies.  

 

As long as your computer/device have 5Ghz capability you are probably doing yourself a disservice (losing Wifi speed) by not using the 5Ghz connection over a 2.4Ghz connection.

[guzzi850m2]

No I haven't tried, I am getting enough speed from the 2.4mhz band for the time being. I only uses a IPad mini and a smart phone out on my patio and seldom watch movies on those.