TOT vs CAT fiber internet connection.

[ethaniel]

Posting this here so anyone who google this can read this.

 

I can't say for the rest of Thailand, but here on Samui - CAT and TOT are basically the same.

 

I live in a condo and we have 4 lines coming into our load balancer - 2 TOT and 2 CAT.

 

1. When the international speeds go down on TOT (happens sometimes during evenings), the international speeds go down on CAT as well.

2. In the last 2 days, I've noticed problems connecting to Europe. When the Europe connection goes down on TOT, it would go down on CAT as well.

 

I would assume that they use the same international exchange somewhere in Bangkok. But from my point of view as a customer - there is no difference between TOT and CAT.

Edited March 9, 2017 by ethaniel

[tropo]

You won't get much feedback here. Most people don't run CAT and TOT side by side and can't make direct comparisons. I have CAT fiber - few people in Pattaya have TOT as their customer service is dismal. 3BB and True are the main operators here. CAT is far more expensive.

 

Why do you run 2 CAT and 2 TOT lines into a load balancer? What CAT and TOT services do you have?

[futsukayoi]

We used to use both and you are correct that they share a lot of infrastructure when connecting internationally so will both have the same problems.  Much of their infrastructure withing Thailand does not seem to be shared and we had several cases where one was down or experiencing performance problems and the other was not.  The main difference we found was that the TOT helpline was really dire if you have problems.  They just work off a script and will not listen if you tell them what the issue is.  It takes just takes a lot longer to solve the problem.

[BONGOMAN]

Recently had TOT installed on Koh Phangnan and I am getting consistent download speeds in excess of 35 Mbps.

[tropo]

7 hours ago, BONGOMAN said:

Recently had TOT installed on Koh Phangnan and I am getting consistent download speeds in excess of 35 Mbps.

 

Downloading from where? There is no such thing as consistent speeds to far away servers (Europe, USA etc). I have a 100/45 Mbps CAT connection and the results vary widely and also there's a huge difference depending on what speed tester I use. The speed testers servers could be limiting results.

 

Also, unless you have a dedicated line, which is VERY expensive, you're sharing. The contention ratio has to be considered. The question is, how many are you sharing with. For example, I can get a standard package from CAT which shares with 20 plus, or a premium package, which only shares with 5. The difference in price is huge. If you only need Internet to download movies and general web surfing, the cheap packages are just fine - you may just need to be patient at certain times. Currently, I'm testing out a faster CAT package with a higher contention ratio against a slower one with a low contention ratio. That's the great thing about CAT - they let me test out different packages for a week before I decide.

 

It doesn't matter how fast your connection is - it's like testing a sports car on a congested highway. If there's too much traffic, you won't be traveling fast. There's only one pipe out of Thailand - the Asia American Gateway. We're dealing with physical limitations that currently have no solution. Now if you use your speed for Internet access in Thailand, that's a different story.

 

http://submarine-cable-map-2014.telegeography.com/

 

 

[ethaniel]

Updated for April 2017: