3BB internet speed and problems

[Nereus]

3BB optic for me in Hua Hin has been terrible for a long while now and remains so. Lucky to get 2mb download!

Was wondering if anyone gets decent speed and reckons the 'upgrade' to Fibre Optic was worth it? For me its been complete Sh@@e!

I have 3BB fibre optic in Soi 6 and have had it for a couple of years. I am not there all the time but when I am it works good, in fact I have just been there for 3 days this week and it was working fine. I have not had reason to check the speed.

But what I will say is that the telephone has quit. When the fibre optic was installed they removed my dial up conventional phone and replaced it with an IP handset. It worked fine for a couple of years but a few months ago it quit. It will not boot up, acts like there is no power supply, but there is nothing wrong with the power supply. It was originaly connected as a switch hub for the router, so had to work. In my absence about 6 months ago the old router was replace with a WiFi unit, and I now believe that may have been the start of the problem.

Finally convinced 3BB to come and look at it today. May as well have asked my 8 year old Granddaughter! Two young kids came, one of them a smart arse, the other ok but neither of them had a clue what an IP phone is! They claimed it was not supplied by them, despite it having a 3BB sticker on it. But they did know that the test handset they had with them could not check the line! They gave my daughter a phone number to call, but she has not had a chance to follow it up yet.

[Farang]

I've now had the 3BB optic cable (30/3) for two weeks. before I had a designated 3/1 line. During the two weeks the new optic has constantly been erratic and above all unreliable.
I am going to see if I can change back. A constant and steady stream of 2 - 3M is better that erratic 30M.

[musungu]

I have recently signed up and awaiting installation so your comments concern me, as did those of BILLY JOE 1, my location is Pala U Road past Elephant Village so I am very interested to hear where BOTH yours are?

I did hear that people were unhappy down past Soi 112.

[Big Boy]

Assuming mine is 'optic', I'm in the Soi 94(ish) area.

[PET]

Assuming mine is 'optic', I'm in the Soi 94(ish) area.

You would know because the set up / installation cost is Bht 2,000 and the monthly fee just over Bht 1,300 ?

[Big Boy]

Well, mine is definitely not optic then, but I seem to be getting 3 times the speed of other posters who, on the face of it, are getting ripped off for a premium service.

When I chose my service, it was based on advice from Sandman, who had tried the premium services, but returned to the cheap package because premium gave him little more than boasting rights.

The only real problem I've had was the lost packets problem, which seems to have been fixed in the latest (only?) major outage.

My daughter is on the cheapie True package, and gets at least 50% more speed than I do - she's in the Soi 96 area.

[Nereus]

Assuming mine is 'optic', I'm in the Soi 94(ish) area.

You would know because the set up / installation cost is Bht 2,000 and the monthly fee just over Bht 1,300 ?

If I recall correctly the set up was 1,500 Baht. The monthly fee did not change, and has not changed, for the base service. That is 590 Baht / month plus the VAT, plus 100 Baht line rental. A total of 737.40 Baht / month. If you have a higher package it will be more.

As has been posted previously, there is no way to find out just what part of the overall infrastucture is fibre optic, and which part is still copper. With mine the interface box is mounted on a pole about 20 metres from the house. From the box to the house is still the original copper line. Depending where you are there could be all sorts of rubbish between your house and wherever the "service" joins the main trunk line.

[musungu]

Assuming mine is 'optic', I'm in the Soi 94(ish) area.

You would know because the set up / installation cost is Bht 2,000 and the monthly fee just over Bht 1,300 ?

If I recall correctly the set up was 1,500 Baht. The monthly fee did not change, and has not changed, for the base service. That is 590 Baht / month plus the VAT, plus 100 Baht line rental. A total of 737.40 Baht / month. If you have a higher package it will be more.

As has been posted previously, there is no way to find out just what part of the overall infrastucture is fibre optic, and which part is still copper. With mine the interface box is mounted on a pole about 20 metres from the house. From the box to the house is still the original copper line. Depending where you are there could be all sorts of rubbish between your house and wherever the "service" joins the main trunk line.

There seems to be some confusion about this Fibe Optic.

I have the sales brochure in front of me and the new Firbe Optic service starts at the lowest package with a download of 30Mbps at a monthly cost of bht 1,284 (inc tax) for Home Use. There is also a charge of bht 2,000 upon application to cover the new Router and 3BB are coming to install a totally new line from quite a long way.
My existing service is costing bht 590 per month and gives ( sometimes ) 10Mb

[Nereus]

There seems to be some confusion about this Fibe Optic.

Yes, I agree! Particularly when the service people from 3BB do not know either! I most certaintly have fibre optic, as an IP telephone will not work over the copper network, and mine has worked until recently.

[Pleng]

There seems to be some confusion about this Fibe Optic.

an IP telephone will not work over the copper network

Um... yes it will

[Nereus]

There seems to be some confusion about this Fibe Optic.

an IP telephone will not work over the copper network

Um... yes it will

It is several years since I worked on this equipment, and equipment is constantly being developed and improved, so maybe it can now. However, please explain why they replaced my old telephone with an IP phone, and also informed me that a standard fax machine will not work on the fibre optic connection that I have.

As I have posted, the short section of line from the interface box on the pole is still copper, but maybe this is where some people are running into trouble if there is still a long section of old copper line from the house to the fibre optic connection. At the time it was installed they told me that if I wanted to use a fax I would have to have a seperate line installed. In fact, the developer had to do just that for his office fax line.

[Nereus]

From Wiki: An analog telephony adapter or analog telephone adapter (ATA) is a device used to connect one or more standard analog telephones to a digital telephone system (such as Voice over IP) or a non-standard telephone system.

It does not have one of these, as it does not need it, being an IP telephone. I guess when mine was installed the IP phone was the cheaper option. Does not explain the fax machine problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_telephone_adapter

edit: here is another slant on it: http://www.rense.com/general96/tele.html

Telephone Companies
& Fiber-Optic Foolishness
By Ted Twietmeyer
10-9-13

[Pleng]

However, please explain why they replaced my old telephone with an IP phone, and also informed me that a standard fax machine will not work on the fibre optic connection that I have.

In fact, the developer had to do just that for his office fax line.

An analogue phone / fax will not work if you have a fibre optic cable coming into your home.

The reverse is not true; an IP phone doesn't care what connection you have into the home, as it communicates with your router.

[Billy Joe I]

I am towards the end of Soi 102 (the paved section) and took the FO package when I moved in. Further down towards Phetkasem road where I was before, the copper package (590Baht) was at least reliable but never quick. I think I saw 1.5mb once! After speaking to the 3BB counter in Market Village, I was persuaded to upgrade with the promise of almost 30mb regularly.

So far, it's been cutting out, speeds inconsistent, never much faster than the old copper package I had before for less than half the price and all while 3BB state the service is operating perfectly normally!

I think the same two children 'Nereus' had visit him at home must have been the same people I speak to in the office. I'm not even sure they know what the product their employers sell actually is and I'm amazed they manage to find their way into work each day. If they had half a brain cell between them, they would be lucky! They call themselves 'techies' only because they have managed to use their smart phone successfully...

As for IP phones, they have been common place in work places in Europe for years. I remember the office I worked in in London over 6 years ago had IP phones which worked flawlessly. It was over copper but there was a distribution station very close to the office so speeds were always good. Skype phones looked good but as I was barely able to hear a conversation on Skype using my computer, I have not tried it. If anyone on here does use one now though, would you be able to recommend it?

[Nereus]

However, please explain why they replaced my old telephone with an IP phone, and also informed me that a standard fax machine will not work on the fibre optic connection that I have.
In fact, the developer had to do just that for his office fax line.

An analogue phone / fax will not work if you have a fibre optic cable coming into your home.
The reverse is not true; an IP phone doesn't care what connection you have into the home, as it communicates with your router.

Well, that clears that up, I had it ass about!

Can somebody that has recently had "fibre optic" installed please tell me if 3BB, or whoever, has run the fibre optic right into the house?

Another thing that MAY be causing problems is the type of wire run from the street into the house, if the fibre optic is not run all the way. All of the phone wiring that I have seen here is just flat figure 8 type of copper. I have not seen twisted pair copper wire used in domestic installations, and it is very likely that at least some of the phone wiring is also close to electrical wiring, where it is prone to picking up all sorts of noise and interference. There is also a limit on how far you can run copper wire to carry digital signals. The stuff that I have experince with is Cat 5 twisted pairs, and that has a run limit of less than 100 metres.

Fibre optic cabling also requires special tools and proceedures to terminate and connect. If they do it the same as they do electrical work, then it is not surprising it does not work correctly!