If you dare to venture on an English language forum about Thailand, you’ll be led to believe that all Thai ADSL services are scams. Therefore, I’ll start with explaining some of the more important issues that impact the speed of your ADSL connection.

First there’s the advertised speed. You’ll often hear “I’m paying for a 2 megabit connection but the Speakeasy test only clocks half a megabit.” Unfortunately, you’re not paying for a 2 megabit connection to some ISP in the US. The advertised speed is the ADSL sync speed. It’s the speed at which your ADSL modem tries to send data over your telephone line to the phone company’s exchange. That telephone line is your own line, and you will get the advertised speed. If the line is bad, e.g. old wiring in your house, your ADSL modem likely won’t connect at all, or disconnect frequently. The technician from the phone company can easily measure the quality of your line by plugging a special device into the phone socket in your wall. When the TOT technicians came by to install my ADSL, they had such a device with them. They didn’t need it though. The quality of my line is excellent, even though our house is in a sparsely populated area.

In addition, the ADSL sync speed is at the ATM level. ATM is the network technology ADSL systems use. But the Internet doesn’t run on ATM. It runs on IP. And your IP packets are part of a connection, managed with TCP, which reorders and retransmits IP packets as needed. And for your application to know what to do with the data, it uses a high-level protocol such as HTTP, FTP or even BitTorrent. I don’t want to get too technical here. You can look at all of these layers as packaging. When you go to the post office to mail a package, you pay for the weight of the whole package, including box, wrapping and padding. Same on the internet. Your 2 megabit ADSL line not only transfers your files, but also the HTTP box, IP wrapping and TCP padding. There is no other way.

But when you download something in a web browser or FTP client, it only reports the number of bytes of the actual file that is downloads. That’s why your browser will report download speeds around 200KB/s on a 2 megabit line, even though 200KB/s is only 1.6 megabit (eight bits per byte). The rest is packaging to make sure you get an identical copy of the file on the web server. The same is true for all those speed test web sites. They simply make your computer download a file, and divide the size of the file by the time it takes to download it. It does not indicate your ADSL speed, because packaging is excluded. The reason is that your web browser simply doesn’t deal with TCP or IP. Those things are handled at lower levels in the operating system. The fact that all these layers exist and that applications such as browsers can be oblivious to them are the reason the Internet works as well as it does with so many different applications.

Everything I’ve just said applies to any ADSL connection anywhere in the world. The potential for bad service from your ISP begins once your signal leaves the local exchange. The signal has to travel from your provider’s private ATM network to the public Internet. That is the first area of contention. Then, if you’re accessing a foreign web site, it has to go through one of Thailand’s overcrowded International Internet Gateways. That is the second area of contention. (Actually, things are a bit more complicated than this, but you probably already have a headache if you made it this far.)

This is where the potential for false advertising begins. What is contention? If 1,000 people sign up for a 2 megabit connection, they could theoretically generate 2 gigabit (2,000 megabit) of traffic at any time, if they all use their ADSL connection to the fullest at the same time. To permit that, the ISP (TOT, TT&T or CAT in Phuket) would have to keep 2 gigabit of bandwidth to anywhere in the world on standby for these people, and charge them through the nose for it. That’s not going to happen. People want cheap. So the ISP provides a little less bandwidth. Or a lot less. How much less is called the “contention ratio”.

In principle, this isn’t a problem. People don’t use the internet 24/7. And even if you’re addicted to the web, you’re not constantly downloading at full speed. Your browser generates a lot of traffic while downloading a page (particularly all those advertisements), but not while you’re reading it. When all those bursts of traffic are spread among a large subscriber base, you won’t notice there’s contention. Unless the ratio is too high.

TT&T’s latest price list (in English) offers 2 megabit connections for 590 baht per month, or 1,090 baht per month, or 5,900 baht per month. The maximum download speed of all these three connections is the same. TOT advertises similar speeds. The prices for the cheap packages, which are the ones they advertise everywhere, are similar to TT&T’s. Their “SME Speedy” packages, equivalent to TT&T’s “Premier”, are quite a bit more expensive.

So why pay two times or ten times more? The main difference between these packages is the contention ratio. TT&T doesn’t publish any numbers, but typical numbers are between 1:20 to 1:50 for consumer ADSL, 1:10 for premium ADSL, and 1:1 for high-end ADSL. Essentially, you’re paying more to get better speeds in case of congestion. If everybody uses their connection to the fullest at the same time, you’ll get 2% to 5% of your speed with the cheap package, 10% with the medium package, and 100% with the top package.

At least, that’s the idea. In practice, it’s a bit more complicated. You can have multiple connections open at the same time. E.g. you could be chatting on Skype while viewing a web site while downloading a file in the background. Or, you could hook up your home network to your ADSL router, and your whole family can browse the web at the same time. Some ADSL users will have many connections open at the same time, while others perhaps only one. If bandwidth was managed per ADSL account, this wouldn’t make a difference. If you use multiple connections and other people don’t, you wouldn’t get more bandwidth this way. E.g. if three people are downloading one file, and you are downloading three, you’d still only get 25% of the total bandwidth, split among your three downloads.

But things don’t work that way. The routers in Bangkok that hand off your Internet traffic to the fibre optic network that spans the globe don’t keep track of individual ADSL accounts. Prioritizing traffic for three tiers of service (1:50, 1:10 or 1:1) already complicates matters enough. That is why programs known as download managers can speed up your downloads. If three people are downloading one file, and you are downloading three, all going over the same congested international link, you’ll be getting about the same amount of bandwidth as the other three combined. That is also why heavy downloaders make the internet slow for everybody else, and why some ISPs block or throttle applications such as BitTorrent (which typically opens over a hundred simultaneous connections, not three).

I’ve had my cheap 2 megabit ADSL line with TOT for a few months now. It’s definitely a mixed bag. Speeds are great when browsing Thai web sites, all day long. Foreign web sites are a different story. Particularly in the afternoon and early evening, single connection speeds drop off dramatically. Still much better than dial-up or GPRS. But not what I would call broadband. Interestingly, however, is that even in the afternoon, I can still download large files at speeds close to 200 KB/s. I just need to use a download manager and set it to use 10 simultaneous connections. All this tells me that TOT’s ADSL network has plenty of capacity, but that their international internet gateway is sorely lacking.

Two years ago, CAT still had the government monopoly on international telecommunications in Thailand. So all ISPs had to use CAT’s international internet gateway to allow their subscribers to browse foreign web sites. That monopoly ended in 2007. Now, all the major internet providers in Thailand are rolling out their own gateways, in an effort to provide their customers with greater speeds, and to stop putting their money into CAT’s coffers. It seems that right now, TOT is doing a bit too much of the latter, and not enough of the former. NECTEC keeps a map of internet connectivities (which is getting very cluttered), and a bandwidth tally (currently 40 gigabit between Thailand and the rest of the world).

Before I moved to Phuket earlier this year, I had a TOT ADSL line in Bangkok. This was a 1 megabit “SME Speedy” connection, which cost me 2,700 baht per month. This line performed much better for general web browsing than the cheap 2 megabit line I have now in Phuket. While it did slow down somewhat in the afternoon, it rarely became slow enough to annoy me. The only time that line had a real problem was after the earthquake in Taiwan (which affected everybody in East Asia), and for about a month when TOT switched from using Internet Thailand’s network to their own.

We also rented a place in Phuket while finishing our own earlier this year. A 1 megabit consumer ADSL line (now 490 baht per month) was installed there. That line suffered the same afternoon slowdown as my current TOT line, while my TOT line in Bangkok didn’t, at the same time. Though Phuket is far away from Bangkok by push cart, it’s only one hop on the internet. If the congestion was between Bangkok and Phuket, Thai web site speeds would suffer the same. But they don’t. This does tell me that “you get what you pay for” also applies to ADSL.

If I didn’t already have the EV-DO connection, I’d upgrade to one of TOT’s more expensive packages right away (given that TOT’s competitors won’t connect me at all). But since I do, I’m keeping both. I use CAT EV-DO for browsing, and TOT ADSL as a backup and for large downloads, so they don’t slow down my web browsing. I have both the Cradlepoint and the ADSL router on the same network, so I can instantly switch by changing the default gateway in Windows, or even use both if I use two PCs or a virtual machine (VMware).

There are three companies that provide ADSL services in Phuket: CAT, TOT and TT&T.

CAT is the Communications Authority of Thailand, the former government monopoly on international telecommunications. That’s the same company that offers EV-DO wireless broadband internet in Phuket. Their ADSL service is called HiNet. They offer faster lines that TOT and TT&T, but at a price. The trick is that the faster lines aren’t ADSL, but G.SHDSL. G.SHDSL requires a different modem, which you get free from CAT with your subscription.

CAT does not offer telephone lines. To get CAT’s ADSL or G.SHDSL, CAT will need to run a new line to your house. The line is just like a telephone line, except that it only serves ADSL or G.SHDSL. No dialtone. Compare it with running a dedicated line for a fax. Unfortunately, HiNet is only available in the more populated areas of Phuket. Our house is not in range, so I have no personal experience with HiNet. You can sign up for it at the CAT building on Phang Nga Road in Phuket Town, or at the CAT office in Patong.

TT&T and TOT do provide telephone service in Phuket. If you already have a telephone number, you can easily add ADSL to your monthly bill. The ADSL signal runs over the same wires as your voice. A little box called an ADSL splitter makes sure your phone and ADSL modem don’t get into a fight. Both TT&T and TOT give you a free splitter and ADSL modem with your ADSL subscription. Both have offices around Phuket. The easiest ones to find are on the second floor in the Central Festival department store, near Powerbuy. If one company can’t give you service, you can walk right over to the next one. Before you go, ask your neighbors for their telephone numbers, if you don’t have your own number yet. That makes it easy to check whether you can get a line.

Though TT&T and TOT both cover most of Phuket, they haven’t expanded their service in line with Phuket’s (online) population growth. When we moved into our house a few months ago, I found out that people down the street already had TT&T ADSL. When we contacted TT&T, they told us we were in range for ADSL, but they couldn’t even give us a telephone line. The exchange for our area is full.

When we called TOT, they told us we could get a phone line, but that there were no free ADSL ports. We got the phone line for the fax machine. I limped by with an EDGE connection for Internet access while we were on the waiting list for TT&T, TOT and CAT’s EV-DO.

When CAT called us the CCU-680 was in stock, we called TOT to ask if we would be able to get ADSL any time soon. I didn’t want to buy an expensive modem only to get ADSL (with free modem) the next day. After my wife made about half a dozen calls getting told “I dunno–call this guy instead”, I decided to pony up the money for the wireless connection, which has been working great.

Only a week or so after I bought the router to share the wireless connection on our network, we got a call from TOT saying they were coming to install our ADSL line. Typical. Since I depend on a reliable internet connection for my business, and consumer ADSL lines are really cheap now, I figured a backup connection wasn’t a bad idea.

Two days later two TOT technicians came by, plugged in the free ADSL router, and concluded that it didn’t work. Fortunately, they’d brought a spare, which worked fine.

I didn’t blog about this earlier because, aside from various other excuses, I wanted to put the ADSL connection through its paces before judging the quality of the connection. That’ll be my next article. For now, I’ll say that I’m still using both CAT’s EV-DO and TOT’s ADSL.

Just read this magnificent piece in the Phuket Gazette:

Mobile phone service provider DTAC has announced its plans to make third-generation “3G” technology available in Phuket by mid-2009 after being granted a license to provide nationwide 3G service by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). DTAC representative Amarit Thongchai told the Gazette that DTAC will now have a 12-month head start on providing full 3G coverage.

Don’t you just love corporate spin? Phuket has 3G coverage right now. I’m using it to beam this article onto the world. See my article on CAT’s CDMA Network for details.

I don’t mean to rain on DTAC’s parade. The more connectivity options, the better. While CAT uses 1xEV-DO Rev A, DTAC will use HSDPA. Those are different technologies that require different devices. But they’re both 3G.

This also reminds me I’ve been negligent in continuing my Internet in Phuket series I started last month. Stay tuned.

Sunday morning I was at the beach in Chalong Bay, when I saw a whole bunch of sailboats pass by. They were having a competition. I don’t know anything about sailing, but it was a good opportunity to give my new tele lens a workout.