Patong Phuket ADSL Bittorrent VOIP Vonage

[brilliantpebble]

My isp maxnet is now blocking all peer to peer file sharing ports so emule and bittorrent don't work. Their 3,500 baht package allows bittorrent and voip but this is a bit steep for internet access. Tried forwarding ports; doesn't work. My Vonage voip phone still works but it is getting less reliable.

My buddy lives in Chalong and uses Ji Net for torrents; but I haven't tested out voip and was curious how the Ji Net speed was lately. ( July 2006 )..

Anyone have a quality connection that supports bittorrent, voip, for under 2000 baht a month?

Presently using:
TT&T line
Max Net Home

in Patong Phuket.

[LivinLOS]

how can they tell what packets are bit torrent packets if you modify the ports ??

I hear that the CAT system is the fastest right now.. 2600b to get real 800 - 1400kbps.. CAT has to come and fit a new line to the house.

[brilliantpebble]

Not sure exactly how they do it but they do.

I'll check with CAT about the bittorrent and voip.

CXLoxInfo emailed me back and said they block bittorrent but not voip.

[Crazy_Matt]

LiL is right - change the port - use a different router. They can make it hard but not impossible - once your on - YOUR ON BABY

[brilliantpebble]

I read in several different forums and sites that they can do it. They don't actually just block ports; they snif the packets. I can connect with bittorrent and emule; I even get a "high id" indicating that all ports are connected; however whenever a transfer is started it is dropped immediatly. If I bring my pc down to the internet shop it all works fine.

http://www.google.com/search?q=isp+s...top+bittorrent

[Crazy_Matt]

I stand Corrected.

Suppose we get spoilt with our 27 M/b Cable connections here :P

Only $60 a month

[syeatman]

Originally Posted by brilliantpebble

I read in several different forums and sites that they can do it. They don't actually just block ports; they snif the packets.

It's called traffic shaping. You can get round it by turning on encryption in your P2P client, if it is supported.

But as suggested, try to change ports first as they may just be blocking the common/standard P2P ports.

[LivinLOS]

Encrypt the traffic.. Modify your ports..

What are they going to do then ??

[brilliantpebble]

I changed my plan to the 1,500 Baht per month MaxNet 4 life package and it all seems to be working now.

I tried encrypting but couldn't get it working; I'm sure a few more hours of research might have solved it.

Glad I changed anyway cause I'm sharing with less neighboors.

Summary:
TT&T line in Patong Phuket Thailand
Max Net 4 Life 256/512
emule, bittorrent, voip, skype all operating
July 6 2006

[stevem]

Originally Posted by brilliantpebble

Max Net 4 Life 256/512

Seems abit strange your up speed is higher than your down speed.

Glad you have sorted it.

[LivinLOS]

Will just be backwards..

Woody says the CAT system is pretty hot.. Hes getting measured 800kbps at worst up to about 1400kbps in the AM.. Thats international measured bandwidth !!

CAT actually come and string a new line to your hose and you cant have phone or voice access (dont use mine anyway) so for people that cant get lines its a godsend I guess..

2600 baht is a fair bit more then I am paying on my cheapo 1000 per month 1024/256 but still not the end of the world. If things keep moving in that direction I might start to have some faith.

[syeatman]

Just finished reading that article over brekkie.

Moving over to Kata next week and the landlord just txt to say that the new CAT line is in and ready Will be going over as soon as the weather clears up to check it out.

I'm only on a 256k TOT connection at the moment and even that I find to be pretty quick for browsing and very stable, just can't wait to get on the new line and see the difference.

[LivinLOS]

Do report on real speeds please as I am considering a change..

My current TOT is usually fast enough but I dont find it relaible.. Combination of bad lines to my house and thier fault mean I do get outages.

[hyku1147]

Can you get access to usenet?

If your isp does not provide free access, then there are cheap servers, fortec for example, that give really reliable service.

All the goodies are on usenet, which is also refered to as newsgroups.

There is a very good free news reader called grabit, and the download speeds are very fast.

This method bypasses all the BS that goes with torrents.

Go to ://www.newzbin.com, and you will see what is availble.

[syeatman]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

Do report on real speeds please as I am considering a change..

My current TOT is usually fast enough but I dont find it relaible.. Combination of bad lines to my house and thier fault mean I do get outages.

Ok, so moved to Kata today, been having a nightmare with hooking up internet connection. Spoke to the landlord about getting a CAT line in and he said no problem he deals with them all the time and he will sort it out - Great!

Not so, speak to his Mrs and turns out that a bog standard new line has been put in and she has kindly taken the standard 256k internet package they offer - NO!!!!!

So anyway, I get over here tonight with the laptop and notice there is no phone socket, just a couple of ethernet ports! No No No, this is getting worse. Plugin straight in and fire up adslthailand.com to do a speed test.

Well to say I was gobsmacked is a slight understatement. see attached pic.

I have rerun the test a dozen times and the worst I got was 1.2Mbps. I have no idea what my line is but I am way happy. I'll give it another go tomorrow to see what the speed is like as it is late now and noone else will be on the net, and try thaivisa test too as it is down atm. I was thinking that maybe they did get the requested CAT line, but the monthly charge is only just over 1k Bt so I doubt it.

Maybe this is all a dream and I will wake up tomorrow back on 256k!

[LivinLOS]

Sweet.. got a spare room..

I am connecting at 12kbps this morning !!!! I hear TT&T are making some major upgrade now / in July.. Also CATs offering is fast.. TOT seems to be lagging behind but I am ok with it when its reliable.. Lines seem to have gone to hell in the last week.

But its the international bandwidth thats lacking.. Get rid of the CAT monopoly on it ASAP.

Do you know who is providing the line.. Surely it has to be CAT if theres no telephone socket ?? Also if just ethernet port wheres the ADSL modem in this ?? Is CAT stringing ethernet lines around ??

[syeatman]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

Sweet.. got a spare room..

I am connecting at 12kbps this morning !!!! I hear TT&T are making some major upgrade now / in July.. Also CATs offering is fast.. TOT seems to be lagging behind but I am ok with it when its reliable.. Lines seem to have gone to hell in the last week.

But its the international bandwidth thats lacking.. Get rid of the CAT monopoly on it ASAP.

Do you know who is providing the line.. Surely it has to be CAT if theres no telephone socket ?? Also if just ethernet port wheres the ADSL modem in this ?? Is CAT stringing ethernet lines around ??

The place I am in is a bunch of apartments that all share an internet connection that comes into the basement where I presume the adsl modem is. This is then split between the apartments, which all have ethernet ports built-in (done by the landlord)
I said that I needed a dedicated line which is what I got. I'm going down later today to have a look at the setup, but I have seen the initial bill from CAT and it is 1k Bt. I'll check exactly what the service from CAT is so that anyone can enquire about it, though I now have a sneeky feeling that there might be a couple of those CAT (no phone service) lines down there with the speeds I am getting.

I'm downloading from a P2P right now and combined download is about 85kbps. I just run a thaivisa bandwidth test, with the P2P still downloading and got...

Your current bandwidth reading is:
601.90kbps
which means you can download at 75.24 KB/sec. from our servers.


TT&T are going through upgrades right now, I went down there last week and they told me to come back next week as they were literally shutting the office for a few days while the upgrades were being done.

[brilliantpebble]

Moved to Kathu and the same maxnet for life package ran at a quarter of the speed over here. Switched to the 2700 baht/month Ji net "net cafe" package that gives me 1024 down and 512 up. Real speed is more like 700+ down.

No CAT lines available in Kathu yet.

[LivinLOS]

TOT were hell for me for years.. Then in sept it changed and worryingly after months of being near perfect this weekend it went tits up again from Sat till Tuesday...

Right now speakeasy speed tester just reported 840 down and 280 up..

Not bad for 1000 baht.

[ATMwalking]

Originally Posted by brilliantpebble

My buddy lives in Chalong and uses Ji Net for torrents; but I haven't tested out voip and was curious how the Ji Net speed was lately. ( July 2006 )..

Anyone have a quality connection that supports bittorrent, voip, for under 2000 baht a month?

I am in Chalong with TT&T with JI-Net Cafe (2,700B) package. Vonage works great. No issues.

You could run it on the cheaper package, but it isn't quite as clear. OK for personal calls but not business. The problem was 256 kbps up is pretty low and can't hear you as clear.

Even with my current 512kps up, it is much clearer but I can't be running anything else like torrents in the background.

[ATMwalking]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

how can they tell what packets are bit torrent packets if you modify the ports ??

I hear that the CAT system is the fastest right now.. 2600b to get real 800 - 1400kbps.. CAT has to come and fit a new line to the house.

It is called traffic shapping. They inspect your inbound/outbound packets for certian types of communication, like torrents. Only way around this is to encrypt. Most torrent/news clients support this now. Then there isn't much they can do.

I will be testing my new CAT today Will let you know.

[LivinLOS]

From 840 down and 280 up in the morning to 320 down and 240 up now in the day..

TOT has its slowdowns but I can live with that for its price..