Warning: a bit of a rant ahead:
Our internet still sucks
We are now 3 days (working days) late with our magazine launch and were not any closer to our launch than we were 3 days ago due to our internet connection. We pay for a 2mb service but only receive, at best, up to 200kpbs Having 5 people up-loading and downloading with this kind of speed is a joke – practically impossible.
It’s pissing everyone off and I’m getting pissed off all the time. We call our ISP but they honestly couldn’t give a monkeys. They say it’s a problem with our router, but we have tested the router at another location and it works fine. They then promise they will send an engineer out, but he’s only come into the office and then fucked off again 5 minutes later the once. We call and call and call but they keep on fobbing us of.
I’ve been reading on-line about the possible reasons why our net is so slow and think it could come down to the following reasons:
- There are just to many people/companies on the same line (our office is located in the business district)
- There is a problem with our phone line
- We are to far away for the data centers, which causes a delay
- True a limiting the size of our connection but not telling us due to the nature of our business: i.e we upload and download more than there average customer would.
Yesterday we decided to order another internet connection from a different provider. Only one of the ISP’s do not rely on True for a phone line (TOT) but there cusomter service is apprently even worse. Well, that lived up to the truth as they are not returning our calls so far. All other ISP’s (loxinfo, buddy and KSC) have told us that they need to confirm with True for a phone line and this could take around 5 days. It’s a joke.
There are many things I don’t like about living in Thailand, as with every country where one decide to live, but the thing that pisses me off the most here is customer service. Not just from ISP’s, but nearly every Thai operated business I’ve dealt with have caused me problems. From ordering my desks, to the PC’s, to ordering a fridge: all have required me to return to the store with problems. I often feel these companies are run by clueless school kids. When I have to deal with a Thai company, I cringe… because I know what’s coming.
There’s a saying Thai’s use that goes “Jai yen yen” which means to keep a “cool heart” i.e – to keep calm. I’m losing around $450 per day due to our ISP and it’s kind of hard to keep a cool heart, which is why I choose to work from home today so my staff d not see my have a “hot heart” i.e – angry, tempered.
It’s killing me that after 3 days of chasing around, we are no where closer, and myself or anyone in the office just doesn’t know what to do.
What would you do if you were in my shoes right now?
Update:
We have decided to up-grade our internet connection from a 2mb to a new 2mb business – apparently this line has less users on it so should give us more speed. It’s crazy, here we have a company providing my business with the worst service possible, and I now find myself committing to paying them even more every month. I feel like there rapping me. I’m desperate, so anything is worth a try. If this fails, I’ll seriously consider moving office.
Im getting exactly the same from TOT.
So what im saying to them…..with a very cool heart is.
“Oh I’m sorry, if the internet doesn’t work I cant pay your bill.”
They respond to that.
Works a treat.
If only that route would work :)
Chris,
I’ve found it necessary to have a backup plan for access – it costs a bit more, but we have a satellite internet provider as well – it really doesn’t get muuch use, but when the shitty DSL service goes down or drops to slower than dialup speeds, we can swap cables on the router and we’re at least able to continue to operate at near “normal” speeds.
I’ve also thought about maybe an unlimited data plan and using a mobile for access, but the speed just isn’t there… I have to say Thailand is proabably the worst in the region for internet access. I’ve seen more than one comment about people literally moving their operations to neighboring countries SPECIFICALLY for this reason.
As for Thai customer service… You know it occurs to me that Thai’s seem to live in this bubble of “right now” – they really don’t have a “what about the future” mentality.
99% of Thai’s don’t seem to understand that if they do a GOOD JOB (hell just good, not even great) that I could come back again and again as their long term customer, making them much more in the long run! They just have absolutely no idea of this concept…
We did consider installing satellite but one of my team mates put me off when he mentioned that it’s an absolute nightmare in the rainy season, and as as that’s just around the corner we were thinking maybe it’s better to wait. I would love to hear your thoughts on how it works in bad weather conditions.
You made some valid points regarding Thai customer service, but a strong possibility is due to Thai’s being so “geng-jai” i.e – they don’t often complain when they receive a bad service. My staff hate me asking them to call up and have a good moan, it’s just not in them to do it. If 95% of True’s customer base is Thai, and none of them moan, perhaps they think that their level of service is acceptable.
I’m currently in early talks with someone in the Philippines to set up an office there for a few other projects I want to start, both cost of staff and great infrastructure make it more of a viable option that to grow my business solely in Thailand.
Chris, we’ve got a back-up plan too because, like you, we rely so much on the internet and without it we’re stuck.
I download up to 1GB of data every Friday morning and if I do it a 6am it takes about an hour. If I wait until 9am it can take five times as long. The point being that when everyone starts work (everyone meaning everyone on a TOT connection in our case) the whole network suffers.
I did ask my staff if they wanted to work night shifts for better pay but they declined. It wouldn’t bother me as I’m a night owl anyway :)