Internet Connection Speed

[player]

I travel in the Phils, Indonesia and, well, Pattaya.

 

I have a Netbook (bought in mid-2010), and I use it a lot.

 

Sometimes, Internet connection speed is so damnably slow- I mean it can take 20 minutes to from 'Start' to the page I want to be on, on the 'Net.

 

Most of the time, it is too slow for my liking. But other times, the speed is acceptable- and this can happen just by switching my physical location in the hotel I'm in, for example.

 

Tonight, I went from my guesthouse in Pattaya to the restaurant I usually eat at.

Content loads faster at the restaurant, that's why. Still, it's not exactly greased lightning....

 

To make things even wierder, there seems to be no relationship between the number of bars (you know, bottom right of the screen, there's 5 bars that indicate the strength of your Internet connection, and the appropriate number of them will be filled in) indicating how strongly you're connected, and the actual speed you get. You'd think that, for example, if 4 bars were filled in, you'd be surfing a hell of a lot faster than if 1 or 2 were filled in. Not so.

 

I have AVG Internet Security, I've run it a few times- no virus is indicated.

 

My Netbook is a year and a half now. Time for a new one? Time to take it to some store to get it checked for problem(s)? And if that were the case, would anyone know of a particular place at Tuk.com to take it to?

 

But, OTOH, surfing speed seems to depend on your physical location in these Southeastern Asian countries.

 

I am mystified.

 

Is it my machine, the Internet infrastructure over here, or what???

 

Well, if anyone has any experience like mine, and could share some info, I'd be most grateful.

Many Thanks!

 

Player

[Scumbag]

I suspect the ISPs are using antiquated equipment leading to piss poor connection speeds. It has probably got nothing to do with anything you have control over.

[muu]

I have the same issues with using my notebook and put it down to the different service providers in and around Pattaya. After a while you learn to live with the slow loading pages and go somewhere like CAT in Pattaya Tai if you need to do any downloading.

[Joe_Le_Force]

Indeed the speeds vary all over Pattaya if you're using a Dongle.....

 

Try a true sim as they appear to have maximum speeds via 3G in Pattaya..

[ITGFELIA]

Using AIS via USB Tethering to my mobile i get 1Mbps all the time in Central Pattaya.

[paulyd2k]

yes , had same issues, showing full bars but very slow with dongle, i have a few different dongles, 3.6m and 7.2, and i found the 3.6m ones worked better, i tried to skype also , but on times i nearly threw pc through window, so gone on b/b now, supposed to be 7meg, but thats never true, i think it`s judt years behind most of our countries and we have to wait for them to catch up fo now,

[rainmaker_fm_frisco]

The bars will show the strength of the network signal. They are in no way connected to the physical speed what

you will get. The speed of net (i.e. how fast your page loads or your file downloads) will depend upon many factors.

One of the main factors is backbone bandwidth. If the ISP has a narrow bandwidth allocated, there is nothing

much anyone can do except to change the ISP.

Another is the site which you are trying to open, and it's issues, traffic on the server and so on.