True Fiber Optic Broadband

[Super Joe]

I've just ordered True's new DOCSIS (haven't a clue) internet service, the lady in the MV True shop showed me my actual house on their computer with a red line going into it from the road red line denoting it's there now. Soi 94, Pattana 2. They said it'd be about 5 days but she really didn't seem sure about much... obviously I'll report back any developments worth noting...

SJ

[Pagey]

True told my missus the cable should be available in Condochain by the end of this month. They asked the address also to check on their computer ; maybe it's not big enough to see from MV

Bad day to change your avatar SJ

[Pleng]

Hmmm. I just came across a True web page ad (http://trueonline.truecorp.co.th/packag ... ส์_72_ช่อง):

True_internet+catv.gif

Am I reading correctly that they have a package for B899/month for 15Mbps/1.5Mbps DOCSIS service PLUS the 72-channel Knowledge TrueVisions package? What is that column with B200/month?

To satisfy my curiosity, I went to the True shop in Market Village Friday morning and verified that the B899 package is for 15Mb/1.5Mb DOCSIS (cable) internet service and includes free 72 channels CATV. It isn't exactly the TrueVisions Knowledge package, but pretty close. From a quick scan of the channels offered, I think the only potential English language channels might be Channel V (music video) and "FOX." (They didn't know which Fox Network channel it is. I suspect Fox News?)

Do you know if it's possible to have the cable TV point and internet point fitted to different rooms in the house?

[Super Joe]

Am I reading correctly that they have a package for B899/month for 15Mbps/1.5Mbps DOCSIS service PLUS the 72-channel Knowledge TrueVisions package? What is that column with B200/month?

I'm sure the girl said something to me about there being a promotional period, (maybe 3 months!?), and then a charge comes in as she was pointing to something on the pamphlet... possibly the B200 bit. But I wasn't really paying much attention to the bint as not really interested in the TV side of things.


SJ

[hhinner]

The 200 baht column refers to the cable phone service - Fixed Line Plus. Special offer for DOCSIS Internet applicants. I'm not sure whether that's an extra 200 baht/month or that's how much free phone call you get included for the 899 baht.

[wpcoe]

My new TrueOnline DOCSIS (cable) 15Mbps/1.5Mbps internet line is up and running, as is the TrueVisions free 72-channel package.

Timeline:
Friday afternoon: Signed one-year contract at True office at Market Village
Friday 6pm: Received SMS saying installation would be Monday morning
Sunday 5pm: Missed a call, turns out was number of True installer
Monday morning: Rain, rain and more rain, so not surprisingly, no installation
Monday 5pm: Call from True installers, they were on their way
Monday, 630pm: Installation finished: TrueOnline & TrueVisions up & running

The good:

The not-so-good:
TrueVisions free 72-channel package: Not a single channel in English. One Korean and one Chinese channel, though. I had hoped "FOX" and Channel V (music videos) would be in English, but FOX appears to be a movie channel dubbed in Thai, and Channel V is actually "Channel V - Thailand."

Also, it's a bit irritating to have to keep pressing the channel up/down button to pass through all the blacked-out Gold/Platinum/HD channels that I don't receive to get to the next channel I *do* receive. As far as I can tell, there's no way to set up the cable converter box to skip the display of channels that I don't receive. It takes forever to surf through all the channels. I gave up after channel 175. Between the number of non-displayable channels and the time it takes the cable box to "focus" on each channel, I'm simply going back to the basic Hua Hin Cable system which has multiple English channels. Considering the TrueVisions package is free, I won't complain too loudly, though. It was a wise and effective marketing ploy from True -- without the added lure of free cable TV, I probably wouldn't have jumped ship from 3BB for just a modest increase in internet speed (from 13Mbps 3BB to 15Mbps True.)

The ugly:


Other than the butt-ugly crater in my living room wall (luckily hidden behind the TV until I can fix it), the two installers did a neat installation -- wiring outdoors in nice straight lines and as out of view as possible. They offered to set up my (free) WiFi router with the SSID (broadcast name of the connection) and password of my choice, which was a nice touch.

The modem/router they provided is a Cisco EPC2325 with 802.11g WiFi, 4 wired 100Mbps Ethernet ports and WPA2/WPA/WEP encryption.

Bottom line:
I am very satisfied with the speed of the internet connection, which is above the advertised speed. In fact, I did a couple torrents, and they both downloaded at 1.5x the speed of my 3BB ADSL connection for the same monthly price.

[wpcoe]

Do you know if it's possible to have the cable TV point and internet point fitted to different rooms in the house?

Yes.

The installation at my house is a single cable running into the house, and then a splitter inside the house to branch to separate CATV/internet lines. I just had them put the internet modem/router behind the TV in my living room, but they had offered to route the internet cabling elsewhere. I chose what I did because I'll be using WiFi (in a typical, small townhouse) and wanted to minimize cabling running through and across walls and ceilings indoors.

[Pleng]

but FOX appears to be a movie channel dubbed in Thai, and Channel V is actually "Channel V - Thailand."

Hope I'm not stating the obvious here, but have you checked for a feature on the remote/box to change the language? You might find it's possible to set the language to English.

Do you know if it's possible to have the cable TV point and internet point fitted to different rooms in the house?

Yes.

The installation at my house is a single cable running into the house, and then a splitter inside the house to branch to separate CATV/internet lines. I just had them put the internet modem/router behind the TV in my living room, but they had offered to route the internet cabling elsewhere. I chose what I did because I'll be using WiFi (in a typical, small townhouse) and wanted to minimize cabling running through and across walls and ceilings indoors.

Excellent news, thank you

[wpcoe]

Hope I'm not stating the obvious here, but have you checked for a feature on the remote/box to change the language? You might find it's possible to set the language to English.

Thanks! Obvious or not, I somehow missed that setting. You can choose the primary and secondary languages to be Thai or Eng, and I had them reversed.

I changed primary language to Eng, and then found about six or seven channels (including Fox) were in English.

[Pleng]

Good to hear. What were the other English channels, out of interest?

[wpcoe]

I just spent a half hour flipping through channels 1 through 200, jotting down the TrueVisions displayed label for the channel, and which channels were not in Thai at that moment -- I say that because some of the non-Thai/non-English (French, Chinese, Korean) may be different languages for different programs?

Anyway, here is my chart as of now:



Apparently there are actually 79 channels included in the free package.

[PeteC]

23 is primarily English language movies, with only 1-2 every week in something else. Pete

[Pleng]

I just spent a half hour flipping through channels 1 through 200, jotting down the TrueVisions displayed label for the channel, and which channels were not in Thai at that moment -- I say that because some of the non-Thai/non-English (French, Chinese, Korean) may be different languages for different programs?

Yes when you set a default language it's "when available" so the languge will change depending on the programming being offered.

In a hotel in which I go to watch the F1 from time to time there's always a mad rush towards the start of the race. Their box is set up to have Thai as default, yet the build up is only available in English. As soon as they switch over to the commentary team, Thai language kicks in (which we'd all forgotten about since the last time) and, as I say, there's a mad dash to find the remote and switch the channel.

I notice that the true sport channels are listed on the set top box, but presumably not included in the standard package. Is it possible to upgrade the package to include them, do you know?

[wpcoe]

Does True publish a TV schedule anyplace? I get lost on the various True (TrueVision, TrueMove, TrueMove-H, TrueOnline) web sites.

[PeteC]

Does True publish a TV schedule anyplace? I get lost on the various True (TrueVision, TrueMove, TrueMove-H, TrueOnline) web sites.

There's a printed magazine with a full schedule that we get in the mail every month. Don't know what subscription level you need to be to get it. Pete