Adventures in Broadband: ADSL in Bangkok
Contents
1. PART ONE SIDEBAR 3 RESOURCES ON THE WEB ISDN article download lt www camblab com nugget nugget htm gt The DSL Sourcebook describes evolution of 120 year old copper telephone network and its adaptation to DSL technology varieties of DSL and of network configurations DSL based services and applications protocols security and authentication 100 pages lt www paradyne com sourcebook_offer index html gt ADSL Forum Web Site lt www adsl com gt WHAT IS DSL DSL like ISDN utilizes special equipment at the telephone company Central Office for TOT or Concentrator for TA and at the subscriber premise to transfer data using only ones and zeroes unlike ordinary phone lines which use continuously vary ing voltages Digital transmission and relatively short lines permit very high data transmission rates Unlike ISDN however the DSL variant now bein es paar in Bangkok called ADSL allows use of both phone line and fulk band id data trans mission simultaneously ISDN allows up to 128 kb s but each telephone conversation consumes 64 kb s so one phone call means only 64 kb s is available for data The Central Office or Concentrator requires a special device called a DSLAM Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer and the customer premise located no more than 3 5 km from the DSLAM depending on cable gauge and required service speed requires a line splitter filter and an ADSL term2. ADVENTURES IN BROADBAND ADSL IN BANGKOK by Jeffrey Race Part One What It Is and How to Get It Previous articles in this series on broadband connectivity explored ISDN a highly cost effective medium for both home and small business users and for many larger enterprises The ISDN series is available for download see the resource box This and the next article will now explore ADSL a second promising alternative cur rently being heavily promoted in Bangkok and reportedly soon to be available in the provinces as well PART ONE SIDEBAR 1 DSL PROVIDERS IN BANGKOK PROVIDER NETWORK URL TELEPHONE Lenso Datacom TOT lt www qnet co th gt 02 377 0555 Samart TOT lt www samartdsl com gt 02 502 6610 TOT TOT pending creation 02 500 8082 4 UBT UCOM TOT lt www ucom co th online gt 02 953 1111 TelecomAsia TA lt www tabroadband com gt 02 900 9000 TA lt www telecomasia co th taexpress gt SSS PART ONE SIDEBAR 2 ISPs supporting DSL access in Bangkok PROVIDER URL TELEPHONE TARGET MARKET REMARK ANET lt www anet net th gt 02 861 1555 Asia Infonet lt www asianet co th gt 02 641 1800 CS lt www cscoms com gt 02 596 5000 Partner with UBT KSC lt www ksc net th gt 02 576 0899 02 979 7000 Loxinfo lt www loxinfo co th gt 02 263 8222 Pacific lt www pacific net th gt 02 618 8888 Promote corporate customer only Reach lt www reach net th gt 02 637 3000 Formerly C amp W
3. ce box and includes an excellent help file Installation is fast and trouble free Experienced installers note that PCI and USB terminal adapters provide less stable DSL connections since they rely on drivers in the host OS While inexpensive they cause problems so if time is money for you a better choice is an external bridge or router which offloads the connectivity tasks from the OS to internal firmware UBT has reportedly entirely dropped USB offering individual users only an OEM PCI card Many USB devices have no WinNT support Note that Bangkok s ADSL offerings differ in some ways from those of other countries and not all hardware will work here with all DSL media providers whose technology indeed differs one from the other For example the popular and highly rated Linksys router works out of box with TA DSL service because the TA network detects the VPI and VCI of connected devices but fails with UBT and Lenso networks unless manually configured Barracuda SMC and USR devices all also fail with these networks Only the ZyXel Prestige 642R adapter router will work with TA Express These devices are expensive in Thailand so ensure that any contemplated hardware is compatible with the intended DSL media provider A good independent resource to check with is ADSLThailand Apple The MAC OS X includes native USB and PPPoE support so setup is easy Earlier versions can use enternet100 hqx per details in the resource box Linux USB driver
4. d pin specified at page 6 of its own User Manual Check yours Also recheck to verify you have grounded your computer using its third ground power pin the one the installer broke off Finally if you will be using your DSL service for mission critical work develop a backup power plan using an Uninterruptible Power Supply Conclusions For technical reasons such as volume of traffic required transmission speed or need for a fixed IP address some subscribers may require DSL However those with less stringent requirements face a realistic choice between ISDN and DSL First it should be noted that DSL s high download speeds the first number quoted in the pricing packages e g the 256 in 256 128 are effective only for sources within Thailand In preparing this article testing of offshore downloads typically re sulted in speeds of 73 100 kilobits second which shows as about 9 13 kilobytes second in the monitor utilities depending on time of day less than the channel bandwidth Downloads within Thailand achieved the contracted bandwidth Spokesmen for both TOT and TA confirm that the real commercial potential of DSL for many potential customers will be achieved only when local content such as music and video becomes available Both are presently cooperating with other firms to develop such local con tent Thus users mainly communicating locally will benefit more from DSL than those linking offshore for large file transfers The ot
5. er applications such as mail clients and browsers are always connected This always on capability is however a two edged sword since you are always live you need protection against malicious net users and there are plenty Within a few minutes of establishing an ADSL connection your computer will see probes some benign and some hostile If you do not install a software or hardware firewall your computer is at grave risk especially if you are running Windows any of several Micro soft applications or unsecured Linux PRICING Many metrics apply to pricing comparisons so for the purpose of comparison with other service options two ADSL packages are shown The metrics are hourly charge vs unlimited dedicated vs shared bandwidh fixed vs dynamic IP address DSL media fees vs ISP fees Install fees Hardware rentals or acquisition costs The package permutations are constantly changing due to market conditions so be sure to explore current offers of all providers available in your service area This presentation is indicative only and is not intended to recommend or exclude any pro viders PACKAGE PROVIDER MEDIA UNIT ISP UNIT TOTAL REMARK bht bht bht Single user HomePak home user TA bundled gt 1 552 promotion SOHO 40 hrs incremental Shared 26 bht hr bandwidth 128 d l TOT 1 000 2 000 100 hrs 3 000 UBT Anet 64 u l concess promotion Dynamic IP ionaires Hourly fee guaran
6. fos com gt InJoy multi media multi platform dialer and firewall lt www fx dk gt Speed testing facilities and utilities Article on DSL speed testing lt http compnetworking about com cs speedtests gt Testing servers in multiple geographic areas lt www testmyspeed com gt Calibrated 5 mb test file from known good server lt ftp service boulder ibm com test 5mb gt Network equipment product reviews lt www practicallynetworked com gt Category 5 patch cable configuration and construction lt www siemon com standards comm_config asp gt lt www atcomservices com highlights makepatch htm gt Microsoft Knowledgebase How to Configure ICS for Use with DSL Connections That Use PPPoE Adapters lt http support microsoft com support kb articles Q273 5 87 ASP gt Windows 98 SE Problems with NDIS Intermediate Drivers lt http support microsoft com support kb articles Q243 1 99 ASP gt Tips tweaks and patches lt www dslreports com tweaks gt lt www speedguide net gt lt www webattack com gt Circuit performance monitor utilities MyVitalAgent 8 01 formerly NetMedic for Windows lt www downloads com gt reviewed in the Bangkok Post at lt http scoop bangkokpost co th bkkpost 2001 april2001 db040401 040401_database14 html gt IPMonitor V 103 for OS 2 lt http hobbes nmsu edu cgi bin h viewer sh 1 amp fname pub os2 util network tcpip ipmon103 zip gt IPSpeed for OS 2 lt http hobbes nm
7. her side of this equation is the ISDN pricing anomaly noted in a previous article Other countries charge for ISDN transmission by byte ine as or occasion ally by time online while in Thailand only a 3 baht call setup fee is charged even if the connection is held up for a month Thus many users will still find ISDN a better choice especially if they are downloading large files from abroad they get no benefit from DSL or they make file transfers locally with other ISDN users for which no ISP time charges appl END Source agnostic DSL hardware vendor installer and consultant lt www adslthailand com gt Telephone 02 570 4180 Dialers RASPPPoE Windows Dialer for USB and PCI stand alone DSL modems lt http user cs tu berlin de normanb gt Apple PPPoE driver Enternet100 hqx lt http support acsalaska net download html gt Robust PPPoE for Linux tested to work on TelecomAsia ADSL service lt www roaringpenguin com pppoe gt NTS100LINUX lt http support acsalaska net download html gt EnterNet for Linux FAQ lt http support efficient com KB NTS linux html gt OS 2 dialer and firewall lt www lgs kiev ua products sffw shtml gt OS 2 dialer with ISDN CAPI 1 2 2 0 DSL PPPoE and modem supportas well as support for cable modems with NAT IP Masquerading Dial Timeout and Packetfilter Dial In Server functionality shareware lt www isdnpm de gt or lt www mensys nl isdn gt OS 2 DSL and ISDN dialer lt www c
8. in high speed transmission Also DSL service from a TOT concessionaire may involve two cooks in the kitchen in many trouble shooting exercises TA on the contrary con trols its complete network so is able to fix cable problems seven days a week with its own staff However TOT now provides seven day a week maintenance of DSL lines as well a welcome result of the growing competitiveness in the Thai telecom sector Next week we will review installation issues hardware and software and tweak ing for a perfect installation In this concluding DSL article we cover a number of hardware software and installation issues platform tweaking and testing and conclusions Sources of all items mentioned in the text are detailed in the resource box Future articles are planned to cover applications such as videoconferencing and VoIP and other broadband alternatives to ISDN and DSL Hardware for Individual Users Windows Individual users have two easy choices either PCI card DSL terminal adapters for desktop systems or USB DSL terminal adapters for desktop or notebook machines Devices are available from a variety of vendors currently in the 6 000 9 000 baht price range and single user accounts have to provide on their own or take up a bundled device from the DSL media provider Dialing in to the DSL media provider requires Windows DUN function as well as PPPoE dial software The poe RASPPPoE shareware package is available as shown in the resour
9. inal adapter generally mis named modem as shown in the accompanying illustration Also the subscriber s inside building wiring must be in very good condition the test setup used for this arti cle failed for several hours after a rainstorm due to moisture infiltrating the inside wiring TELEFHOHE CEHTRAL OFFICI TELA CUSTOMER FFIEMCZ LIE TT AA A Thaom AAA DELAM dtii Emmi Poo INTER FICHARGE HET HORE TELIFIOHE J o WAAMA om Ta CAM als j HATCH lt t Mor Er LITTERE panel BODEM EJ parte L N HHE i ry FAIR iu ft Lite ru freee Cut aA BENEFITS DISAD VANTAGES ADSL provides important download upload speed advantages compared to analog dialup and also in some cases compared to ISDN if ADSL s see rate options are selected It is less expensive than leased line service at some sacrifice in reliability Currently download speeds are available in commercial packages up to 1 000 kb s and you can simultaneously use the phone line SDSL permits even higher speeds but does not allow simultaneous line use for phone service You may keep your existing phone number and even on a TA line simultaneously enable PCT Once installed ADSL service is instantly available so you need not wait for handshaking as is the case sometimes up to a minute with analog dialup If you use an ADSL modem on an hourly plan click on the connection icon to be dealt online With unlimited service using a commercial plan and a rout
10. ing who offers in your geographic area At the moment service is available only in selected areas of Bangkok and no where upcountry TOT plans DSL in the provinces in the fullness of time TT amp T pre viously announced likewise in its service area but attempts to verify a rollout date were unsuccessful by press time Intending subscribers must have their telephone service froma Dsl enabled telephone Concentrator TelecomAsia or Central Office TOT concessionaire and be within the distance limit imposed by the very high frequency of the DSL signals In addition the service cable must be in good physical condition You can contact each of the DSL media providers to enquire whether your exchange number is DSL qualified some have query engines on their websites try first it s fast Currently TOT and its concessionaires cover about 40 Bangkok telephone Central Offices the coverage patterns differ and TA with a different distribution system using Remote Concentrators served over fiber optic lines covers a large area of Bangkok as well If your TOT number is not DSL qualified a new TA number might qualify If more than one provider is possible then choose based on pricing availability of a plan to fit your needs for example some providers offer only high end enterprise packages and reliability service Here TA has a slight advantage because its newer distribution system is in better physical condition than TOT s an important factor
11. ng and Troubleshooting Several sites listed in the resource box offer a variety of tools to test the speed of your connection and to suggest tweaks to your computer s configuration to speed its performance Don t fail to test and tweak your setup because improvement can be substantial If you are having troubles installing or using a DSL connection you may want to read RFC 2516 which defines the PPPoE protocol then use logging software to record sessions and compare them with the standards This procedure was employed with critical effect twice in preparation of this series once to debug a PPPoE dialer and once to determine why a local ISP was suddenly rejecting all outgoing mail They had just upgraded their mail server configuration Installation issues If you are in a suburban or other high lightning area be sure that the protector on the phone line serving up your DSL circuit is properly grounded You may also want to provide additional protection to your expensive DSL adapter bridge or router by using the Off Premise Multi Protector now locally available from Goham Co Ltd It s a few hundred baht well invested superior to the devices used by TOT and TelecomAsia and may prevent your expensive hardware from frying in the first electrical storm Also ensure that bridges and routers are properly grounded at the ac power receptacle The Nokia router tested in preparation of this article curiously did not include the mandatory groun
12. s may be available for some DSL adapters but support is more likely available for PCI card DSL adapters or Ethernet cards to connect to a bridge or router Robust PPPoE for Linux has been tested to work on the TelecomAsia ADSL service and an alternative is NTS100LINUX In preparing this article a SuSE demo booted up a default install and the PC Card NIC connected to a router worked imme diately without any configuration whatever It was even easier than Windows OS 2 users must install the included MPTS and TCP IP modules and will have to update MPTS to run DHCP since the MPTS version included with OS 2 install disks includes a fatal bug No USB drivers are available so OS 2 users must utilize a PCI card DSL adapter or Ethernet PC Card NIC via RJ 45 cable to a bridge or router Many different PPPoE dialers are available which include as well a variety of other functions including fire walls For a router select DHCP in TCPCFG for a bridge select Fixed IP adress in TCPCFG and use a PPPoE dialer IFCONFIG will configure the network interface NETSTAT will report its condition and DHCPMON will monitor the lease Hardware for Groups and Enterprises DSL media providers currently may bundle bridges and routers with their serv ices and provide free installation configuration and maintenance with their enterprise offerings Users are permitted to source their own hardware though discouraged from doing so as this complicates testing from the DSL pro
13. su edu pub os2 util network tcpip ipspeed4 zip gt Review article lt www os2voice org VNL past_issues VNL0199H vnewsf5 htm gt 10 Off Premise Multi Protector Datasheet at lt www camblab com consumer opmp_ug1 pdf gt manufactured in Thailand by Goham Co Ltd Telephone 02 279 6162 e mail goham attglobal net Firewalls ZoneAlarm lt www zonelabs com gt Tiny Personal Firewall more complex setup but gives more control than ZoneAlarm lt www tinysoftware com gt Firewall testing Gibson Research lt www grc com gt TCP IP connection logger Windows and Linux GNU freeware lt www ethereal com gt Windows lt www westbrooksoftware com gt OS 2 Use IPTRACE included with OS 2 or the trace utility built into ISDNPM Networking guides for establishing DSL connections via ethernet lt www helmig com j_helmig guide htm gt lt www os2dezine com vinl14 socks htm gt lt www os2ezine com v2n7 warpwin htm gt lt www phillyos2 org networking htm gt lt www macwindows com gt Update OS 2 MPTS lt www warpupdates de english warpupdates html gt RFC 2516 lt www ietf org rfc rfc2516 txt number 2516 gt Copyright 2002 by Jeffrey Race All rights reserved FE
14. teed 20 of rated throughput Subscriber pays installation fee and buys modem 6 000 9 000 baht Enterprise BizPak Dedicated TA 6 800 29 000 35 800 promotion bandwidth with AI 256 128 Anet or KSC Fixed IP TOT 6 200 20 000 26 200 Unlimited concess service ionnaire guaranteed 100 of rated throughput Media providers will generally install at no charge and provide rent free equipment such as Nokia M1122 Router market price 15 000 23 000 baht We can see from this comparison that the single user packages now on offer are very good values possibly not even economic for the providers Subject to the caveats in the second part of this series if your time is worth anything the current promotions requiring a one year contract are very attractive TA even offers its own ISP Asia Infonet as part of a bundle for less than offered unbundled to TOT concessionnaire customers If you need a fixed IP address e g for a company Virtual Private Network then ADSL becomes quite expensive though cheaper than leased line service Due to the anomalously low promotional pricing of the small user packages some providers have ceased to serve this market complaining that their experience is the home users generate higher traffic than enterprise customers paying five or ten times more They are probably internet cafes or small businesses who have connected their own bridges WHO CAN GET DSL If you want DSL your first step is discover
15. vider s Network Operations on Now the NOC can telnet into a bridge or router and query reconfigure reset it Enterprise installations contracting for unlimited continuously on service will employ a router and probably have a fixed IP address which can be used to establish an enterprise Virtual Private Network and or VoIP system Looking to the future TA has DIFFSERVE capability a Quality of Service function enhancing VoIP but it has not yet implemented Now every packet has the same priority resulting in choppy voice transmission A USA site detailed in the resource box contains a variety of product reviews useful to local DSL subscribers Software Utilities Testing and Tweaking Many resources exist to enhance DSL operation Tools and utilities For monitoring any connection under Windows including T ISDN DSL or cable the premier tool is MyVitalAgent formerly NetMedic a free download Similar shareware tools under OS 2 are IPMonitor and IPSpeed Security You need it don t connect your DSL line until you have a firewall in stalled or you will be sorry especially if you are running Windows or unsecured Linux The most popular Windows software firewall for individual users because it is free and a no brainer to use is ZoneAlarm Equally free but more configurable and capable is the Tiny Personal Firewall Linux and OS 2 have comparable utilities A better alternative is to configure a router as a firewall Tweaking Testi
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