[Razzzhead]

It seems Blink is being quietly rolled out in Tobago.

There are reports of applicants in Carnbee, Bon Accord and Canaan being invited to pick up their modems. Please encourage new Tobago Blinkers to enrol on this forum and let us know their experiences.

[greall]

Razzzhead, on Jun 19 2008, 08:49 AM, said:

It seems Blink is being quietly rolled out in Tobago.

There are reports of applicants in Carnbee, Bon Accord and Canaan being invited to pick up their modems. Please encourage new Tobago Blinkers to enrol on this forum and let us know their experiences.

That should make my life easier when I go to Lowlands...

Greg

[CHAZ]

I must say TSTT/BLINK did state of the art upgrading in tobago and really treat them well i tested my line quality and the download rate is at least 10mb thats just outrageous. I guest Tobago is moving forward after all.

Great job TSTT/BLINK, and keep up the good work it was well worth the wait.

[tobago]

Good catch CHAZ. I knew about the rollout a long time ago but I had to be silent because I promised TSTT Tobago management to have a news blackout until the roll out was well under way . I tried to hint in a previous post that it would be mid June.

I can now say that the roll out is indeed a quiet one and was slated for June 16th by TSTT management. They planned this soft launch about four weeks ago.

My customers in Rockley Vale, Scarborough, Lambeau and a few other places are reporting TSTT techs visiting and installing the blink so it is well and truly here.

Like Razzz said, please enroll and post your experiences and possibly some numbers like current speed, SNR, attenuation, attainable speed, etc. This will only help to improve the service. Service that we need if Tobago is to grow and prosper technologically and otherwise. Post it on our shiny new Tobago Blink forum topic.

Well done TSTT. No paper launch and the service looks good.

Hmmm...
Looking at my router now and I see that I am now on adsl2+ with gateway 190.58.200.1 (whoohaa)
with a snr of DS 6.3 US 9.5
Attenuation is DS 49 US 26
Attainable speed DS 8888 US 977
rate DS 8636 US 877
Note : Data above refreshes every few seconds so results will fluctuate
I am at Friendsfield BTW.


TSTT speedtest works and produces a result of Download 332Kbps Upload 51Kpbs with a ping of 38ms
Speedtest.net produces similar results with Miami giving the best download and upload speed.

A good solid start TSTT. Now hopefully they can ramp me up to the ~2Mb that I asked for in the near future. Also bring my customers out of the telecom stone age as well!

[Razzzhead]

tobago, on Jun 23 2008, 12:07 PM, said:

Good catch CHAZ. I knew about the rollout a long time ago but I had to be silent because I promised TSTT Tobago management to have a news blackout until the roll out was well under way . I tried to hint in a previous post that it would be mid June.

I can now say that the roll out is indeed a quiet one and was slated for June 16th by TSTT management. They planned this soft launch about four weeks ago.

My customers in Rockley Vale, Scarborough, Lambeau and a few other places are reporting TSTT techs visiting and installing the blink so it is well and truly here.

Like Razzz said, please enroll and post your experiences and possibly some numbers like current speed, SNR, attenuation, attainable speed, etc. This will only help to improve the service. Service that we need if Tobago is to grow and prosper technologically and otherwise. Post it on our shiny new Tobago Blink forum topic.

Well done TSTT. No paper launch and the service looks good.

Hmmm...
Looking at my router now and I see that I am now on adsl2+ with gateway 190.58.200.1 (whoohaa)
with a snr of DS 6.3 US 9.5
Attenuation is DS 49 US 26
Attainable speed DS 8888 US 977
rate DS 8636 US 877
Note : Data above refreshes every few seconds so results will fluctuate
I am at Friendsfield BTW.


TSTT speedtest works and produces a result of Download 332Kbps Upload 51Kpbs with a ping of 38ms
Speedtest.net produces similar results with Miami giving the best download and upload speed.

A good solid start TSTT. Now hopefully they can ramp me up to the ~2Mb that I asked for in the near future. Also bring my customers out of the telecom stone age as well!

I'm Blinkin' jealous!!

Your stats are interesting: I would have thought that at Friendsfield your attenuation would have been a bit lower than 49 - how far are you from the Scarborough exchange? Your rates are impressive nevertheless. I wonder why they gave you the 256 Kbps package even though you asked for 2Mbps? I see you now are able to get to speedtest.tstt.net.tt with the gateway of 190.58.200.1. I still can't get there through my gateway of tservq.tstt.net.tt [209.94.205.25], which I suspect is the old G.DMT route.

I still haven't got any info from the Powers That Be if and when I will be Blinked.

Razzz

[tobago]

Strange indeed Razzz. I was getting about 28 DS on the attenuation when I was on G.DMT so that has really gone up.
Also I am not far at all from the exchange- just about as far as the Dwight Yorke Stadium is from Uptown Scarborough. About 1.5KM away. The line run is also not too far off that distance so the attenuation is indeed a bit high.

Hopefully this will be rectified soon along with my requested speed. Possibly the bandwidth issues I mentioned in another post? Can they deliver the bandwidth required to the quantum of users?

TSTT_Customer CARE? out there?

I'll Keep everyone posted about any new developments.

LG

[Razzzhead]

Razzzhead, on Jun 24 2008, 10:26 PM, said:

I'm Blinkin' jealous!!

.
.
I still haven't got any info from the Powers That Be if and when I will be Blinked.

Razzz

I went into the office today to see the Powers That Be. My Blink application was confirmed and yes, Mount Pleasant exchange had been upgraded earlier this week and I was asked to define which package I wanted. The details were entered on the terminal and that was that. I asked when I would be connected and was told it would be immediate - just reboot the modem when I got home.

Which I did, but no difference - the mode remained at G.DMT 192 Kbps up 64 Kbps down. I called 62BLINK who confirmed that the system showed I was already on Blink, so he transferred me to the technical CSR in New Delhi.

Needless to say Kevin [last time it was Kelvin and Kim] no had clue what the problem was, except to doubt who I was, claiming my passport and driver's permit numbers did not correspond to those recorded on their system, and I would have to scan my documents and send them by email to billing@tstt.net.tt. At this stage I got cross and asked to speak to the supervisor, who although was very polite, could only write a ticket for a technician.

Oh well not yet Blinked: no pain - no gain....

[tobago]

Razzz,
I am afraid to go in now and define my package. What happened to you is outrageous. Not very surprising though. Customer service in Tobago seems more frustrated than the customers themselves.

I keep saying it, TSTT for a telecommunication company is very poor at communicating. As for the New Delhi thing: There is a transcription center in Tobago. Can't they train Trinbagonians as tech support and keep the thing internal or is it that they have to outsource people. Those people ,Indian, Spanish, Martian, etc , have no background in IT much less English. They read from canned scripts. Trust me.

I feel for you Razzz, I do but with ineptitude at the very top what can we expect lower down. Hopefully your ID numbers will show up in the system and you get your blink soon.

Looking at my connection I have now deteriorated to 256Kbps again. My suspicions about the lack of bandwidth to Tobago are becoming stronger by the day. TSTT prove me wrong and give me my ~2Mb.

[Razzzhead]

tobago, on Jun 28 2008, 03:56 PM, said:

Razzz,
I am afraid to go in now and define my package. What happened to you is outrageous. Not very surprising though. Customer service in Tobago seems more frustrated than the customers themselves.

I keep saying it, TSTT for a telecommunication company is very poor at communicating. As for the New Delhi thing: There is a transcription center in Tobago. Can't they train Trinbagonians as tech support and keep the thing internal or is it that they have to outsource people. Those people ,Indian, Spanish, Martian, etc , have no background in IT much less English. They read from canned scripts. Trust me.

I feel for you Razzz, I do but with ineptitude at the very top what can we expect lower down. Hopefully your ID numbers will show up in the system and you get your blink soon.

Looking at my connection I have now deteriorated to 256Kbps again. My suspicions about the lack of bandwidth to Tobago are becoming stronger by the day. TSTT prove me wrong and give me my ~2Mb.

Better 256 Kbps than none at all!! I think The Powers That Be are out to get me. Since 8:00 am Saturday 28 June, both my land lines have been out of order. I'm begining to think that I've been rattling too many cages and Divine Retribution Is At Hand. Last week I noticed that a closure cover on a cable splice near my premises was hanging loose with all the wires exposed. On Friday, someone must have seen me taking a picture of it, because Saturday morning the cover was back on, but both my phones were cut. Coincidence - I don't think so.

To add insult to injury there is now no way to speak to anyone when reporting a fault. When you dial 824 TSTT and go through the menu to fixed line fault reporting, all you can do is input the faulty number, type of fault and a contact number. There is no possibility to speak to an agent (Indian, Spanish, Martian or whatever). Since then I have managed to find the number of the "Trouble Dispatch Desk" in Tobago which has a real person on the other end and for future reference the number is 639 1197. I have spken to the lady three times now and every time she tells me someone will be there "just now". Pathetic.

[tobago]

Razzzhead, on Jul 2 2008, 03:38 PM, said:

Better 256 Kbps than none at all!! I think The Powers That Be are out to get me. Since 8:00 am Saturday 28 June, both my land lines have been out of order. I'm begining to think that I've been rattling too many cages and Divine Retribution Is At Hand. Last week I noticed that a closure cover on a cable splice near my premises was hanging loose with all the wires exposed. On Friday, someone must have seen me taking a picture of it, because Saturday morning the cover was back on, but both my phones were cut. Coincidence - I don't think so.

To add insult to injury there is now no way to speak to anyone when reporting a fault. When you dial 824 TSTT and go through the menu to fixed line fault reporting, all you can do is input the faulty number, type of fault and a contact number. There is no possibility to speak to an agent (Indian, Spanish, Martian or whatever). Since then I have managed to find the number of the "Trouble Dispatch Desk" in Tobago which has a real person on the other end and for future reference the number is 639 1197. I have spken to the lady three times now and every time she tells me someone will be there "just now". Pathetic.

OUCH! Sorry to hear that. If you have a plain phone line the limit may be 10 days before they show up. (based on customer complaints to me) For DSL enabled lines, I have no idea. They have maybe 1 or 2 qualified techs so coverage on the ground may be sparse. Keep your fingers crossed.

[tobago]

Latest Stats from ADSL Router
SNR Margin (dB): 6.1 11.0
Attenuation (dB): 49.5 25.9
Attainable Rate (Kbps): 9931 920
Rate (Kbps): 9834 797


the Java based test shows that I have the potential to go up to 2254UL 199.2DL

edit: the test referred to above may be flawed. See http://www.auditmypc...-speed-test.asp

but...
I am running something between 256Kbps and 320Kbps DL and between 54 and 70 UL in reality.

It seems that I have been capped. Hopefully TSTT can all sort it out when they send over a CSR as they promised. Hopefully they won't charge me for 2Mbps.

[PikachuMan]

tobago, on Jul 2 2008, 05:34 PM, said:

Latest Stats from ADSL Router
SNR Margin (dB): 6.1 11.0
Attenuation (dB): 49.5 25.9
Attainable Rate (Kbps): 9931 920
Rate (Kbps): 9834 797


A raw Java test shows that I have the potential to go up to 2254UL 199.2DL
but...
I am quickly throttled back to something between 256Kbps and 320Kbps DL and between 54 and 70 UL in reality.

It seems that I have been capped. Hopefully TSTT can all sort it out when they send over a CSR as they promised. Hopefully they won't charge me for 2Mbps.

Whut you mean "raw java test"?

And are you sure your units are correct (all bits and no bytes, in other words?).

edit: Meh, I'll take a stronger stance on this one. You're almost definitely getting what you paid for,
2254 Kbits = 281Kbytes (add a little burst speed and variation.. and you get 256-320kiloBytes)
512 Kbits = 64Kbytes (or 54-70 kiloBytes).

You must have gotten that 2254 number from a speedtest somewhere. I.E., you are getting 2MB and just confused about the units of measurement.

[tobago]

PikachuMan, on Jul 2 2008, 06:20 PM, said:

Whut you mean "raw java test"?

And are you sure your units are correct (all bits and no bytes, in other words?).

edit: Meh, I'll take a stronger stance on this one. You're almost definitely getting what you paid for,
2254 Kbits = 281Kbytes (add a little burst speed and variation.. and you get 256-320kiloBytes)
512 Kbits = 64Kbytes (or 54-70 kiloBytes).

You must have gotten that 2254 number from a speedtest somewhere. I.E., you are getting 2MB and just confused about the units of measurement.

PikachuMan you are totally correct in your calculations and that I got the number from a speedtest somewhere, however that won't apply in this case. I am a PC Tech and familiar with this stuff. I will admit that the first speed test number I quoted may leave me a bit embarrassed and it is 2254kbps (not KBps). The speed test seems flawed as I just did it on a confirmed (different) 2Mbps connection and it registered 4+Mbps so my bad there. For those wishing to see the test I used follow the url below.

http://www.auditmypc...-speed-test.asp

Let me know if it works good for you.

I am definitely not getting what I asked for as I cannot download anything from anywhere and exceed 34Kbps and I cater for server, connections, congestion etc. This tells me that I am still getting around ~256Kbps connection speed on the DL side.

I did the speedtest.net and blinkbroadband.tt and it says ~300Kbps/ 54Kbps.

I just confirmed a 2Mbps connection in Tobago on blinkbroadband test. More on this in the post below.
As for the raw Java test I will remove that. I just call the test that for kicks. It is just that some tests use Java and some use Flash.

So I may be confused at times but I don't think so on this one.
LG

[tobago]

I have a confirmed 2Mbps connection in the Mt Grace area. Seems like it was setup today.

I did not take the router info .. sorry.

blinkbroadband.tt test: 2048Kbps DL 504Kbps UL
Latency 56ms

Speedtest.net 1675Kbps DL 448Kbps UL
Latency Miami Florida: 177ms

WE HAVE LIFTOFF!

If only they could put a rocket on me too.

[ninja_billy]

tobago, on Jul 2 2008, 07:47 PM, said:

I have a confirmed 2Mbps connection in the Mt Grace area. Seems like it was setup today.

I did not take the router info .. sorry.

blinkbroadband.tt test: 2048Kbps DL 504Kbps UL
Latency 56ms

Speedtest.net 1675Kbps DL 448Kbps UL
Latency Miami Florida: 177ms

WE HAVE LIFTOFF!

If only they could put a rocket on me too.

finally tobago you wait long enough, enjoy that speed