Broadband Leakage (K2 #84)

Question of the Week 
My broadband account gets depleted very quickly. How can I check what the problem is?
— Aby T., Thimphu

Answer
Dear Aby,

Internet in Bhutan has rapidly evolved from being a luxury toy for occasional usage to a necessary utility used on a daily basis. With such usage, your broadband Internet bills can therefore add up rather quickly. Prepaid broadband costs about Nu 100 for every GB these days (and slightly cheaper if you happen to recharge using the Nu 1499 or 2499 packages). Some users find that their balance quickly vanishes into thin air, and they often tend to blame Bhutan Telecom for faulty bookkeeping. But the truth is that there can also be other causes for a quick drain. If you suspect that you are overcharged, here are a few steps to take before rushing to Bhutan Telecom.

1. Change your broadband password. The Bhutan Telecom system is set up in such a way that multiple users can use the same account (dnetxxxxxxxx) from multiple fixed lines at the same time. So, if a “friend” got hold of your password, they might be logging in from their home and downloading the recent Bollywood blockbusters at your expense. Changing your password will hopefully put a stop to that (but hopefully not to your friendship).
2. Secure your wireless network. More and more homes in Thimphu have wireless routers, allowing laptops, smartphones, and tablets to connect to the Internet without cables. However, if your network is not secured with a password - or, if your password is simple to guess - your lovely neighbor might be taking your Internet connection for a free ride. Secure your network by setting a strong wireless password. Check the documentation that came with your wireless router for further instructions.
3. Protect shared computers. Is there any chance other members of your household — brothers, sisters, spouse, children — are using your computer to watch their favorite YouTube videos when you’re at the office? It’s not a bad idea to password-protect your Windows account. Visit the Windows Control Panel to password-protect your user account, as well as disable any other accounts that are not password protected (such as the Guest account).

Say you've done the above, but are still puzzled about how your data is used. This is where a bandwidth monitor comes in handy. A bandwidth monitor keeps track of the data used by your computer, and shows you how your data is used. A recommended utility for Windows computers is the free NetLimiter 2 Mon, which you can download at www.netlimiter.com/download.php. Other creatures can also feed off your wireless network: if you connect an Android phone or tablet to your wireless network, you can check the data usage by using the built-in counters at Settings > Connections > Data Usage > Wi-Fi. If you happen to own an iPhone or iPad, you will need to install an app that monitors Wi-Fi usage, such as the free Cisco Data Meter (available at the iTunes app store).

Taken all the above steps? If you still think DrukNet is overcharging you, take a printout of the bandwidth monitor’s statistics with you when you pay the Bhutan Telecom office a visit.

Major DrukNet hosting outage

Tens of Druknet-hosted websites are currently down, most likely due to a faulty database server. These include Bhutan Chamber of Commerce, BICMA, Bhutan National Bank, eDruk, Mangdechhu Hydroelectric Project Authority, NCWC, Office of the Attorney General, Royal Education Council, Government to Citizen Initiative, and many others.

DrukNet Finally Corrects Broadband Pricing

Two months ago we wrote about DrukNet's awkward pricing of the new broadband packages (See The Updated Broadband Packages: Strange Pricing). As a response to our complaints, DrukNet have now fixed the issue. They have increased the data quota of the Office package from 12 GB to 16 GB, and the Enterprise package from 24 GB to 27 GB. The cost per GB is now cheaper for the more expensive packages.

According to a story in the Kuensel,

Druknet general manager, Tshering Norbu, said that the latest revisions were in response to customer feedback. “We had to revise the data quota allotment of the packages after customers’ request to incentivise higher packages more than the lower packages, by providing the former at lower tariff in terms of cost per MB,” he said. (Kuensel, Further drop in internet package prices, July 19, 2013).

We are glad to see that the issue is now resolved.

Package Name	Recharge Amount	Data Quota	Cost per GB (rounded)
Home	399.00	4 GB	Nu 100
Office	1499.00	16 GB	Nu 94
Enterprise	2499.00	27 GB	Nu 93

Home Sweet Home (K2 #65)

Question of the Week 
I noticed that DrukNet has new prepaid broadband plans. Which one should I choose?
— Pem D., Thimphu

Answer
The cost of Internet access in Bhutan keeps dropping, and the speed keeps increasing. The net effect: Consumers are getting more for their money. Let’s take a short walk down memory lane: five years ago the cheapest monthly broadband package, called “DSL-1000”, was priced at a Nu 1000 and included a meager 0.5 GB of data at a crawling speed of 0.25 Mbps. With today’s cheapest package (the “Home” at Nu 400) we get eight times the amount of data (4 GB) and a maximum download speed of 2 Mbps. Not bad, but we’re still behind other countries. According to the NetIndex’s Household Download Index, Bhutan ranks #179 out of 184 countries, so there’s still room for improvement. However, compared to just a few years ago, this is a major upgrade.

DrukNet offers both prepaid and postpaid plans. The postpaid packages are substantially more expensive compared to the prepaid ones, so avoid them if you can. Let’s focus on the prepaid plans. There are currently three prepaid packages: Home, Office, and Enterprise. All of them offer the same speed (up to 2 Mbps) and the same expiration period (30 days). The only difference between the three plans is their cost and the amount of included data. As seen in the table, the Home package offers the best rate at only Nu 100 per GB. The other two packages (Office and Enterprise) are more expensive, and I couldn't find any good reason to use them. With the expensive packages you pay more per GB. In addition, you are also at risk of wasting a lot of money if you forget to recharge before expiration.

If you are a heavy broadband user and are thinking of recharging using an expensive package to save multiple trips to the BT office, here’s a better alternative. Just ask the BT representative to recharge multiple times using the Home package. For example, if you need 12 GB, simply ask to recharge using the Home package (400 Nu), but three times in a row. You will end up paying only Nu 1200 for 12 GB. This is Nu 300 cheaper than recharging with the 12 GB Office package.

Why does DrukNet offer the Office and Enterprise packages? If you find out, please let me know.

---

Readers are encouraged to submit technology-related questions to boaz@thimphutech.com

Internet service interrupted (again)

Thousands of broadband and mobile users were not able to connect to the Internet this morning. Service disruption started sometime after 3am and was finally restored after 9am. Mobile Internet was restored first, later broadband. This happened a few days after the country suffered from network hiccups after one of the two main gateways showed signs of exhaustion.

Like electricity or water, Internet is an essential utility these days. Governments, corporations, small businesses and private citizens have learned to depend on a reliable internet connection. It is not a novelty or luxury any more. ISPs in the country should support Bhutan's effort to become an ICT hub and a knowledge-based society. This means that ISPs should  (1) install systems for monitoring Internet availability 24x7, rather than waiting for users to complain (2) proactively dispatch technicians to fix any disruptions 24x7 (3) provide regular status updates to users.

Internet in Bhutan crawls. What's going on?

Ever since Sunday morning, Internet in Bhutan has been patchy. International websites either load very slowly, or do not load at all.

I could not find any updates by DrukNet on their website (www.druknet.bt) or their Facebook page. And the most recent tweet by @bhutan_telecom is "Missed Call Alert is soon gonna be launched........good news for customers...".

So what's happening here? One can only guess. There are currently two international gateways from Bhutan: P/Ling and Gelephu. According to my cursory examination, the Gelephu gateway has been displaying erratic behavior starting yesterday, but for some reason traffic was kept being routed to both gateways. Destinations that were routed via P/ling (e.g., twitter.com) were doing much better than those routed via P/Ling (e.g., google.com).

At around 9:10 this morning (Monday) all traffic started flowing via P/ling, so hiccups should be less frequent. On the other hand, it means increased load on the only operational gateway.

The New Internet Gateway

Bhutan's international connection to the Internet was, until now, via a single gateway in Phuentsholing. Today, however, all this is supposed to change, and a second international link in Gelephu will finally start operating, according to the Kuensel ("2nd International Gateway: Bhutan will have 24/7 connectivity once this link is ‘lit’').

But will this provide a true 24x7 redundancy?

BT simplifies broadband plans, ups speed

Good news from Bhutan Telecom: The basic Nu 399 broadband plan's "circuit bandwidth" has just doubled from 256 Kbps to 512 kbps.

The previous 256 Kbps plans- there were two of them - have been eliminated, so there are now a total of three plans instead of five: 512 Kbps ("Home"), 1 Mbps ("Office"), and 2 Mbps ("Enterprise"). See table below. The postpaid plans have also been updated.

The new prepaid broadband plans

Package Name	Circuit Bandwidth	Tariff (Nn)	Data Limit	Validity	Nu/GB
Home	Up to 512 Kbps	399	2.5 GB	30 days	160
Office	Up to 1 Mbps	1499	9.0 GB	30 days	167
Enterprise	Up to 2 Mbps	2499	15.0 GB	30 days	167

The trend is positive: More bandwidth for the same price. If things work out nicely, it's a win-win situations for both consumers and BT. On the one hand, users will be able to download songs in half the time, and in general enjoy a smoother web surfing experience. Bhutan Telecom, on the other hand, should see an increase in revenues, as Nu 399 still gives you the same 2.5 GB, but with faster access consumers are bound to spend it more quickly.

My main concern is whether there is enough international capacity to avoid customer frustration. With most broadband users subscribing to the Nu 399 package, this means that the load that these users generate will increase. Since most Internet traffic is international, the load on the international lines is also bound to increase, and that will remain the bottleneck. Without a corresponding increase in international capacity, the lines may clog down.

One thing's for sure: It will be interesting to see how this change will affect Bhutan's ranking in the Download Index.

PS: Bhutan Telecom did a great job of disseminating this information. A coordinated announcement on the www.bt.bt webpage, a tweet, and a Facebook status update.

DrukNet-hosted websites are down

A major outage: Websites hosted by DrukNet are currently inaccessible. Examples are businessbhutan.bt and thejournalist.bt. Other .bt sites which are not hosted by DrukNet - for example bhutanobserver.bt and most government agencies - are fine.

Most likely: The DrukNet servers have crashed. Let's pray for a quick recovery.

Update: DrukNet sites are now up.

Again, Bhutan is cut off from the world

For the better part of today, Bhutan was cut off from the world: DrukNet's international Internet connection was down. This means that users in Bhutan were not able to access international websites, and people outside Bhutan were not able to reach .bt domains. (The last major Internet outage was reported here about two months ago). When I called DrukNet this morning, I was told that the fibre optic line to Hong Kong had some issues. There's also a line connecting Bhutan to London which apparently was intact. It is not clear why traffic was not routed through there.

For many countries today, a major Internet outage entails huge economic losses. This is still not the case in Bhutan, where most people and businesses don't rely on the Internet for their livelihood. However, dependency on the Internet will increase in upcoming years. Similar to water, electricity or phone service, Internet access will eventually become an essential utility.

P.S.: As a service to its customers, it would be useful for DrukNet to provide up-to-date information on outages and estimated time of resolution. Unfortunately, there was no mention of the outage on DrukNet's website (which was accessible within Bhutan during the outage) or BT's twitter account (which can be updated using SMS). Another medium for communicating with the public is SMS. This is currently used by Bhutan Telecom to advertise its own products, but it can also be used to inform the public about such outages.

Invalid broadband prepaid voucher?

Druknet offers a convenient way to recharge pre-paid broadband accounts using recharge vouchers, similar to pre-paid mobile phone recharge vouchers. Holding on to a spare voucher helps avoid a terrible rush to Bhutan Telecom office (or the One Stop Shop) when your balance is finished.

To use the recharge voucher, scratch the silver panel on the back to reveal the password and follow the directions written below it.

Got an "invalid username/password" error? If you are sure you typed correctly, try counting the number of characters in the password. If you have less than 8 characters, that's the problem. We have encountered a few vouchers that were missing the last digit/letter, most likely due to faulty printing. In that case, you will indeed have to rush back to the BT office or the One Stop Shop to reveal the missing characters (I admit I haven't tried calling by phone...)

Bhutan & IPv6

Google has gone IPv6, Facebook has an IPv6 website, and now Bhutan wants to be the world's first "IPv6-ready" country. Let's talk a bit about IP, IPv4 and IPv6.

Don't Forget the www!

Although BBS TV proudly displays its web address - bbs.com.bt - every evening on the top-left corner of the screen, the specified web address does not work!

You will need to use the longer version with the "www" prefix to access the BBS home page: www.bbs.com.bt.

This seems to be a common issue with most - if not all - domains in Bhutan. The bt domains are not forgiving in that respect, so remember to always prefix the website address with www.

Downloading Mantras (and Software) from DrukNet

Although access to international sites is still sluggish (see here), the .bt domains are served locally so they respond pretty quickly.

For example, DrukNet has an FTP server with tons of free stuff, including anti-virus software:

ftp://ftp.druknet.bt/pub/

As a bonus, you can also download Sogyal Rinpoche's collection of mantras here:

ftp://ftp.druknet.bt/MantrachantingcollectionfromSogyalRimpoche/