The drawdown affected only connections to outside Thailand, a staffer at the TOT Customer Service Centre told The Phuket News.
“The slow internet speeds are because of broken exchange server to a fiber-optic cable in Songkhla province. Our staff are working on it now,” the staffer said.
“The exchange failed at about midday, which affected all international connections routed through that locale, but connections to all websites hosted in Thailand remained unaffected.”
Regular service was restored by late afternoon yesterday.
The internet connection failure through a single exchange yesterday came just days after the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) ordered the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) to take steps to channel all traffic in or out of Thailand through a single gateway.
The NCPO announced that having all internet connections would help the authorities monitor illegal activities and regulate the information, including inappropriate news and social media postings, flowing into the country.
However, the move has drawn heavy criticism from online citizen’s rights groups, which claim that it would greatly infringe on people’s right to privacy, while business interests have expressed concerns over the impact having a single gateway would have on internet connection speeds. (See story here.)