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7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

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Not in any 7 11 I've been in. Always in the till, unless they ran out of small money.

I spent quite some time in Thailand and for 1000 they don't have change in the till for I'd say over 80% of cases.

From my experience only I would say a fixed line is better than relying on 4G but that highly depends on the carrier.

During peak hours 4G likes to drop out or slow down with some providers but your fixed line will usually be relatively stable. That said, there is some provider where even the fixed line drops out on a regular basis so read up before choosing a provider.

If TOT was working fine (in your area, that is) then I would just stay with it. Nothing more annoying than constantly being switched down to 144p when watching Netflix or having the video buffer all the time.

Just now, ChomDo said:

I guess I missed the point at first, and I couldn't find any such totally unlimited packages when I searched for them. Anyway that deal sounds good. I'll suggest it to them. At least they could try if it's good for them first.

 

They do have a router from their country that has a sim slot and it should work fine here. If the router can not be used then they would just have to have it in their phone and share the connection as hotspot, right?  

Correct but a bit of a hassle. Mifi-only routers are not that expensive. That said, I'm pretty sure their router from at home will work.

So is there a phone line? Since op is willing to pay 4,000 Baht for 2 months 4G he might as well pay 590 a month a get a fixed line contract for a year with free router (3BB).

Alternatively, DTAC offers unlimited 4G from 1100/month with postpaid. I don't know the current situation but in the past farangs could easily sign up for postpaid by putting amount x on their user account.

When I had a condo in Bangkok I could sign up with 3BB for with no yearly contract. Just rented the equipment for 700 Baht. Monthly fee was around the same.

@ Op: Is there no public wifi near your place? They are usually just 99 Baht a month.

Just now, Dan5 said:

I just noticed a sign in my local 7-11 that said they accepted credit cards for purchases of 300 Baht or more

No NFC and probably PIN+signature. Will take ages and much slower than cash.

Only Australia. Check with your local banks as there is a few banks in different countries that offer fee reimbursement.

So your bank is shouldering the greedy Thai banking cartels 'fee'. My German bank did that for over 10 years until it just got too expensive (people only opening the account and using it for holidays). Might not happen with ING but I doubt this is affordable for them in the long term. Especially since Aussies are travelling a lot.

I am still waiting for the day minimarts and hotels will all accept card payment. Then a big chunk of my expenses could be paid by card without any fees.

To clarify, my topic was only about the 7card as I didn't know another convenient way. Anything that is tap and go is fine for me, whatever the underlying system.

2 hours ago, ujayujay said:

What a sick society does not even have time to wait 1 Minute to pay. And.....most are on Retirement... Ridiculous

It's the coin fiddling and the bumps in the wallet I am sick of. I got not too much of a problem with a coinless system like in Cambodia.

And what you are missing: It is completely unnecessary nowadays to still pay cash. It's highly inconvenient and raises transaction costs. Apart from the myth of anonymity there is no advantage at all. I don't know about Thailand but in many countries CCTV is becoming smart so it 'recognizes' you - you and your purchases and moving patterns in the store will then be tracked anyway (across all stores, that is).

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Money cards .

They are just ways for companies to get information on us to sell.

I guess some people want 1984 already.

 

 

I'd rather have 1984 than 5 grandmas in front of me paying €37,87 in cash. What a waste of resources. Can't wait for a cashless society.

For all your dodgy deals you could still use gold or other valuables.

7 minutes ago, cnx355 said:

My Thai girlfriend tell me you ask the cashier at 7-11 and pay a fee for the card and load some money in the card.

 

Maybe easier to have a Thai friend with you to ask correctly  in Thai.

 

I had one before but  I use the same one as my girlfriend now.

 

 

 

So is this one different from the one I linked (where you have to register properly)? I don't want to pay with VISA or Mastercard, I simply want to tap and go.

1 hour ago, dotpoom said:

Strange how different people have different experiences. I myself find people paying with a credit card annoying. The girl at the till has to do a bit of fiddleing on the cash register, then she gets a pad and a pen and hands it to the customer, he in turn has to sign that and hand it back while she is standing there waiting. Then she moves back to the till and the transaction is completed.

   I am the type of person who would have the money out and ready long before getting to a till.

   I will admit though, what annoys me even more are ladies who seem to act as if everything in the store is free and only realise that it has to be actually paid for when the price is rung up on the till ....then and only then do they start rooting for money in their bags....after been standing in the Q for a period of time when they could have been getting it out and have it at the ready.

   Still, at the end of the day these are luxuary problems. Many in this world don't have the money to shop in a store.

    

Please read up on NFC. It's nothing like the old credit card system. You simply tap and go like on the BTS/MRT. No signature and no PIN (up to a certain amount) required.

So there it goes. In my country like 95% of people pay cash in the supermarket and it's super annoying. We even have 1 cent coins. It takes ages. When it is finally my turn after being 10th in the queue I just tap my NFC VISA card on the reader and the whole process takes about 2 freaking seconds.

I hate fiddling with cash (especially coins) in Thailand as well. When I left in July this year most 7-11 stores weren't accepting VISA/Mastercard. Not with NFC anyway.

Now I can't find too much information about the 7card. Apparently you can load it up with 50 to 10,000 Baht and just pay cashless via NFC. This is the link (after opening the page, right-click and select 'translate to English').

Has anyone of you guys managed to get one or is this a Thai only thing? I can see that ID is required.

5 hours ago, csabo said:

Cant read huh?

The post I was referring to has been deleted.

1 hour ago, greatwhitenorth said:

You guys slay me.    5 baht or 10 baht

 

 To be in the top 1% of income earners in the world you need and income of  $32,400 US a year.  The vast majority of TV members are in the top 1% in the world.  

 

The filthy rich criticizing the obscenely rich (by global standards)

The vast majority in here gets 90,000 Baht a month? I think a lot of members do, but not the "vast majority"

1 hour ago, csabo said:

For 3000 I wouldn't be bothered but I tell all my landlords no deposit returned no keys returned. If I don't get the deposit by the last day of the contract I take the value of the deposit in home merchandise. Tv's furniture whatever. 

With 3000 deposit you'd probably have to walk around with some crappy 22 inch CRT TV and one of them light fake leather sofas which weigh nothing and look horrible.

2 minutes ago, Ulic said:

Sell the TV, fridge, fans etc....etc...

Just imagine the op having a yard sale at his place two days before moving out and the landlord walking past 

You guys paint a pretty bleak picture. I always got my deposit back in the past, even when breaking lease. Landlords who won't return the deposit are just d*ckheads and they are definitely not the majority.

In OP's case I think the landlord gave him the long-term rate and the deposit was his insurance against breaking lease. Pretty fair actually as signing up for a monthly lease would have probably cost OP 1000+ Baht more per month. 

I guess it comes down to some misunderstanding. If the landlord intentionally wanted to cheat sure he would have taken a larger deposit in the first place.

Funny how everyone says they drink so little in Thailand? Look around Pattaya. It looks like most (>50%) of retirees seem to drink everyday. 

You guys ever wondered what happened to the human excrement from water treatment plants if it doesn't get burned? Exactly, it ends up as fertilizer. All over the world. Apart from heavy metals and residues from pharmaceuticals not any worse than pig or cow dung.

Dumping sewage on crop fields is standard practice, even here in Germany. 

Your point is ridiculous. Have you actually ever dealt with mafia taxis? We are talking about hundreds of Baht rip-off on a daily basis and not just some 60 Baht extra charge on Uber that was incorrectly applied. I'd say in >95% of cases Uber works perfectly and it is dirt cheap. If you have a complaint, flag the driver in the app and with enough flags he'll eventually be suspended. Perfect system... that is if you are prepared to lose a couple of Baht because you can't get refunds on tiny amounts easily.

Op is staying less than 60 days and apart from the ticket issue does not require a visa at all if arriving from Europe. Why make it so difficult? Just go visa exempt and get the proper visa in January.

4 minutes ago, Maggusoil said:

I've stopped using them in Phils. Never used them in Thai. My suggestion is if you are anywhere that has tuk tuk motorcycles or taxis about use them or Grab and UBER AS THE LAST RESORT, because you are right. Getting complaints handled or cancellations handled is well nigh impossible or next to it. They do not even have an office there no doubt. Its in Singapore. Ruthless they are

You wouldn't say that if you lived in Pattaya or Phuket. Every year hundreds of lives are lost because people ride around drunk as they refuse to get extorted by the taxi mafia. Uber is the only one that had the balls to take them on. Did it work? No. But things will change. The first step has been done.

Support Uber in Thailand wherever you can.

5 minutes ago, dabhand said:

Maybe he was gassing up for the trip?

My main gripe with airport rides is when the driver pulls into a gas station shortly after pickup. This despite turning up early and not using that time to get organised. Not connected with needing cash for the pump, they get paid at the destination point. I tend to cut things fine with airport trips so this kind of needless delay really irks me.

No, he's been driving around all the time with the exception of a short stop.