osmond

The weather data been updated for the month of October.
years ago. 

You may need to refresh your browser window to pick up new images . . . .

https://bomzee.com/weather/index.html

The Weather Info has been updated for September . . . .

????

https://bomzee.com/weather/index.html

Thanks for the responses ????
So it is generally an "unwritten" rule. However, I have never touched the 400K till I get the stamp - why tempt fate !!

Just applied (May 5 ) for an extension of stay based on Non 'O' Marriage visa.
The 400K+ has been in the bank since January 2021 and before ( statement proves that ).

My visa runs out May 29 and the report back date is 28 June.

I was told not to reduce the account balance to less than 400K until I had the "stamp" on 28 June.
I am curious why this is necessary when the stated requirement is 400K at least 2 months before application, nothing said about having to leave it there "while under consideration"

Any ideas ?? Or is it a "quirk" of the local office ?

My UK passport expires 21 April 2022.

My 1 year Non 'O' visa expires 29 May 2021.

My question is will immigration extend my visa till May 29 2022 in my current passport or do I need to get a new passport this year before applying for the extension.

Some guidance welcomed as new passport renewal ( if I need one ) may take a few weeks from what I have read . . . .

Thanks in advance

Approximately what area did they issue the "use or loose" the land advice ?
Being  west of Chiang Rai town "in the hills", no paper land, hardly any burning visible and very little smoke in last week or so . . .
Generally the air has been OK except for 2 days.

The question on "how do they know the difference" between scanned and photocopy  . . .

If you scan using "Grayscale" setting ( which I have done for the past 5 years ) it is more obvious.  If you use "black and white" or "monochrome" it looks more like a photo copy.

Co-ordinates :  Not asked for.

Photos : They asked for one of us in house, one from the road, one outside house and one with house number.  Went away and took them , and got photocopies of everything.  On return they binned all the photos except the one showing house number.

End result - accepted - but a lot of paper binned and printer cartridges consumed :)

Thanks for the feedback.

10 days ago I went to Chiang Rai immigration to check if requirements for Marriage Visa extension had changed from last year.  Apart from the new form for a map to the house everything the same as previous year I was told.

So hoping that every attempt to make all the documentation correct would work I went to extend the visa.

Nope . . .

Nothing missing BUT the documentation was rejected because :

• Scanned copies of passport / previous visas / bank book  are no longer acceptable. MUST be photocopies.
• Photos of house / family must be in full colour ( colour printer version acceptable )

I was told 10 days ago, "why not do retirement visa - easier for all of us " and again yesterday; but the money had not been in the bank long enough and visa due in 6 days.

The reason for the new requirement was "new boss , new rules".

It seems to me that there is an active policy to discourage use of marriage visas !!

Totally agree it is a lot more paperwork for all, but there are reasons for using them for some of us who are entitled to them . . .

Interested to know if this is just Chiang Rai or just a 'one off' ...  so if you are using Chiang Rai immigration for marriage visa extension be warned :)

Osmond . . .

ThaiExpat TV has stopped working for me. I am in Chiang Rai area.  OK earlier till about 1430.

Many thanks for the replies to the original post.

I will get a KR2 next year and see if they say "not needed"

As Ratcatcher says "The most consistent thing about Immigration rules is that they are inconsistent." Q.E.D

Osmond

We went to Chiang Rai Immigration yesterday (Weds 11 May) to renew my marriage visa.

As well as the original marriage certificates they now require a letter from the Amphur to state that the marriage is still valid , i.e not annulled / divorced. ( Kor Ror Song ?? )

They say the "rule" has been in place for >12 months, which is 100% incorrect as it was not required this time last year or on the previous 5 extensions.

They also say it was an order from Chiang Mai office.

Local rule only or nationwide ??

I would be interested to know ( and maybe others about to renew ) ,how long has this "new rule" been in effect ? Anyone else encountered this issue ?

Thanks

Seabear - many thanks worked perfectly.

The link above has since "disappeared" .

Image instead.

Link to the picture missing in previous post:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/467631-small-sure-digital-safe-with-flat-battery/#entry4423116

I have lost the instructions how to reset the code on a "Sure" electronic safe which looks the same as the one below.

If anyone can provide the info - most grateful.

For some reason the combination that worked before is being rejected. Batteries changed , same problem.

We have the key to open manually

Hi RIchard,

I wonder if you still have the small female, not Fluffy the other one, I didn't catch her name. I live in Palm Hills and have been on the look out for a puppy. I have an Airedale Terrier already and would love to have a friend for her. She would be in good hands

Let me know how to get in touch with you. Thanks!

Sue

Hello Seashore ( Sue ),

Apologies - off the main post topic, but . . .

I found the post when searching for 'Airedale' as we would like to get one ( have owned 3 before over the years ).

Did you buy in Thailand, bring with you or import? Any info would be welcome.

We live in Chiang Rai - 10 acres - so plenty of room !!

Thanks

Osmond

Many thanks to you all for the info to date.

The Cradlepoint MBR1000 is nearly 2 years old now ,and yes not cheap at the time either (~9K baht ). Together with a Novatel and Huawei CDMA modem, it is a lot of equipment to ditch ( ~20K ). No option with the CDMA dongles, but obviously I would prefer to keep the router.and find a 3G modem that is compatible with the Cradlepoint and works with CAT/True system.

So the search will continue and hopefully based on the MBR1000 compatability list will succeed assuming the model is available here as suggested.

I have also successfully used an 'unsupported' Huawei EC226 with the MBR1000 and used a dial string to connect to the network. That was until the firmware was upgraded to version 2.0.0 - now it doesn't recognise the device. The Novatel MC760 still works.

With the demise of CDMA I need to 'bin' my EVDO EC226 device and replace it with a 3G/HSPA+ Aircard which is compatible with a CradlePoint MBR1000 3G router.

I'd be pleased to hear from anyone who has already found one that works OK with the MBR1000. I am planning to use MyCat and having looked at totalaircard.com. Not sure what the best options are.

Thanks for any advice in advance

Using CAT CDMA in Chiang Rai,with google.co.th or google.com for searches they appear to "stall" at w3.mict.go.th. Same searches on Yahoo and Bing go straight through. Looks like another botched attempt at censorship. No matter what the search is for , it seems to 'divert' to check mict then stall. This is not always the case, disconnecting and getting a new IP address sometimes resolves, but not consistent. Example below :

Near Pong Nakham / Karien Ruammit - gusts of 77km/h up ( have anenometer ), until that blew over !! 10 trees gone to. Outside ceiling fan spun so fast it stripped all its blades off by tilting and hitting the ceiling . Apart from that - welcome shower of rain.

Same issue as macdon61 with roof tiles. Now learnt by example why 30 degree pitch roof is not steep enough !!

There is a dry cleaner., going south on Old Airport Road towards the old airport, on the left side, nearly opposite Laluna resort.

No problems and reasonable prices.

Osmondo

The contract wouldn't be cancelled by change of land ownership.

It's like buying a house that has a long term lease on it, the tenant would be difficult to get rid of.

Local Thais concerned with radiation? I seriously doubt this.

The most logical reason is the tower has problems and will be either fixed or replaced. May be being upgraded in their 3G deal with True?

Apparently , if the infornation is correct, the instruction to shut it down for 'health reasons' came from the Office for Consumer Protection in Bangkok

In Thai - สำนักงานคุ้มครองผู้บริโภค

Ours is not to reason why . . . let's see what happens tomorrow

I discovered on Friday, by chance, during a visit to the CAT office in Chiang Rai, that the mast that provides CDMA coverage to the Mae Yao area and located in Huay Pra Khan is probably being switched off and decommissioned on Monday 25th July. No notice given.

They say they will locate the transceivers to another mast in the area.

Therefore if you use CAT CDMA and currently get a signal from the mast in Huay Pra Khan, you just may not have Internet service after 25th July. If this is the case, and your signal goes to ZERO, go to the CAT office and let them know so they are aware of the impact of this action.

The reason for this ? I have had two explanations.

1) The land on which the mast is located has been sold and the new owners will not renew the lease to CAT, and told them to remove it.

2) Some local residents lodged a complaint with a Government environmental agency in Bangkok stating health concerns from the radiation - apparently pre-empted by an article in the Thai press relating to electromagnetic radiation from transmission towers. That agency has instructed CAT to switch off the tower.

If it is the latter - a lot of scrap metal will be for sale soon - maybe countrywide !!

All a bit sad really - as I finally got a good signal and speed from that mast after a lot of visits to CAT - and now probably have to start all over again

Hoping that they do not switch it off !!

Since yesterday evening ( Sat 05 June ) uploads to anywhere are arbitrarily being disconnected. ( Still happening today ( Sunday morning ).

MailBigFile (HTTP) has persistently failed with a 25Mb file, and the same file using destination FTP servers in Singapore and USA has also failed. What on earth have they done this time ?? Smaller files , <5Mb , seem to get through . . .

The management in CAT Chiang Rai admit that CDMA throughput has deteriorated significantly since about mid Feb, probably due to it being oversold and provision for extra bandwidth. After 1000 weekdays it is virtually unusable until 1800 onwards.

Agreed the last month has shown even more degradation in my area west of Chaing Rai. About 6 km from mast, over the past year steady 3 bar signal. Now it intermittently drops to 1 bar for variable periods of time then "recovers".

They have said it is probably due to a faulty CDMA USB device, which is absolute rubbish as I have two units EC226 and MC760 and they both demonstrate signal degradation to the same degree, and pick up again together when the signal improves !!

Is there anything definitive anywhere that says CAT will abandon all its current CDMA users and what is the alternative ??

Agreed. Up here in Chiang Rai the performance has been going steadily downhill over the past 3-4 weeks, to the point where even the speedtests are not starting ( latency errors ).

I use http://speedtest.or.th/ as the first step as that is what CAT suggested. Usually that works and used as a baseline.

Then Thaivisa Bangkok / Singapore and finally speedtest.net to USA West & Esat Coast / UK. Along with screen snapshots from bandwidth monitor demonstrates that CAT CDMA ,as you say, has totally inadequate bandwidth to meet basic demands and hasn't quite got the traffic shaping right either.

I have assembled a set of stats to present to the local CAT office which in the past, has on occasions, brought some results in the right direction believe it or not !!

Today speed and performance here today is particularly dreadful, and over the past week frequent DNS timeouts add to the misery.

A trip to CAT office scheduled this week, armed with the evidence, yet again.