Phil Conners

So ... do we think it's going to end today? I know it usually ends on the 19, but the 19 has been Sunday the past years IIRC, so it was sortof a natural ending. I wonder if some might keep playing tomorrow?

Both. According to his wilfe who came looking for him, they'd had a songkran party all day when he took off in his car. His wife tried to stop him, telling him he was too drunk to drive but he took off anyway ... probably had his amulets with him and though he was going to be immortal. Or something. Very sad for the wife.

Funny, that's also been my impression. For the raw download speed (i.e. something like SCP or torrents that doesn't get cached) I get better speeds through True. On the other hand I find True's proxy server to be much slower than 3BB's, and often producing wrong/old/outdated content as opposed to 3BB's which, at least for me, works fine. As a result of this I have configured my pfsense router to route all http traffic through 3BB, everything else balances between 3BB and TRUE (I have two lines).

The 1.2 mbps result is a few years old, it may well be they've upped that to around 2.5 mbps by now.

Moved to the Apple forum.

It's a girly bar on the dark side that happens to sell pizza.

http://goo.gl/maps/C1SQg

Forget most of the speed tests, they use cached data. Look at the ping they show you, anything under like 200 ms is not physically possible = cached content.

The only speedtest I know of that is reasonably correct is http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest?flash=1

As for 3BB "premium" vs "standard" (or whatever they call it) it has been discussed ad nauseum alrady. My own experince when I changed from 3 mbps "premium" to 10 mbps "standard" was I more than tripled my download speed at a fraction of the cost. My personal opinion is the extra cost of the "premium" package is "farang-tax". YMMW.

New York Pizza all the way for American style pizza in Pattaya...and Aqua Dymie down the road for a local pie.

Aqua Daymie is "the old Fabrice". Fabrice first had Dao's Cafe, then AD and now Fabrice - just around the corner from AD in fact.

12" btw, is about the size of a Fabrice pizza, at around 300 baht give or take a bit depending on the toppings.

Like I said, I don't know of any official numbers, the 1.2 mbps is the figure I came to after a lot of tests by myself and friends. I could imagine at off peak hours, whenever that may be, if there is plenty of free capacity on the international gateway, they may losen up on this restriction, maybe even automatically. And surely sometimes errors are made that give individuals a "free run", at least for a period, until found out and corrected.

I don't know of any official number, but tests run by myself and friends suggest the download speed is limited to about 1.2 mbps per download. It is possible to download a file at higher speed by using a download manager or bittorrent which automatically split up the download into mulitple segments that are then downloaded in parallel and reassembled on the PC.

I keep hearing rumors of Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea somehow having more bandwidth, but when I asked the CAT datacenter in Bangkok they insist that any traffic out of Thailand is limited by the same restrictions. Again, I haven't been able to find anything officially or written down about that.

We ordered a Domino's pizza the other day. Got the 2-for-1 deal and they delivered all the way out here in Nongprue after a bit more than half an hour after ordering. They had "30 min or free" printed on the box, but we didn't pursue the issue, not sure if they'd actually honor that here, I'd be surprised.

It's been 25 years since I had a Domino's in US, and it's possible that my memory makes it better than it was, but I was really not too impressed with the ones we got. I recall a lot more cheese and toppings on the US one, and the taste was also kinda bland. My vote still goes for Fabrice, around the corner.

We got flyer with some vouchers with the pizza, nothing too radical, similar to what you get with other similar places.

12" Meatzza Pizza.

In case anyone is interested the prices are:

Deluxe

7in diameter : 38.45 sq in = 2.57Baht/sq in

9in diameter : 63.61 sq in = 5.11Baht/sq in

12in diameter : 113.10 sq in = 3.84Baht/sq in

Premium

7in diameter : 38.45 sq in = 3.35Baht/sq in

9in diameter : 63.61 sq in = 5.73Baht/sq in

12in diameter : 113.10 sq in = 4.23Baht/sq in

So the BOGOF 9in deluxe pizza is better value than the 99B "loss-leader", and both the 12in versions are much better value.

Those figures include the edge/crust. If I knew how wide the edges are for each size I could calculate the real prices per sq in of the parts with topping, but that would probably make me seem sad.

Having done that I think I will get myself two 12in pizzas on the BOGOF promo and sod the diet.

Interesting calculation. I'd say about 1" is crust on the 12" pizza, so perhaps you can run that through your algorithm

I've had my N5 since November '13 and in my opinion it's the best Android phone I've ever had - and I've had quite a few. I agree with all the OP's points though, but want to add about the negative points:

1. Battery life - I've never had an Android phone with "good" battery life. With more than minimal use the battery will not last for a 24 hour period. The nice thing about the N5 is it's supports wireless charging. I bought a charge pad on Ebay for a few hundred baht, and every time I drop the phone off on my desk, I drop it on the wireless charge pad. Problem solved.

2. No internal slot for a sd card - I have the 32G model and have never used more than about 8G of it. Not an issue for me, YMMW.

3. Hard to find accessories for this phone - while I bangkok went to quite a few malls and not any luck, would note though didn't try mbk mall though - Yes, Samsung and Iphone pretty much sit on the Thai market, but go to Ebay and you'll find all the accessories you need for a fraction of what it would have cost here.

4. No way to replace the battery if it goes bad as it is not detachable - Actually I dropped the phone and cracked the screen. I seem to do that with all my phones, nothing special about the N5, only difference was LG in Thailand were trying to overcharge me for the repair because the phone was a "gray import" (I bought it myself from USA as it was not available in Thailand at the time). LG Thailand wanted over 8000 to replace the screen. I got a new replacement screen on Ebay for 4000 and replaced it myself. It was not that difficult, and while I was at it, I can tell you the battery is quite easily replacable. But yes, you'll need to order the replacement battery on Ebay, and know how to open a "closed" phone. (Hint: Search youtube, plenty of "movies" showing how).

I also think it takes the best photos of any of the phones I've had. Of course it's always possible to take a bad photo if you do it in low enough light such as the example shown earlier. No phone take good pictures in low light conditions.

Frequencies are highly regulated in Thailand. Subsequently unauthorized transmitters such as jammers are illegal. Many illegal things may be found on sale here, that does not make them legal.

From the forum rules:

6) Do not post comments that could be reasonably construed as defamation or libel. Defamation is the issuance of a statement about another person or business which causes that person to suffer harm. Libel is when the defamatory statement is published either in a drawing, painting, cinematography, film, picture or letters made visible by any means, or any other recording instruments, recording picture or letters, or by broadcasting or spreading picture, or by propagation by any other means. Defamation is both a civil and criminal charge in Thailand.

Ditto in Pattaya Beach Road 2nd road area. Will post some pictures taken from the safety of my car later.

Ditto in Pattaya Beach Road 2nd road area. Will post some pictures taken from the safety of my car later.

While speaking with the owner, I learned that I could have the lenses in my existing frames replaced for 2500 THB per pair (one clear and one sunglasses) and have them in 2 days. I did the math comparison in my head and since I am perfectly happy with the frames I already have, I went that route and both pairs of glasses are just fine. Zenni would have been a smidgen cheaper, and used new frames, but this way eliminated both the wait time and the uncertainty about the glasses until I actually received them.

My wife did the same, although she wanted a new frame for her reading glasses; she chose a frame that cost 3000 THB, so her cost was 5500 THB in all, and again two days was the timeline.

The guy I use in Tukcom replaced the lenses in my reading glasses for 600 baht, same day. (just standard, not progressive).

There is narrow focus and wide focus progressive lenses, yours are obvious narrow focus, which are a different animal from the Hoya lenses that are sold here and have nothing to do with getting used to it. You will have to move your head from left to right for reading as long as you wear these glasses.

1.57 Index is a mid index, and even not polycarbonate material, which is again completely different from the 1.61 High index lenses that are commonly sold in Pattaya optical shops.The lower the index number the thicker the lens and the more prone to breaking they are.

So that together with all the other disadvantages you experienced, especially the low reading area and hassle of sending the back, isn't worth the savings to me.

Interesting about narrow and wide focus progressive lenses, I never heard about that before. I had a quick look in Google but couldn't find any more information about it?

For my +0.25 glasses (+2.00 for reading) glasses the index would not have made any noticable difference but for another $18 (600 baht) I could have upgraded from the 1.57 to 1.59 polycarbonate lenses if I thought it important.

But yes, like I already said, it's not for everyone, but you can't beat the price.

I presume you already tried the obvious - power cycling the router and make sure no plugs fell out.

3BB have these DSLAM switches scattered around that regularly require reboots - could be that.

Or someone might have kamoy'd the cable for the copper value, that apparently also happens every once in a while.

3BB works fine here in the Baan Nongprue area.

Would be nice if you'd update this thread with your own experience once you've got the glasses!

Ordered March 20,

Shipped March 26,

Arrived in Thailand April 1,

Delivered today April 4.

Got the new frames today. This time they were sent directly from China to here, not through US like first time. These frames fit much better. I liked the apparent quality of the first frames better, but according to a lot of feedback on Zenni's website the first ones were prone to break at the nose. The quality seems ok though. The lenses are better, but I still feel the reading area is too low. I have to read through the part immediately over the bottom edge of the glasses for the best result. The focus are is also very narrow - only about 10-15 cm wide at normal reading distance. This means if I'd be reading a newspaper I'd have to sit with my head tilted back, moving it left to right as I read to be able to stay in the focal area. I hear it takes some getting used to progressive lenses, so perhaps it's just me, perhaps after a while I'd get used to them. My old standard reading glasses feel so much more comfortable for reading, and I don't actually need corrective lenses for the distance.

So what's the verdict? Well you can't beat the price, $60 (2,000 baht) all in, memory titanium frames, 1.57 index progressive lenses with AI coating + polarized clip-on sunglasses and shipping. But it took time and patience going through everything. Would I do it again? I am not sure I will get used to progressive lenses, but I sure would pick this option over paying several times this price for the same from a shop.

Well, one option is flying out for ten days.....if you hate it that much!

I really am thinking....Songkran is just not going to adjust itself to you.

Not everybody can afford to "fly out for ten days" perhaps with a family, hotel stay etc. And why should the victim assume the cost of this?

Don't be so sure, Thailand and Pattaya have changed dramatically over the past decade, and it hasn't stopped yet. I would not be surprised to see a "premature songkran crackdown" within the next couple of years.

I bought an exercise bike at Extra about a year ago. Cost 8000 IIRC, quite ok for the price.

Around 6 pm last night, from Nongprue towards town, the motorway was a complete gridlock as far as we could see either way.

One caution: if ordering from eBay and using the Thai Paypal, the Paypal page defaults to Thai language and cannot be changed. Paypal says it is a known issue, and they are working on it.

Actually it can be changed - the problem is the link to change it is in Thai, so it's not obvious if you can't read Thai. I reported this bug to both Ebay and Paypal long ago.

When you get to the Paypal page in Thai, click the link in the top right corner, then a small list drops down with English as an option. See screenshot below.