lapd

This is much harder to find than one would expect. I have managed to find one and only one place that has what I need. In order to do that I have to go out into the hall in the middle of the night with a long ethernet cable I bring with me and plug into the wifi router mounted on the wall. That basically gives me direct access to their DSL modem rather than using a WiFi signal. I had some hope 3G could provide what I needed but it doesn't. Usually worse than WiFi if it works at all.

I cannot use WiFi because it almost never works well with VoIP. I am doing business stuff with people who don't know where I am and I want to keep it that way. I don't want them to know I am using VoIP either.

Anyways, anyone know a good apartment hotel that charges by the week and/or month with good wired internet. Budget is not unlimited so it's also a consideration. Even if it wasn't it doesn't open up more options based on my investigations. I would consider a standard hotel if the price was reasonable.

Barring that, anyone know any good internet cafe's open late into the night during North American business hours that maybe have private somewhat sound proof booths where I can plug directly into their network. Not the most convenent option but I might have to start looking harder at that since I have not been able to find any alternatves so far.

Not to sound like a typical Linux nerd but you guys do realize that all the various Linux distributions are basically the same right? The most annoying thing for me is directory structure. That seems to vary quite a bit. I wish all the linux distributions could agree on a standard directory structure. That will probably never happen now this far down the road.

Anways, besides directory structure and the other big one with is the different package managers each distro uses, there isn't much if any difference. Even the GUI they use is the same. Generally Gnome or KDE with only a few tweaks here and there between distro's. The thing most 'users' associate with an OS. More advanced people know more about the underlying OS and may place more association with the package manager and directory structure. However, it's all still pretty much the same after that. They all use the same packages more or less which is what makes an OS and OS...at the user level. Of course they all use the same Kernel.

Think about that next time someone says something dumb like "Ubuntu is more stable than...SUSE" or other such nonsense. One is just as stable as the next because they are both essentially the same.

Why Linux?

Because many people don't know that it is actually called GNU/Linux.

True, Linux refers to the kernel. GNU refers to everything else which is basically a collection of hundreds of apps that allow you to actually do stuff with the kernel.

I would encourage anyone interested in Linux to dowload the longest running torrent on piratebay. A documentary about Linux called "Revolution OS".

I found it very interesting but I'm a linux geek.

We have the exact same skytrain system in Vancouver. Never heard of such an incident here. BTW the Bangkok system is newer and has aircon carriages.

Not really. Vancouver uses linear induction motors as part of each car and is fully automated. BKK is not fully automated and uses motor cars. For proof look for the driver at the front and the lack of the the linear induction bar in the middle of the track.

Also the cars are made by different companies. Siemens makes the BKK cars and Bombardier makes the Vancouver cars. But yea besides that they are "exactly" the same. [/snark off]

Did it ever occur to some of you that yogurt has an expiry date and maybe after having to throw too much of some brands/sizes away they don't want to stock it anymore?

Take a taxi and fix the fare before leaving; should be possible for THB 500 (USD 16-17)

You drive a Taxi in BKK or something? Either that or you just like to pay double for everything.

My advice to you, if you have the money to pay 150,000/200,000 baht, go home and get yourself operated on instead!

I know of 2 stories, same problem, both men needed operating on there leg, both going to Bangkok pattaya hospital! One man paid cash, the other was covered through bupa. Man who paid cash, pretty much list his leg, man with bupa, is running around!

If you pay cash in Thailand there is no one to answer too, if your insured, it's a different story!

Go home get it sorted! If not definitely nut go and have in memorial hospital, if you can't afford Bangkok pattaya, then go to the international hospital!

Orr even banglamung. It may be a government hospital, but there's nothing wrong with it!

Most of the things I have heard about Memorial fall into 2 categories. People who say it's bad but never had anything done there, and everyone else who have had something done there and seem to be generally happy with the service and price. YMMV.

Actually it just remembered it only works with AIS Edge and that was the reason I got the 3g Aircard. It's all coming back to me ....slowly.

Not a problem for email alert which is all I need the data for.

This was another reason I wanted to originally use SMS for my alerts. So I wouldn't have to figure all this stuff out.

^ OK, now you are literally all over the map. That SIM and plan is a post-paid, contract plan.

Do you have a pre-paid, One-2-Call SIM? Or a post-paid AIS (GSM Advance) SIM? Do you understand the difference?

I suspect you have a pre-paid One-2-Call SIM. In which case you can subscribe to a mobile data plan, detail provided via a link already.

There are two (or three) versions of the HTC Incredible S. Not sure if your version supports 900 MHz 3G, which is what AIS/One-2-Call uses, or if you even need 3G.

Good luck, I'm certain you'll get sorted out.

My HTC Incredible S radio works with AIS including 3G. I know that for sure. Like I said I have 1-2 call. My Aircard also has 1-2 call. How is that all over the map? MultiSIM said it works with 1-2 call. I'm just reading from their website. If that is not the right one then that's my mistake. It's not exactly obvious from their website half of which is in Thai with no translation.

Thanks for the link. Different plan but same price so we are still good. I just go to the AIS store in the airport and get the girls do to it all for me anyways. They all speak good english, know their way around an Android phone better than most computer geeks, and always know just what I need after 1 or 2 questions and do everything for me on the phone and typing in all the codes and doing all the activations. They really seem to know what they are doing.

1 baht a minute! That's highway robbery...or to put it another way, business as usual when it comes to telcos. Is that something new? Yes I have 1-2 call but if memory serves me correctly it included data and is (was) a fairly standard thing. Nothing special.

You sure it's not 1 baht per megabyte? I'm pretty sure they had that type of option or at least they used to.

I sort of guessed you were unaware of the potential issues of not having some sort of mobile data plan. Yes, unless you have subscribed to a mobile data plan your account will be debited 1 baht per minute when connected. This is why we almost always recommend volume-based data plans. And this is why we ask so many questions to clarify the exact details of the application, and I haven't asked what brand/model phone you have, yet . Time-based plans look alluring but they also charge 1 baht/min. once you go over your monthly allowance - these should only be used in dial-up applications with an aircard. And One-2-Call's volume-based plans, up to and including 2 GB/550 baht. charge 2 baht/MB once you go over your volume allotment.

For full service, prepaid Happy (DTAC) and/or TrueMove H may currently offer better "unlimited" data plans? You can port numbers here if necessary.

http://www.ais.co.th...rnet-package/#2

http://www.happy.co....mid=368〈=en

I've always used AIS just because I think their coverage is better in general.

As far as I can tell from the website I need a 3G multiSIM which works with 1-2 call, and gives me 1GB/month which should be plenty. Looks like it's gonna cost 50 + 300baht a month which is no big deal. I think that might have been what I had last time. Leaving the phone on all day and night syncing to the email account only used 250KB and I won't be on data when in the hotel room so 1GB should be plenty. AIS also has free WiFi all over the place.

http://www.ais.co.th...t/en/multi-sim/

The phone is an HTC Incredible S. I also have an AIS 3G aircard for the laptop when WiFi in the hotel goes down. That one can be on the 1 or 2 baht per minute deal.

Thanks for pointing out Telemessage lomatopo. Much better rates to Thailand.

Ok I think I have it figured out. Free does not look like an option but it can be done with a paid service such as this.

http://www.clickatell.com/

Works in Thailand, Cambodia, PI, Indonesia etc.....but if I am reading their pricing right it's 80 cents a message. Still doable for me as these are emergency messages I rarely get but I must be able to get them 24hrs a day no matter where in the world I am or what I am doing.

Telemessage charges $0.13 per message (email, voicemail) delivered as SMS to Thailand, it works as a pre-paid service where you buy credits for an account. We've used this service for years and it works well although it is becoming a bit long in the tooth. It is being replaced by solutions which utilize always on data, IM, voice (recorded or live), video (recorded or live), attachment and the written word.

Evidently you have a One-2-Call pre-paid SIM? Which data plan, if any, have you subscribed to to cover those times when you are outside of WiFi coverage? Note that if you do not have a data plan you will be paying one baht per minute regardless of whether you are using data hence the recommendation for a volume-based mobile data plan. Time-based plans (with One-2-Call) are speed-limited to 384 Kbps while volume-based plans allow for the use 0f 3G, where available assuming your phone supports 900 MHz 3G.

1 baht a minute! That's highway robbery...or to put it another way, business as usual when it comes to telcos. Is that something new? Yes I have 1-2 call but if memory serves me correctly it included data and is (was) a fairly standard thing. Nothing special.

You sure it's not 1 baht per megabyte? I'm pretty sure they had that type of option or at least they used to.

Ok I think I have it figured out. Free does not look like an option but it can be done with a paid service such as this.

http://www.clickatell.com/

Works in Thailand, Cambodia, PI, Indonesia etc.....but if I am reading their pricing right it's 80 cents a message. Still doable for me as these are emergency messages I rarely get but I must be able to get them 24hrs a day no matter where in the world I am or what I am doing.

Tried testing plan B which is email on my Android 4 phone yesterday. Works pretty good. There are a few ways to do it but the best way seems to be to set up a free gmail account just for this (which won't get much if any spam). As an added measure against false alerts I set up gmail email inbox on android to default to gmail priority inbox. On the gmail end I set up a filter to ONLY forward the messages i know are the emergency messages to the priority inbox. I can do this by setting the filter to the "from" email address or to keywords in subject/message or both which I did. That should prevent any unimportant emails from setting off the alarm and would probably work with existing email accounts I have as well.

I have an app called ICS enhanced ring control. It allows me to isolate email messages so they are the only things that set off a particular ring tone set at max volume + vibrate. All other things are set to different volumes and ring tone. You would think Android 4 can do this without the app but turns out it can't. At least it can't with SMS which is why I got the app.

I think that about covers it. Only thing is I have to leave data enabled all the time when not around WiFi which eats the battery faster and costs a bit for data. So I downloaded a free app called Onavo which monitors and reports data usage by app so I can go through and turn off everything I don't need eating background data except for email. Also disabled email sync for all accounts except this new gmail account.

Lastly, I installed another free app called WiFi on on Power. When I go into my room usually the first thing I do is plug in my phone to the USB charger which will turn on the WiFi so I won't be eating data plan cost during that time. When I unplug it to go out the app turns off WiFi.

Phew, sounds harder than it was. Took me about 2 hours to figure out and test so not too bad I guess. I'll probably end up doing both SMS and email just to be sure. I know in Thailand once in awhile I won't get SMS messages for several minutes or even hours sometimes. But I figure push email won't have that problem. Gmail always get's emails right away so it's just a matter of pushing it through the internet to my phone. So if I do both I should be covered no matter what.

If these messages are that important, 500 baht or so per month for a gigabyte+ "data" plan will allow you to push your emails immediately to your cell phone. The plus side is that you get them in their intended format and you can respond if necessary. Also, text messaging is limited to 160 characters per message (don't quote me on this).

Shawn

But I don't need my emails pushed to me. What I can do is create a new email account just for this and only have my phone alert me when this account gets emails. To keep bandwidth down I would probably only have it set to sync with this account. I don't need to spend money getting thousands of spam emails pushed to me every day on my other accounts. There are a few different ways to do this in Android 4 I think (as I am now starting to read about it) that should work ok. Don't see why I would need a gigabyte+ data plan for that though.

But I want to try do it with SMS if possible. The email things is plan b.

I rely on this service back home to alert me of certain things.

Can't seem to find any information on if it's possible in Thailand. Some old threads seem to indicate it used to be offered but isn't anymore. Others seem to indicate it's an extra service that needs to be added. Neither really answers the question conclusively. Preferrably on AIS 1-2 call but I would switch carriers if I had to. It's that important to me.

The exact term is email to SMS gateway and all the telcos in North America seem to offer this. It has to be email because the messages come from an online service that only sends to email addresses.

If I can't do that I would have to figure out a way to do it by keeping cell data enabled all the time and only have the cell phone alarm go off when these particular emails come in. Probably a way to do this elegantly on Android 4 but sending to SMS would be much more ideal for me.