gavin310

Give them a test run at the cheapest package rate, with you buying the equipment so you don't have to lock into a long-term contract.

Still gotta be careful about that. I was a bit naive when I first signed up for my TOT account. They didn't mention anything about a contract. I bought my router, modem, and antenna, and it still turned out they got me into a 1 year contract. Everything written down was in Thai so I had no idea. No matter what you think is happening, make sure to confirm you're not in a contract.

Tim, about how big was the unit?

My house is hot. Right now when I work on my computer I have to sit outside, but I want to get a desk and nice comfy office chair and have an office in my house. The office room only has 3 walls, so it's not going to trap any cool air. I don't want to install a/c in this house or in that room because there's too many places for hot air to come in and cold air to go out, so it would be very expensive. I just want to feel cool while I'm working and have the air in the general area cooler so my computer won't overheat. What options do I have and what's the cost? I know there are small portable a/c units but I've heard they're a waste of money. Should I just tie a bag of ice to a fan or is there a better way?

Yeah, what chrisinth said. You're getting the correct upload speed. Being disconnected 4 or 5 times a day isn't correct, but neither is your electricity going out and that's somewhat common here.

I've been using TOT for about a year and 6 months in two different homes. At my first home I lived way out on a rural farm an had a tall antennae thing. The Internet was awesome. I moved away for a while and came back about 6 months later and the Internet was crap. If there was ANY wind, even a gentle breeze, I would be disconnected. They techs said it was the coconut tree farms blocking the signal.

I recently moved to a new house and the Internet was horrible. I'd drop about 50% of packets sometimes which made the Internet basically unusable. I called many times, but with my limited Thai language ability and their limited English ability we didn't get further than them giving me the number for the local office. And this isn't a tourist town so they can't speak English at the local office. One guy can speak a bit. Anyway, I went in and got them to agree to come out the next day. They didn't show so I thought maybe there was a misunderstanding in the day, so I waited two more days. I went back and he told me to bring my router in. I knew that wasn't the problem but I needed Internet and wanted to be friendly and let them do their routine. I brought the router in, if was fine, so he said maybe he can send someone out if the rain stops. So I told him, very politely, that I need to cancel and switch to CAT because I have too many problems with TOT. He said he will send someone that day. Someone else called me later and said it appears to be working, which it was at the time, and said if I had problems again to call them. Obviously this was irritating, but I was polite and said OK and planned on canceling it in the morning. Next morning I saw my landlady and told her everything, so she went into TOT and the next day she told me they fixed something on the street and it should work now. And it does.

Anyway, long story so sorry, but the point is be polite, be persistent, don't get frustrated, and say you'll need to cancel their service if they can't fix it. I've asked many thai people and they don't understand why I feel if I don't have Internet, I shouldn't pay. That's beyond me, but that's the mindset and you just need to go in person and make them deal with your problem.

A rich man marrying a girl from a poor family and "setting them up" after marriage is not unusual in any country.

OP, so are you planning to pay a 3% foreign currency fee (FCF) every time you use your Diner's Club card in Thailand, as well as the annual membership fee that DC charges???

Discover doesn't charge foreign fees on their cards and I'm not sure if Discover cards are subject to the Diners Club membership fees. In either case, I used the card when I absolutely needed money. I did a cash advance so the interest on that is already through the roof. I realize it's not the best card for this. I've said that many times and either everybody is too lazy to read this thread or they just like to bicker at people. It's not a good card as an emergency card in Thailand, but it works. I can get cash advances at Bangkok Bank ATMs and it just saved my ass, so I'm relieved for that.

My SCB ATM card has a Master Card logo, does that make it a Master Card ? No

My Bangkok Bank ATM card has a Visa logo, does that make it a Visa Card ? No

If your card has a Visa logo then it is a Visa card. If someone asks you at checkout if you have a Visa card and you have your BKK Bank Visa card, are you seriously going to say you don't have a Visa card? A Visa logo means a Visa card. A MasterCard logo means a MasterCard. A Diners Club logo I'm assuming means it's a Diners Club card, and all of the Discover and Diners Club reps on the phone who I talked to said the same thing. It's a Diners Club card.

It's a Diners Club card. But, as I said already, this wasn't a good choice for Thailand.

The OP finally admits that it is a Diners Club card, not a Discover card, why are we beating this dead horse

The hell are you talking about? Did you even read any of my original posts? It's a Discover card that has the Diners Club logo.

No problem going on Monday.

Good news! Thanks

The stamp in my passport says "Admitted until 20 May 2013". I meant to go on Friday, but after a late lunch my motorbike wouldn't start and I had to leave it at the shop until 5pm. The immigration office is closed Saturdays and Sundays, and Monday is the 20th. Should I be OK going in on Monday to extend my tourist visa 30 days?

I went to CitiBank where the card should work. Explaining to them I want to charge my card and get cash back, not a cash advance, took about a half hour. She didn't know what "charge" meant so I tried many variations of saying the same thing. I had to get my English speaking Thai friend on the phone to explain it to them and they understood what I wanted. Next they said they've never seen a Discover card and don't know if it will work. Then they were saying how I'll have a daily limit on how much I can take out. I had to explain again it's not a cash advance, it's just a credit card transaction. The only limit is how much credit I have. Then she was fiddling with the card behind the counter and she said it won't work because the Diners Club logo is not on the front of the card, it's on the back. I asked her if she tried to use the card and she said yes. I was still skeptical. I called Discover and they said it should definitely work at CitiBank, but they had no idea why it wouldn't. So I called Diners Club Thailand and handed the phone over. They talked for a while and said it should work, then they said I can get a cash advance at a Bangkok Bank ATM. I told them Discover told me many times cash advances are blocked in Thailand, and I tried already at a Krungsri Bank ATM. It was obvious there wasn't anything they could do, so I gave up. Said thank you and left. On the way out of the mall I saw a Bangkok Bank. I figured what the hell and gave it a try. It gave me a $500 cash advance! I called up Discover and the lady was shocked I got a cash advance in Thailand. I told her about the Diners Club situation and she told me Discover OWNS Diners Club. They bought it so their card will work at more locations internationally. Obviously that deal isn't working out so well.

Anyways, I got money. I was also surprised how many stores in CentralWorld had Diners Club logos. If Discover can get this mess figured out this card wouldn't be bad at all.

It's a Diners Club card. But, as I said already, this wasn't a good choice for Thailand.

Yea, a person shouldn't have to go on a discovery hunt to find a place to use a Discover card. Good luck.

Especially since they give the impression a Discover card is some extremely useful card for worldwide travel on their website. Definitely not the case.

I'm heading to Bangkok to now. At the speed the driver is going I should be there in... about 2 seconds. Assuming I don't die in a horrible, fiery crash, I'll update this thread with what I find out. I'm sure it will help some Googler in the future.

Yea, a person shouldn't have to go on a discovery hunt to find a place to use a Discover card. Good luck.

Especially since they give the imoressi

What model and year is the macbook pro.

Possibly overheating problem (Graphics). There was the notorious NVidia GPU problems on older model macbook pro's

If you have replace the hard drive. Done a clean install with no third party applications. Theres not much else to try except a replacement logic board.

Install iStats or iStats Menu look at Temperatures and also CPU load.

Try a SMC and PRAM reset as per apple instructions in support for your model.

You could try replacing the DDR SODIMMS incase of faulty ram module they are cheap enough now.

But once you have done all that and still issues then out of luck. You could get your own logic board from a parts supplier or ebay. cheaper.

I was monitoring the temperature for many months because I thought maybe overheating was the cause. The normal operating temp was about 130 f (about 55 c). If I was doing extremely processor intensive stuff like video encoding the most I ever saw it get up to was 160 f (~71 c). But that was rare. Those are all within acceptable temperatures according to Apple.

I did a clean install before and it worked for a few months. The only 3rd party software I really use is Adobe Creative Suite, Firefox, and Microsoft Word and Outlook.

This last time the screen started to go, I backed up, formatted the drive, and tried to do a clean install. It went to 75% and wouldn't go further. After restarting the screen went solid blue with black horizontal lines and then went black. This happened from then on after every reboot, but not for about 30 seconds.

I'm hoping at the repair shop they'll be able to run some type of diagnostics to figure out what's wrong. If they still aren't sure then maybe I'll just put up the cash (a.k.a. debt) and get a new one. The thought of going back to Windows really makes me depressed. We'll see though. I can't afford to go though this again.

Ya know one thing I didn't think of before... I lived on a smaller island for a while and would use my computer daily pretty close to the sea. Maybe the sea air caused some corrosion. Also the electricity was really bad, always in and out. Maybe that took its toll on the circuitry.

Thank you for all your tips. I'm actually on the bus to Bangkok right now and my computer doesn't boot up and doesn't have an operating system, so I think it's out of my control now. I'll let you know what the shop tells me.

I called CitiBank and they directed me to Diner's Club Thailand. They said CitiBank and the Bangkok Bank Express Booth can accept Diner's Club credit cards. Hopefully that accurate information, because I'll be heading up to Bangkok to give it a try. If it all works out I'll be set money wise, then I'll get to deal with repairing my computer.

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely need to get a Visa card as my emergency card.

Thanks for the reply, Pib. The rep said the card is active and she even saw I set a PIN number just hours before on the Discover website. That's when she said everything is fine with my card and account.

I think the problem at Krungsri bank was even though their ATM had a Diners Club logo, their credit card processing machine can only accept Visa or MasterCard.

I'm actually living here in Thailand and I applied for this card before leaving to use as my emergency card. In close to two years I haven't even though about the card, but after my MacBook Pro just completely died in the middle of something important, my wallet falling out of my back pocket while on my motorbike, and having to take an impromptu trip to Laos because I got confused on my visa extension and it unexpectedly expired, I'm now needing to use my emergency card.

What's looking like my only option at this point is there are three CitiBank branches in Bangkok and they have some affiliation with Diners Club. I'll call one of the branches today and ask if they can charge my Diners Club/Discover card and give me cash back. I just hope they give me accurate information, since I'll have to travel up to Bangkok to go to their branch.

Thanks for your reply. I can't believe I picked the absolute worst credit card to use as my emergency card in Thailand. Should've researched that one a bit more...

Well, the salary (commissions) would be very good and growing over time with repeat customers.

Our market is predominantly Thai, so for this reason only a Thai person would be more suitable than a foreigner, work permit issues being the ultimate deal breaker.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Is this a commission only job or are you paying a salary? Of course they can make good money with commissions, but that's never guaranteed. You may need to provide a more compelling base salary...

I'm in a predicament here and could really use some help. I have a Discover card that I got in America. I have plenty of credit. First I went to Bangkok Bank. They tried to swipe the card and said it can't read the card. Then I saw it's not Visa or MasterCard, so I figured that's what is wrong. It has 3 logos on the card: Pulse, Diner's Club, and Discover. I called Discover and let them know I'm in Thailand. They said cash advances are blocked in Thailand, but a bank should be able to charge my card normally and give me cash. They said the bank needs to accept Diner's Club. The only bank I found that accepts Diner's Club is Krungsri (Bank of Ayudhya, the yellow bank). I went in and explained what I wanted (15,000 baht). They swiped the card and immediately it gave an error. The error was in Thai and they told me it won't work. I called Discover again and told them. They said there's nothing that should prevent the card from working. The card is brand new, no scratches or anything. Has anyone experienced something like this? Could the magnetic strip have gotten ruined at the airport or something?

negreanu, I'm just curious why you said you think it's the logic board. I need to decide now if I want to try and fix it or just buy a new one. If I spend 15,000 to 20,000 baht to replace the logic board, and that's not the only problem, then I'll end up in a similar situation not long after. Let me describe exactly what's been happening.

The first problem happened about 9 months after i bought it. The computer would become incredibly slow. Sometimes it would take 15 minutes to boot up and sometimes it wouldn't boot up at all. But sometimes it was fine. If it did boot up, sometimes when I'd go into a folder in Finder, nothing would show up. The spinning loader graphic would just spin at the bottom of the Finder window. I ran a disk check and it said it found multiple errors that could not be fixed. I erased the hard drive and reinstalled Lion and everything seemed fine.

About 3 months later the problem came back, but much worse. I couldn't boot up or anything. I took it to a small Mac repair shop on Koh Samui. Of course inside the shop it booted up fine and I had to explain to the guy that for 5 days I haven't even been able to turn it on. Finall after restarting 4 times it began slowing down and he could see what I was experiencing. He said he could try replacing the hard drive, but couldn't guarantee it would fix it. I needed my computer so I said let's try. I came back a couple days later and he had transferred everything to a new hard drive and installed Mountain Lion. Everything seemed to be working fine

That worked, although sometimes (rarely) something weird would happen like the computer would just shut down for no reason. But, the DVD drive stopped working. It loads a disc OK, but it can't read it and can't burn a DVD. One time it wouldn't eject my DVD for about 30 minutes. I was trying everything I could find on Google. Finally it spit it out.

Now, about 6 months later, I was watching a movie and about 10 small colored boxes popped up on the screen. They went away after a few seconds, so I closed my movie and went to shut down my computer. The entire screen then filled with horizontal rainbow colored static. It stayed for about 30 seconds, then the screen turned grey. I could hear and feel the fans blowing at full speed.

And then for about a full day it went away, until earlier today. As I was backing up all my files I played a quick part of a movie. The same squares popped up on the screen so I immediately closed the movie and they went away.

I finished backing up and then erased my disk. I started installing Mountain Lion, and it stopped at about 75%. I canceled the installer and restarted. After a few seconds the screen turned blue with white staticky lines. And now that happens every time I turn on the computer.

Sorry for the huge amount of info. I just don't have enough experience with Macs to know what's going on. My current issue resembles a video card problem, the issues before resemble a hard drive and DVD drive issue. Could a problem with the logic board cause all of these issues?

Thanks guys. Yeah I'm expecting it to be something like the logic board. Replacing the hard drive didn't fix it. Well, it did for a few months. Every time it's a different problem, but I'm sure it's originating from the same place. This is my first Mac so it's pretty disappointing.

I live in Trat. My MacBook Pro started having issues about 6 months after I got it. Since I need my computer and don't have time to ship it out for repairs, I first took it to a local Apple repair shop on Koh Samui (I lived there for a while). A replaced hard drive fixed the problem for a while, but now the screen is full of static and goes to a white screen after 1 minute, with the fans blowing very hot air out until I shut it off. I need this to get fixed ASAP, without shipping it off to be repaired in Singapore or somewhere else. I'd like a recommendation for a shop that knows what they're doing and I'm guessing it'll probably be in Bangkok. If you could give some advice I'd appreciate it.

I strongly advise getting some Thai lessons, in Bkk they are as cheap as chips, 6,000 baht for 60 hours at a decent school.

There they will teach you regular speech patterns, and how to reply.

What you wont pick up here is tones and vowel length.

You may also find you start picking up bad speaking habits, they take a long time to break out of.

I want to take Thai lessons. My tones and things like that are actually pretty good. I don't live in a tourist area, so most of my friends are Thai and we all know if you don't get the tone correct usually you won't be understood. Since I'm learning Thai mostly from a dictionary, I know many words, but I've never learned proper use of conjunctions and other basics for forming sentences. I know the words for but, or, and, if, because, etc. but I don't know how to use them correctly.

So yeah, I want to take Thai lessons but I live in an area with hardly any expats or farang in general. The closest big city to me is Chanthaburi, but so far I've only found one school in Chanthaburi that offers Thai lessons and can offer a visa, however they want 80,000 baht for 1 year. It's only private lessons so I guess the price makes sense. In Phuket, Bangkok, etc. there are schools with group lessons for 18,000-25,000 baht a year. Hopefully I can find one in Chanthaburi in this price range, but it's not looking good.