sitti

I agree with the OP... It is a bit lame... The card should come out before the cash... When I forgot my card once I went to the bank and told them about it (it was the ATM outside thier location).. And they told me they did not have it and would have to issue a new one... I think it is a ploy by the bank to get a 100 baht for each new card...

Why should entire banks make changes just for a few of you. Almost all ATM users here don't have any difficulty using it. You are in a foreign country. You play by their rules, not yours.

Feel safe or not is quite subjective. In my opinion, it is not any worse than the US. Statistic is just a statistic. I lived in the US for 15 years and nothing serious has ever happened to me or my family. This is my 2nd year in Thailand, so far nothing yet. I guess it is all up to you. As long as you don't choose to go to the wrong place at the wrong time, you will be fine anywhere.

The land of smiles is safe, but what's behind the smiles a xenophobic race that only wants your hard earned cash

If you not a citizen of a country, you won't be welcomed in any country if you don't have your hard earned cash or anyone support you.

Dear Cram,

Seeing you state, "We have the right", remember you are a VISITOR in Thailand, all of your rights went out the window once you entered the Airport. They make the rules, whether they be right or wrong in our eyes, but after living here many years, I always say to myself, their country, their rules, live with them or leave. I have to laugh when I see post from "Visitors" saying, I'll take my money to another country, do you really think Thai Immigration cares about a few baht?? NOPE.

True but....if enough tourists say screw Thailand too much hassle. You'll see things change fast.

True but...vast majority of tourists are genuine. Genuine tourists won't have any hassle to go through to enter Thailand. Only the non-tourist tourists who choose to stay in a country months after months would find it too much hassle.

Judging by the quality of the Thai educational system, it would appear that bookstores are moot since few of today's students care to read (or are unable to read and comprehend anything with any depth). All today's students want are cell phones and TV. We will see the young Thai's minds turn to mush and with it the hopes of a better tomorrow for Thailand. Well done Thailand!

WOW. Your comment shows that you sure had a very high quality education.

I enjoy the land office here - especially compared with the California DMV experience.......

Yeah, among them, in my opinion, the absolute worst one is DMV at downtown L.A. Even with an appointment, they still make you wait for eternity.

In the U.S., immigrations do make a surprise visit to business owned by investor's visa holder or business employing foreigners with some type of work visa/permit. Our company had this visit twice in 3 months. Basically, USCIS is making sure that they are not abusing their Visa in any way. Sound like Thai Immigration is doing their job and enforcing the laws.

That officer at the border HELPED you from not being able to get back in to Thailand. I hope you didn't behave like a jerk. Because of a few people like this, others pay the price.

Thank you everybody for your kind words and information. I have brought her home yesterday. I too think there is no point of making her stay at vet. Currently, she is mostly laying down resting or sleeping calmly. After seeing her face at home, it is starting to make me much more difficult to put her to sleep. But I know it has to be done at one point. Thank you very much Sheryl for valuable info. At least now I can make Meow feel more comfortable when the time come. At this point, I don't think I want to put Meow in the car, drive around to other vets, and put more stress on her. But I will continue to ask around. When time is near, I'll take to her to some big expensive vet and hopefully may be willing to help better.

Before bringing her home, Vet did one more blood work. Her Creatinine went from 4.5 to 5.1.

I will try to enjoy the remaining time with her.

Hello,

Sorry this will probably be a long post with bad writing. I am quite upset right now...

I have a cat brought from the U.S. last year. She is now 15 years old (highly possible that she could be 2 years older. Can't say for sure she was homeless. Since she is a girl, I go by her youngest estimated age). I have had her for 14 years now. Couple months before we moved to Thailand, she was diagnosed of late stage CRF. Fortunately, US vet agreed to prepare and sign all required documents since she was healthy enough to fly. As advised by US vet, I started giving her subscription wet food, 100ml of fluid daily and Calcitriol twice a week. One week before departure, we did one more blood work to see if treatment is working. The numbers were lowered, so my US vet tells me to continue with this treatment. He also explained what to expect, what will happen, she may live up to additional 1 year and a half, this treatment is only temporary and no way to reverse this illness, and especially cat's quality of life. Then my cat safely arrived at Bangkok with us in August of last year.

Couple weeks after arrival, we took Meow (my cat's name btw) to Thai vet for check up and blood work. Result were almost no different from last blood work from the U.S., so Thai vet said this is the best she can get.

Fluid kept her happy and active for several months. Since Jan 2013, I began to notice her condition gradually worsen. She stopped grooming, less active, eat less, and losing weight. She already had problem with pooping and urinating outside of litter box while she was still in the U.S. but it was 50/50. But now she poops 100% and urinate outside of box more often. By April 2013, she became a lot weaker, no longer can jump from the floor to the desk. She barely can jump onto sofa and chair. And her fur falling off significantly a lot more than usual. She sleeps most of the time.

One of my worst days came on June 14, 2013 at night. When I came home I noticed she hasn't touched her food at all and drank only small amount of water. She vomited white foam several times. Deep inside, I knew what it was. But I refused to accept it and hoped that she probably ate bug or something and just upset her stomach. I went online and search around. I learned typical upset stomach usually goes away by next day. So I waited and see if she gets better. However, she didn't get any better in the morning. She looks weaker and won't eat at all. At this time I knew her time has come.

We immediately took her to vet. While waiting, I (31-year old guy) burst into tears like little girl. I knew I have to say good bye to her soon. Vet wants to keep her for several days for fluid therapy into a vein and tests. Later that day, vet called to inform us Meow's blood work was off the chart. They will continue with fluid therapy and see how it goes. 5 days later, her BUN was lowered by still very high. And her Creatinine got slightly higher from 4.4 to 4.5. Vet told me that she is at her final stage and her kidney is shutting down. She has a bit of time left. At best, she could have up to 6 months but unlikely. She won't get any better from this point, only worse. She still won't eat and vet has to force feed her by syringe. I saw she resisted hard with her remaining strength and spit out food. At that moment, I know what has to be done. That night, I called my US vet, and explained everything in detail. I asked him about "it". He said if I were in the US and requested him, he would gladly put her to sleep. Finally, I made the hard decision. I cried again.

On the day we brought her to Thai vet after Meow stopped eating, I had my mom asked vet about whether or not they will be willing to put her down when the time comes. (I am Thai, but from at age of 2, I spent my whole life abroad. We lived in Japan and US. I only can speak some Thai with bad accent). They said they would. But as I read at this forum about how Thai vets mostly refuse to put animal down due to Buddhism-way, my Thai vet became reluctant to put her down when we requested. All of sudden, they started saying Meow is improving, blah blah blah, she has a chance, and it is a sin. Her kidney is shutting down. She doesn't have much time left. They said so to my face. Anybody can tell that she is badly ill and not a happy cat. Most importantly, she refuses to eat. What the hell is improving!!! What chance she has!!! Soon the real suffering will start and have slow painful death. I will never make my Meow go through that.

I had my mom call vet. Explained how much I do not wish her to suffer, and wish to put her to sleep before her condition gets a lot worse. Also explained how people from Western nations see, feel, and think things differently. They said they want to keep Meow for 10 more days. If they can't get her to eat on her own, they will put her to sleep. We agreed. I am not so sure if they are really trying what the best for Meow but I'll just have to wait and see.

From explanation I had from TOT, I believe difference of plan isn't about domestic or international bandwidth. It should be the same. It is mostly about how many devices can be connected to net simultaneously without slowing down. That's why they say advance and premium are usually businesses.

I read somewhere at other forum about a guy works at company with fiber 2U with premium. He was complaining about his international speed.

Sent from my HTC One X using Thaivisa Connect App

From what I know you need only basic. Anything above that is overkill for home. Advance has larger pipe and allows larger number of computers to be connected simultaneously. This is more for corporate environment. Premium is Advance with fixed IP.

I asked the same thing when signed up. Basic is just perfect for home: Few computers, iptv, internet TVs, ps3, smart phones.

Sent from my HTC One X using Thaivisa Connect App

Please correct me if I am wrong. TOT also have fibre optic here however from the pole or whatever their connecting point is do not we still have the copper wire to our modem? I would love to be proven wrong as I am a bit tired of their so-called 7mb which is more like dial-up speeds most of the time

I didn't ask very specific question, I briefly talked with TOT Tech/Engineer over the phone at TOT office before I signed up. From what I was told, in my case, my house should be fiber ready. Couple months ago we just bought a brand new house in SC Asset's new housing project (still building more houses over the next 2 years). For the last year or two, TOT have been installing fiber lines in many of the housing developments near the main roads. My house fits exactly in this description. So I would assume it may probably be true fiber connection. They are going to send tech people to check something before installation, so I will ask them.

Update:

I had a bad news then a good news. Bad news is True didn't show up for installation. Turns out they don't offer any type of internet in my area, only TrueVision. What a waste of time. I was quite disappointed, I was so looking forward to getting cable modem instead of DSL. Then I went to 3BB, they don't offer anything in my area either. My only choice is TOT. It appeared to be I could only get crappy TOT DSL

Good news is TOT actually offers Fiber2U in my area, which I wasn't expecting it at all. When I visited TOT, just as I thought, they told me the fastest one I can get is only 10mbps DSL. I asked if there is anyway I can get faster and more reliable connection? They kept telling me that this is all I can get. I really really didn't want DSL, I asked them to call tech to double check. It turns out fiber optics is available in my area I signed up for 20/3 for 2500 baht a month. Installation is 4000 bath including laying down LAN to 3 rooms.

I don't expect it to be as good as Verizon FiOS I had in the US, but this is the best I can get at this point. I just hope my connection will be constantly stable

Agree with rakman, that is how it should be done. I guess that you are just using the wrong terminology. It is "switches" you need not "routers" in each room. Then just one router at the internet access point.

The ISP's in Thailand typically don't do any LAN wiring at all. They just provide one access point (ADSL or Cable modem) then the internal LAN, wifi etc is up to you. Though they may give you a free wifi router.

If you can't do it yourself, then most electricians can run the LAN cables for you.

Not entirely true, (sorry for the pun)

TOT, CAT, TRUE and probably some others offer this installation/cabling service.

The actual service is done by an outside contractor.

Had this done by TOT, and 12 MB, with guarantee for the work.

20 MB and even 50Mb were possible.

Two hiccups, one short telephone call, and in came TOT itself to check/repair.......free

I went to TOT and they told me thay can provide cabling up to 4 locations. They went ahead and scheduled installation for next Saturday but haven't been able to verify what type of internet is available at my home. They said they will call me next week to confirm. Hoprefully we can get DOCSIS, I'm not really a big fan of DSL.

And yes, we do need router, not switch, for each room. Let's just say, we have unique requirements for our home network. If TOT technican can properly run LAN cables to 3 or maybe 4 rooms, then our problem is solved

TOT don't have DOCSIS because they're not a cable TV operator. I'm pretty sure they only offer ADSL and in limited areas FTTH.

Ooops, sorry, I meant True I am currently using TOT unlimited 3G. I got them mixed up.

Agree with rakman, that is how it should be done. I guess that you are just using the wrong terminology. It is "switches" you need not "routers" in each room. Then just one router at the internet access point.

The ISP's in Thailand typically don't do any LAN wiring at all. They just provide one access point (ADSL or Cable modem) then the internal LAN, wifi etc is up to you. Though they may give you a free wifi router.

If you can't do it yourself, then most electricians can run the LAN cables for you.

Not entirely true, (sorry for the pun)

TOT, CAT, TRUE and probably some others offer this installation/cabling service.

The actual service is done by an outside contractor.

Had this done by TOT, and 12 MB, with guarantee for the work.

20 MB and even 50Mb were possible.

Two hiccups, one short telephone call, and in came TOT itself to check/repair.......free

I went to TOT and they told me thay can provide cabling up to 4 locations. They went ahead and scheduled installation for next Saturday but haven't been able to verify what type of internet is available at my home. They said they will call me next week to confirm. Hoprefully we can get DOCSIS, I'm not really a big fan of DSL.

And yes, we do need router, not switch, for each room. Let's just say, we have unique requirements for our home network. If TOT technican can properly run LAN cables to 3 or maybe 4 rooms, then our problem is solved

Hello,

We have recently moved to Bangkok, and are getting ready to move to new home. We need to get real internet connection at new home instead of using tethering from smartphone.

There will be multiple computers in 3 different rooms and each room requires wired internet connection, not sharing connection via Wi-Fi router throughout the house. Each room will have router to share connections with multiple devices. Back in the US, we were using Verizon FiOS. Technician came in to lay down LAN cable for all three rooms. Is there any internet provider in thailand that provides LAN port installation in multiple rooms? Or do we need to get 3 separate lines?

Thank you