suzannegoh

2 hours ago, Nickcage49 said:

This is ridiculous. An outrage to put so many businesspeople out of business. Is the economy that good that they can walk away from that much tax revenue?

 

My bet is it never comes to pass.

 

What the industry needs is strickter regulation, not a shutdown.

Were weed shops paying taxes?

Whether pharmaceuticals are cheaper is a mixed bag. Generally name brand drugs that can be purchased from a private pharmacy will be cheaper in Thailand but deeper discounts on generic drugs can be found in the West.  Cancer drugs in particular are horrifically expensive in Thailand.

27 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

Yes there is but the hate speech threat needs to be specific and imminent.

That's making threats against a specific person.  Hate speech is usually defined to be things like Holocaust denial or calling for blacks to be put back into slavery.

On 3/14/2025 at 9:31 AM, 300sd said:

You may want to try and understand the difference between free speech and hate speech.

I'd like to understand that too.  In the US law, is there any distinction between the two?

On 3/14/2025 at 7:35 AM, novacova said:

Non US citizens in the US don’t have to be charged with a crime to be arrested and deported.

But the matter does have to go before a judge.

33 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

What work do you do?

Retired now, was a semiconductor engineer for a US company that had a factory in Bangkok.

Just now, Harrisfan said:

What brought you?

Work, but you're the one complaining about Thailand.

On 2/17/2025 at 10:30 PM, Harrisfan said:

You listed no attractions or reasons for being here 

What brought you to Thailand in the first place?

17 hours ago, rough diamond said:

I do not believe that to be true in all cases.

Some devices are also data/speed limited.

I would be tempted to check the specs of the device as well as the SIM.

I suppose that it the portable router supports 5G and the OP's smartphone doesn't, that might justify the portable router's existence.

17 hours ago, rough diamond said:

I do not believe that to be true in all cases.

Some devices are also data/speed limited.

I would be tempted to check the specs of the device as well as the SIM.

Do you know of any examples of that?  Some phones are locked to a particular carrier but that's a different issue.   And some phones have a faster LTE and 5G implementations than others, but it sounds like a leap of faith to assume that a pocket router would be the fastest of them all.

14 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Jumped out at me when I first listened to The Cars, or the first time in a very long time, last week.

I was sitting listening, and it became readily apparent.

So then, I figured I needed to discuss this similarity with my friends on TV.

Not a bad Topic, but difficult to keep entirely on-track,...which is a very good kind of Topic...

For me.

 

I guess that I never really listen to the Cars beyond their debut album.

I never noticed that similarity.

17 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Good question, and I'll give my reasoning, to get input from others.  Not because I'm sure my reasoning was sound.

 

1) I live where YouTube (and others) are blocked, so I download like a fiend on my monthly visits to Thailand.  Sometimes, I'm out and about for hours (with my cell phone) and my computer is still downloading the queue of files when I get back to the hotel.

 

2)  My cell phone SIM (AIS) has limits on data.  It's been awhile, but I think it throttles back the speed if I exceed the limits, which is easy to do when downloading like a fiend.

 

3) For 1200 baht ($35USD), I didn't mind ponying up to try one out.  The TRUE SIM was the biggest part of the expense (2990 baht) and the nice guy who set me up at Fortune Town said they had the best plan for unlimited data.  (Had I just stuck the TRUE SIM in my smartphone, that would have meant yet another new phone number)

 

4) In the past, I have had data plans that don't allow hotspotting.  I think those were mostly in the USA, but my brain leaks.  Does anyone know if any Thailand carriers "discourage" hotspotting?

 

Edit:  And one other observation...  It was so nice to watch a guy who knows what he's doing open the box, insert the SIM, and activate it for me on the TRUE system. I walked out with a fully functional system.  That's worth money to me.

 

Limits on data are a function of the SIM card you buy and the plan that you sign up for, not of the device.  In other words, your portable router is also going to be limited by whatever plan the SIM card that you put into has, just as with a smartphone.  Swap the Sim cards between your router and the phone and it should be the phone that has unlimited data.

I did discover that T-Mobile in the US throttles down hotspot connections to something like 1 Mbps speeds with the prepaid SIM cards but I hadn't heard if any Thai providers doing that.  However there are workarounds for that even if it happens, including an android app that prevents your ISP from being able to tell you have set up a Hotspot.

If handholding during initial setting was a selling point, you could have just as well walked into an AIS store in a shopping mall, told them what you wanted, and handed them your phone, and you would have been good to go too.

Why buy a pocket router instead of just using your phone to create a Hotspot?

10 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

In all fairness, the agents who have been assisting retirees without seasoned money in the bank have been performing an illegal act. The law to have the 800k in the bank was meant to keep riff raff out.

 

I have several friends in the Jomtien area who have used these agents for years. They are real decent folk, not troublemakers in the least - the kind of people you WANT living in Thailand, spending their money supporting the local economy.

 

Sadly, the law is the law. I hope they aren't forced to leave LOS. The place will be a little worse off if they are.

Is this story about visa agents circumventing the 800K baht requirement?  I've long thought that some day there would be a crackdown on that but this seems to be about barriers to foreigners opening bank accounts.

On 2/13/2025 at 6:24 PM, SenorTashi said:

Believe it or not, every white man in Asia does not live in the Hilton and drive around in limos. 

I don't believe that either.

On 2/14/2025 at 11:48 AM, Aviatorhi said:

The absolutely limitless amount of freedumb lovers who think that tariffs are "good" or that everything should be "made in freedumbland", is quite astoni-----, err, par for the course. But doesn't change their soap grade IQ. 

Do you think that the tariffs that Thailand applies to imports are a good thing?

10 hours ago, Straight-Beginning98 said:

I am curious as to what kind of compensation will the poor fellows receive. Full salary ? A little extra for their suffering ? Which entity would pay that ?

No doubt Hamas will compensate them fairly.

On 2/9/2025 at 11:41 AM, Bannoi said:

Trumps MAGA Make America Grovel Again Trump has proven himself to nothing but a very nasty bully.

No wonder he likes and admires Putin he wants to be just like him. 

Trumps philosophy is you give me what I want or I’m going to hurt you, won't be long before  America will have very few friends left.

Then it will see it’s  power slipping away fast and China is waiting in the wings to pick up the pieces.

America stops AID China steps in and expands it's influence, America rips up agreements its made with countries who considered themselves friends and allies they are going to look elsewhere.

Now Trump is demanding the UK gives the likes of X and Facebook tax breaks (no prize for guessing why or who's behind it) or else possible tariffs or on the other hand maybe a trade deal if you do what I want. America is becoming more like a tin pot 3rd world country ruled by a dictator who's only in it for himself and his fellow conspiritors.

There is a problem with tariffs as the UK imports more from America than it exports and the tariffs would no doubt be reciprocated it could also have the consequence of pushing the UK even closer to the EU after all who is going to make a deal or agreement with someone who sees it as nothing but a piece of paper that can be ripped up any time he pleases.

The Presidents and administrations that come after Trump are going to have a hard time trying to repair all the damage he has and will inflict. Ultimately I can only see China and possibly Russia after the war in Ukraine ends benefiting from this.

I'm surprised to learn that there are people who are critical of a Trump

6 hours ago, Taboo2 said:

The Brits are happy.....55555.

Good point.  Who would have thought that there are more boisterous alcoholics than the Brits?

5 hours ago, Tug said:

What makes you think I’m frightened?im just stating how I feel and I suspect many others do as well.you should get a grip on your thinking process trumps idea is stupid and it will serve to fan the flames of discontent the folks that have the good caricature to do these good works are now put in danger by the felons dumb idea.no more no less.

You're chasing after shiny objectss. The  outrageous things that Trump says one day are to distract attention from what he said or did the previous day.

Only a few years ago RFK Jr was considered to the a leftwing loon.