Carmine6

Mine does as well.  In my case probably different signal strength accounts for most of it.  I am very close to the tower at home with not much in between, and in Thailand , there is usually more distance and more dense physical structures in between me and the towers.  

21 hours ago, PPGuy said:

According to the BOT website both 2nd and 3rd June are now bank holidays.

I would suspect that the info given to the other poster is incorrect and that any transfer will be received on 4th June. But, who knows....

That clears up a lot.  It was to arrive Tuesday California time. 7 PM here is Wed 9 AM in Thailand.  Through midnight here is Wed there. I didn't note what time as it was 5 days away so I didn't really care what time they said it was arriving. So it wasn't a 5 day wait for no reason.  I missed the time to get it Friday and then the banks were closed all the way to Wed.  Which is still ridiculous as they shouldn't need staff working for an electronic transfer to go through.  Unless they are doing some screening with Wise given they are not actually doing an international transfer but using their money in Thailand.

6 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Afaik, they are doing that already since a long time. 
 

i have a message like that “how did we do” in my inbox at Wise going back several months 

Yes, they always ask that.  This time the message was:

"Did we time that right?"

And instead of a generic 1 to 10 rating and box to type in how they can improve, it goes to a web page that says this, except with the transaction number already filed in:

I'll add my recent experience.  I sent USA bank account to my Bangkok bank account 33,000 baht a week ago.  Wise said it would arrive after midnight here, or after 2PM BKK time the next day.  That was actually almost 24 hours since I initiated the transfer maybe after 1:00 here.  Arrived as expected.

Today I was transferring about 19,500 baht at about 11AM Bangkok time, and it said it would arrive next Tuesday here.  That's about 5 days away.

I came here, and saw the threads and cancelled it.  Was wondering if I would have to try another service, but thought if they're using a different method to send to other banks, maybe that would be better.  Tried to send USA bank to my Kasikorn account and it said it would arrive instantly.  I screenshot that and hoped it would be so.  Ended up being basically instantly after I hit the button.  

In the case of my successful transfer last week it said the Paid Out From Banking Partner was Bangkok Bank.  On the successful transfer to Kasikorn the Banking Partner is Kasikornbank. 

I do not know if they were using that other company for the attempted transfer to Bangkok Bank, but that wait time was ridiculous.  2PM Bangkok time the next day wouldn't be too crazy as long as it were reliable.  But 5 days was not only past the exchange rate guarantee time, but just unreasonably long.

When I logged on my computer to cancel I noticed there was a message on my account which was asking when the transfer last week arrived.  Date and time.  So they appear to be monitoring how long they are taking.  

I travelled with a 15 inch laptop for years and about half of hotels I stay in had a big enough room safe.  A fair amount of time it just barely didn't fit.  So 12.4 will likely fit in most, but I mean over half, and not 80%.  I have a 14 inch one now and it fits much more times.  I stay generally in $60 to $80/night places, and the more expensive the more likely they are to have a large enough safe.

As backup, I carry a cable lock that has a connector in the middle  I loop that around something to the connector and then put that lock end of the loop into my backpack with the laptop, and then lock the zippers together.  Sometimes I have done that with my suitcase, though it is rarer to find a place to wrap the cable around that works for the suitcase versus the backpack.

On 3/1/2025 at 7:24 AM, Jingthing said:

Very good question and timely question.

They were saying before it was a limited time only until the end of February.

I think their office is in a western time zone in the U.S. meaning it's still Feb. 28 there.

Their offer still stands here:

Business Phone: 4 users included.

www.phone2.io/ltd

 

That said, I would be very surprised if they don't extend the offer. But no way of knowing yet.

 

But be clear. This is very new to me. 

The phone voice and voice mail works but so far no luck getting test texts.

I am in communication with them about the issue. 

I bought it because of their claims for texts.

So I can't in good faith suggest that you rush out and buy this, unless you don't care about using for 2FA texts.

Also to send texts is a big hassle registering with the government which is something I won't do and don't care about anyway.

Cheers.

By pure chance I got rid of a Skype in number last year and signed up for Phone2 when they were advertising the lifetime account.  That promo has been going on since maybe Summer last year because my Skype subscription ended in September and I had months of seeing the ad to think about it. 

Their numbers are NOT always 2FA compatible.  I did not port my Skype number so do not know if that would have worked better. I have a credit card with Chase and added that  phone number and for some reason they only accept one number at Chase and I selected that as my main number and it removed my cell phone from the account.  Then I could NOT get a code from them through Phone2, but then they didn't have my cell connected to the account and I had call to get it added back on and the Phone2 deleted.   I believe it also did not work with Fidelity.  It has worked with some other accounts, financial and not.

I also get spam text messages, though those went from maybe 1 a week to I haven't seen one in a while.  They do not have number blocking, but have promised that for a while.

Call quality is fine, though I do not use it to call anyone and have just tested it.  The app is very basic, and they really are not adding features over time like they claimed.  But for calling and texting, it is fine since there are no extra charges.  I use it to text to my Google voice numbers to keep those from expiring.  Also for 2FA for a few accounts like rewards accounts with Lowe's and others where they don't need my cell number.

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

 

I entered province but ampur still did not show. Finally I had to find it in Thai script for Muang, entering that got the menu to show.

I had the same issue so just did it in Thai.  The province pull down worked, but district and sub district did not.  Though the pull down when done in Thai has both the Thai and English.  On the main page the address shows in English even though I selected things in Thai.  Except that I typed the street in Thai so that shows in Thai.

This was relatively painless to sign up for.  The only issue is the pulldowns for the district and subdistrict didn't fill when done in English.  Province worked just fine, but the others wouldn't trigger in English even with just single letters.  So I just did the address in Thai.  But afterwards it shows the address in English for the places that were pulldowns. The street in in Thai since that is manually typed.

It seems to be a 2 step process.  Set up what is probably a user account.  That login info came almost instantly.  Then go back to your Profile and add any addresses that you're responsible for. 

I think this cuts out massive amounts of logins since the old system required identifying as the owner, manager, tenant, etc.  So I think a property manager had to register each place with a separate login.  At minimum, if they managed, rented, and owned different locations, those would be separate logins.  A renter now seems to be able to keep the same account, then add any new places they rent, and can delete the old.  Same for owners, who may also be renters or own more than one place.  Just add any addresses regardless of who you are relative to that address. 

I could be wrong about that, but I recall the registration being address specific, rather than person/entity specific before.  They didn't ask for the title document for my condo, only the house book and id/passport.  They should probably add a check box for each address where you specify that you are the landlord, property manager, renter, etc.

Soi 13 has one somewhat close to Sukhumvit either in a barber shop or near it, and another farther back in a shopping center that has an Indian restaurant in front.  Soi 19 has one on the left maybe 200 meters in, then another on the alley about 350 meters in, that runs from Asoke through to Soi 15.  That one is next to a coin laundromat.  Not sure of prices, The one on the alley off Soi 19 offers ironing, but not sure about the others.  Paid maybe 350 baht for maybe 4 or 5 shirts and probably 3 shorts ironed.  I think was by the kilo, but could have been by piece.

I registered as an owner via the website from the USA and no VPN.  It gave an error saying there already was a registration. So after I arrived in Thailand maybe a week to 3 weeks after I had tried, I asked the management company to do a TM30 for me, and they were able to register as some other category. (It is a rental.)  They received an account in a day, I believe.

Then a day or two after they did my TM30, I got an email saying my account was approved.  I don't know if the website had double submitted it, and I was seeing the response to the second submission.  But it did take mine much longer to approve than the management company's. No idea why as I had in person submitted a TM30 2 years prior and nothing had changed in the information.

I've used Keepass for a while.  Completely offline.  You can create a key file separate from the data file, so both of those plus the password are needed to access the passwords.  

KeePass Password Safe

There are mobile versions so that the database file (and any key file) can be copied to a phone and used there as well.  That is a drawback versus the web based ones such as Lastpass since you have to keep the file updated on all devices manually.  But I don't trust web based versions.

I used to use password safe that someone mentioned above, but I think keepass worked better for use on PC and phone back when I switched.

On 3/24/2023 at 10:13 PM, BKKTRAVELER said:

I never understood why so many times they would leave many blank pages and stamp many pages later. Happened to me many times and it confuses other IOs every time I come back. And yet these same confused IOs leave more blank pages and stamp at the back end...

Back on my first passport when I had almost no trips, it seemed like they would stamp a bit spaced out. Both in terms of doing different pages, and also putting stamps in the middle of the page versus say top left corner.  So it was one country per page for a few countries.  And not chronological order or on consecutive pages.

Which I thought was them trying to make people fell like they had more stamps in their passport.  As soon as I started getting more stamps, they generally started more neatly doing top to bottom and trying to get as many as possible on each page and trying to do consecutive pages.  Once in a while someone will pick a weird spot.

44 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

That is interesting...  Is this a recent update, or has the IATA website always said this ?

 

Additionally, I wouldn’t rely on an IATA website (at times during covid it was inaccurate and didn’t keep up with changing regulations).

 

There have been reports of foreigners being rejected based on lack of funds even though they had a credit-card and money in a Thai Back Account - Immigration only wanted to see cash. 

 

Thus: Even IF the rule states that a credit card is acceptable, until this is printed clearly on a Thailand Immigration website I would still ensure I am covered (no harm as the cash is for emergency anyway).

 

And....  we all know Police in Thailand apply the rules and regulations as they see them anyway, thus an Immigration Officer may not know that a credit card can be accepted as proof of funds (they haven’t in the past).

 

Why bother risking it ?? - it's easy enough to carry the cash. 

 

It has said this for about 2 years.  Maybe more. I only started looking at the IATA info to be sure the requirements they had were consistently worded with other sources during the pandemic.

Since it is the only place I've seen it, I wouldn't rely on it.  However, if someone planned to not carry much cash, printing it out might help someone talk an officer into accepting it.  Plead that they thought those were the requirements.

I carry extra cash, even if I don't plan on exchanging it, just in case.

The IATA website now says the following, which is the only place I've seen credit cards mentioned.  I have never been asked in about 40 arrivals and never seen anyone asked to show funds:

Quote

The following should be taken into account even if holding a Visa:

Visitors older than 12 years must have sufficient funds to cover their stay (at least THB 20,000.- per person or THB 40,000.- per family). Proof of funds includes Letters of Credit, vouchers, Miscellaneous Charges Orders (MCO) or credit cards accepted in Thailand.

IATA - Thailand Passport, Visa and Health Advice (iatatravelcentre.com)

I left at midnight last Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and the security and immigration lines were the longest I've ever seen. The entire security screening cue area upstairs was full.  Then downstairs, both sides in immigration for foreign passports were full, and they had the lines for Thai passports going under the stairs in the center.  Those were fairly short.

But both areas kept moving fairly well.  Seemed to keep up with the people coming in.  I arrived early and got through in about 1 1/2 hours including the time had I gone straight to the gate.

They started check in 3 hours ahead of the departure time and I was near the front of that line since I had arrived over 3 1/2 hours before departure.   Based on time data on pictures I took of my boarding passes  and after getting into the airside area right after immigration, it took under 45 minutes to get through after getting my boarding pass.  So a bit over an hour total from my starting point at check in.  I had done online/mobile check in, which was a much shorter line.

If I had arrived later, probably would have gotten through in under 2 hours.  Though would have been stressful given there is also the distance to the gate.  

I did see several people running to their planes, which I don't recall seeing before.  One group heard final boarding for their flight and had to literally run instead of just hurrying.

46 minutes ago, riclag said:

Yes! We didn’t have a Identification Protection Pin #.

 

 

 

There is a way to get a PIN online if someone runs into this in the future.  Requires having an IRS account, which may or may not be easy to obtain outside of the US.  

Get An Identity Protection PIN | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)

Venmo is US only.

Quote

To create a personal account, you must be a resident of the United States or one of its territories, be at least 18 years old or the age of majority in your state of residence and use a cellular/wireless telephone number that you own.

On 1/8/2023 at 12:46 AM, bradiston said:

Er, hello? You mean I can't transfer to an account that's not in my name? I've done many such transactions in the past. I've paid $ into a different Indian account too. This is something entirely new. Ok, it's a SWIFT payment because it's the only way to do this transfer. But so what? I don't know where you get the "100% definately (sic)" from.

 

Pretty sure it's the much quoted "$ hegemony". Control over everything. I might try cancelling it and transferring the $151 equivalent, in INR, or £, from my sterling account. Might work.

I think you are right about the dollars being the trigger.  All US dollar SWIFT transfers go through NY.  So there is no way around the US' "know your customer" laws.

I have a US based crypto account and they just asked for my tax information all over again.  Literally had prefilled the fields on the website for me since they had the info and I checked the box certifying it was my info and submitted. 

All my bank accounts and brokerage are constantly asking me to update my income.  Started about 2 years ago.  So somewhere in those massive bills passed the last couple years had to have increased requirements.

14 hours ago, ThaiVisaCentre said:

No need anymore.

https://thai.news/news/thailand/urgent-covid-19-update-for-inbound-travelers-to-thailand-part-two

If you are unvaccinated you can simply take a test upon arrival, and from what we are hearing they will not be testing all unvaccinated arrivals, and instead spot checking.

Simply taking a test upon arrival depends upon being able to board the plane to begin with.  The airline will be allowing or denying boarding going by the way the regulation is worded, and that may be a problem right now.

Right now, the IATA website says:

Quote

Passengers must have a COVID-19 vaccination certificate showing that they were fully vaccinated with .(snip list of vaccines).. at least 14 days before departure.

 

This does not apply to passengers with a COVID-19 recovery certificate showing that they recovered at least 7 days and at most 180 days before departure.

 

Passengers arriving from China (People's Rep.) or India must have insurance to cover COVID-19 expenses (minimum coverage of USD 10,000). The insurance must cover duration of stay in Thailand plus 7 days.

There is no longer any specific mention of unvaccinated.  So unless this changes, the airlines will most likely not allow unvaccinated to board.  There used to be an additional section saying that unvaccinated passengers must have a PCR or Professional rapid test within 72 hours prior to boarding.  Now there is no additional section on unvaccinated at all.  It should say unvaccinated passengers are allowed, but are subject to test upon arrival.  Then there will be no confusion.  Certain airlines are much more meticulous than others.

Someone will have to 

41 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Since you are already at the hotel and already at the pool, wouldn't it make more sense to ask someone there?

I'm not at the pool.  I'm in a quarantine room so wouldn't be using the pool.  Their english is not so great at the front desk.  One time I called to ask if I could choose from different items for meals, since the flyer said that.  After a lot of going back and forth she finally understood and said no.  If I wanted different things then the only option was ordering room service after.  Then someone showed up at my room with a toothbrush saying that I had requested one.  So even though she did understand at the end, apparently she thought I had also requested a toothbrush.

My main goal was to find out if restrictions for the area had been changed, which happened when I was in quarantine last year.  Seems like maybe in Bangkok that happened.  Like a shut down of unofficially opened places.

2 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Yes I look for useful information too but then get sucked in and feel I have to respond to the hate and racism.

I used to, but then realized there's no changing minds.  Also some people have a whole lot of time on their hands to be posting, where I'd rather do other things.  Like right now I would not be on here other than I'm in quarantine.

11 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

But see how your inquiry  unleashed the dam of Thai bashers and anti Thai racists. !

Thaivisa used to be extremely popular, and then every single topic was flooded with repetitive Thai bashing and the activity fell off a cliff.  I only come back for very specific questions because it is similar in the repetitiveness.

Update. They opened the pool again.  There are now also significantly more people swimming or sitting around the pool.

There is a jet or something that is constantly moving water and it has never stopped. So there could have been maybe an addition of extra chlorine or some other reason.

The main thing is it wasn't due to some change in restrictions.

3 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Did they perhaps have a lifeguard that has not turned up for work? Did someone drop a glass somewhere. I don't recall any recent rules being introduced to close hotel pools.... unless the manager took it upon himself.

Did you ask reception?

There's no lifeguard.  It definitely is pool only as they went right around the edga of the pool, leaving the deck and chairs open.

I'm not interested in the pool, only that it could mean there was some upgrade to a red zone, or whatever the next level up is.  Or that the rules for the current zone changed.

Front desk's English isn't so great, and this isn't urgent, so I'd rather not even try this topic.  Either something will be announced in media, or this was a random decision.  I personally hope random, but odds are something changed.

Just now, JackGats said:

Swimming pool closures have always been whimsical since the start of the pandemics. They're a good way for a hotel or condo to save money of course.

Seems odd to be open, the  just close it on a whim one day.  I saw on tv there was some update on the covid situation in Thailand, and assumed some kind of announcement had come out of that.  Like chon buri was bumped a color level or something.