casualobserver

20 hours ago, Pib said:

What kind of speed do you get to "international" websites using Testmy.net?   Say to LA and London.

It varies. I think there are two sides to the traffic shaping, I think there is an arbitrary peak period (looks 6pm onwards to midnight weekdays and weekends) and a traffic shaping that kicks in after downloading too much (like windows annivesary update). Using http://speedtest-sfo1.digitalocean.com/ I can at this moment get about 50mbit/sec to SFO and and about 44mbit/sec to London, but it does go higher in the week.  Im more than happy with that performance for 1200+tax. Speedtest.com.sg gives 90mbit this morning, but does go as high as 250mbit/sec, I guess sunday lunch is a peak period with all the kids gaming,

Using testmy.net SG sunday 11.45am

TiP Summary - Minimum :: 93.37 Mbps | Middle :: 93.69 Mbps | Maximum :: 99.39 Mbps

London via testmy.net

Minimum :: 14.12 Mbps | Middle :: 15.38 Mbps | Maximum :: 16.42 Mbps

London via VPN:

Minimum :: 16.3 Mbps | Middle :: 27.56 Mbps | Maximum :: 40.67 Mbp

^ Im guessing were at a traffic shaping peak right now

Rather impressed with 3BB fiber 1200 thb a month, first payment 4200thb, I just use a cat6 cable that cost a few hundred baht and I can get 250mb down / 50mb / <5ms latency up on 3bb speedtest, obviously mileage may vary past this point..

Did the kids laugh between themselves or did they dare have the audacity to correct the authority figure? 

Just tried that and no success. The account number is 10 long the box shows the first 4 numbers and then xxx

Wait, I got it.. You enter in the last 3 numbers of the account you would think the xxx were what needed confirmed 

Yeah got the sms, the OTP seems fine, say invalid account number though, you have two boxes on bangkok bank to fill out

You have to enter Account Number which it doesn't seem to accept. Confusingly next to box it say 123xxx so not sure if its first six digit, just the missing 3, everything after the first six ? think I've tried them all though

When adding an account to transfer to to Bangkok Bank online what are you meant to enter for the account number at the OTP prompt

The full account number?

The three digits which are xxx'd out?

All digits from the xxx?

The account number with the xxx in?

Confusing

Since this morning I've noticed both True and AIS traceroutes no longer directly connect via Equinix singapore                                                                                                                                
peering to various Singapore providers. Performance on some routes still appearing uncontended                                                                                                                                                
even with going through the CAT internetional gateway but others have dropped considerably.                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
Is this the start of the forced international gateway via a single provider?                                                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
I hope the loss of remote peering connectivity to *.sgw.equinix.com is short lived.                                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
[1] http://trueintergateway.truecorp.co.th/iig.html                                                                                                                                                                                           
[2] http://noc.trueintergateway.com/public_looking_glass.php                                                                                                                                                                                  
 

Anyone else noticed? 

Retail in Thailand is a nightmare, management just haven't got a clue, instead of hiring more checkout staff they'd rather be impressed with 500baht a day saving

Like Tops, even the express checkout you always ask for that stupid 1st card and then comes slow motion nung song hok sam, then they inevitable get one digit wrong and have to repeat it, I swear this happens every time.

I dont shop on weekend because it just grows my rage exponentially.

Awful airline anyway,flew it to Bangkok once from Sydney out of desperation,to escape the post-New Year's Eve party miserable Sydneyites and it was full of Aussie Bogans,all acting like complete a**holes I couldn't get off fast enough!

"Full of Aussie bogans" really, are you say all on board, except yourself, were ALL Aussies and ALL were "bogans" , pity you didn't leave the flight midway. By the way all countries, including Thailand, have bogans. And you judge an airline because you had an uncomfortable flight due to other passengers... I know who the real "bogan" is.

I flew Jetstar to India once. No bogans for me. Still a terrible airline, hell, the stewards wouldn't let people use the toilets for 20min while they served drinks because they were too lazy to move the cart back to their station.

Now's that's efficient, every airline should do this, and also a case of damned if you do damned if you don't, 'slow drink service', 'didn't serve again for an hr', 'cart kept up and down aisle serveral times hitting me in elbows', 'was an hr before rubbish was collected' etc. unless it's medical people should be able to hold their bladder for 20mins no different than if flight is circling in queue for landing or waiting to take off behind a long queue.

Walking through the mall yesterday I noticed the small jewellers and mobile shops have multiple card machines with a different bank logos affixed. There was one with 6! machines.

What's going on here? I thought a merchant terminal would process all MC/visa credit/debit, if there's a minor % saving for the banks own cards wouldn't that be outweighed by the account fee overheads and the nightmare of meeting the documentation requirements for each bank?

Also curiously what are typical/optimal rates for a registered business for domestic CNP transactions where VBV or Securecode is used and delivery is signed for?

I broke the headphone jack in my laptop, I pulled the headphone cable and it snapped off inside, I then stupidly used a small screwdriver to dig it out and obviously damaged the socket in the process, now all I get is low tones .

I've opened it up to identify the part and looked on aliexpress, and it's bascially one of these

http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20160710185001&SearchText=headphone+laptop+connector+acer

i.e. the part cost few dollars at best but obviously Im not looking for parity with the part cost. Does anyone know a laptop shop near BTS in bangkok handy with hardware that could remove and shoulder a new one, it's a physical problem and don't want to return to find a fresh pirated windows install - seems to be only answer some of clowns can do irrespective of the problem.

Looked at several websites and where I can find pictures it all seems to be either 500baht ikea chairs or those all in one chair/desks, or one picture people crammed around a table with about much elbow room as airasia, all of which looks comfy for about 20 seconds for anyone above 50kg. I guess it not top of agenda for most people but if Im going to regularly attend some comfy chairs / big table would be nice. So...

Is there a language school that has spent at least something on chairs close to the BTS in Bangkok?

If it goes side ways, you can could get a taxi from Hat Yai to Pedang Beasar, or you can get a bus from clock tower and book yourself onto the 5.15pm train from pedang basear.

The 1pm train to the border left bang on time last week, then an hour of waiting about at pedang basear for the 4pm train to butterworth (malaysia being 1hr ahead).

I think you'll just have to chance it and hope for the best, good luck!

From penang beasar it is all new modern trains which take about 90mins to butterworth unlike the old days of 3-4 hrs. There are several trains so you can add some slack to your plan get some breakfast in Hat Yai etc. SRT run trains to the border to connect to ETS which is 80baht

You need a ticket in advance

https://intranet.ktmb.com.my/e-ticket/login.aspx

Will be using an agent.

Which agents are recommended in the centre for recent experience? preferably near water front? Would like next day turnaround similar to penang, what time do you have to drop off? what time available for collection? (penang seems to be 9am, and 3pm respectively)?

Is it just 2 photos and a signature and ~500baht agent+visa fee like in penang ?

Are they normal Monday-Friday business hours?

Does this mean my EMV BKK visa debit will work on other machines too finally? That would be nice given I am all too familiar with walking an extra kilometer to be greeted with the red screen of despair.

Is there a full range Asus vendor on Sukhumvit preferably near BTS?

I want to pick up 8 inch zenpad today, I checked Terminal21 shops and BananaIT on 6th floor but they dont stock this particular model possibly not so popular.

also, has anyone ordered from headdaddy, their contact us page lists no address which is of concern, but seem to have it at best price, if I cant get it today

http://www.headdaddy.com/index.php/home/product/A0083887

Good for him. I wonder how much I would pay him. 10,000 baht? Is that too cheap, Charlies?

Sadly probably zero, and probably zero shame about it too. It's not part of their culture to volunteer any reward, same with tipping unless it would obviously embarrass them like at high end 5 star dim sum restaurant.

There should be a lost property fee of 1,000baht or something that gets split between taxi office and taxi driver, at least this would go so far to make up for some of lost time and money rather than a certificate. Taxi drivers get such an unfair bashing in BKK but you realize how little they make and how dumb the meters are I never begrudge a declined trip, a few minutes or seconds later I can pick up another, for example >6mph its normal distance rate, that could mean a few hours at 10mph for a few hundred baht.

Also interesting the bashing the other guy got, taxi offered 600baht fare and the guy accepts, 50baht airport fee, 120baht tolls, leaves only 430baht in the ride, so at most the guy negotiated say 100-150 baht tip basically, not robbery. The guy then paid the guy with 1,000baht notes, and he kept quiet, crime of the century, sure he should of said something, but seeing as he's probably been at the airport for an hr and 3 hrs into his day and not paid the 600baht a day taxi rent and the 300baht lpg gas he spent another 20min queueing for, I can see how he was tempted. Of course media makes it sound like a crazied yaba guy refusing to turn on the meter and demanding 6000baht through intimidation and then returning to do another victim.

HSBC charges just £4.00 to transfer funds to a Thai bank. Open a Thai account and get a Thai bankbook and or ATM card. Nationwide charges £20 for a swift transfer. (Too much imo)

Bangkok Bank has a branch in London I believe and they are an option to explore too. It is doable and will save you loads .

Still suspect it is better to use transferwise.com from UK to Thailand, HSBC might charge only 4gbp sending fee, and might even send it in GBP allowing a local conversion, but you'll still get a bank deposit charge here (0.25% minimum 500thb if I remember correctly). Transferwise price you see, price you pay, money you get exactly to the baht usually within 24hrs. If it's not clear you faster payment to transferwise UK for free from your UK bank, or use your UK debit card and the next working day you have the money, I use faster payment bacs instead of debit card as debit card always throws up a call from my bank about potential fraud etc..

Will re-check end of April, drop the extra B tablet, and lay off the beer as much as possible during April.

A quick search says that alcohol affects the absorption, that would be from serum to rbc correct? Is that during time alcohol is in the bloodstream? So a few beers every night could potentially mean several hours of mal-absorption? And there is no B12 in RBC only serum?

Thanks again

Yes since new year I take a centrium multivitamin and a B complex daily with about 80% discipline so say five times a week. Cereal a few times a week but not fortified from what I can see.

B12 sreum was high at 998 with a reference range of 197 to 771. Iron all looked comfortably within the ranges with serum at 90 ug/DL and TIBC 333 and saturation 29%.

I think I follow so if I understand this correctly serum is the whole blood, and RBC are cells within that, so with high serum and low in rbc one would expect eventually to increase vitamin in rbc as it slowly absorbs and balance out. High serum could simply be caused by amount being in a centrium tablet and then maybe also in a B complex tablet too?

Attached is blood work nothing stands out to me just eGFR which they said little over or under no problem

Thank you

What would folate inbalance be indicative of? No other meds and reasonable diet, maybe stress recently a cause?

Something that would rectify itself by a daily folic acid tablet and maybe curbing beers?

Folate in RBC - 207ng/ML - Reference range 221 - 1113

A friend left last week on an ETD (emergency travel document), he had lost his passport years back and was on a similar overstay of more than 5yrs. He had no record of arrival but did have a photocopy of his old passport id page. Embassy advised him just to go to airport with the ETD and embassy letter, he did not go get a police report, nor did he go to immigration prior to the airport, we had expected embassy would tell him to do that based on ThaiVisa reading but they didn't and so he didn't...

Airline checked-in him in no problem. Immigration eventually processed him and took 20k

Slightly different circumstances than yourself but close enough that I would just go the airport and hope for the best.. NickJ idea of an extra cheap ticket for next day isn't a bad idea if you're really worried, check-in for international flights generally opens 3hr before though so I think you'll have enough time to sort it if you're near the front of the queue

I thought one had to have an malaysian entry and exit stamp when doing the airasia KL bounce? nice shortcut if you don't but always thought it was required for some reason, then again arrival immigration then escalator walkway through the shopping center up to departures and then through passport and security again is usually less than 30 mins all in and better choice of food places outside the secure area if time permits

Fair dos to the guy, if everyone is happy at this point in time, she is not 18 and he's not 92, there;s probably only 20 years between them. One eventually gets bored of the blah blah blah of 'they will screw you, they cant help it, family pressure blah' and variants. One thing I've never managed to understand is the falangs that will 'give you some free advice' with venomous negativitiy and yet they are still here... with their "my wife is different, she has an education blah blah"... here is a flight ticket pal go home...