Lannig

All the three majors AIS, DTAC and True have more or less the same offers with these cheap bundled phones.

Conditions don't vary a lot. Dont get fooled by the thousands of "free" comms and internet.

You'll get some free call time and internet, just not worth thousands of bahts. That's BS.

Which does not mean that it could not be something to consider if your usage pattern matches what is required to get these benefits and you can do with an entry-level, simlocked phone.

I know people who are happy buyers of the AIS offer with a Lava phone.

I concur that True would really be my 3rd choice here. AIS and DTAC give much better service IMHO.

No concession to the UK? oh dear.

The UK membership has been an endless story of rebates, concessions and exceptions from the very beginning.

Oh dear another europhile

Not necessarily, but not europhobe either.

Is this a problem? only europhobes allowed to post here?

1- these phones are entry-level, rebranded no-name cheap Chinese stuff, not all are bad but depending on your expectations and experience with higher range models you might be bitterly disappointed

2- they're simlocked, you can't use them with another operator

3- these credits and bonuses are vastly misleading, read the fine print. You need to top up your account regularly, under certain conditions and up to a certain (fairly high) level to get the benefits of these. It's not like to buy your phone and you have thousands of bahts of free communications to use without the need to top up at all. You will get more than what you pay for top-up.

No concession to the UK? oh dear.

The UK membership has been an endless story of rebates, concessions and exceptions from the very beginning (yes, I'm old enough to remember this).

I'd say hats off to Cameron. He has lost, he goes.

Not something that would happen in many countries. Certainly not in mine.

Filth export their corruption and violence throughout the world. No Muslims should be allowed to drink or dance in Thailand in accordance with their laws.

Based on this logic, no western sexpat should be allowed to have sex with prostitutes when this is a punishable offense in their own country.

That would be quite a lot of people in Pattaya.

Oh well, this BS is everywhere now.

On e-commerce sites too: "only 3 pieces left of this smartphone", "last order 3 minutes ago", "2 other people are watching this product now". Yeah, sure.

Unfortunately these entry-level no-name smartphones often bundled with SIM by Thai operators are kind of a lottery.

Some of them offer relatively decent features for the price (I'm thinking of e.g. the "Lava" model that's fairly popular among young teens) and others border to being unusable due to unreadable screens, abysmal battery life and annoying instability (hung apps all the time).

Whatever, these models have very little QA done to them before reaching the shelves. That would be too costly.

So that's yet another lottery with a fair number of phones that will fail within the first days (if not hours) of use.

Unfortunately, it seems that you've picked up a wrong number at that lottery. I feel for you.

The GBP has strengthened by about 2.50 Bt to the pound over the last three days.

I would expect the GBP to have a fairly stable 1:1 exchange ratio to the pound, wouldn't it?

Cancel your subscription and move to another operator. That's the best way to complain.

Bloody hell ... Also, France, Belgium, & Denmark have all called for referendums to leave the EU as well following Britain's decision.

Correction: the far-right parties in these countries have called for...

They're not close to having the same support from the people as the Brexit camp had in the UK.

If you can take the opportunity of a trip to BKK you'll end up paying a lot less in Fortune City or Zeer Rangsit (and a much larger choice of shops too).

As an IT geek and kind of compulsive buyer of inexpensive stuff I'm always amazed by the prices in Tuk Com where I go for a walk when I have a couple hours to kill in Pattaya. So expensive...

On the other hand, if the tablet is a bit old, having it repaired in a Samsung Service Center will probably not make a lot of sense financially speaking as already pointed out by Chickenlegs above, but elsewhere you face the risk of a second-grade tactile screen, cheap no-name Chinese^(*) "compatible" stuff being put on your tablet which will make it a pain to use (my first hand experience)

^(*)No need to reply "they're all Chinese". I know. I stress "no-name cheap 'compatible'"

I have real hopes that the Scots will see the light, split from the UK and join the EU.

In the end, Britain will end up amputated as well. Loss-loss IMO.

Wrong , an independent Scoland will do better without England and the EU .

Just like Norway the natural resources from gas and oil will turn Scotland into a very rich country .

Well, this was my point basically. Probably didn't make myself clear.

UK loss for losing Scotland.

EU loss for losing UK as a whole but marginally gaining with Scotland joining.

Scotland wins, your point, I'm quite glad they do.

Very smart move. Antibiotics are useless in 95% of the cases or sore throat.

Just a tiny step in good direction, the abuse of antibiotics is enormous in Thailand and the next generations are going to pay a dear price for this.

Nation of snitches... seriously, calling the police for this heinous crime?

I have real hopes that the Scots will see the light, split from the UK and join the EU.

In the end, Britain will end up amputated as well. Loss-loss IMO.

dont know if anyone else has mentioned THIS, what about the agents that turn up with a bag full of passports.

or must they also bring bigger BROWN ENVELOPES.

and those with an elite visa,is that one of their privilages [EXCEMPT]

Am I the only one thinking that the Thai Elite Visa is nothing but a legalized, institutionalized version of the brown envelopes?

It's a very sad day for the EU and for the UK too.

We're all, Europeans and Britons, going to pay a lot for this. Talk about durable recession in the region.

We all know that the Atlantic Ocean has always been much narrower than the Channel in the hearts of many Britons, but things don't work this way as they'll find out soon.

Anyway, your choice.

These cars going around without licence plates seem to be a Thai specialty.

I've traveled to quite a few countries, and even in other 3rd world countries I've never seen so many as in Thailand.

You get to see old heaps of rust that used to be cars or trucks without plates in other countries, but brand new sedans? nope.

The amounts of these fines are ridiculously low.

Somchai Simlee almost sounds like a Thai John Doe.

RIP small chaps... hope that you four buddies are together in a better place now, if there's one.

So sad...

Great idea if they rent the rooms by the hour.

I could certainly use a 1 hour sleep break sometimes when doing my BKK-KPT trips.

Sleeping in the car is NOT practical IMHO. Have to leave the engine running for a/c, uncomfortable seats.

The idea of using it for a quickie sounds interesting either, must be relaxing after escaping BKK's friday afternoon traffic.

Paranoia? if we were in a perfectly democratic state with independent authorities having power of supervision on the use made of collected data, like the CNIL here in France and I guess similar entities in other western countries, also in a country where the government can be reasonably trusted to keep the data safe by themselves or by using contractors with a reputable security background then YES, it would be paranoia.

But...

When in Pattaya (not that this happens a lot) I go to Bang Saray when I want to swim.

Unfortunately the sea water there seemed almost as filthy as it is in Pattaya last time I went.

Despite us all taking showers before leaving, one person in the party has been scratching himself for a full day afterwards.

EDIT: ouch. Didn't notice the link. This thread is gone in 3...2...

(...) As others have pointed out, providing name, DOB and bank account details can be perilous. It was just a while ago that personal information was hacked from the Office of Personnel Management in Washington, D.C. and I doubt that the storage location of our personal details in Bangkok will be more secure than the American networks.(...)

Well, such information has leaked already: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/906324-personal-details-of-hundreds-of-foreigners-in-thailand-leaked-online/