wpcoe

losworld: Thanks for the feedback. Both my friend and I consider the "remoteness" and quiet of the area to be big pluses. To us, Walking Street is a place to take visiting friend/family for a looksee.

When we looked at a few sample units, we didn't even know there is a gym. Where is it?

Do you have any comments about or encounters with the dogs (or cats...) mentioned above?

What were the problems with the plumbing?

Using TT&T's MaxNet Indy from Jomtien, I'm unable to open your site in a browser window. I don't get 404 (or any other) error screens, just a blank white screen after about three minutes. FYI, I'm using the default TT&T DNS servers until/unless they unblock OpenDNS again.

Here's the tracert info:

Hey, thanks! I live close to Kanyong, but in the past they've never had quite what I wanted, so end up going to Home Pro, or sometiems to HomeWorks or Boonthavorn. I'll check them out!

Has anyone seen steel "security doors" here in Thailand like the ones pictured below?

I'm well aware of the ones Somchai at the shop down the street can weld and slap some aluminum-framed screens on, but these have a bit of a better finish on them. Although it's not visible in this small pic, the frame has attached to it a steel "mesh" attached to it in lieu of having a woven screen. By "mesh" I mean it's a sold piece of metal, coated with paint, with open holes for ventilation, textured into a nice pattern.

These doors typically have a locking door knob and deadbolt included, as opposed to Somchai's standard sliding-hasp-and-padlock mechanism.

i just noticed this post

and there is some confusion as to which building is the Metro Jomtien Condotel (MJC).

So go here http://www.mcogjomtien.com

we now have over 30% of the vote and at the next AGM will possibly have a majority on the Executive Committee

then we can legally turn things around

Our next project is the beach entrance and foyer - all new design

our mission statement is building a better METRO

see pics www.mcogjomtien.com

Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but is the MCOG still alive and kicking? The above referenced web site no longer exists. Is there a new web site someplace? I have a friend interested in possibly buying a unit in the building.

Some quacks have tried to sell me this so called phase reversal sound technology but specialists have warned me off it.

Sounds like either noise-cancellation technology or tinnitus masking.

And, of course, you (and others) are correct that most of the time the ringing is able to be ignored, especially during the daytime for me, but as I read/post on this thread it screams at full volume because it's in my conscious attention.

The main time I'm looking for relief is relaxing at home in the evening and when I try to go to sleep.

I first heard about tinnitus maskers in a short article in a Pattaya newspaper saying they were available at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya. I went there and the first couple nurses (? at least they were wearing what I thought was a nurse's uniform) at the audiology desk had no idea what I was talking about. Finally someone came out who was not in a nurse's uniform (so either a doctor or audiologist?) and knew what I was referring to, but her overall opinion seemed to be that they were very expensive and probably not worth it.

I did some internet searches about tinnitus maskers, and downloaded a variety of white-noise type of recordings to see if they worked, and none did. Through all but one (a dishwasher noise that was so loud and abrasive, I'd prefer the tinnitus) I could still hear the ringing, even when the volume was turned up.

For those not familiar with tinnitus maskers, this seems to be the best synopsis I read. It summarizes many ideas I found on other pages:

2 – Tinnitus maskers. Tinnitus maskers are prescribed to patients who do not have significant hearing loss. The devices are similar to hearing aids except that they do not amplify sound; they produce a sound which masks tinnitus. The sound is designed to be more acceptable to the patient than the sound of the tinnitus. The brain can very easily learn to ignore external sound, especially if it’s at a constant level and frequency, though it has much more difficulty ignoring internal sound such as tinnitus. Therefore, if you mask the tinnitus externally, your brain will learn to ignore it and therefore ignore the tinnitus itself.

Recently, maskers have been developed that can be individually tuned to match the tinnitus frequency. These new maskers give more flexibility to the patient because the frequency can be tuned to be both more effective at masking and more acceptable to the patient.

One important side effect that occurs in a small number of people who have tinnitus maskers is after the maskers are turned off, the tinnitus continues at the reduced level for a period of time. This is referred to as Residual Inhibition. For most people this lasts a very short time but for others it can last a considerable amount of time.

http://www.tinnitusformula.com/infocenter/...ments/mask.aspx

I struggle with the concept that when the brain learns to ignore the external sound, the tinnitus is ignored as well, but apparently this is tried and true science.

Anybody here have any actual experience with a tinnitus masker?

The most common forms of tinnitus have no measurable acoustic representation and are widely believed to arise from internal states in the brain.

Am I correct now in thinking that noise-cancellation technology only works on cancelling out an actual physical sound wave before it hits the ear drum?

Yes, I get tinnitus too, dashed annoying at times.

A friend sent me a newspaper cutting this morning about a drug called AM10 which is being used experimentally in clinical trials for the treatment of Tinnitus in Germany.

Thanks for all the well-reasoned replies.

Quote from article: "She withdrew 200,000 baht from the ATM machine and placed the money in her motorbike. "

Goodness, isn't there a daily limit on ATM withdrawals? That's close to US$6,000.

Initially, hotel staff and the police were hesitant in giving any information to the media and, quite rare in a case of this nature, reporters were not allowed to take any pictures in the room.

Bravo to the hotel and its staff!

He was wearing a long sleeved grey shirt and underpants. His body was covered in tattoos.

And, those items are relevant and newsworthy, how, exactly...?

Russians aren't westerners?

When I bought my current condo, it had a basic cheap tile flooring that I wanted replaced. The two Thai laborers that my contractor used pulled up the existing tiles fairly quickly (one day?), but took several messy days to chisel off the tile cement from the concrete floor. I was glad there was only a few pieces of furniture in the unit because the dust was *everywhere.*

How necessary is it to remove the old tile cement? Wouldn't the new layer of cement being used to attach the new tiles fill in the grooves and patterns in the old cement?

(Please don't flame me like some of the others above!)

Thanks - just tried it and it does work well for the sticky residues - but you now got any suggestions for large areas covered in dust?

I use a car duster. Get a good one that is impregnated with oil, and before you use it the first time be sure to sit it overnight on a newspaper to wick off the excess oil. When it gets dusty just beat it against a wall outdoors. A good one lasts for years.

I've wondered why noise cancellation technology (like used in Bose QuietComfort noise-cancelling headsets), where an "anti-noise" wave is generated to negate a environmental noise, couldn't be used to mask the noise of tinnitus. The best reason why it supposedly can't/won't work seems to be explained in a 2005 paper by the British Tinnitis Association.

However, the underlying assumption in that paper is that a noise-cancellation device itself would need to be able to measure the frequency of the tinnitus noise before being able to negate it by generating an opposite sine wave.

I've had tinnitus for a number of years (15+) and it *seems* like it's a constant frequency. Why couldn't that frequency be determined by testing in an audiology lab, and once that frequency identified, then have a device manufactured with a constant-frequency anti-noise wave?

For example, the general range of my tinnitus noise could be easily found by the audiology test where they put you in a sound proof room with headsets and you raise your hand when you hear a tone. The part of the resultant chart where it shows I can't hear ... that's the range of frequency where my tinnitus is.

Couldn't a laboratory device be invented which would send out various "anti-noise" frequencies and be used similarly to the one currently used in hearing tests? Wouldn't the machine be able to produce the right sine-wave to counteract the tinnitus noise? i.e. I sit in the booth listening to my ever-present tinnitus. The audiologist sends various signals at different anti-noise (sorry for that term, but it's the best one I know of) frequencies until I can't hear the tinnitus noise any more.

The only reason I can think of that such a testing system and anti-tinnitus-noise device wouldn't work is if the tinnitus noise is NOT a constant frequency, as it unscientifically appears to me.

I know there's at least one audiologist who participates here, and I'd be interested to hear (no pun intended) from anyone about my "theory".

I agree with Jingthing that an expansion of Medicare coverage overseas is extremely unlikely, especially now, and since Medicare is already expected to run out of funds in another several years.

I wish I could remember where I read this, but online someplace (i.e. speculation and rumor) was the hope that Medicare would approve a limited number of overseas hospitals including in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore to parallel what some HMO's in America were doing: sending their patients for some treatments over here (I believe it was Bumrungrad) because (a) the overall cost, including transportation and lodging during recovery, was lower and ( the treatment itself was better with fewer relapses/associated traumas (like infections) requiring extended (i.e. expensive) follow-ups.

I don't recall the details, but the overall impression I was left with was: consistent with the goal of cost-reduction, flying patients over here saved money. In that light, I would hope Medicare would pursue the same option.

Opening up the building to fresh air and daylight will also help limit pollution ...

Where does one get "fresh air" that is not polluted in Bangkok or Chiang Mai during the burning season, just to use two examples?

Have never seen anyone reporting being thrown out on divorce - they do not check that at present AFAIK. Most seem to be able to remain until end of current stay (although probably not by law).

I agree that do nothing to hunt you down and throw you out of the country, and they probably don't check either the next time you do your extension for another reason. But as a general principle I believe that when your reason for extension ends (whatever that reason may be) so does your extension.

But, if it's a particularly nasty divorce and/or the Thai spouse was particularly vindictive, they could contact Immigrations and make things very diffcult for you.

I understand it says "the company reserves the right to deliver lower speed... and speed depends on how many users are on the network.

Sounds like a standard industry disclaimer. Distance from DSLAM, for one, is a factor. And, if all 40 co-contenders on a single line are downloading the latest .iso file for a Linux distro at the same time, throughput is going to suffer.

However, it seems in Thailand that speed varies widely and unpredictable, moreso that I ever experienced in Japan or the USA.

VLC has just achieved version 1 status...

Thanks for the news that VLC has been updated. Boy, has it grown in size, though. Three years ago I downloaded an 8 MB v.8.5, but v.1.0 now is 18 MB!

FYI & FWIW, just now -- early afternoon on a weekday -- this is my result from a speedtest.net test to Los Angeles. Not fully my advertised speed (5Mbps Maxnet Indy), but not too shabby, IMHO. But, this is basically just browsing speed: torrents and VoIP are restricted/throttled on Indy.

The speed ranges you require are most likely not available in Bangkok, at least not at affordable (i.e. sub 1000 US$/month) prices.

In theory at least, 10Mbps is now available for affordable prices in a consumer package with TT&T's "3 BB" package for B1490. See: http://www.maxnet.co.th/promotion_inside.php?promtid=73 for the advertising, and Tt&t's New 10 Mbps Consumer A D S L Package for a thread discussing the package.

Would it be safe to assume that if TT&T can offer this as a consumer package, that some ISPs will offer it also as a business package (i.e. lower contention ratio, higher upload speed, perhaps?) for a more reasonable price?

Thanks for the translation. Although I'm not sure what "ornamenal glass packs" are <g>, I get the gist of it.

It sounds like rental/purchase of a router is included. I wonder if that is optional?

After I posted above, I noticed that this "3 BB" shares another feature in common with Maxnet Premier: 5 POP3 e-mail accounts.

Just last month I prepaid a six-month package for my Indy 5Mbps account. By the time that runs out, maybe we'll have had some first-hand reports from some brave volunteers who sign up for this "3 BB" package and/or TT&T will go into bankruptcy and never emerge.

Anybody game to try TT&T's new "3BB Broadband 10Mbps/1Mbps" package for B1490? (http://www.maxnet.co.th/promotion_inside.php?promtid=73) It's not being advertised under the "Maxnet" name, so no "Indy" or "Premier." This package seems consistent with Indy for pricing, but offers the additional upload speed of Premier. At that price, I would expect Indy's contention ratio (or worse?), but wonder if it has Indy's torrent, VoIP and E-mail restrictions.

Today at Carrefour on Pattaya Klang, I saw a display booth set up in the corridor outside the TT&T office on the 2nd floor, but it was unmanned. (It was after 5pm, so maybe that's why?) Since I was pushing a shopping cart full of perishables and they seemed busy in the office, I didn't stop in to ask questions.

I understand the "ADSL Speed" being 10Mbps download and 1Mbps upload, but what do they mean about the "Internet Speed"? Can anybody translate the Thai explanations on that page, please?

There have been posts here on this forum from people who have switched from Indy to Premier and IIRC the main improvement was stability and reliability. The contention ratio (number of subscribers "sharing a connection") is lower on Premier, for one thing. Premier also has 2x the upload speed, 1Mbps (vs Indy's 512Kbps).

For surfing the Internet in a browser, a speed comparison may not show much difference, but if you download torrents they are/can be restricted on Indy, ditto for VOIP (Skype, etc). A common e-mail port (port 25) is also restricted on Indy. So, overall as a package, I think that Premier may be a better option for many subscribers.

However, I don't do torrents or VOIP, and my e-mail client is set up to avoid using port 25, so I don't see much of the "down side" to Indy.

The biggest problem I've had, and it's recent, is a sudden blocking of the OpenDNS DNS servers. I have no idea if that is limited to Indy, or if it affects Premier as well.

So, to your postulation that the speed is the same on Indy and Premier, you may be correct when comparing packages with the same advertised upload speed, but that may not be the total picture.