wpcoe

Police searched the truck and found two bags of Yah Bah, totaling 350 tablets, hidden under the driver’s seat;, and a Noringo nine mm gun, with three bullets

Three? Really?

Still I'm sure that September 1 would be a good day to turn off the computer and do something else because all the new Maxnet customers, including me, will be bombarding the system and wondering what TT&T means by 2.5mbs!

I was wondering about that when I read that on the other thread. I used to have the B1000/month MaxNet 1024/512 ADSL account and they automatically "upgraded" me to 2048/512 last month. I wonder if I'm going to be bumped up to 2560/512? Or if you got some other promo?

When you say 1mbps and 2mbps, do you mean 1kbps and 2kbps?

I don't know about your HiNet connection going away, but I suspect what you are hearing about is mentioned in this aptly named thread: Tt&t ( Maxnet), has it's own gateway now. Apparently TT&T has it's own internet gateway, without needing to use the CAT gateway now. To quote from the opening post: "Nothing get's routed through the CAT IIG, everything goes through their [TT&T's] own gateway..."

That thread makes it sound like this has already occurred, so I'm not sure what you've heard will happen at the end of the month.

I liked this particular comment: "According to Suga, the new network will deliver more reliable data transfers at higher speeds, be more resistant to viruses and crashes, and will be 60 percent more charming." Only in Japan, a culture hooked on terminal cuteness.

After reviewing Monty's opening post about 20 hops to Singapore showing on tracert, I tried it:

c:\>tracert -d www.thaivisa.com

Tracing route to thaivisa.com [203.174.84.82]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 81 ms 82 ms 86 ms 203.174.84.82

Trace complete.

Surely, that's not correct -- one hop from my computer to thaivisa.com?

Even a tracert to my personal web site (hosted in the USA) displays as a single hop. It's not even showing the hop through my router. What's up with that? Has tracert changed in Vista? I don't see any applicable command line switches from "tracert /?"

I have TT&T MaxNet 2048/512 (the basic home package for B1000/mo) in Jomtien and just got this from the Speakeasy test to San Francisco (and similar to Los Angeles):

Last Result:

Download Speed: 1751 kbps (218.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 157 kbps (19.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

Pinging thaivisa.com gave me:

Pinging thaivisa.com [203.174.84.82] with 32 bytes of data

Reply from 203.174.84.82: bytes=32 time=81ms TTL=51

Reply from 203.174.84.82: bytes=32 time=80ms TTL=51

Reply from 203.174.84.82: bytes=32 time=81ms TTL=51

Reply from 203.174.84.82: bytes=32 time=81ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 203.174.84.82:

Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 80ms, Maximum = 81ms, Average = 80ms

Granted this is at 2:50am, but I've been online most of the previous afternoon and evening, and had equally fast downloads.

I was out of the country for a week, to return on the 20th, so maybe I simply missed the slowdowns referred to above?

Until/unless someone chimes in with a permanent solution, how about copying the file from the thumb drive to someplace else on your hard drive (Desktop, or a special folder on the Desktop, perhaps?) and then opening the file from there and saving it back there. When you're finished, copy the file(s) back to the thumb drive.

Have you kept current with the Vista and MS Office patches? I seem to recall a recent Vista patch had something to do with improving file transfers and copying.

When I signed up for "MaxNet@Home," which is what the lowest priced home ADSL package was called a couple years agoe when I signed up, there was a clear disclaimer on the brochure listing the various packages. For MaxNet@Home, it says: "Unable to use Bit Torrent & VoIP"

When I signed up for MaxNet@Home, it was B790/mo for 512/256, and I've since upgraded to B1000/mo for 2048/512 (a recent doubling from 1024/512 at the same price). Is that they type of MaxNet package you have?

Maybe they are finally getting around to enforcing that and/or applying it to other ADSL packages?

My perception is that Thais and their country are very materialistic. As long as the fees collected by Immigration are at the level they are now or greater, Thailand will always welcome retirees. That is without going to the issue of our cash contribution to the Thai economy by our spending and house buying.

I had a talk with the former head of Immigration in Chiang Mai, who complained to me that she was generating hundreds of thousands of baht a month in profit, income over salaries of immigration personnel and office expense, for the Thai government and yet she was so poorly paid. I guess she felt she was a de facto CEO.

Anyway, if the truth be known, my guess is nationwide, falang pay incredible amounts of fees for coming into, staying and leaving Thailand and there is no way the government wants that to end.

How about having their cake and eating it, too? i.e. Double the fees and make the visa/extension for two years, or triple the fees and make it three years, etc. In such a way, they would maintain the same (apparently lucrative) income flow, but actually decrease costs.

I, for one, would gladly pay double the fee for a retirement extension with a two-year permission to stay. Or, even better, five times the fee for a five-year permission to stay.

For those who balk at committing to two or five years (or whatever multiple) they could keep the current one-year extension as an option.

[edited for clarity (I hope <g>)]

Check out: http://www.achawalai.com for Achawalai Residence on Soi Watboon in Jomtien about a five-minute walk from Jomtien Beach Road. The location should be quiet, and the place is new, but I'm not sure of prices.

The airport fee, whether included in the ticket price or paid separately, is B700 vs B500 for Don Muang.

Supposedly the airport is already operating almost at max capacity of 45,000,000 passengers per year.

Assuming even 40,000,000 people pay the extra B200, that little extra = B8,000,000,000! (~US$250 million)

The full B700 x 40 million = B28,000,000,000. (~US$850 million) Where is all that money going?

Firefoxx, many thanks for that concise tutorial on cable types. I was indeed confused. I didn't realize the quibble was with expensive brands of cables vs less expensive brands.

Now, I have another LCD issue I'd liked explained away.

Partially based on curiosity from this thread, I idly window-shopped LCD TV's in a few stores the other day. One thing that caught my eye was the "Brightness" specs quoted for different models.

I picked up a PowerBuy flyer with an ad for 23 LCD TVs with a photo and standard summary of specs (resolution, contrast, brightness, response and input type) for each. The brightness for 20 of the models falls in a close range of 450CD/m² to 550CD/m², with most being 500. Then there are three others (a Panasonic, and two LGs) that boast 1,500 CD/m². I originally thought maybe different manufacturers used different measuring standards, but the same ad has a Panasonic and an LG each advertising 500CD/m².

Now if I understand correctly, CD = candela, a direct measure of brightness. How could those three produce three times the amount of light and not damage your retinas?

Similarly, the range of "contrast" advertised ranges from 800 to 10,000 ... quite a variance. What gives?

Never buy the expensive cables a salesperson suggest for AV. They make huge margins on them.

When I bought my then state-of-the-art 23" LCD TV from Carrefour for about B40,000 two years ago, the sales guys (who rode their motorbike to my condo) offered to show me the on-screen image from a DVD using the various types of cables. I ended up buying the most expensive cable (YCbCr) as the image from the DVD player was much crisper than the other types they showed me.

My LCD TV accepts DVI, analog, VGA, SVideo, YCbCr and CATV inputs as well as some "AV" inputs.

If I were to buy a new LCD TV, which input type(s) would you recommend? And, what in the heck does YCbCr stand for?

Oh, Rice_King, how I so very much agree with you. In the main visa forum so often folks post a title like "HELP!" or "Help needed ... urgent" and you just wonder whether to bother downloading the thread, because so often it's not something you know anything about. This forum is particularly nice in that you get two lines of info that can be displayed on the forum thread list, if only it were properly used.

I'm interested buying in the psyllium husks, anyone know where I can find them?

Psyllium is called "ispaghula" in this part of the world.

I tried off and on for several years, trying to find psyllium husks in Thailand, once I learned to ask for "ispaghula husks" just about every place has it.

"Mucilin" is one brand product that is the equivalent of Metamucil from America. There is another sugar-free brand, whose name escapes me right now, but the packaging says (in English) "no sugar". I could only find the sugar-free one in individual-serving packages, not in bulk.

My last trip to the US, I stocked up on capsules of psyllium husks -- easier to consume, and additive-free (especially: no sugar).

You are very lucky to be "locked in" to BUPA. Unless you enrolled when you were over age 60, BUPA guarantees in your policy to renew your coverage for the rest of your life. AXA, MSIG, NZI and THI won't do that. Any health insurance company can single you out for a high premium increase if your caims cost them a large amount of money. BUPA assures me that they won't increase your premium for claims losses by more than 25% percent of your premium. Believe me, that's a good guarantee if they stick with that policy.

Thanks for the reassurance about BUPA being a good choice in those regards.

If you have to wait a long time to check out of the hospital while they are "checking with the insurance company", it may be the hospital's fault. That has been our experience. In a very recent case, the claim took 2 hours to process while the patient waited to go home. But, we have proof that the insurance company settled the claim with the hospital in just 10 minutes.

I did have an episode where the BNH cashier earned my respect and appreciation: After having a plantar wart removed as outpatient, I presented my paperwork to the cashier. He scanned the papers and asked me to be seated for a while. After about 5 or 10 minutes he called me back, and the paperwork indicated I had no balance due, BUPA covered the entire amount. I had noticed initially (before he asked me to be seated) that the paperwork indicated I owed about B1,000. I asked him about it, and he said that he contacted my doctor and had him reclassify the procedure so that BUPA would cover 100%.

A year or so later, I had the same procedure done at Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital and the cashier advised me I owed about B1000. I explained what had happened at BNH, and after a heavy sigh the cashier asked me to be seated, after the requisite wait I was re-called to the cashier and had a zero balance.

Now, every time I go to Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital, I always wonder if they've done their homework in my best interests. Bravo to BNH, though!

I read someplace to take vitamins with food, and herbs on an empty stomach. Can anybody corroborate or comment on the ingestion of herbs?

Don't know much about dysentery, will it remedy itself (go away) on its own after awhile ? Or would it require an antibiotic treatment of some kind ?

I had a rather acute episode of dysentery in Japan a few years ago. I was "infected" in Singapore, and on the flight to Japan felt queasy, and a couple hours after landing had the full effect of the symptoms. It was severe cramping and expulsion every 20 minutes (24/7 ... no sleep for three days!) at the beginning and tapered off after about six days so that I could get on an airplane and return to Thailand with the help of Immodium. So, it appears it can "remedy itself" on its own. I absolutely REFUSE to submit to the Japanese medical system and have several solid anecdotes as to why. I did research on the internet on my symptoms and realized I had dysentery and that my life was not in imminent jeopardy if I remained hydrated and kept my electrolytes up.

As far as antibiotic treatment, it depends on whether you have bacterial (bacillary) or amoebic dysenterey. Antibiotics, of course, work effectively on bacterial dysentery, but not so for amoebic dysentery.

Regarding the use of yoghurt during a bout of dysentery, in my case in Japan, I ate plain (unsugared) yoghurt and fresh fruits, thinking it was the best. I also knew I needed to replenish fluids and electrolytes so drank the Japanese equivalent of Gatorade, sugar and all. After I returned to Thailand and consulted a specialist at Bumrungrad, he said two of the worst things to ingest are dairy products and fruits, as they can intensify and prolong the symptoms. Great. Hindsight is wonderful. <g> He suggested that in the absence of an electrolyte drink, to improvise and pour table salt in to Coca Cola and drink it to replenish electrolytes. The appropriate time for the yoghurt (and/or probiotic supplements) is after the symptoms are gone, to replenish the "good bacteria" in the gut.

I subsequently had a bout of food poisoning in the boonies in Nepal, and tried the salt-in-Coke prescription, and it actually doesn't taste as bad is it sounds.

taxexile: Thanks for posting that map from Weather Underground. I had been looking for a source of such maps, and now have bookmarked the page on wunderground.com.

One thing I just learned, though, is that I have always misinterpreted those tropical storm maps. I thought the increasingly large circles progressing from the current point represented the projected range of areas to be affected by the storm. However, those circles are simply the range of locations predicted for the CENTER of the storm. So, as in the following map, if the center were over the Isaan area, the entire east (and north and/or center?) of Thailand could experience the storm. However, the center of the storm may veer as far away as the center of Hainan Island.

Is there really a choice of ADSL provider in Bangkok? I think they've divided the city into zones and you are stuck with whatever ISP is covering your area.

I thought if you get True landline, you can't get ADSL from TOT and vice versa.

Well, no and yes. Your last statement is true: You can't get True ADSL on a TOT line and vice versa.

However, many areas of Bangkok have a choice of TOT or True phone lines. The townhouse I rented on Sathu Pradit had both: I had my TOT line with KSC ADSL on the third floor, and my roommate had a True phone line with True ADSL on the second floor.

Or, they could just be wanting applicants to prove they are not earning their day-to-day living funds from a source within Thailand -- i.e. that they are not working on a retirement visa/extension.

If a lump sum of B800k or more has been left untouched for a long period of time, it could raise eyebrows as to where exactly the money is coming from to live on.

ATM receipts *might* satisfy their "curiosity."

Keep checking for new drivers from ATI.

I have an ATI X1300 video card with a Samsung monitor that pivots and I kept downloading the latest drivers because in Vista the UAC prompts would totaly black out the screen if the LCD were pivoted to portrait mode, but on 5/17/07 a driver version was finally released fixing it. I had had several revised video drivers before that magic one came out. Keep checking!

TT&T Maxnet, which is available in most areas of Pattaya, just doubled the speed of their ADSL home packages. I've heard it's not difficult to switch from TOT to TT&T, although I don't think you can keep the same telephone number.

I now get 2048/512 for B1,000/month. I used to get 1024/512 for the same B1,000/month until this month.

TT&T has walk-in customer services offices in the Carrefour/HomePro complex on Pattaya Klang and another office on Thepprasit Road.

Forgot to add, to answer Shagwell's questions: Yes, I'm on a six-month package, and get a small discount (3%?) for prepaying six months at a time. There is a larger discount (5%?) for prepaying a 12-months.

TT&T has different promotions at different times. When I signed up, I had to agree to a 12-month package to get a free USB-modem. If you have an ADSL modem you can use your own. TT&T gives you the particular settings you need to make.

I can't recall any start-up fees, but if there were, they must have been minor. TT&T only required a copy of my passport. At the time I was in Thailand on a 30-day visa-waiver stamp. When I had called TOT at the time to compare, they would not issue me an account without a work permit, or so they said.