wpcoe

What version of Windows ... XP? Vista?

One feature to look for on a WiFi "N" router or access point might be a gigabit LAN port, versus the usual 100/10 LAN port.

If the "N" wireless standard gets implemented with a degree of efficiency, you might see throughput of over 100Mbps. It would be frustrating to know that a router can transmit >100Mbps, but the data fed into it through the RJ45 port is capped at 100Mpbs.

(Of course, it would help if your host computer also had gigabit LAN...)

most of my windows are fixed panes and can't be opened but the whole house is aired daily for 15-20 minutes by a powerful whole-house-fan. i prefer to live in a comfortable environment (temperature 26ºC, variation ±½ºC and a relative humidity of 60-65%). achieving that environment for ~460m² living area costs money which i am willing to spend whether some people like it or not.

Considering that your home is 7x the size of my 2-bedroom condo, I'd say your monthly expenses are not so bad.

I also make sure that I air out my condo once daily. Especially when the paint was new, but even now, I like to expel the toxins that would otherwise accumulate indoors in a sealed environment.

I wonder if the applicant can choose they preferred currency? e.g. I used to live in Japan and still have a bank account there. Could I use the JPY option at 4.10% interest?

Yes, you can get a loan in any major currency, including JPY.

Then why would anybody in their right mind choose anything BUT Japanese yen, given the low interest rate?

From the bbl page linked above:

Loan in SGD – Bangkok Bank’s Prime Lending Rate per annum (currently 6%)

Loan in USD – USD Prime + 0.5% per annum (currently 8.25%+0.5%=8.75%)

Loan in EUR – EUR Prime + 1% per annum (currently 7.25%+1%=8.25%)

Loan in JPY – JPY Prime + 1.25% per annum (currently 2.85%+1.25%=4.10%)

Don't listen to your bank at home if they try to get you to use routing numbers as that is an internal transfer in the U.S. & A Swift transfer is international. My bank(Bank of America) insisted on routing numbers till I pointed out Swift was international transfer. you only need to do a wire transfer once

FYI & FWIW, Bank of America has a method of transferring funds electronically via their online banking system using the "domestic" USA routing numbers to Bank of Bangkok. If I understand the process correctly, one uses the routing number for Bangkok Bank's New York branch, and the account number is the actual account number of the Bangkok Bank account in Thailand. It is NOT a SWIFT transfer, it is a simple inexpensive online "domestic" transfer, only a couple dollars, and the money shows up in the Thai Bangkok Bank account as quickly as a SWIFT transfer.

A few folks here have explained the process in the past as being done using Bank of America's online (internet) banking system. I wonder if BofA can also do it for you directly (i.e. not via their web-site), and perhaps that's what they were attempting to do for you? <shrug>

Just received a news letter from Raimon Land and was surprised to read this: www.raimonland.com/bbl/

Since you just received the newsletter, the assumption is that the info on that "bbl" page is current. If it is, that's good news that they are still offering mortgages.

I wonder if the applicant can choose they preferred currency? e.g. I used to live in Japan and still have a bank account there. Could I use the JPY option at 4.10% interest? (Academic question since I am not currently in the market for a condo, much less a mortgage, but wondered about it when I saw the bbl page.)

In the evening we open up every window to let the warmer air flow out.

Cheers, Claude

what if the air outside is warmer than the one inside?

Did this ever happen to you? So keep the windows open and open the fans.

Everybody is talking about green house effects, but in Thailand they built up houses without any insulation, the discussion is just about "What size of aircon I have to buy and is 5.000 bahts for electricity bill is okay?".

This is ridicolous.

it happened and still happens to me 355 out of 365 days a year in Thailand.

Sorry, I forget you are the guy who proudly showed his 9000 Bahts electricity bill. You will not be able to understand my arguments.

p.s. my "record" electricity bill was slightly above 14,000 for 19 (NINETEEN) days.

Uhm, maybe you could try closing the windows?

Maybe I'm weird, but I actually enjoy putting flat-pack together

OK, yeah, maybe you're weird. I'm weird, too, because I like putting them together, also.

But, when I bought the bedroom set, I was also orchestrating a remodeling project and decided to just let them do it. I kept half an eye on them while they were assembling the stuff, and was fascinated how they worked as a team (two of them) in almost total silence. I'm counting my lucky stars it went well.

"Thank you very much for your Email dated 28th May 2007 and the trust you put in our law firm.

The information you were given is not to be found in one law or ministerial regulation. It is part of different laws (mainly the Building Control Act of 1978 and amendments). Moreover, you have to take a lot of specific points into consideration when it comes to determine the application of the 45 degree angle. For example, you need information about this specific plot of land which is in most cases archived at the Land Department. Please be advised, that there are a lot of things to be considered and even if the land in question is located close to Jomtien Complex is does not necessarily means that the same regulations will apply. This has to be carefully and in a time consuming manner researched before any proceedings are made. Therefore a general answer to your question is not possible."

Somehow, I have the feeling that this 45 degree building profile is just a lot of smoke and mirrors with no real substance or legal basis to it. I would have thought that it was a very easy parameter to confirm and I can't understand why it should be land or location dependent. On the face of it, it appears that a developer could build at any profile after 200 metres from mid-water mark!!!

Do even the Jomtien Complex towers conform to a 45 degree profile restriction?

You can set default DNS servers to "Open DNS":

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

If you're using Windows, just access the properties of the network connection and change the settings in Properties for TCP/IP. I used to have occasional problems with TT&T's DNS servers resolving addresses, but since changing to Open DNS, I haven't had a problem.

(If you need more step-by-step instructions, feel free to ask.)

2. He is not a "BAD DANCER" - He is "OVERLY CAUCASIAN."

Another version I read:

He is not a "BAD DANCER," he is "ACUTELY HETEROSEXUAL."

And they want 24 K for the lot. A good buy?

Sounds reasonable. Does it include an operating system? If not, be prepared to plonk down several more thousand baht, unless you are a Linux geek.

Since the level of electrical expertise is so high on this forum, I'll tender a feeble question from an un-educated person (me):

Do rheostat dimmer switches actually reduce the amount of electricity used? I thought I read somewhere that all the rheostat did was keep the current from reaching the bulb, but actually consumed the extra current by converting it partially to heat? Now that I try to write that, it sounds totally implausible, but yet I'm sure I read something close to that. What's the real story?

The only caveat is NEVER let their delivery chaps put it together.

Why is that? I've only had one experience with them -- a bed and armoire -- and the fellows worked quickly and efficiently, MUCH faster than I could have done myself. The final result appeared to be flawless, and now two years later, the stuff has held together nicely. Was I just lucky?

During the inquiry one of his victims was so upset he suddenly smashed the offender’s face, which resulted in the victim being fined 1,000 Baht for this outburst.

A thousand baht well spent!

Puchong confessed to his crime, Police found 2 mobile phones one belonging to him and one belonging to a previous victim. He was taken to Pattaya Police Station where his previous victim was called to the Station to identify the offender.

Would the "previous victim" be "Mr. Jaroon aged 19 – a security guard of the Thepprasit Housing Building" mentioned in Fake Pattaya Police Volunteer Steals From Man.........,?

Miss Chayarngkoon said that she was riding the motorbike, a red and grey Honda Wave 125...

Suddenly, two men, aged about twenty to twenty-five years old, approximately 160-170 cm tall,with short hair and without helmets, appeared. They were riding a lady's style motorbike.

Miss.Chayarngkoon was unable to remember the brand, color or license plate number.

Forgive me if the is the wrong Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital (or, is it now officially Bangkok Hospital - Pattaya?) thread, but I'll add another "anecdotal" acount of my experience with B-PH:

Before I moved to Pattaya I was a regular "customer" of Bangkok Nursing Hospital on Soi Convent in Bangkok. One of my treatments there was the inpatient removal of a plantar (sole of the foot) wart. At the cashier's desk the alert and helpful cashier examined my bill, and asked me to wait while he verifed something with my attending physician. About 15 minutes later I was called back to the cashier and was advised that my treatment was 100% covered by BUPA insurance. I was puzzled, as I had seen the original statement when I initially went to the cashier's desk and had seen a balance due ... I'm not sure of the exact amount as it has been a few years, but I think I was due to pay about B1,000. So, I asked what had happened and the cashier said he had asked my physician to recertify some for the treatment so that I would have a zero balance. Something about inpatient vs outpatient classification. (My BUPA account had an OPD coverage of B1200/day at that time.) The cashier apologized for making me wait while the records were amended, but I was truly grateful.

Now, fast forward a year, and the plantar wart has returned. No heaps of anger at the BNH doctor, as I had researched online and was aware that there was a fair degree of chance that the wart would reappear. Now, a year later, I'm living in Pattaya and undergo the inpatient "surgery" at BP-H. When I reach the cashier, I see a balance due of about B1,000. I ask the cashier if there were a way to re-categorize the outpatient classification to have BUPA cover more of the bill. I got a look of scorn that only a katoey can give you. <g> (BTW, those of you who are regulars at BP-H know exactly who the cashier was...!) S/he glared at me, made a quiet phone call in Thai, then commanded me to have a seat until I was called back. After about 15 minutes, I was called back and s/he tossed the amended bill at me ... an amended bill that had a balance due of zero.

Compare the attitude and actions between BNH and BP-H. What I failed to notice was if the final amount paid to the hospital was the same after the adjustment. i.e. Was it merely re-classification of charges so that insurance would pay more but the total amount was the same, or was the final amount going into the hospital coffers less?

That is truly a minor anectotal account, but it helped erode my positive opinion of BP-H.

My experiences at BNH maybe set my BP-H expectations too high. I was HIGHLY impressed with the various doctors I had at BNH, doctors who could think "outside the box" and take into account my questions and concerns.

Another BNH vs BP-H comparision:

Last year, I had a series of ear infections and about every four weeks I would visit the E-N-T folks at BP-H. They would examine, verify the infection, flush out the car canal, and simply prescribe a different antibiotic. I was uneasy after about 4 or 5 times of being on antibiotics in a six month period.

I happened to be in Bangkok, and dropped by to see my favorite E-N-T doctor at BNH, explained to him my recent history and reluctance to go on systemic anti-biotics once again. He said that without the time to take a culture and test (which he wanted to do -- and which BP-H had never done -- but since I was only there for the day understood my situation), his best suggestion was to prescribe an ear wash of acetic acid (vinegar) rinses twice daily. His reasoning was that perhaps my ear canal was too alkaline, allowing easy footing for infection to take root. Rinsing with (acetic) acid would normalize the acidity level and stave off infection. To fight the current mild infection I had, he prescribed some topical antibiotic drops. He had respectfully considered and addressed my concerns, and offered an alternative treatment plan. BP-H seemed to just follow a rote script and dismissed my silly concern about being on systemic antibiotics so often.

Again, maybe not fair to compare BP-H to the exceptional care & treatment I had received at BNH, but the BNH doctor took into account my concerns and formulated a successful treatment. (Since then, when I felt an infection coming on, I went on the vinegar flush routine, and it cleared it right up.) I have no doubt that at BP-H it would have simply been yet another round of systemic antibiotics.

So, while not a stinging condemnation of BP-H, it has left me feeling less than confident about the care I will receive there. Every doctor, nurse and pharmacist I've had contact with at BNH has taken time to listen to my (many) questions and concerns and addressed them to my satisfaction. At BP-H, I feel like "just another patient" who should not be questioning the medical staff. I feel it's more than a coincidence. There must be some policy differences between the two organizations?

If I were to experience a non-emergency medical situation that required substantial treatment, I *will* take the time to go to Bangkok to BNH again.

BTW, to give credit (and praise) where it's due, my E-N-T doctor at BNH is Dr.Pasakorn, and my Internal Medicine doctor at BNH is Dr. Irene. I highly recommend both of them.

How many people pour teriyaki sauce on their steamed rice? (Show of hands, please?)

In Japan, you'd be treated with looks of scorn for such a sacrilege. Although, if the Japanese knew you were doing it to Thai rice, they might smugly smile. The Japanese are seriously protective of their rice. I recall one year with a low domestic rice crop yield, some stores couldn't give away the imported Thai rice they had on their shelves. The Japanese would rather do without rice than eat "inferior" imported rice.

To follow up on my concerns in the previous post, I did a search of the registry and found that my settings (1500, 1480, 1492, etc) *are* being stored there.

Not only that, my tweaking may have had some effect. Granted it's 0300am here now, but running ThaiVisa's speedtest and also the Speakeasy speed tests using USA servers, they are all consistently reporting download speeds of 910-920kbps. Previously, the best I had seen (even in the middle of the night) was the upper 800's kbps.

So, although academically I'm interested in the questions I asked above, perhaps I shouldn't risk changing anything? Methinks 910kpbs on an advertised 1Mbps TT&T connection from Thailand to USA servers is not so bad!

Thanks to astral's passing mention of SpeedGuide's TCP Optimizer, I downloaded a new version of it and tried it to change to optimal settings.

However, regardless what I set the settings, after a reboot they revert to:

The first time I forgot to check the PPPoE checkbox, and the recommended value was 1500. Next time around, I did check the PPPoE checkbox and the recommended value was 1492. Then after reading the FAQ about some PPPoE's needing 1480, I tried a third time with that setting. I rebooted after each attempt to set the MTU, and after each reboot, the settings stayed as shown above, namely MTU=1440, in SpeedGuide TCP Analyzer Results

[added later: FYI, I just ran the 'LargestMTU" utility in the TCP Optimizer, and it determined: "The largest possible non-fragmented packet is 1500 (1528 - 28 ICMP & IP headers). You can set your MTU to 1528"]

The SpeedGuide TCP Analyzer Results do display a note saying: "MTU is not fully optimized for broadband. Consider increasing your MTU to 1500 for better throughput. If you are using a router, it could be limiting your MTU regardless of Registry settings." So, I ran through all my ADSL modem/router's settings and I see no place to set MTU/RWIN/etc. I also searched the 460-page downloaded "User Guide" for the router, and could not find the text strings "MTU" or "RWIN." Is it likely that the router is hard-wired to a lower MTU value? It's a ZyXEL Prestige 660HW Modem/Router.

If it is NOT the router that is limiting the results displayed by the TCP Analyzer, any ideas why new settings for MTU via the TCP Optimizer software don't "stick"?

*in the Set 802.11g box change the default ssid to something you like (e.g. Artisan), leave the channel on 6

JOOC, why channel 6?

Did the IDE external HDD case come with a special USB cable with two USB connectors at one end? And, if so, are you plugging them BOTH into USB outlets on the host desktop PC?

I was stymied with a simple 2.5" external USB case until I was told that in order for the case to draw enough current from the host desktop machine, it needed to draw current from TWO USB ports.

Mind you, if your USB case has an external power supply, this would not apply, of course.

The Immigration Police would like to warn viewers that random checks on foreigners will be made over the coming weeks so please ensure that you carry your original passport with you at all times and for those who are residing in Thailand on long stay visas, you must report to the Immigration Office every ninety days confirming your current address and telephone number. Failure to do this can result in a fine not exceeding 5,000 Baht.

That bears repeating and emphasis.

No photcopy copy, laminated or not.

The ORIGINAL passport.

The "boys in brown" may be satisfied with a copy or a Thai drivers license in a traffic stop, but the Immigrations Police will be looking for the ACTUAL PASSPORT. It kind of makes sense, too, since their job is to not only verify possession of a valid passport (which could be satisified with a photocopy of the cover page), but they want to see the visa and/or visa-waiver stamp and the "permitted to" date, and if applicable, the 90-day address report form.

Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily agree with this, but when the Immigration Police publicly announce they will be conducting random checks and specifically advise to carry your original passport, it's probably a Good Thing to do.

Can someone tell me whats the different between the tt&t package;

Maxnet INDY 1024/512=POP 3 Mail : 1 account 50 MB/account

1070 Baht.

Maxnet Premier 512/256=POP 3 Mail:5 account 50 MB/account

1990 Baht.

Is there a seriouse different with Speed/ Stability of the line. ?

I have the "INDY" package but would like to upgrade .

Is it worth it?

On an old (two years ago?) brochure when the plans had different names, one big difference was the "contention ratio," i.e. how many accounts shared the same ADSL bandwidth:

Maxnet@Home (which became Maxnet INDY), the contention ratio was 40.

Maxnet@Life was 10, Maxnet@SME was 5, and Maxnet@Biz was 2 ... I'm not sure which one of those became "Maxnet Premier," but a 512/256 Maxnet@Life was B2,350/mo, so that might be the equivalent?

Earlier, on a different thread, I had posted my TT&T Maxnet@Home tracert results for thaivisa.com, and another TT&T subscriber with a higher level plan also posted his, and his ping times were significantly shorter than mine.

That said, in the evenings I can usually get a 105kbps download speed reported by my browser (Opera) on my 1024/512 Maxnet@Home account. During the day I "often" can, but it's hit or miss. I'm a TT&T subscriber in Jomtien.