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13 hours ago, Bruno123 said:

AIS sell 'always on' 64kbps and 128 kbps connections for around 30 baht per month. Useful enough for texting and preventing data leakage. Faster packs can be added as and when.

This is a good approach, thanks!  I assume this additional package will kick in when the main one expires, to prevent "baht leakage" I was talking about

17 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Put an alert in your phone / agenda / note in the toilet yourself.

Don't blame others for a scam if you can't remember a date.

13 hours ago, chuang said:

What nonsense...same old accusation..Scam again...

555, putting scam in quotations not to sound too accusatory did not save me from the wrath of the Righteous Police here who consider it every citizen's sacred life duty to watch for their package expiration dates ????

The point is, with so many SMS notification capabilities and notifications in their mobile app they already have, it costs the providers nothing to add expiration alerts, or allow a setting to disable pay-per use... I bet they don't do it on purpose to fleece you off a few baht with expensive pay per use every time you don't renew in time.  Call it a scam or whatever, it's annoying to be taken advantage of like that.

Well, someone did provide a helpful suggestions, so this thread is not entirely in vain

I'm not aware of any way to set up an alert when your prepaid data package is soon to expire.  I do get the text when it's already expired, but by the time I catch it, 10-20 baht of my balance already eaten by pay per use data....  Same story with True, AIS, and Dtac...  I wonder how many billions of baht they rake up by not letting people set up advance expiration alerts...

16 hours ago, bamnutsak said:

I think the insurance is 5,900.

 

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/My-Family-and-Me/Bancassurance/BKI/PA-1st/PA-1st-VIP

 

Some say it may auto-renew so ask first.  Some say it doesn't include internet and mobile banking so ask first.

 

For some it's a small price to pay, for others an insurmountable challenge.

 

The Residency Cert requires one to go to CW/Imm (I'm assuming Bangkok here), with supporting docs, which may include a TM.30 and/or a lease. They mail the certificate to you.

 

I think some of the concierge services offer this, for a bit less money.

 

The unfortunate truth is that BBL employees have a sales quota/SPIFF on these policies. Maybe just decline the insurance after expressing an initial interest or ask to speak with the manager.

 

Others report success with a Thai reference.

 

 

Thanks for the tip on auto-renew, I don't intend to pay this extortion fee annually...one time is enough

16 hours ago, theoldgit said:

What exactly was the insurance they wanted you to buy?
 

Bank tellers have been offering this insurance deal for years to allow you to open an account, it’s not official and they get commission on the sale, very often the insurance is next to worthless.

I think it was some kind of accident insurance, don't remember for sure.....  I had no need for it, but that was their deal.  But if it relieves me from dealing with immigration certificates, I will take it.

2 hours ago, Bruno123 said:

You don't need an agent; just a residence certificate from Immigration. You just take some proof of where you are staying, along with 300 baht. 

Then at the branch, they will charge you only for card and bank deposit. Anything else and they are just trying it on. Up to you if you want the added services. Even up to you if you want a card.

 

 

I hear you.  Basically they charge for letting you skip the immigration paperwork.  They did not ask for any immigration papers when they offered me an account, just the passport, the insurance fee, and the card fee.

4 hours ago, Rohe60 said:

I got an account with Bangkok Bank in June this year with the help of an agent.
The agent did cost me 3,000 BHT but there was no need for me to go to immigration to get some weird confirmations from them.
All she needed was my passport and a business card from my hotel.
Opening the account took about 30 minutes, there where no insurances or other scams.
Just the normal bank fees, location was Pattaya.

Thanks, maybe I will do that too.  3000b better than 5000b if the outcome is the same.  

Did the agent handle opening all by herself, or did you go to the branch together with her?

3 minutes ago, timendres said:

I am not aware of any withdrawal limits, but I have never checked into this, as I am here and use my debit card for payments, and make only a few ATM withdrawals per month. The debit card is for your savings account. The only time I have ever had a checking account was for my business account.

Ok, thanks.  This makes me think about ways making outgoing international transfers in case if I ever want out, and not being in Thailand physically.  Probably need a separate topic for that.  Do I need to go to the bank in person to make an international wire transfer, meaning I cannot take the money out unless I am in Thailand?

44 minutes ago, timendres said:

Transfers out would be a different matter.

Can you elaborate?  Are restrictions related to the savings account, like the number of withdrawals per month?

The bank account I was offered came with a debit card (at 500 b annual fee for that).  So I assumed it would be a checking account not savings

Just recently I was in Thailand on tourist visa and I walked into a Bangkok bank branch and asked to open an account.  They said OK, just a passport and pay 5000 b for some insurance.  I passed at that time, but now thinking it was probably a good deal reading about others having to jump through hoops with letters from immigration etc....

Question: will it be a "normal" account with no strings attached?  What I don't want is to have this account flagged as "temporary/tourist account" or something like that and then being harassed down the road for more documentation for additional verifications, or have my transactions being put on hold pending more verifications, and not being able to comply in time because not living in Thailand, and then get my account frozen.  Mostly concerned about money being wired in/out internationally with no hiccups.  I have not seen any reports of this, so I assume once my account is open, it will be managed for a tourist in the same way as for a retirement visa same as for a good Thai citizen.....right?....right?....

11 hours ago, chalawaan said:

Do you post to get advice on changing your socks as well?

???? 

Just do it. 

A Thai male wouldn't agonize over such trivia  for a Bangkok second.

Divide and rule!

Well....if my socks lined up every time I walked past the drawer yelling "take a sock mister", gave me dirty sock stink if I tried to change them in the middle of the day, had their Boss Sock collecting 300b from me after I took them off, and expected a tip, then yeah....I might use some advice on changing socks.

2 hours ago, Hummin said:

You can not walk around and be afraid a masseuse will loose face if you want to try someone else. I understand the trouble it can create in a beer bar, but in a massage saloon? Grow up!
 

I prefer oil massage, and if I need a bit more work I go to a dedicated educated physiotherapist and pay same price as for something I would call uneducated workers who can do things worse and not better. A few weeks is in best case better than nothing, but really?

Well...I'd say you got it the other way around.... way less concern changing a lady in a beer bar.  Although between your personal growth advice, and the previous guy's comparison of changing massage ladies to changing socks, the socks guy wins the motivational speaker award of the day  ????

Agree on physiotherapists, those are the way to go if you got a specific body issue.

13 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Come to Bangkok or Pattaya and satisfaction is guaranteed! Just sayin'

Sorry I wasn't clear in my post.  This was in LOS, in a major tourist area, and my entire post is about LOS experience only.

Recently I had a really uncomfortable foot massage session.  I generally don’t like to be massaged hard, so I would often tell the lady to adjust it to a more comfortable level, and it works well for me.  This last time I must have told her 5 times to go easy, and yet even when she was no longer pressing too hard, somehow her fingers felt like they were made from hardwood, and every couple of minutes she would make me uncomfortable.  The shop was actually premium with higher prices, advertised “traditional Thai massage”, and well rated on Google.  Only after it was over, and I was walking away feeling quite unsatisfied, it occurred to me that next time in that kind of situation I would just ask to change the lady.  I’ve never done that before, and never seen it done by others.  I assume it would make the lady lose face, and I would certainly not enjoy doing it, but I can’t pay for 1 hour of feeling unrelaxed just to spare her feelings.

In my moderate experience of a few dozen massages, I find that only a small percentage of ladies are really good, and have a good sense how to adjust to each particular person to do a good penetrating massage without making it uncomfortable.  The majority are average, just ok, either too strong, too weak, or just not a great feeling overall.   Recently someone who went to a massage school explained to me that it’s not just the amount of pressure, but the angle and the motion of the fingers, and they teach those nuances in a massage school.  The majority of ladies at street massage shops never go to any real training and just learn on the job, and the result is general mediocrity, even at “premium” places.  I am yet to figure out how to locate shops that employ well trained staff.

Thoughts?
 

14 hours ago, Bruno123 said:

No.

https://www.ais.th/5g/join-us/prepaid/en/index.html  Did you start with one of those?

What phone do you have?

 

Yes I see your point.  Yes the prepaid SIM card package specifically says 5G supported. The phone is Pixel 5 and it supports all 5G frequencies local in TH.  I purchase packages from within the AIS mobile app, and the package does say 5G.  So I have no idea why I was getting LTE only.  Maybe I was not in the right area at the time.  Next time I will bring the phone back to the store and let them figure it out once and for all.

On 7/4/2022 at 7:30 AM, Bruno123 said:

Of course it is nonsense.....

 

https://www.ais.th/package/en/package_net_5g.html

Yes, they are listed as 5G on-top packages.  But when you purchase a package, you get LTE in the status bar, not 5G.  It looks they downgrade you to the LTE speed on prepaid.

Sorry I will hijack your nutrition debate and steer back to the purchasing topic for a moment.  

I cannot wait for 2+ week delivery from iHerb when I am in TH since I move around a lot.  I know I can get faster delivery on Lazada.  Any tips on distinguishing reputable sellers from fakes?  Is Lazada just a marketplace of 3rd party sellers, or can I order directly from Lazada itself, same like I prefer to order "sold by Amazon" from Amazon? 

Any advise on locally sold brands?  I remember seeing in Boots a couple of Thai brands (Mega, Vistra).  In the US I prefer brands that have independent testing by  labs to ensure the pills actually contain the ingredients and quantities stated on the label, since the supplements industry is not well regulated.  I assume it's even less regulated in Thailand.... Would it be naive to assume that if Boots sells it then the quality is guaranteed?  They also carry Blackmores from Australia... would it be naive to assume Australian brands are better regulated than Thai brands...?

It didn't work for me adding a US card.  Grab gives an error saying the credit card needs to support OTP security, which of course US credit cards do.  So after a few emails with Grab support, they finally explained that US cards use "3D Secure version 2, while here in TH it's is still on version 1" or something to that end....  I tried adding 3 different cards, none worked.  Anyone had better luck?

When I first started using Grab a few years ago, I had no problem adding a US card.  So this is a recent development. 

Well it looks like 5G is not to be for me - at the Dtac and AIS shops I was told 5G is not available on prepaid accounts, only on post-paid, which is something I cannot have being here as a tourist since it requires local employment information....(not that I would want post-paid in the first place)...haven't checked with True, but would expect the same answer.  Can anyone confirm that above is indeed accurate?

Did you see an opthalmologist?  Might be bacteria on your eyelids, not allergy.  Try eyelid scrubs and see if it helps, I think I saw OcuSoft brand sold at Boots. 

9 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

If your phone has 5G capability the network will take care of it, dont worry about that. The network needs to pass data between your phone and the local base station. It will do this automatically and will include authentication with the base station. If your phone is 5G compatible it will check and move on to the next stage of the verification process. This will take around 1 second or less so you wont notice it.

I'm not an expert, but I know if your 4G phone does not support 4G bands for the specific carrier or country, it will not work in that location.  Logically the same should be true for 5G.  It's the reason iPhone for example makes different models for US, EU, Japan, etc. 

1 hour ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

she agreed to swipe it at the counter and avoid all said fees...done and done....and yet you can see some posters here are offended.

Thank you very much, that's what I wanted to know.  So they just swipe your ATM at the counter, I never knew that was possible.  You have to enter your PIN at a keypad, right?  Seems like this is not a standard procedure that they offer, since you had to wiggle your way in with a nice dress and cover story.... Do you remember the name of the bank?

2 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

5G in a SIM router as substitute for a home internet connection (where fiber is not available)? Yes, might be useful.

5G in a mobile "on the road"? What for?

You are making a good point.  Do you know if 5G mobile speeds are available over the phone WiFI hotspot (the Wifi itself does not have to be 5G)?  And not so much the speeds, but the improved latency provided by 5G mobile.  Or does the mobile connection switches back to 4G once you turn on phone's hotspot?

5 hours ago, Bruno123 said:

Did it not occur to you to post the exact model of phone in the first place?

3 hours ago, Bruno123 said:

Then it isn't the exact same model then is it?

Either way, I will understand once the model number has been revealed. Ridiculous that they left out such an important detail.

I am shopping for a new 5G phone.  Pixel phones are on my list, so are a couple of Samsungs.  No point in posting the shopping list right now, because I may end up getting a different model in the end. I need a way to check if a specific 5G phone will work in Thailand or not. 

5 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

There is 5G and there is 5G. Not same, different!

 

5G mobile network and 5G Wi-Fi: What's the difference? - Dignited

 

5 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

There is a difference in network and WiFi but it is very much in the technical detail. The poster wants to know if his phone can receive 5G. I assume you deal with the Mobile Radio networks in your line of work as you are quoting links, is that correct?

5 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

The poster does not specify if he has 5G mobile network in mind or 5G WiFi. This is why I pointed out that 5G <> 5G.

I'm talking about 5G mobile speeds.  Sorry I wasn't even thinking about 5G WiFi, that would be a totally different topic.  

Is there any way to check if my US phone will work with 5G in Thailand (without currently being in Thailand).  It seems just having a 5G phone is no guarantee because it depends on particular frequencies that each carrier supports.

Either True/AIS/Dtac have a list of 5G phones they support, or do they list their 5G frequencies that I can check against my phone specs....?