howard251

Another nail in the coffin!

Around the coast tourists are swimming amongst sewage, oil and garbage, in Bangkok they are dodging bullets and grenades and in the north they are being poisoned and suffocated. Whilst all this is going on TAT are trying to lure female office workers from Hong Kong for massages and asking honeymooners to come and work for free in the country.

Thailand is killing itself and it is sliding down the toilet all in the name of greed.

With all this bad news going on, why is the Baht is getting stronger?

It seems as the news get's worse in Thailand, their currency is either unaffected or get's stronger.

I own a Samsung S4 and about 5 days ago I got a message about a firmware software upgrade which fixes a lot of bugs and makes the phone more stable.

If you can connect using wifi 1 time in a coffee shop, public wifi, or 3G, and check for an software update in the "About Phone" setting in the phone, I believe it could fix your problem because your S2 connects just fine at home.

A screen snapshot I took from my S4 before I ran the update. This will give you an idea of what the update looks like.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2308952/Samsung%20Software%20update.png

Good luck...

I want all that unseasonable weather to arrive in Hangdong, Chiang Mai.

All we get every day is dark clouds and thunder, not a drop of rain.

It would sure be great to be able to take a break from watering the shrubs and trees for a few days.

I'll take that heavy rain any day .....

I contacted Koolpuntville 9 about the no water situation and the answer is usually the same.

The city is cleaning out the water pipes and performing routine maintenance.

I find that hard to believe because there was no water starting on a Sunday and into Monday the holiday, April 6 วันจักรี (Wan Chakkri) day.

Immigration was closed on Monday, it was a public holiday. Since when does the Chiangmai water municipality start cleaning the water pipes on a Sunday and going past a public holiday.

There is a monthly housing fee of 880 baht and up depending on how big the land your house is on. Part of that fee pays for free yellow & green well water delivered by the Koolpuntville 9 truck to fill up your water tank. ( hey it's better than no water at all).

Some people who live here tend to try and skip the monthly fee which pays for street lighting on a private road, 24 hour security, trash removal, free house fixing. I think Koolpuntville 9 may actually shut the main tap into the housing company for 2 days at a time to get people to pay the monthly fee owed them. If you are not up to date on your monthly housing company fee, no water will be delivered.

Everyday when I start to water the plants and trees, the first thing I have to check is to see if water is running from the city that day.

I can't explain how ThaiVisa user BB1955 can have water 1/2 kilometer from me near the Hangdong Hospital which is further away from the city water supply, but not Koolpuntville 9?

Your water bill will show if it's from the municipal water supply or from the moo ban.. Most likely its from the moo ban I'd say in that location.

My water bill is usually 240 baht, but I have been watering the outside plants everyday and my current bill this month was 561 baht, the highest ever in 9 years.

I do use my Air Con everyday and so my electric bill is usually between 2200 and 2800 baht, but this month it was 3661, the highest ever.

I have noticed an increase in my utility bills by 20% in the past few months. :-(

I do not mind paying my share but when there is no water for days on end it's get frustrating.

This happens so many times per year I decided to post about it.

I have a 1,350 water tank in Koolpuntville 9 where I have lived for the past 9 years. Many times per year I experience no city water for days a time.

I wonder if it is only the housing company Koolpuntville 9 or all of Hangdong, Chiang Mai.

Since yesterday morning there has been no city water to me or my neighbors, is anyone else in the Hangdong area experiencing periods of up to 3 days with no water ?

Mukdahan would be a perfect fit for affordable McDonalds or Burger King,

at this point even Jeffer's would do as they sell affordable quality burgers.

As a Farang living in Mukdahan for 1 month it seems the modern presence

of a business is Big-C and Tesco Lotus. No wonder why places like this are

packed fully with limited parking on weekends, they are the only show in town.

RIP - I went to try KCi burger this afternoon, December 8, 2012 - out of business.

What a shame I am in Mukdahan for 1 month now and missing westerner food, especially a hamburger.

With all the good reviews I wonder why they went out of business .

Photo attached showing a new business which was also closed at 1pm on a Saturday

Hello All,

I live in a housing company in Hangdong, very near Kad Farang.

I am an old Maxnet customer which became 3BB. I am grandfathered on their old Internet package, 3MB down and 1MB up for 1,142 baht per month.

My Slingbox is located in Connecticut and connected to Comcast Cable. My speeds are consistently over 1300 Kbps and I am NOT using the VPN function.

The Comcast Internet cable box in Connecticut is the standard one used and issued by Comcast for the Triple Play customers, Internet, Phone and cable. I can't recall the name brand at this time.

Interesting post...

I live in Hangdong, Chiang Mai in a nice housing company. Last week two woman rang my bell to leave some literature with me. Turns out they were Jehovah`s witnesses. I was shocked as I have lived here over 8 years and never expected to run into one here.

Maybe it's a country wide invasion...

I have a 4 year old Honda Airblade and have decided to get a new motorbike. The choices were narrowed down to the Yamaha Nouvo Elegance or the Honda PCXi.

The Yamaha killer for me was when the dealer told me there is no factory Yamaha alarm system for this bike and if I added one on my own, it would immediately void the warranty. It would be considered an electrical modification. Yes you can say to buy the top insurance product to protect yourself against theft and I always buy that, but I think it's a consumers right to add an alarm as a deterrent no matter how effective you think they are or not.

So now it's down to the Honda PCXi, but that too reveals a surprise when talking to the Honda dealer salesman. The 110cc engine on my Airblade can go as fast as 100 Kph on the super highway as the maximum speed. Since the PCXi has a 125cc engine I thought it would be quicker then the Airblade. The salesman said he tested the PCXi on the super highway and the top speed was 100Kph, same as my 4 year old Airblade. The salesman told me of some Thai law, not sure it's true or not. He said they stop motorbikes made in Thailand from going faster then 100Kph using a governor device, is that true?

He said the stronger engine on the PCXi will get you away from the crowd the quickest when the light turns green, but in overall highway speeds, it will be the same as my 4 year old Honda Airblade. From PCXi owners out there, is there any truth to this?

Another thing I am concerned about, as you all know, the smaller motorbike riders like to travel between the cars at red lights to get to the front of the line. The Honda PCXi is a wider bigger bike and so I am thinking it will be harder to maneuver then the smaller bikes can?

Another question, my older Airblade most of the time when I ride it is at 80% of power and that drinks the benzine out of the tank just as quick as a Fortuner SUV. It actually costs me a lot more money to ride my older Airblade because it only uses 91 benzene. I am sure if I kept the speed down to 40Kph I would experience a lot more gas savings and better fuel economy.

So another question to Honda PCXi owners. Since it's got a 125cc engine, if you keep the throttle at 80% or more, will this also make it drink gas like a big SUV? I know it can run on the cheaper E20 and 91 Gasohol and that is a savings.

I also know my older Airblade uses a carburetor and the newer bikes have electronic fuel injection, maybe that alone will give better gas millage at highway speeds?

What is the advantage of a bigger engine bike if it can't go any faster then the 110cc bikes or drink less gas?

Thanks for your input in advance to help me decide on what type of a bike to buy.

Count me in, I'll be there.

For those using the Slinbox Catcher, how good is the picture on the tv here? Or, can you only watch a clear picture if its on the computer?

I think the picture quality running Slingplayer on my computer looks better on my 19" LCD computer monitor then the Slingcatcher does on my 36" old fashioned glass Sony TV. It might have something to do with picture size?

However I know another Slingcatcher user here in Chiang Mai and she claims the picture quality looks better on her TV then the computer, just the opposite of my experience.

The Slingcatcher HD-PRO has an HDMI port on the back and maybe if it was hooked up to the newer LCD or Plasma TV's that have an HDMI input, the picture quality would be much better.

I also wanted to say I never had to have the Slingbox or router reset in Connecticut, it's been problem free since I set it up 3 weeks ago.

I just back from visiting my mom in Connecticut. I hooked up a Slingbox PRO-HD to her Comcast cable TV system and upgraded her AT&T Internet package to PRO, which is 6MB down and 768K up.

I fully tested the system while I was there using the Slingplayer PC software which you can download for free. I also bought and tested the Slingcatcher which let's you play your Slingbox directly through a TV with out the use of a computer. All the hardware power supplies are 110/220v compatible.

I live in Chiang Mai and have TT&T Maxnet Premier which is fantastically stable with no slow periods 24 hours a day.

With that said, after I got back to CM and hooked everything up, it was working in minutes because it was already tested before I left the states.

The picture quality is good, but next year when I return to the states I'll get mom my cable Internet or anything that has a faster upload speed, that way I'll enjoy HD broadcasts.

When I press the OPT button on my Slingcatcher, I consistently get a solid download speed of 664kbps which is acceptable because my mom only has 7778kbps upload Internet speed from her side.

I personally do not have a DVR hooked up to record, but that's OK or me because the 11 hour time difference to watch my favorite shows is not an issue for me.

The most important thing here is to have the fastestes Internet upload speed on the Slingbox side and a stable high quality download speed on the Thialand side.

I do recommend the Slingbox PRO-HD and well worth the extra money.

The only con I can think of at the moment. It's slow when changing channels, much quicker to change channels on the UBC remote. Also the time difference between LA and CM unless you have a DVR hooked up. And repeating myself, a good stable Internet connection in Chiang Mai to get the best results.

My biggest peeve with them is when I see them or don’t see them at night due to a burnt out tail light. I think 40% of the motor bikes in Chiang Mai have no working tail light. Add to that they wear a dark jacket or shirt and dark colored pants, no helmet and no reflective anything. On darker secondary roads it’s very hard to see them, plus most of the front car windshields in Thailand are tinted.

Either they don’t care to spend 10 baht to replace their broken tail light, or as I say, their life must be worth less then 10 baht.

I recently purchased a new Honda Air Blade motorcycle from Niyom Panich, near Airport Plaza and the Toyota dealer. I was told to come in for my 1st servicing at 1,000 kilometers. Today I had reached 961 kilometers and decided to have it serviced a little early. I knew a new engine that had just been broken in must have a lot of metal shavings floating around with the oil.

I asked to have the oil changed and the filter as well. He said they only change the filter at 10,000 kilometers which shocked me. I asked how much for the oil filter and he said 120 baht. I said I’ll pay for it, please change it anyway. As promised the servicing took just under and hour.

When it was time to pay the cashier she said in English, total bill 197 baht to change oil and replace air filter. I said they were supposed to replace the oil filter and the oil, not the air filter. She contacted the service technician who came over and told me, only the Honda Air Blade and Click in Thailand have no oil filter to change. It’s a new technology which has a built in internal screen that need to be checked and cleaned every 4,000 kilometers; it replaces what use to be a standard oil filter.

In the world there are oil filters that get replaced when changing the oil in you car, lawn mowers and every type of motorcycle made, except the Thailand made Honda Air Blade and Click.

Are there any mechanics out there that can explain to me what in technology changed that no longer requires an oil filter to be installed and replaced in the Honda Air Blade when changing the oil? It’s a new one to me and I’m confused.

I’m quick to complain when the speeds are really poor from TOT.

As of Wednesday October 31st, my Chiang Mai, Hang Dong, GoldCyber 2mb/512k Internet has finally recovered to the speeds I use to get before the big upgrade.

At 12:30pm today I tested using http://www.speakeasy.net/speed and got a speed of 990 to New York and 1,230 Seattle.

I really believe the TOT speeds are starting to Improve. I would like to hear from other TV members who posted on this thread and were complaining. Are the speeds slowly getting better for you as well? How about the TT&T people who were also complaining about slow speeds, any improvement noticed?

Chiang Mai, Hangdong, TOT GoldCyber subscriber.

After the upgrade and since September 17th, it’s been horrible as everyone says.

Before the upgrade I consistently got download speeds between 850 to 877

24 hours a day, to New York, Seattle, San Fran and all the other International test points.

Now I am always under 100, sometimes 10 to 20 unless I am testing from 3 am to 7 am. Then my speeds return to pre 9/17…. should have been called 9/11.

I can understand adding more users could slow the network down, but not overnight and coincidently after some upgrade?

How about we all coordinate and show up at a TOT office at the same time complaining. Have 20 or 30 angry falangs holding up signs, and then watch TOT officials jump through hoops for a change. Of course I realize it will get us no where and the problem will not get resolved any faster, but maybe I’d feel better.

I am not a network expert but was thinking each class of TOT service, GoldCyber, SilverCyber and BestCyber, all run on different servers. If I switched from GoldCyber to BestCyber which is the old speeds GoldCyber use to be, maybe there would be a lot less users on that particular server and my speeds would return to pre 9/17 levels?

Here is another speed test site some one on TV posted and I like the results display. Check my download speeds, just a little faster then dial-up.

http://myvoipspeed.visualware.com/

P.S. had my Thai speaking friend argue with the manager of the Hang Dong TOT office and got the Internet portion of my bill reduced from 1,000 baht to 700, (for this month only). The 300 baht is nothing, I'd much rather have the speeds back.

Living in Chiang Mai, Hang Dong and subscribed to the TOT Goldcyber package, 1024/512.

Since September 17th my speed tests on the http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest web site to Seattle have gone from 876 to less then 100.

Tonight on Sunday October 14th I have to report a new Thailand slow Internet record, download test 68 kbps (8.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

Thinking it must be a bandwidth issue. On a few sleepless nights between the hours of 3 am to 8 am, I started the computer and my speeds were back to 876 and that is testing to anywhere internationally.

I am wondering if TOT will adjust my bill to be 10% of the 1,000 baht a month I pay them since I am only receiving 10% of the service.

Tried switching to TT&T but they do no provide service in my Moo Bahn, they claim no phone numbers available, even if they did I wonder if it would have help.

I am 50 years old and retired in Chiang Mai. I own my house and two cars so no monthly payments to the bank. I do not drink or smoke and do not take out anyone from the go-go's.

Here is my break down on what it costs me to live here, others who live a different lifestyle could cost them more or less.

These are per month costs in baht.

3,600 - Gasoline for my 2005 Honda City (never higher then this, sometimes much lower)

800 - Gasoline for my partner's 1999 Honda type-Z (usually always this much - back and forth to school)

1,416 - per month for 2005 Honda, Class A auto insurance policy

1,083 - per month for 1999 Honda type-Z, Class A auto insurance policy

141 - per month for car land tax - 2005 Honda City

130 - per month for car land tax - 1999 Honda type-Z

2,299 - UBC Satellite TV

1,200 - High speed Internet and TOT telephone service

3,900 - Electricity - about 500 baht lower in winter

150 - water (average)

800 - Housing company fee covers (security, street lights, trash removal, house fixing)

500 - bug spray company per month ( 1 year contract)

3,000 - medications per month, Lipitor, Proscar, Rogain, Nizoral 2% shampoo

____________

19,019 baht for basic living

+

9,000 - (300 baht per day includes 3 meals for two people, based on a 30 day month)

____________

28,019

+

10,000 extra averaged out monthly to cover hospital visits,

visa Immigrations, movies, entertainment, travel / vacations, cloths,

groceries, car maintenance and anything else I might have forgot to mention

____________

38,019 Total for most months, higher or lower depending on unexpected expenditures.

38,019 divided bt 34 baht to the USA dollar, is $1,118 per month to exist.

I am sure I could adjust my lifesyle and services which I subscribe to which would bring my monthly costs down.

I am on TOT here in Chiang Mai near Hang Dong. I am signed up for the 512 package but my speeds went to about 1700 for a short while but now it is still in the pits this morning.

Just checked and in-country I am getting 1310 but after several tests internationally the best I can get is 125. This has been the case for a week or more.

I'm surprised your in-country speeds are so high. My in-country test from Hang Dong are never more then 855, and tonight on October 9th at 9:51 pm my International download speed test to Seattle, Washington were only 81.

The good news is that TOT and TT&T 1024k ADSL subscribers are now automatically upgraded to 2048k. This was supposed to happen on September 13th.

The bad news for at least Chiang Mai is that after the upgrade, my International speed tests had dropped from 864 to 100. I live in Hang Dong and went to the local TOT office that services my area and informed them about the problem. They gave the standard answer to let them have a technician come out to the house. I explained that all my neighbors who also subscribe to the TOT 1024k Cyber Gold package are experiencing the same extra slow speeds, almost as bad as dial up. They informed me they will have a technician check the line and call me back.

Two days later a technician calls and said the International speed problems that have affected all of Chiang Mai is due to a Cat Telecom problem. No information as to when the issue will be resolved.

I have heard other TT&T customers say their speeds in Chiang Mai are up to over 1,200.

Today is Monday October 8th and the slow Internet problem still exists. I am just guessing when I say I think it’s a Cat Telecom bandwidth issue because if I test between 5am and 9am in the morning, I can still get speeds tests around 877. Any other time outside that four hour window is horribly slow speeds.

I wanted to switch to AT&T and try them out, but they already told me there are no phone numbers available in the Moo Bahn where I live.

Is anyone else seeing an improvement in their International speeds test or slower then ever since the alleged doubling of the International speeds?

When leaving feedback it would be appreciated if you would say who you use, TOT or TT&T

Has anyone else heard anything about what the problem is or when it might be fixed?

I have never seen a conversion van in Thailand like that available in America. I have seen for sale empty cargo vans and models like the Commuter, but what about conversion vans?

Does anyone know of a shop in Thailand that does this type of van conversion work?

When I talk about a conversion van, I mean something like this. Usually two swivel captain chairs up front, and two more behind that, also a small round table with an aluminum pole which can be set up or taken down quickly. Towards the back of the van there is a bench seat which folds down into a small bed, a built in 12volt refrigerator, and a large glass window on the side, plus curtains all around.

They are a lot of fun but I guess it never caught on in Thailand?

THIS IS A LINK to see what I talking about

Over the last ten years I've noticed that every time farangs get worked up over a perceived change in any aspect of life here in Thailand, there is a "henny penny the sky is falling mentality" and a rush to predict a mass exodus, forced or voluntary, from Thailand. Life goes on, and more and more farang keep coming. I really don't see anything but more farang in our future here. My advice is to be patient and pleasant and enjoy some aspect of nature and fellow man and watch how things just sort of resolve themselves.

Bravo!!!

Stopped in tonight at the Laughing Leprechaun because I wanted some fish and chips, and saw these posts recommending it. Agree with the sentiments--great fish and chips, and Dominic was indeed a swell guy. I let him know I read good things on thaivisa, and he said, "Yeah, we get a good write up on there sometimes."

Food was excellent, and the service was even better. The ladies were watching our table constantly and filling the water glasses frequently. Very friendly and very accomodating to my young son.

I've ridden and walked past the place dozens, maybe even hundreds of times, since I live in the neighborhood, and I'd never looked twice. A shame that it isn't more visible from the street. Dominic did mention that a hotel was going up next door and that might increase some traffic, and he said he might be renovating the place a bit to improve the atmosphere.

Will definitely visit again...

I too stopped by there for the first time tonight and tried the fish and chips. The food quality was great and the service was as others have quoted on Thaivisa, fantastic.

The only problem I encountered was the cigarette smoke smell inside. There were only a few people at the bar section that did not appear to be smoking, so I guess it's the natural process of cigarette smoke which gets ingrained into everything it touches. I have a very bad allergy to cigarette smoke so I asked to move to an outside table which they gladly accommodated. It was much hotter then inside, but much better for me. I would suggest any non-smokers that are bothered by cigarettes smoke to eat outside.