ballbreaker

I think its time you start talking to the other owners and get them on you side. A mob has a bigger voice.

"Certificate of residence when you get it at the immigration office should not be more then 200 baht. " - basjke

basjke - As far as I know Immagration does not issue these, you have to get them at the Consulate, or Embassy of your nation, prices vary for all countries, USA has been 1000BHT for at least 6 months now, and used to be 500BHT, these things change, when's the last time you went to get one??

You can get certificate of residence at immagration office and some will not charge anything.

I've been through the airport many times and have never been given a slip with a fixed price, always meter.

The meter price of 750 baht does seem a bit step since I've gone from Don Muang to 30 km north of Korat and the meter showed just short of 1600 baht at the old rate scale. I bargained for 1800 and the driver wanted to know if he made a good deal so he ran the meter.

Can someone please explain to me what 60% or 80% is really supposed to be a representation of?

And how is this accurately measured with knowing this percentage?

The percent figure is usually the percentage of light allowed through, so 20% should be darker then 50.

[quote name='Richb2004v2' date='2008-10-03 09:33:08' post='2251811'

Thanks for that. A couple more questions:

If I want to try with the TrueMove sim what do I do? My wife called a service number and a recorded message told her that the my Nokia 3110 Classic can not do internet which I know is not true.

Can I buy one of these Sims from 7-11 and do I just ask for Dtac/AIS Sim?

Is there any kind of device I could use to permanently house the AIS or Dtac Sim, so as not to have to keep changing Sims in my phone?

Make sure your wife explains to True that you have the Nokia 3130 Classic and not the old Nokia 3110 which could not do GPRS.

Keep a close eye on the committee that will runs things. I once rented a place in California and the owner told me a real horror story about their situation. It seems one of the committee members got himself setup as manager of contracts. To make a long story short he quite his regular job and let a contract to a company he set up for grounds maintenance. Cost was way over what residents found to be the norm and reasonable but they for forced to live up to the contract till it ran out. All because owners association was not set up properly with checks and balances.

Below is a post by Grant from another thread on this subject. If you wish to read entire thread: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Importing-2n...ar-t212928.html

Example Calculation of Taxes and Duties

The following example shows a breakdown of the liable taxes and duties assessed on the vehicles less than 2400 c.c. cylinder capacity with a CIF value of 1,000,000 Baht.

CIF value of the imported vehicle and applicable taxes and duties are as follows:

CIF value of the import = 1,000,000 Baht

Import duty = 80 %

Excise tax = 35 %

Interior tax = 10 % of excise tax

VAT = 7 %

The total import duties and taxes imposed on this import are calculated as follows:

1. Import duty = (CIF value * Rate of import duty)

= (1,000,000 * )

= 800,000 Baht

2. Excise tax = (CIF value + import duty) * {Rate of excise tax/1-(1.1 * Rate of excise tax)}

= (1,000,000+800,000) * {0.35/1-(1.1*0.35)}

= 1,800,000 * 0.5691057

= 1,024,390.20 Baht

3. Interior tax = Excise tax * Rate of interior tax

= 1,024,390.20 * 0.1

= 102,439.02 Baht

4. Base VAT = (CIF value+ Import duty+ Excise tax + Interior tax)

= (1,000,000 + 800,000 + 1,024,390.20 + 102,439.02)

= 2,926,829.20 Baht

5. VAT = Base VAT * VAT Rate

= 2,926,829.20 *0.07

= 204,878.04 Baht

Total taxes and duties = 1+2+3+5 = 2,131,707.20 Baht or 213.17%

I think your biggest problem will be what value they decide to place on the value of your car. Will they use the Thailand book value or what you claim as the UK value.

I think that particular BMW can be purchased here and I think its used value is much higher here than the UK so which value do you think they will pick?

Bottom line, they can place whatever value they wish on your vehicle.

As many have pointed out the insurance is on the vehicle not the driver. It means anyone that has a valid drivers license driving said vehicle will be covered. There are exceptions in that you can reduce the cost of your insurance by 3000 baht plus per year if you limit the number of insured drivers. It allows a maximum of two drivers and they will be listed on the policy. I have done this on my vehicles (wife and self only) and it saved 3000 baht per year per vehicle. It also stopped the relatives from wanting to borrow because car would not be insured if they drive.

If you have an GPRS/EDGE capable phone you might try installing SIM in phone and then try connecting to internet using just phone. You will then know if True has really activated GPRS or problems is with Edge modem or you PC to modem setup.

You may need Sony MovieShaker software that should have come with the camera.

Which Sony camera did you use? If its a Sony camera that uses micromv format (micro size tape) then it will require MovieShaker to download to hard drive and a program called mmv2mpg for converting to standard mpeg 2 format after its on the hard drive. You should then be able to use any editor program.

Its always nice to have another option to public transport and I do not regret having a car.

With the exception of trips outside the city I seldom use mine except for a few select places in town.

Remember you only live once so if you can afford then buy.

I'm going on a Road trip to Laos in December, and want to take my car. Being that my comprehensive car insurance isn't valid in Lao, I want to purchase an anti-theft device.

I'm wondering where I can pick up one of the steering wheel type locks in Thailand. In the US the brand name is "The Club". Has anyone seen this sold in Thailand? If so, where I can pick one up? The Tesco Lotus in Nongkhai did not have anything. Any mail order places? Thanks.

--matt

Yes, steering wheel locking devices are available in Thailand. If not Lotus look around for automotive accessory stores.

You should purchase Lao insurance when you cross the border.

I have 3 .uif files and 2 .iso files, all about 200 MB each, which I would like to merge into 1 .avi or .mpg file. Is this possible? Will I be needing any video converter program to do this?

Cheers!!!

Both these file formats (uif/iso) are CD/DVD images. You cannot merge into avi or mpg in their current file format. You will need to burn each to disk or get program that can open these type formats on your hdd so you can see files that make up image then you can merge these if format is what you desire. Otherwise you will need to convert files to desired format then merge.

Hi,

Well, yes I've connected it to the pc, and I have the Samsung Software installed. I'm using USB cable. I guess It's just a case of getting it switched on by DTAC then, I will go to the DTAC shop. Thanks for the help.

You can call DTAC and they will activate so not necessary for you to visit shop.

You need to provide a few more details on what you have done to connect.

First question is how have you connected PC to phone. Are you using Bluetooth or USB cable?

Have you installed the Samsung Studio 3 software on your PC. Its required to connect PC to phone before you can user browser.

You may also need to contact DTAC and make sure they have enabled GPRS/Edge for you to have connectivity.

Any chance you can borrow another EDGE/GPRS compatible phone other then the E71 to test. The fact that you have problems with using just the phone browser also makes it look like the issue is there. Also, check the Nokia forums for issues with that model and Internet connectivity.

Have two phones, the E71 and the 3110 - but have the same issue with both. As I said, my mind boggles. If it was just an AIS issue I could go to them and similarly with DTAC - loads of people connecting here with Nokia, so they can't be the problem. When is 3G ever gonna rear its head???

A thought. Have you tried taking a look a your USB cable. I use a N73 phone and my connection use to dropout until I noticed that a slight movement of USB cable would cause. I feel the retention of the cable to the phone is not firm enough and I solved by making sure the cable sweeps upward as it comes off the phone. This seems to keep the cable contacts firmly seated against the phone connector.

Quality and reliability of service depends on location in Thailand and the time of day. I know my speeds are good except from 12 noon till 9 pm when they can slow down.

If your using Bluetooth for the PC to phone connection you might try using USB connection instead. I had the same problem you are having and when I switch off Bluetooth and connected using USB cable all was fine. Don't ask me why.

I use the USB connection as opposed to the Bluetooth as that was far more troublesome than what it was worth...

When you say " I know my speeds are good..." - how exactly are you connecting to the net: viewing on your phone or using the phone/sim card as a modem for a PC/notebook etc?

I use phone connected to PC for access to internet.

Congratulations to Barack Obama on winning the election. The Bush years can be put to the shredder (see cartoon -courtesy of The Guardian).

Here is an article from The Guardian about plans to extend the Russia presidential term to 6 years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/0...-vladimir-putin

Why does not America follow suit? It seems crazy that the last two years of any four year administration is obsessed with holding on to power at the next election, and therefore does not concentrate on the business of governing. A six or seven year term would lead to far greater political stability. On the other hand it might have lead to 12/14 years of Bush!

Maybe nice idea for some but I would not have wanted another 2 years of Bush. In fact I was feed up with him after the first four.

Check out the following link it may help: http://www.partition-recovery.com/

Quality and reliability of service depends on location in Thailand and the time of day. I know my speeds are good except from 12 noon till 9 pm when they can slow down.

If your using Bluetooth for the PC to phone connection you might try using USB connection instead. I had the same problem you are having and when I switch off Bluetooth and connected using USB cable all was fine. Don't ask me why.

Wow! If you are getting "True" 115 Kbps using your mobile in a "remote village", I would say you are doing real good. I am also in a remote village using AIS service provider and motorola GPRS mobile phone (bluetooth connection to my desktop). On good days I am happy to get 40 Kbps. Only other option where I live is IPSTAR Satelite which is rather expensive and I still hear too many people complain about the reliability to make me want to try it.

I use DTAC EDGE with a Nokia 6681 and it was very slow until I stopped using Bluetooth and got a Nokia/USB cable, it's much faster, but I find it's not too good for Skype as the data seems to be sent in bursts.

I have also found using the USB cable for PC to phone connection to be better than Bluetooth. Performance much better.

Have Samsung that is 6+ years old and gets used 3-4 loads a week. Never had any problems.

You want a monthly package if you plan on using on daily basis. If the expat you bought the modem from had one of the monthly packages you will start getting messages from AIS a few days before the month ends. It will read something like this: Your mobileNET 100Hr 350b expires on 2008-11-02 and will be automatically be refilled. If you are getting this type message and want to keep number of hours mentioned all you need do is make sure SIM is topped up with that amount plus 7 percent extra to cover taxes. You do not need to call *138.

If on the other hand you wish to change the number of hours per month use *138 to cancel your current package then again to select a new package.

Thanks to all and especially Ballbreaker who established that there is Edsge and GPRS connectivity in my area. it turns out that I just needed to call AIS to activate my GPRS and my niece needed to likewise call DTAC to activate EDGE on her phone.

i have no idea why we needed to do this when everyone else says it should be automatic. Maybe because we bought out SIM cards many years back (perhaps before these services were available)?

Anyhow now that I know I have EDGE that is the route I will take. Plan to buy a new Nokia 3120 in a few weeks when I go to Cambodia (much cheaper there plus user manuals in English). Meanwhile in my spare time keep trying to get it to work with my niece's EDGE, so far no luck but probably some set up glitch related to the phone itself.

Looking forward to joining the modern age with reazl connectivity!!! I already signed up for a package with AIS to keep costs reasonable. New phone and knock on wood I'm all set....

If your getting another Nokia 3120 make sure its the 3120 Classic. You can check this link: http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_3120_classic-2240.php

On my desktop I have installed the Thai version of MSOFFICE 2007, up until a recent service at Panthip, the menus etc, were all in English, now for some reason I have Thai script up there... how do I change this back to English? I went into the control panel and set the regional settings to English etc. but still no change.. can anyone help, maybe a stupid and obvious thing, but I cant find the solution..

Oz

Try the following:

Start/Programs/Microsoft Office/Microsoft Office Tools/ Microsoft Office 2007 Language Settings