ballbreaker

Does anyone have accurate information on the ability for Thai SIM cards to function in Singapore. I'd like information about all cards but specifically AIS 1-2-call prepaid.

If it does or they do, any information as to costs for calls out, incoming and SMS both ways would be much appreciated. Can you also top up from abroad, presuming they work ?

Thanks.

I've always had problems getting the service to work in some countries even though its suppose to function. Its best you contact service center at 1175 to make sure you have roaming enabled. Their english speakers are very helpful.

Thanks for the info.

I use a Nokia 6300 which is GPRS/EDGE enabled. Last month I tried using it for internet access through bluetooth to my laptop. Worked very easy. I assumed that I was automatically on "package" as I had never asked for the service to be enabled. Usually there's no access for additional services unless specifically requested. 999 Bt is the most it could cost for checking it out I thought.

Very surprised to get a bill for 37,000Bt. Having a devil of a time convincing AIS to discount this, even though they risk the whole company's phone service going elsewhere (we currently spend over 100K a month).

Suck it up and pay the bill. You should have checked what you would be paying before you started use.

When you received 40-44 baht to the dollar $1000 was possible if you didn't waste money. At the current 32 baht and at the predicted 25-28 baht per dollar by end of 2008 things might be a little tough. I suppose if you are willing to cut back your life style to that of a lower income Thai then it still can be done.

So we finally own a car in Bangkok and it needs a bit of tuning on the transmission and an alignment. Maybe an oil change too. I've been told "It's a Honda, so you should take it to Honda service." but it just seems like this would be more expensive than a smaller shop. At least that's the way it is in my home country. In any case, the car is almost 11 years old and I've heard very good things about a Shell garage on Chaengwattana Rd (if you're familiar with it, it's basically in the Makro car park). I was going to take it there as it makes the most sense to me (given my foreign experience) but I turn to you...the ThaiVisa guru's to help me decide. Should I take it to a Honda dealer for service or the smaller shops? What would/do you do?

I would stick with the dealer for any service because they do not charge 2-3 times more like they do in farang land.

I use Motorola K1 connected using bluetooth to computer. I live 30 km north of Korat and speed seems to vary depending on time of day and day of week. If connection is working good I get download speeds in the 12-18 kB range. When the system is loaded then speed drops down to 4kB range and sometimes worse.

Just got back from a trip to the dentist, for routine cleaning and check. The dentist has asked me to come back to replace some old fillings.

Is this something that is routine?

I did ask if there were cavities, and he said no, just change the old fillings.

Its routine with some dentist and you can draw your own conclusions as to why.

Some years ago I moved from one state to another in the US and my new dentist said all my fillings needed to be replaced and could give no reason other than their age, about 15-18 years at the time. I returned on a visit to my old residence and decided to check with my old dentist and he could see no reason to replace any. Five years later I decided to replace all the silver amalgam fillings with composite resin even though the dentist doing the work said they were worn but still had a few more years left. They were all in the 20-23 year age when replaced.

Can someone help me by explaining what exactly ping time is and why that is the method of testing speeds compared with download times.

Ping time is the round trip time from your computer to distant server and back. It also provides info about packet loss which is good to know.

Just think of ping as being the length of the pipe and download speed being the size of the pipe.

Another good command you can use when ping times are really bad is "tracert". This will show the ping times for each hop from your computer to distant server.

Try dampening a soft cotton or non-abrasive cloth, that is lint free, with water and GENTLY wipe down the screen. For heavy buildups you can try mixing up a 50/50 solution of water and isopropyl alcohol and dampening cloth or just buy commercial LCD cleaner.

Make sure the LCD is turned off before cleaning and allow to dry before turning back on.

Don't use paper towels or window cleaners because will harm screen over time.

As a matter of interest, can someone explain to me how to reformat a disk in case I need to do it in the future?

Thanks

On desk top right mouse click on MyComputer then select "explore" from drop down menu.

When the window pops up right mouse click on the drive you wish to fromat then select "format" from the drop down menu that appears.

Careful because everything on drive you format will be lost.

As long as you have antenna/LNB at second location not a problem.

You're safe with IQ Lab - they got a branch at Ekamai, another at Silom.

Thanks for the info as I have been looking for the same service but both Ekami and Silom are pretty long streets. Exactly where are they located? thanks for the help.

I googled these addresses off the internet but have not made a visit.

Ekamai Branch:

9/33-34 Sukhumvit 63 Road (Ekamai), Wattana, Bangkok 10110

Thailand

Tel: (66) 0-2714-0644

Fax: (66) 0-2391-4163

Silom Branch:

160/5 ITF Building Silom Road, Bangrak, Bangkok 10500

Thailand

Tel: (66) 0-2266-4080

Fax: (66) 0-2233-9366

Petchaburi Branch:

1500 New Petchaburi Road (Near MRT – Petchaburi Station) Rachatawee

Thailand

Tel: (66) 0-2255-5544

Fax: (66) 0-2255-30

You're safe with IQ Lab - they got a branch at Ekamai, another at Silom.

I will take a look see thanks.

Transport bus not ideal if you have more than a carry-on bag.

I think the rate is 150 baht per day for long term lot and the terminal parking is 250 per day. Is the extra 100 worth it for covered parking and easy access?

Learn to setup different types of user accounts on your computer then only surf the internet with user account that has limited privileges. Like the guest account.

I always operate my computer using a limited privilege account unless I want to install new software.

Can anyone recommend a shop that has proper equipment to convert slides to digital format and write to disk?

The purpose of the 90 day reporting is just to provide a current address. It does not have to remain the same.

She is not covered by the 30 baht scheme (don't know anyone in BFs village who is!)

Why Not ?

Neither she nor her brother were resident in the village at the time when it was possible to sign up - therefore they don't qualify

And those who do qualify - still have to pay "consultant" fees under teh table for doctors and extortionate prices for medication

TIT after all!

And don't worry i trust my BF implicity - we are together 5.5 years now, so "whats his is mine" etc

So anybody out there with some figures for me so i can start budgeting?

Thanks!

My wife has one of the cards you mentioned and has payed nothing additional for some heavy duty medicial treatments and test, including drugs, in Maharat Hospital located in Korat and a local hospital where we live. Bottom line the card is worth while and we have experienced no request for under the table payments. The only problem I see with the system is how slow it starts to work but once you get it rolling its okay.

I cannot give you details for births but the doctor fee for major adominal surgery in private hospital was 10k baht and anesthesia doctor was 7.5k baht. The total bill for 10 day stay including semi private room, operating room, equipment, meds, supplies and CT scan was just short of 70K baht.

I would think a government hospital total bill would be so much cheaper than above, provide no complications, for a birth.

I receive reasonable reception in my condo through True Visions (when raining as well), except during evening hours.

Could this be do to a usage increase in the building and a loss of signal strength?

NO

Could condo dwellers install a signal amplifier to boost reception?

Thoughts?

JL

Same problem in my building several years when first built. The aircon in the small room that had the TV distribution equipment was on a timer that turned the aircon off in the evening. It was thought that after sun went down it would be cool enough without aircon but no thought was given to equipment generated heat. System would crash in the evening.

I tell this story because your building could have the same problem.

One of the bars on Soi Cowboy will be open with 7 screens for viewing but don't remember the name. Opens at 7am and the game will start at 8am.

Mobile phone planner works just fine for me.

Unless you know Bangkok I would say wait until you arrive so you can check the various areas of town before deciding where to live.

Although your luck with laptops has been bad I am sure many others have good experiences, including myself. My Acer traveled the world for 2 years until I bought a new carry on bag for travel and did a poor job packing. Needless to say I started having intermittent problems on arriving at my destination. Able to use for remainder of trip and upon return to Thailand it cost 4k baht to have motherboard replaced. Ten percent of the original cost for repair after two years travel is worth having everything I need in one box.

Although laptops are built for semi rough handling I think many of the problems people have with laptops are caused by bad travel cases and overly rough handling.

You might consider Panasonic's Toughbook if your one of those people that can break a steel ball.

To use Edge you'll need a new Sim Card because it's Dtac and not AIS!

Both AIS and Dtac offer Edge...

I'm not 1 km on Air from Dtac Calling Center at Srinakarin Road! NO Edge availabe at my place!!

Tested 2 month ago with Dtac Card and the service for Edge was stopping after 500 m on the corner Srinakarin Rd. / Theparak Rd.!!

What is the Range?

Thanks.

It sounds like your phone switches to a different base transceiver site that has not been upgraded like monty says.

The range varies because of different factors. Transmitter size, type of antenna array and geographic limitation and local regulations which can affect the max range of a GSM system which is around 40km.

Since you seem to be into testing you could try pluging an external antenna into you phone, provided your phone has that capability, and see if that makes a difference. With a better antenna it might keep you locked to site that supports EDGE.

I have been trying to print a color photo that I scanned into photoshop. My problem is not being able to match the quality of the original when I print. I cannot get the colors/brightness, flesh tones in particular, to match the original when I play with the setting under the image tab. Can anyone good with photoshop give me a couple pointers on which image controls are best to use.

My scanner also has image setting for the scanning process and I was wondering if it would be better to tweak the scan process then import into photoshop?

Just for info the monitor and printer output seem to match for color and brightness/contrast.

Hi ballbreaker, can you order the service at any AIS shop .. or is it a different provider .. or 2 providers (Edge & ISP)?

Any AIS simcard allows you to use gprs out of the box. You will get charged 1 Baht/minute AIS is the ISP, so only one charge.

Both on pre-paid (one2call) and post paid you can opt to chose for a monthly package. Many are available to suit your needs. This can be done by calling 1175 and talk with their English speaking staff.

For example on one2call you can chose 100 hours/month for 250 Baht. You just need to make sure sufficient credit is on your phone everytime the package needs to get renewed...

So if I use one2call I only pay the Bt 250 (or whatever the package is), not the AIS B1/min (Bt 6,000 for 100 hours .. wow!), correct? What are AIS fees for the one2call package? I have a monthly post-pay deal on my AIS. Will I need to get a new SIM to get the Edge?

Sorry, I'm a slow learner sometimes.

That is correct. If you sign up for a package it so many baht for set number of hours. I do think the 100 hours is 350 baht not 250.

Also you will need EDGE capable phone or modem or you must settle for the slower GPRS speeds.