Greenside

I certainly would if I could persuade HSBC (Belsize Park Branch), Royal Bank of Scotland, Aviva Insurance, the Gatwick Airport lost luggage department, Budget Rent-a-Car Madrid, EuroTunnel Bookings and the Taxi Rank at St Pancras Station to install it. That's Why 🙂

I've been trying to get round the loss of Skype to Phone for almost a month now and thought I'd found a workable solution: LocalPhone with 3CX but they have just told me that I need a uk number to finish the setup. No problem in theory - a virtual number will work OK (although I've minimal interest in receiving incoming calls), but getting one from Localphone is starting to look tiresome and potentially a bit pricey. "To place an order, please go to the "Incoming Number" tab of your account and submit the following UK end-user requirements for the number activation: For personal identity verification: * Name, last name * Contact phone number in full international format * Passport & Government ID of Responsible Person * Utility Bill as account owners address (Issued within the last 6 months) * Address worldwide (street, building number, postal code, city and country) I just revisited Viber, despite the dreadful Trustpilot reviews, noticed the permissions needed to install the Android app needed to call from the desktop. and it's hard to see anything they forgot to include. A dealbreaker for me, at least. Has anyone tried an IP phone and a voip gateway provider? My requirements are similar to the O'P's.

Nothing stopping me except children home from school, Camera to prepare for sale, mower blade needs sharpening and about 50 other household duties... I started setting up Localphone with 3CX last night and will test it when the UK wakes up today. By the way, For anyone considering Google Voice....

Quite right. Localphone told me that Zoiper, 3CX and MicroSip were popular choices for their customers after their softphone app was rendered unusable by a recent windows update. I am really only interested in a solution that allows me to call from my desktop as the hardware is decently setup for video and audio calls. Also, the kind of calls I need to make to UK landlines don't lend themselves to using a mobile - mine at least has patchy reception around our house and I often want to take notes or access files on the computer. Losing Skype is proving a real expat headache 😞

Was checking Talk360 and Viber on Trust Pilot and Complaintsboard and neither inspire confidence - I'm still considering Voiper softphone for Windows and Localphone as the voip provider. Wish there was someone here who has a setup like this working, as almost all the Skype wanabies seem to be poorly managed with dreadful user interfaces.

If anyone has got Voip successfully running on Win10 Pro using a softphone and service such as Localphone for a low volume of outgoing calls to Europe or the UK, please DM me as I'd like to have a chat. I'm just starting down this road with a deadline to meet and have no experience setting a "component system" up.

I've just spent the best part of two days searching for that elusive Skype-to-Phone replacement and Localphone plus their softphone app on my PC was in the lead until I ran into trouble installing their softphone app. I too read the TrustPilot grumps about customer support so I was surprised and delighted when they followed up an instant automated response to my report with really helpful emails from real people with contact details so I could address them directly. After checking the version and update details of my installed Windows 10, Alan, told me that a recent Windows update had rendered the softphone inoperable and although they had their developers working on it, it wouldn't be a quick fix. Finally, at about midnight UK time, Rikki Agustin, the sales manager sent me a useful set of third party softphone installation screenshots. Very helpful. (I can't spare the time to check, but I suspect the Trust Pilot critical service reviews were all fairly old so don't overlook Localphone)

I was left with no Skype credit after auto renew stopped last month. While MS claims you can use the Skype dial pad to make calls to landlines via Teams, you need to have sufficient credit (or a Skype subscription?) to do so but as I can't see any way to top up my account this looks like the kind of Gotcha I've come to expect from Microsoft. Maybe I just haven't looked hard enough - if anyone has found a way around this then please let me know: A DM is fine if that's more convenient for you. By the way, forgive the avatar - I joined the MG forum and don't want to change it now 🙂

Thanks. If you find out when the dates are, would you be kind enough to message me.

It's a long while since I heard of a Rocket Festival within reach of town. one (Bang Fai Huay Lan) used to take place out near Mae On and I went a couple of times with friends from the Chiang Mai Photographic Group. It was a good day out (if insanely dangerous at times) and I'd like to go again if it's still held in May. Another location would be okay as long as it's less than a two hour drive from town. Anyone know of a Rocket festival coming up this year?

15th - 17th, depending on where you are in town and if the beer selling window is open... One of my favorites from 2012 and no, it wasn't a setup!

Thanks for that, Steve. I've made an appointment which is about a month before the existing extension expires and will have the funds in the bank well in time. Hope this works out okay - The marriage extension documents weren't too much of a hassle (getting both my children to smile simultaneously for the family pics was the tricky part) but I'd be pleased to do something simpler for a change.

The Out Patient department at Sriphat is brilliant. I had cataracts in both eyes done there and recommend it without hesitation. I believe the specialist's name is Mor Preeyanuch - she does the consultations and surgery. The OPD is on Suthep Road adjoining the multistory car park which has a McDonalds facing the street. The quote (using monofcal lenses) was 45,000 baht per eye but the final bill turned out just under 80k

For more than 15 years I have been living here with a non-imm 'O' visa with initially a retirement extension which I then changed to a marriage extension, mainly because I had better things to do with some of the money tied up in the bank. The excellent online queuing system was great for the first year or two but now it seems only available for Volunteer, Education, Business and Retirement. I was wondering if I had the wrong link so went to Immigration last week and the I/O said that if there were no appointments left, my wife and I would have to do a walk-in. He then told me to scan the QR code on a large sign just on the right inside the entrance to check the situation and try to make an appoinment. He clearly hadn't ever done this because there isn't a marriage extension option listed: Since this means a lot of waiting around outside in what might be seriously bad air and I can meet the cash on hand requirement, residence certificate etc. I 'd like to change back to the simpler retirement extension as there still a couple of appointments showing. Is this as simple as doing a renewal or are there some downsides or costs to take into consideration? A while back there was talk of having to prove medical insurance - is that needed?

No but I should have said 15 yrs rather than 25. Issued in June 2008 with expiry June 2023. Whatever it was, I forgot to renew on time...