PattayaDavid

I use schwab.Can get 20000 baht A day from any ATM,and Schwab reimburses me the fees.I don't need to deal with thai banks

Does Schwab pay the 180 bht fee the thai banks charge to use there ATM? Also whats the Schwab account requirements to have this capability?

yes, they pay the Bt180....reimbursed monthly with issue your monthly statement. Full info at their website regarding account requirements (i.e., no minimum balance required, no monthly maintenance fee, etc)

Does it make any difference whether you open a Schwab checking account or savings account? In other words, would either suffice for making ATM withdraws from Thailand? Which would you recommend and why?

Thanks,

David

Great thread, has answered most of my questions. Any recommendation for the best Bangkok Bank Branch office to open an account in Pattaya or will any branch suffice?

Thanks,

David

My bank in the USA... USAA Savings Bank reimburses ATM charges - even those from Thailand up to about $15.00 each account. And to the best of my account research USAA does not charge a foreign transaction fee for ATM charges -- but does for Credit Card charges ... which I believe is mostly due to MasterCard...

Disregard; I saw that the above has already been addressed.

Several have suggested that a letter from the embassy is necessary to transfer stamps.

Does anybody know if the US includes the appropriate letter with the new passport?

Thanks

The letter was included when I picked up my new US passport although that was three years ago.

Yes and that was last was last year.

I just returned from the US Embassy on Tuesday with my new passport and the embassy did provide the letter for transfer. I have a follow-up question. My retirement extension expires in a couple of weeks, hence my old passport expiration date and I would like to know if I can do the transfer of stamps to my new passport and apply for my retirement extension on the same visit or will it require multiple visits?

Thanks,

PattayaDavid

I accessed the AEON ATM at Carre-Four tonight and was surprised that when making an overseas or international withdrawal, I was hit with the 150 Baht terminal fee as they call it. Thai Banks began charging this fee several years or so ago, but AEON was the only bank I was aware of that did not charge this fee. It was explained at the time that AEON did not charge the fee because it was an international bank, not a Thai bank.

So what gives; why is AEON, after all this time, followed in the footpath of all of the Thai local banks? Does anyone have any inside information on this as it sure caught me by surprise?

Thanks,

David

Let me first apologize for my ignorance as it applies to Visa status. I don't have my passport in hand, but I do have to get annual extensions. I applied for my initial one year Visa at the old Pattaya Immigration Office based on Retirement when I reached the age of 50 years ago and just went through the motions of completing the application and obtaining the required supporting documents to obtain my one-year renewal. I didn't know that thee was a separate Retirement Visa to be had; I'll have to do some research on this. It seemed that back in the day, a one-year visa based on retirement and obtaining the age of 50 was generally referred to as a Retirement Visa, but obviously I was mistaken.

This is the first year that I have been unable to obtain the required notary service for my income statement from the outreach folks of the US Embassy. I just had a thought that if I could only get a short extension until the next outreach visit to Pattaya on January 15th, I could avoid a trip to Bangkok; you guys have answered that question.

I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon at the US Embassy for notary services, but was a little concerning about the protests going on in Bangkok hence my thoughts of obtaining a short extension. I'm going to call the embassy today and ask if they think that tomorrow will be OK for travelling to Bangkok or whether I should move my appointment back a week.

Lastly, for those of you who drive to Bangkok when going to the US Embassy, where's a good place to park a car?

Again, thanks for all of your input and I apologize for the confusion due to my ignorance on the subject.

David

You have an 'extension', not a 'visa' - and the answer remains "No".

I don't have an extension; I am currently on a Retirement Visa that I need to renew by December 29th. I was just wondering if there was any way to add an extension to my December 29th end date before I reapply for my one-year Retirement Visa.

David

Hi,

I've been retired living in Thailand for 8 years. My one year Retirement Visa expires in late December; I usually attend the last US Embassy outreach visit to Pattaya to obtain my notarized income statement, but I was unable to make the last outreach visit back in September and the next visit is not until January 15, 2014. Is there some way that I can get an extension, say one month, to my Retirement Visa in order to obtain my notarized income statement when the Embassy folks come to Pattaya mid January and avoid the trip to the Embassy in Bangkok especially with all of the protest going on?

Thanks,

David

Found the lemon scented version at True Value; they only had a few bottles left, many thanks.

The upgrade is no improvement, but I noticed just before the upgrade that they had removed the Star World channel.

Hi,

Does anyone know where I can purchase Simple Green in Pattaya; I used to buy it at Lotus, but they haven't had it on the shelves for months?

Thanks,

David

I was driving down beach road yesterday and observed that the crosswalks were functional and were attended by crossing guards to ensure that vehicles stopped before assisting pedestrians in crossing the road, however once the pedestrians had crossed, the crossing guard started waving for the cars to proceed even though the light was still red; a bad precedence in my opinion.

There's also a Tops Supermarket soon to be opening on Soi Khaw Noi next to the Bangkok Bank branch. I drove by there yesterday and the lights were on and it appeared that the shelves were being stocked. Does anyone know the day of the official opening?

Great little dogs; we have had one for about 5 years and would like to have another, but if I'm not mistaken, Huy Yai is quite far a stretch from Pattaya.  Anyway, thanks for the info.

2007 Toyota Vigo - bought new in January 2007 and battery still going strong.

2001 Honda Civic - Replaced original battery 2 years ago.  Car not driven much, only had 60,000 Km at the time of battery replacement.  Battery was still strong until the wife left the interior light on twice within a two week period draining the battery each time.

2000 Honda Motorbike - Replaced the original battery about 3 months ago at 4,500 Km.

I never put any of the batteries on a charger, but checked and/or replenished batteries with distilled water monthly.  I do not trust maintenance free batteries, worked in Saudi Arabia for 11 years and they would not hold up at all.

here is the mom, true hunter this one.. always looking for the next kill, not as much personality as the father but the pups look more like the father

good response from the post, thanks to all, prices are a bit high since there is a high demand, please call for info

I have a Jack Russell, the puppies look great, but I've never seen ears on a Jack Russell shaped like those on the puppies mother; she doesn't look to be full bred Jack Russell.

I'm still trying to find out if anyone knows when the 64-bit version of Service Pack 2 will be made available, anyone heard any rumors?

I just downloaded and installed Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit on my notebook computer and thus far all is well.  Has anyone experienced any new problems with their computers after the installation of Service Pack 2?

Also, does anyone know when Service Pack 2 for Vista 64-bit will be offered?  

I have an HUMAX ICORD PVR that I bought over 4 years ago when I was working in Saudi Arabia. You could say that it is the predecessor to the UBC PVR being that both are made by HUMAX. Even though my model uses different firmware and Electronic Program Guide (EPG) than the UBC PVR, I do occasionally experience lockup, but primarily when I attempt to make multiple inputs too quickly. I just turn off the machine with the switch on the back and turn it back on for a reload.

My most recent problem is that for the first time, I have started receiving messages on my PVR from UBC. Every time I receive a message, it causes my PVR to perform a reload. If a recording is taking place at the time of an incoming message, the recording is lost during the reload process. If the PVR is turned off when a message is received, scheduled recording will not take place. I had meant to call UBC to ask if they could stop sending me these messages, which appear on my PVR as spam like characters since my PVR doesn't have the Thai language as an option.

We now have CNBC as well, though after a few years of Bloomberg, watching CNBC is like watching Fox News for investors. All anti-Obama all the time.

And you call this a bad thing?  It's better than NBC and MSNBC of which do nothing, but suck up to Obama.  Somebody has to tell it like it is instead of reporting how Obama's speeches give them a tingle up their leg.

It doesn't help if someone has a state of the art PC connected to the best modem/router/hub (i.e. Cisco 18.000 Baht+) ...

as long as the line is cra_p. IMHO 80% of all phone lines in Thailand are cra_p. I trust the majority of the members on this board will not

use leased lines except a few. Thats why I asked my provider this question "is my line capable to transmit xx mb, is the signal swinging or stable?"

You will get an answer if you come up with such questions but don't expect an answer from a sales girl...

Tweaking will bring nothing, at least not the results someone expects. And someone has to deal with the user RATIO which is very high on home packages.

It's shared bandwidth!!! How fast can you run your car if it is overloaded with people???

/edit technical terms

I agree with pretty much everything you said; that's why I have been hesitant to upgrade my TOT account.  I have had the TOT 2MB GoldCyber account for about 4 years now and have seldom, if ever, received the maximum speeds touted in my contract.  Throughout most days and nights, there are periods where I hardly have any bandwidth connection at all.  The only way I know that I am still connected is by looking over at my router to see if the green light or the red light is illuminated.  I am located very close to a TOT DSLAM on Soi Khaw Noi, but I still don't get that great of a signal even on good days or during off-peak time periods.  I fear that these upgrades and price drops will only encourage more to sign up and increased the number of subscribers sharing the bandwidth.

I have been trying for years now to switch over to TT&T, can't say that they are any better because I have never used them, but I have heard some good things about MaxNet in my area.  Every time I check with TT&T, they tell me that there are no available lines (phone numbers) in my area.  This is also troubling by the fact that this indicates to me that TT&T coverage in my area is very saturated so I suspect that there is or will be a problem with shared bandwidth.

I would have expected that TOT would have done something similar to TT&T by way of separating packages by need such as the INDY and PREMIER packages offered by TT&T.  The INDY package has more subscribers sharing bandwidth than that of the PREMIER package.  I would think that in order to upgrade an account to a higher speed, it would have to coincide with some type reduction in shared bandwidth to achieve these speeds with any kind of reliability.

I will continue to monitor the TV threads for some positive reason to choose an upgrade.  UBC satellite internet, where are you?

I've been wondering how the new TOT 4MBPS TOT service would perform as I was thinking of upgrading myself, but felt reluctant to upgrade until I heard some feedback from those who have already upgraded. I for one appreciate the fact that the OP took the time to warn us unsuspecting users who may have considered making the upgrade.

We've all read threads that have displayed negative comments in relating their message, but I find it quite easy to read through the post and separate the meat from the potatoes, the positive from the negative. I don't understand why so many people have to take offense and hang on every word or phrase that displays any negativity and feel they are obligated to attack the OP. Has anyone considered that the OP just might have been a little pissed off when he started this thread, however had good intentions by posting his warning to other TV readers.

Yeah, he probably could have left out much of the storyline and highlighted only the poor quality of service he had experienced after making the upgrade, but what's done is done. I still appreciate the information. When I first opened this thread, I thought to myself,13 posts; now I'm going to receive some good feedback on the the new TOT upgrade service. The OP was the only one who provided any valuable information, all other post were useless as far as I am concerned, but if your responses give you that warm and fuzzy feeling inside that you have done your civic duty in the name of political or social correctness, so be it.

The new price of 490 is for goldcyber, they have introduced platinumcyber (3meg) and diamondcyber (4meg)

The diamondcyber sounds pretty good to me.  You didn't mention upload speeds; did the upload speeds increase also or are they still at a paltry 512k?  I think that TOT is the only provider still offering only 512k upload speeds with their top package.

PattayaDavid

I went into the Pattaya TOT office this morning. Ended up talking to about 5 different ladies there, all of whom had a slightly different understanding of what was on offer.

The speed available depends on where you live. I was (eventually) able to upgrade to 2048/512 from my previous 1024/512, and the price dropped from B1000 a month to B490. The higher speeds aren't available everywhere.

You are entering into a minimum one year contract, the breaking of which will cost B3000. Each of those I spoke to asked about my work permit or asked "how long you stay in Thailand," apparently as some sort of guarantee I wouldn't break the contract, but seemed OK with my assurance I wouldn't run off in the next 12 months.

Supposedly the new speed and new price will kick in tonight by 5:00 PM

Where do you live?  I live on the dark side off of Soi Khaw Noi.  Gathering from your post, my guess is that TOT has not increased the upload speeds, only the download speeds in certain areas.  The only thing that makes me hesitant to upgrade is the one-year contract requirement.  I've had TOT service for almost 4 years and have been trying from time to time to acquire a TT&T line.  For the most part, TOT has been mostly reliable if you spread it out over a 4-year period, but I seldom, if ever, receive the actual connection speeds that I am signed up for so I am concerned that if I go into a one-year contract for, lets say, the 4MBPS DiamondCyber package and don't get good service from TOT, I'm stuck at least for another year.

I would like to hear from people who have upgraded and what kind of service they are experiencing after the upgrade.

Pattayadavid

The new price of 490 is for goldcyber, they have introduced platinumcyber (3meg) and diamondcyber (4meg)

The diamondcyber sounds pretty good to me.  You didn't mention upload speeds; did the upload speeds increase also or are they still at a paltry 512k?  I think that TOT is the only provider still offering only 512k upload speeds with their top package.

PattayaDavid

Just back from TOT.

New prices but only if you go in and 'change' your contract:

2Mbps 490 Baht

3Mbps 590 Baht

4Mbps 790 Baht

Add 100 Baht and you get free local calls.

You still pay 100 Baht line rental

All plus VAT

If you do nothing you remain on your old (slower and or more expensive) contract.

Does the above service and prices apply to the CyberGold package or is this similar to the cheaper 590 baht package that does not provide good quality international bandwidth?  Maxnet offer the same type packages, Indy for use primarily in Thailand and Premier which provides the best international service.

Pattayadavid