summers

wooohoooo - :-))))))

Is it true that some banks still don't charge now? ??

IT is true, for example: Bank of Ayudiyah does not charge an extra fee, whereas, Siam Commercial Bank cheerfully charges an extra 150 baht.

I am a US citizen retired and living in Thailand. I collect a royalty from a Thai company to which my company licensed RF Amplifier designs a few years ago. I would like to have the payments made into my Thai bank account rather than my US Bank account. are there any Tax implications in Thailand? The annual amount still keeps me below the US Tax threshold, so I would have no US Tax liability.

23 ppl entered one room in very "Thai" hotel, so what they expect to happen? I believe the staff suspected a drug party and send the cops upstairs. Get a private house next time...:-)

That is an ongoing event for many years, taking place every two weeks at the same hotel from what I heard. I cannot see anything wrong in that either, the organizers do not even take sizable profits out of it, just cover their expenses for hotel, food and drinks. I wonder what the charges will be.

It looks like "Having sex in the same room" was the offense.

My source confirms that Samak will announce his resignation in the morning.

If he doesn't, I will run naked through the PAD crowd.

What the Hey, you wanted to do that anyway...

Your best chance for a visa would probably have to be a fiance visa. This requires a lot of evidence of your relationship (I know, I did it)

Listen to the other's ...take it slow, but save every scrap of information concerning your relationship. Receipts,plane ticket stubs, phone bills, money transfers etc.

Save your e-mails....send some just for evidence every so often...the more the better.

Take photo's of the two of you together...lots of them. Take photo's with her family as well.

She should have evidence of regular employment, and evidence of weekly deposits to her bank..as if from a paycheck.

If your serious...or think you may be...researching the requirements for the fiance visa would be a good idea. The sooner you understand whats needed, the easier it will be to put it together in the future.

Good luck

Eric

Also check with local folks in the "business", in BKK, Brian at mythaifiance.com is a respectable businessman knowledgeable in these things. ThaiVisa may also give good advice.

this guy should be prosecuted, his marriage was a sham to begin with,

I agree...obvious that he had no intention of making a permanent relationship Good thing he is in Canada, under US law he would be prosecuted.

It seems the rule of thumb for all types of visas is you need to present yourself at an official location at least once every three months. I am going out on a limb here, but I always assumed the puprose of this was to make it easy and relatively quick to catch wanted people. Why else would they give out visas valid for one or even five years yet you still have to produce yourself somewhere every 3 months? If my thinking is right, which it might not be, then online reporting would be just a pipe dream.

I believe the reason for the "InPerson" reporting is they have a requirement to report to your Embassy that you are still alive and well and living in Thailand. That is the reason for identifying you with your Passport. So you also have an option to report with the properly filled out form to a local police station. By the way, I live in Surin, so I just drive 90 Km to Kop Choeng and give the nice lady my thousand baht and my passport...she stamps the Passport and gives me another appointment slip for 90 days later.

No Problem

Bob

The best quote I recall is from my trip with a Thai g/f to Vietnam...we asked at departur e would she need a visa. The response was "Thai Lady need no Visa to

aisea"

Thanks for that Astral, my wife wasn't sure exactly what was required, we didn't want to get to the destination and be told we need a visa etc...we'll be travelling in Malaysia/Singapore for less than a week so her visa restriction won't be an issue.

Thanks again.

Good luck! There is no way the US Immigration ( Embassy) will allow a visa. They do not want two indigents back in the US. I tried ,From the US, to get a fiance visa for my wife for 18 months...I moved to thailand and was able to get a 30 Day Tourist Visa for her...but with the caution, that she MUST return to Thailand within the 30 days. Also...are you really Married...Thai Certificate of Marriage?

I have no job

I have no money (bank ect)

I own nothing

my thai wife owns nothing

My thai wife has no money

My thai wife has no job

how can i bring my wife to the states? Any idea at all?

Sure i have some money just not in the bank or can show..

Thanks

I just talked with my local Customer Service lady at ToT. She tells me she just returned from a meeting in BKK where they were told that ToT is adding Gateway Servers to increase the International speed. Hopefully we will keep seeing improvements. Still less than 150kbps down here in Surin. but about 800kbps within Thailand.

Bob

From as low as 3 kbps a few weeks ago at 3 pm I now get about 250-400 pretty steady international and 24/7

Anyone can also see the improvement?

Before this however my internet was down for about 2 days, seems like they actually got some work done?

Cheers!

both telcos need a new slogan "TOTal shiTTT"

found out today that the brain donor pretending to work at TTT didn't log my last payment into their computer so TOT have disconnected my landline... however the maxnet still works...kinda!!

rych

This article may provide some insight into ToT and their issues. http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-sout...?parentid=77235

Bob

Best bet is to vote with your money if possible and choose another provider. Never saw an online petition accomplish anything.

The problem is: There are no alternatives! At least in Issan, all other poviders use the ToT lines for backbone. And it is ToT that is fouled up. Further, they lease bandwidth on the CAT Gateway server to the World. That further constricts speeds for everyone into the rest of the world. There must be some watchdog agency that has some authority in this issue.

I too doubt seriously if an online petition will accomplish anything.

I did get a bit of info from Customer service and Technical here in Surin. They admit that the speed issues we see are directly related to ToT short-sightedness in doing the Blanket upgrade without having the inrastructure in place to handle the increased BW usage.

Similar to AT&T's idiocy when they forced @Home to sell to them in the US a few years ago. They are still struggling to get out from that issue. But they at least had the technical capability to understand the problem, and the Capital to overcome it. ToT has neither. Nor do they have the Will to do it. Jai yen yen is the standard attitude.

Bob

=====================================================

The last tech at ToT asked me to do the speed test with the Bangkok server

=====================================================

Correct, TOT (and other providers) guarantee you the local speed ... the speed to

their server in Bangkok ....

Today, after a weekend of NO service, Techs arrived to test lines again and again...They finally said...OK..call the Office and have them change your plan to 1024 Down/512 Up for 590 Baht/Mo. Since they left, I now have Down speed at adslthailand.com speed test of 29 kbps. Sure happy they fixed it! The wonderful thing is I live 2 blocks from the Central Office in Surin. So distance is not a factor, just ToT incompetance. I repeat my earlier statement. There is no reason to expect decent service from ToT.

Bob

Is there no government agency charged with overseeing the abominably poor performance of communication service companies in Thailand?

Bob

=====================================================

The last tech at ToT asked me to do the speed test with the Bangkok server

=====================================================

Correct, TOT (and other providers) guarantee you the local speed ... the speed to

their server in Bangkok ....

Today, after a weekend of NO service, Techs arrived to test lines again and again...They finally said...OK..call the Office and have them change your plan to 1024 Down/512 Up for 590 Baht/Mo. Since they left, I now have Down speed at adslthailand.com speed test of 29 kbps. Sure happy they fixed it! The wonderful thing is I live 2 blocks from the Central Office in Surin. So distance is not a factor, just ToT incompetance. I repeat my earlier statement. There is no reason to expect decent service from ToT.

Bob

I've posted numerous times but still no answer...

So I'll keep posting every few days in the hope that someone will eventually know what is going on with TOT or if there is any hope at all?

I'm thinking of moving out because of this TOT problem, has anyone any rumors as to what is causing this insane slow down of international speed or if there is any hope at all that they will EVER fix it?

Cheers!

I think there is no hope that a "Privatised" former Public Thai entity will ever get it together. ToT in Surin upgraded me to 1.5 G Down/512K up. The only time I ever saw anything close to that was the 15 Minutes the Tech was here. For the last three days, I couldn't even hold a Skype connection. The typical speed in the past two weeks has been less than 200 Kbps in Thailand, thaiadsl speed test. and less than 30kbps through the gateway, frontier.net speed test...New York.

The international issue is that ToT elected to avoid investment, so they lease BW on CAT's gateway. It is very limited...since it is one of only two Gateway servers out of Thailand.

I give up. There is NO Internet service in Thailand...

Bob

I've had the 1M/512Kbps with TOT for almost a year. After reading these posts I checked my bill and it said I have 2M/512Kbps.

Went to Speedtest.net and had 562 in BKK (from BKK) and 70 to US. I guess they haven't actually upgraded the speed then, just the bill details (still at Bt1,000)!

Called TOT and they couldn'y check the website with my details because it was down!!

You gotta laugh!

Hi All

Got a promotion with my TOT bill this month they are offering to upgrade 256/128Kbps ADSL @ 500฿ to 1024/512Kbps for just an additional 90฿ per month.

Ms D phoned them and it seems genuine but the offer is only till end of October and we have to go to the Krabi office to apply.

I read lots of complaints about TOT. I have ADSL TOT down here in the boonies near Krabi and to be honest have no real complaints. Sure get the down and slow times but the service center Ms D calls is always helpful so considering where we are I am a satisfied customer.

D.D.

That would be lovely if it F'ing worked. I got upgraded to 1.5 Meg down, 512k up///I am lucky to get 56k down on a good day. There must be an oversight agency one can complain to. I have been paying for 512/256 for over year and I have never seen more than 150 down. I am angry enough to recommend anyone avoid ToT!

Bob

My wife refuses to call any more. The typical service tech couldn't pourpiss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel. and no one, of course, speaks english.

Hi All

Got a promotion with my TOT bill this month they are offering to upgrade 256/128Kbps ADSL @ 500฿ to 1024/512Kbps for just an additional 90฿ per month.

Ms D phoned them and it seems genuine but the offer is only till end of October and we have to go to the Krabi office to apply.

I read lots of complaints about TOT. I have ADSL TOT down here in the boonies near Krabi and to be honest have no real complaints. Sure get the down and slow times but the service center Ms D calls is always helpful so considering where we are I am a satisfied customer.

D.D.

That would be lovely if it F'ing worked. I got upgraded to 1.5 Meg down, 512k up///I am lucky to get 56k down on a good day. There must be an oversight agency one can complain to. I have been paying for 512/256 for over year and I have never seen more than 150 down. I am angry enough to recommend anyone avoid ToT!

Bob

the bigest problem is that many pension funds have invested in those huge hedge funds looking to make a higer yield.

what will happen if those hedge funds go under?

pension funds will lose money.

so cenral banks and goverments will need to bail them out.

Shame on Pension Fund managers for displaying stupidity. And NO...central banks should not bail them out of there errors.

Another warning to potential retirees to Thailand. You can easily buy a condo in Thailand in your own name. But there is no guarantee whatsoever that will be allowed to actually LIVE in that condo over the long term. Lovely, huh?

I think this is pretty much the case anywhere but thanks for the warning.

Which country gives you the right to live long term just by owing property ? The USA maybe ?

Only! and that is true this week only.

I feel somewhat comfortable with my Embassy certificate of 80k Baht, but I would be much happier with a comfortable assurance that my retiremnt in Thailand is welcome.

Is That language requirement enforced? - that is the only thing which prevents me from going for this residency status. I'm just not smart enough

Give yourself a year of lessons and have the target and there is no reason why you couldn't, Thai language isn't as hard as some would have you believe.

That's OK for those of you who are blessed with good ears.

For myself, I would like residency, but the language requirement scuppers me.

I am somewhat-considerably tone deaf, and have zilch aural memory. (I have to see a word written down to have any chance of remembering it.)

In ten years, I have only got as far as: "Phum mae poot Thai; phum poot Lao nid noy".

That is enough to get the Isaan speed cop laughing and on his way to letting me off, but it would go down like a lead balloon with some Bangkok offical!

I love it! Here in Surin, though, it would have to be more like " Phom mai pood Thai, Pood Khmer nid noi Baat!"

I have a Non-OA visa, with first year permission to stay (based upon retirement) expiring in late January of next year, and it appears that I'll be out of Thailand at this time.

Reason for being outside of Thailand at this time is that I'm in the process of getting a USA visa for my fiancee so that we'll both be able to travel freely between our homes in Thailand and the US.

If all goes according to schedule, it appears that the US visa will be approved, and we'll be travelling to the US around October/November of this year. Due to US visa/immigration requirements, my fiancee must stay in the US until her green card is issued - which will probably be February or March of next year.

I'd really not like to leave my fiancee (wife) alone in the US while I fly back to Thailand in order to extend my retirement permission to stay.

What are the options for getting another 1 year extension on the Non-OA if I'm is not in Thailand any time near the expiration date? Would I have to start all over again by obtaining a new Non-OA (retirement) visa in the US if I can't return to Thailand to extend at the proper time? Are "back-to-back" Non-OA visas even allowed?

I believe that time outside the Kingdom, if you left properly with an exit permit, does not count to your 1-year Non O visa. Ask that question of Immigration. Also, it is not terribly difficult to renew your non-O visa upon your return. I made the mistake of going home last year at Christmas without getting an exit permit. So, I had to start anew with the Non-O visa when I came back to Thailand. as of July 30, I now have a new 1-year Non-O visa. Also, I suspect that you may find that your Fiancee will need to stay in the US for 18 months, not 6 months.

I have given up on ever getting a Visa for my wife from the US Idiots at Homeland Security. We will instead apply for a 10-year visa from Dept of State at the US Embassy in BKK by virtue of being married in Thailand.

Good Luck,

Bob

Immigration told me that renewing more than 30 days earlier than expiration date is not possible. Consider postponing your trip or, as someone suggested, get a new NonIm from the US and start again.

I doubt very seriously if time outside Thailand does not count. And if you go back without waiting to renew, you don't need a reentry permit.

But all this being said ..

Go to Saan Pru and ASK IMMIGRATION! What is said here doesn't matter at all.

Exactly Correct! Only Immigration can give you the correct answer on the day that you ask them.

But! Why do you believe that you must apply for your visa in the US? I have mine from Immigration in Kop Choeng

Bob

I have a Non-OA visa, with first year permission to stay (based upon retirement) expiring in late January of next year, and it appears that I'll be out of Thailand at this time.

Reason for being outside of Thailand at this time is that I'm in the process of getting a USA visa for my fiancee so that we'll both be able to travel freely between our homes in Thailand and the US.

If all goes according to schedule, it appears that the US visa will be approved, and we'll be travelling to the US around October/November of this year. Due to US visa/immigration requirements, my fiancee must stay in the US until her green card is issued - which will probably be February or March of next year.

I'd really not like to leave my fiancee (wife) alone in the US while I fly back to Thailand in order to extend my retirement permission to stay.

What are the options for getting another 1 year extension on the Non-OA if I'm is not in Thailand any time near the expiration date? Would I have to start all over again by obtaining a new Non-OA (retirement) visa in the US if I can't return to Thailand to extend at the proper time? Are "back-to-back" Non-OA visas even allowed?

I believe that time outside the Kingdom, if you left properly with an exit permit, does not count to your 1-year Non O visa. Ask that question of Immigration. Also, it is not terribly difficult to renew your non-O visa upon your return. I made the mistake of going home last year at Christmas without getting an exit permit. So, I had to start anew with the Non-O visa when I came back to Thailand. as of July 30, I now have a new 1-year Non-O visa. Also, I suspect that you may find that your Fiancee will need to stay in the US for 18 months, not 6 months.

I have given up on ever getting a Visa for my wife from the US Idiots at Homeland Security. We will instead apply for a 10-year visa from Dept of State at the US Embassy in BKK by virtue of being married in Thailand.

Good Luck,

Bob

ToT is without any doubt the WORST service on the face of the planet. How can we get their attention? I have had limited to zero service in Surin since Wednesday, 15 August. Today, they have sort of acceptable bandwidth within Thailand, but less than 40Kb service out of Thailand. And NO ONE Gives a shit!