jfchandler

I've seen either a web page (I believe on True Online's support page) that lists what modems True provides with their cable service. From my recollection, the models are different depending on what plan/speed of cable internet you select...

I have their 10 Mbps cable plan, and it comes with a very basic Motorola Surfboard cable modem.... just a power jack, Ethernet jack and cable coax in connection, not even an off-off or reset switch.... Very basic web based status/information interface.... nothing in the way of user configurability for that model.

TV member PIB has their 20 Mbps plan, and if you read the main thread of True's cable internet, I believe he talked about what particular model came with his just established cable service.

When I established my True cable service, they weren't offering wifi routers with any of their cable plans.... Subsequently I believe they did... I'm not sure about their current cable packages... Check with True about that, as their promotions and offers are constantly changing.

But in any event, you absolutely can hookup and use any wifi router of your own with the True cable modem if the model True gives you don't include one or you don't want to use it. The chain simply goes:

--cable from the street into your modem.

--Ethernet from your modem to your router....

--Ethernet from your router to an attached PC's Ethernet jack.

--Wifi from your router to the rest of your home.

The more interesting question to me that you raise is... could someone use their own cable modem instead of the True provided one... I've never seen that subject discussed here.

Here's a screen capture of True's current cable plan offerings...

BTW, you should definitely read the main True cable thread here... And, since I did what you're talking about doing what I did -- switching from True DSL to cable -- you absolutely want to keep your DSL service for at least a couple months after you get the cable service to make sure that you're getting a quality connection from the cable in your home... It does appear that True's cable internet system, while faster, is also more prone to localized problems than their DSL setup.

I'm assuming you also got hit with the Thai bank's 150 baht withdrawal fee on foreign cards, for each withdrawal....

The Bank of Thailand Interbank Exchange Rate for yesterday was 30.423, and the rate posted by Xrates.com was 30.35.

The gap between those kinds of rates, which you should have received, and what you got amounts to about a 1% spread... 0.30 baht to the dollar... Except, Cap One, as far as we know, doesn't charge any 1% foreign currency or card network fee.

My other thought was that SCB ATMs for U.S. MasterCards do tend to do Dynamic Currency Conversion... DCC...which is their way of setting their own below market exchange rate. But you appear to have seen that and included that an as even lower rate (29.39) in your post below, so I'm assuming you didn't get that one.

Withdrew twice yesterday 7/12/11 @ 12:55pm just minutes apart on an SCB atm using Cap One Debit Mastercard, got a bad exchange rate.

15150 Baht / 505.16 USD

29.99

18150 Baht/ 605.19 USD

29.99

Mastercard Website 30.17

Visa Website 30.25

XE.com 30.32

T/T SBC 30.30

DCC @ ATM 29.39

Thanks to Kamala...here is an English version of OneBoxHome's info sheet in Adobe pdf format...

OneBox Home Info Sheet 1.pdf

One example from that thread...

All in all, the retirement visa (extension based on retirement) is easiest to get and it has gotten a bit easier. Col. Chusak did away with the requirement that retirees using only an Embassy income letter having to also bring in a letter from their Thai bank and provide copies of their savings account passbook-- Unless they are using money on deposit in a Thai bank for all or part of the 800,000 Baht financial requirement, they no longer need the bank letter or passbook copies.

He said he was aware of some recent Internet postings claiming Immigration will now want to see back up documentation for citizens of certain countries using the Embassy letter regarding income. Barry said that is not the case, at least not at Chonburi Immigration. He also said Col. Chusak and the two officers that regularly process retirement extensions were not aware of any such requirement. They said the Embassy letter is all that they require.

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__4524332

And another from the same thread:

New Report: Ditto for me at Chiang Mai, June 22, getting first retirement visa, using US Consul income letter. (Only difference is I needed 2 copies of relevant passport pages.) I guess the changes haven't filtered down yet.

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__4505756

For those here who weren't active participants in the deathly long Sunbelt Asia/retirement extensions thread referenced above, that final comment in the quote above is a sarcastic one....and was denoted as such by the ending

If you read the other thread, toward the end, you'll find that Americans have been in lately for retirement extensions and their consulate income letters have been accepted as normal, without any change from past practice... Including, if I remember right, one American who just did his renewal lately in CM....

Some of the posters here are being a bit too hasty...

There are indeed decent potatoes to be found in BKK at least, specifically reasonably big brown-color Idaho Russet baking spuds imported from the U.S. -- periodically available at least at the Villa Markets at Suk Sois 31 and 11...

But...as someone mentioned above, best to check with your accountant first... From my recollection, they're on offer in packages of two for something like 200 baht for a two-pack, which comes in at 320 baht per kilo.

I've tried them, and they're quite good.... a nice reminder of home... But for something like 60 baht per bag, the Gourmet Market at Siam Paragon has the usual Thai variety...but good, hefty sized ones that make a fitting baked spud...albeit with a different taste and texture.

Never seen Yukon golds around these parts.

In response to MiG's comment, there certainly are any number of places that are perfectly fine to go for a friendly drink, without being eyed or otherwise involved with hookers....

On the other hand, re the OP's comment, echoing what others have said above, I don't know too many "nice" or "professional" Thai women who spend their time hanging out at bars and shooting pool with farang guys they just happened to meet there.....

But.. hope springs eternal... In a city the size of Bangkok...perhaps there is ONE such lady somewhere....

That thread here on TV, based on some report from Sunbelt Asia, at least thus far has been shown to be false...

If you read the other thread toward its end and latter pages, you'll see multiple reports from various TV members from various countries who've renewed their retirement extensions in the wake of that report in BKK and elsewhere... And every one said their process and requirements were exactly the same as before....

If they were using consulate income letters to meet the income test, those were accepted without any further complication.

There has been one member from an outlying province -- not an American, Canadian, Brit or Australian -- who recently has reported getting hit with a whole different set of requirements, but that single report hasn't been repeated anywhere else as yet.

Pib, the equipment chain in my case is

--cable from street to cable modem

--ethernet cable from cable modem to wifi router

--ethernet cable from wifi router to my desktop.

When the True service is out, meaning my modem won't connect, I can't access the modem's IP address either from my desktop PC that's connected via ethernet or via my laptops that are connected via wifi... even though my local network among the different machines continues to operate... meaning I can still access shared network drives and such.

That doesn't make sense to me either about not being able to access the modem settings... You'd think I'd still be able to access the modem via its own local IP address... But it doesn't work that way here... any time True's service is out...

Pib, that graphic I posted was from AFTER my service came back this afternoon...

It turns out...when you're disconnected from True's network, you can't use the web interface to access your own modem's settings, as best as I can tell...

BTW, you're certainly correct about location... But what I can't figure out is the tremendous disparity in their system performance for my home between the first month or two, and the past two months that have followed. It's like night and day difference... Something changed....but I have no clue what.. And True certainly isn't helping with any answers.

Thanck you Maestro ..but I show them ...and they tell me that what they ask its NEW requirements from Bangkok and they want what they ask for....grr even if by exemple the copy of the ID card from my Thai family was not writing on this grrr paper !!!!! its mean they make what they want..that's it.

That document, which Mamasun has posted before in another thread, reads like it was written by an English speaker... not a Thai... and not in the usual Immigration Bureau officialese....

It certainly doesn't look or read like it came from Immigration HQ in Bangkok. But it also doesn't read like it was written by a Thai bureaucrat in Nakhon Nowhere...

Thanks Kamala...for a useful and meaningful explanation... And ya, I agree about the booth babes...though I didn't stop to chat the day I was there...

So it all boils down to them giving folks a way to project their own, separately sourced Internet content onto a home white wall or large screen that you'd purchase from them???

That seems like a lot of money (deposit and monthly fees) for not much in the way of a meaningful result that could already be achieved through a big-screen LCD TV...

Well, they are including some kind of DTAC phone calling benefit as well... Wonder how much that will be worth moving forward...

Well, I just finished an 18-hour stint of absolutely no internet service from True's cable system here in BKK... beginning about 10 pm last night and ending about 4 pm today... And I'm quickly losing patience with them.

I put in a service call with them first thing this morning, and their answer was that perhaps they could come out by the end of tomorrow.... And yet to hear anything back from them about scheduling the service call thus far today... (Considering today is a Tueday, that makes me wonder if they might not be backed up with service calls for some reason...)

As usual, absolutely no useful information from the English speaking CSRs, even on the question of whether True's network had had any kind of general outage or problem beginning with the thunder and lightning storm last night around BKK.

It has seemed that there is some correlation between my repeated cable internet outages and anytime there's thunder and lightning and rain occurring in the general area... Last night, I could hear the thunder in the far distance, but it wasn't particularly close to where I live, when the service completely died out.

It continues to be a mystery to me why the first month of my cable service with True was absolutely perfect, with no outages that I ever noticed even of brief duration. But June and thus far this month have been replete with repeated outages, and service calls out to my home that never seem to resolve whatever problem is occurring with their system. And it is something with their system, as I get wildly varying power readings on their modem.

So today, I took the first step back, by calling to reinstate the DSL service that I had canceled a couple months ago. While not the fastest or most stable, at least True's DSL service to my area was pretty reliable and rarely had a total outage during the several years I had it. So my plan going forward is to keep a low-cost DSL connection as a backup, which I've needed much too often lately, and then continue my current 10 Mb cable a bit longer to see if they can resolve the problems, and if not, ultimately to cancel it.

I'd certainly prefer to keep and use True's cable internet service. But if they can't manage to provide a reasonably reliable service, then having the extra speed when it's working is outweighed by having nothing during the repeated times when their cable provides no service...

I'm pretty bummed about the entire situation, especially considering that I was careful to keep my prior True DSL service for the first 1-2 months of having the True cable, and then only canceled the DSL after the cable service seemed fine. Obviously, my 1-2 month test period wasn't long enough to judge the reliability of their service.

It would be better to focus on the subject of the thread than to engage in personal insults...

But then of course, you're contributed absolutely nothing productive to this thread... so what else should I expect...

Ohh ya...that advice is very helpful, especially considering that their entire "Rates" and "Features" web pages are graphic image files (not text data) that cannot be "Internet" translated by your program or any others, including Google Translate that I use...

And when I go to their DTAC info page, which is in text, it translates to English as this... very helpful and informative to be sure...

Terms and conditions of service for customers.

1. For those who phone the individual listed. (Not including service organization. organizations, public and private sector) to apply "One box home" with the M-Box Co., Ltd. since July 1 - December 31, 2554 will receive a toll free number in DTAC network, 24 hours of 300 minutes per billing privileges for 24 months.
2. The user can start using it. Matthew after the confirmation SMS.
3. The toll free number. Excluding special number services. Can not be carried over to the HH Supreme billing cycle. the possibilities. And can not be exchanged or refunded without. 's money.
4. Free calling in the scrub to be calculated using the previous exercise. ° from the package and pack service. The main package. Package, except for special one, plan for nighttime, this plan will be calculated for am and pm route calls for free after credentials that can access the package.
5. I think the rates are excessive. enact the package in the current account. 's users.
6. During the late fall. The calls are not subject to the General. the right to offer refunds on the line for the group. and.
7. Users are now required. want to get the right results hall. for this sale. To be normal. Not in a position to stop the British. temporarily.
8. Free calling is only for use within the country.
9. Web users. can determine the number of minutes that used to be. Through the following channels.
   • * 121 * 1 #. (no charge).
   • Automated phone service, press * 1888 2 (no charge).

Specific applications to the workplace. Rotate the personal agent. Users are required to practice under the Act. And conditions as the Brit. a strictly defined. Service Provider reserves the right to. in the suspension. Or cancel the service. The audit found that the use that against the law. Or fails to comply with conditions. conditions of service.<li>This promotion. the conditions under which the Web. the. Users are given to study. More to the service by calling .1678 dtac call center (charge 3 baht, excluding VAT 7%) or call * 1888 (no charge) or. Www.dtac. co.th. The service provider reserves the right to. cancel. And / or changes to the list. as it deems appropriate. It will notify you if there is a change. transformation.<li>Services Limited by Total Access Communication Co., Ltd. (Thailand) Registration No. 0107538000037 319 Chamchuri Square Floor, Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330 22-41.<li>Other terms and conditions. According to the terms of the M-box limit.

Just give "Matthew" a call and ask him about the "HH Supreme billing cycle". I'm sure he can explain it far better than you ever could...

1. And then of course, the equally informative translation from their Facebook page:

Service charge

- per month for 490 baht, the use of second year

- the amount in 3 months 290 Baht

- the amount in year 4 months 190 Baht

- from Year 5 fee only once a month 90 Baht

Special event promotions. privileges for DTAC and AIS were limited to 50,000 people to the network (including the two networks is 100,000) for the privilege. Toll-free networks in 300 minutes 7200 minutes per month throughout the contract.

Ya... I saw the features page, but I'd hardly say it's "self-explanatory."

For example, their literature says something about 7000+ phone calling minutes being part of the package... But it's not clear how or to whom...

It appears to be an HD media player...and projector system... But it doesn't appear to include any cable TV content... just Thai over-the-air or free Internet-based stuff.

And it appears to be offering some kind of Internet service, but it's not clear at what speeds or through whom... Or am a wrong and they're just including a wifi router but the customer is responsible for getting their own Internet... I can't tell...

And so on and so forth... And the customer is not buying their hardware, but just renting it, as best as I can tell...

So what's the advantage vs. simply subscribing to True, having a big screen TV and wifi router at home of your own... I'm not following here...

And all of this with some kind of a 24 month service contract...

Was at Queen Sirikit yesterday for one of their shows and came across a big booth filled with a lot of pretties for something called "OneBoxHome," which I'd never seen or heard of before...

Their literature is all in Thai, as is their web site and Facebook page. But it appears to be some kind of combination package of an HD media player, soundsystem component and TV projection device, combined with some element of phone calling via AIS or DTAC.

Which seems kind of weird given that they're calling the service "OneBoxHome", but they appear to be utilizing at least three different components... I tried to get my wife to translate their literature some for me last night, but that was a pretty hopeless endeavor given her level of technological expertise...

It seems like they're talking about a fee of 490 baht per month and a requirement of 24 months... But what exactly that gets one I couldn't discern.

In any event, I thought I'd share the info I came across here, and see if anyone knows better what it is, how it works, and what it does...or why anyone would want one... Their booth at Queen Sirikit was quite large with a lot of component stuff set up, and they must have had 20+ pretties milling around in cute blue uniforms, which of course caught my attention...

OneBoxHome on theweb and on Facebook.

BTW, I had mentioned above the Dawon Korean BBQ buffet on Soi Thong Lor just a bit up from the main Sukhumvit Road on the left hand side of the street... but I didn't include their detailed info... so let me do that now...

They offer a ongoing 490 baht buffet with beef and everything else, and a 290 baht buffet with pork, but no beef, and everything else.... both for lunch and dinner. My wife and I both had their 290 baht pork focused buffet.

Dawon offers a good selection of entrees and a good array of traditional side dishes... The service the couple of times we've been there has been attentive... I will say, however, that the last time I was there for a meal I had a sudden need to rush home shortly afterward ... not something that ever happens with me including when I eat Korean food at many different places...

There is a Korean BBQ place on Soi 22 just near Honey house 1 hotel and Larry's Bar. I went there a week ago, taste was fine but total cost for two was 1,400!!! Way too expensive for a cook it yourself restaurant.

That's one of the things that make the real Korean buffets (as opposed to the Thai BBQs like Best Beef) a nice feature... you get your choice of quite a range of entree BBQ items typically, along with all you can eat of the usual Korean side dishes...

To have the same range and quantity of food that you get via their buffets ordered from the same restaurants' ala carte menus easily would hit the 1,400 baht amount for a couple that you mentioned or even higher... certainly higher in the case of how much we eat there...

Depending on the Korean restaurant, the pork entrees usually are in the 200 to 300 baht apiece range... Seafood 300 to 400 baht range... And beef seemingly in the 350 to 500 baht range... And those prices aren't for the fancy, upscale environment places... Do the math, and it would add up pretty quickly.

Meanwhile, we also ended up trying the BSD Dubu House Korean restaurant in the basement of the Ploenchit Center on Sukhumvit Road at Suk Soi 2... about halfway between the Ploenchit and Nana BTS stations, though probably a bit closer to Ploenchit.

While they have a quite extensive ala carte menu with entrees in the 200 to 500 baht a piece range, we also discovered they're currently offering Korean BBQ buffet for 290 baht for lunch or dinner, minimum two persons ordering. The buffet isn't mentioned/listed on their regular menu, but they have it on a separate printed flyer, meaning perhaps their buffet is just a temporary offer.

But unlike Go Ki Jip, BSD's buffet is only a couple varieties of pork and one of marinated chicken, but no shrimp, squid or beef. And no seafood pancake unlike Go Ki Jip, where each order arrives with only two slices.

However, BSD's buffet entrees are prepared with a bit more polish, and their selection of Korean side dishes like kimchi is a bit more traditional and authentic compared to Go Ki Jip... The service from our waitress was quite good and attentive. I ordered iced green tea, and without me having to ask, she brought a full metal pitcher to the table filled with iced tea and just left it there for our meal.

We were a bit nervous when we first walked in on a Sunday early afternoon, and found the place was absolutely empty, even though the Middle Eastern restaurant opposite was doing quite good business. But the food was good, and during our stay, several other parties came in, including a large party of Koreans and everyone seemed satisfied with their meals, as we were.

Afterward, I asked my wife which she preferred between Go Ki Jip and BSD, and she said Go Ki Jip because of its shrimp and squid in their buffet... For me, it's a toss-up... The beer buffet and the broader entree selection at Go Ki Jip are nice... but the preparation and side dishes from BSD are much better, resembling the Koreatown restaurants I'm familiar with from Los Angeles.

See the info on BSD below:

Just a couple of updates here...

Apparently, the place on Thong Lor Soi 20 is still a Korean restaurant, but no longer a branch of Go Ki Tip...

My wife's on a Korean food binge lately, so we've been out exploring in that regard...

The other day, we found the new location of Go Ki Jip is located on Suk Soi 34, about 100 meters off the main road, just a short walk from the Thong Lor BTS station.

We had a pretty good Korean BBQ buffet for 299 baht apiece combined with their "all-you-can drink in two hours" nicely chilled Asahi beer buffet for 199 baht each. They appear to offer both the BBQ buffet and the beer buffet for both lunch and dinner. I forgot to ask whether the beer buffet was also available with regular ala carte orders...in addition to with their buffet.

We ended up meeting the Korean owner or manager who speaks English, and was quite a good host. However, on arrival, we first got a Thai waiter who didn't have a clue and, among other things, neglected bringing all the Korean side dishes to our meal like kimchi until we were half-way through. The owner-manager confirmed that Go Ki Jip's former locations on Soi 71 and Thong Lor both had been replaced by the current Suk Soi 34 location.

Overall, I's say their offerings weren't quite as authentic and polished as you might find elsewhere, and the buffet includes no beef choices....just various versions of pork, chicken and shrimp/squid. But we nonetheless ate until we were overstuffed and had more than our fill of Asahi...and ended up not doing much for the rest of the afternoon...

My wife particularly liked their marinated squid, while I was partial to their pre-cooked spicy chicken stew that they call "doritang," which tasted a lot like and had the consistency of a Japanese chicken curry but with a bit more spicy and topped with sesame seeds.

See the following info below:

I've never seen carbonated iced green tea anywhere in Thailand...

There's a big difference between teachers effectively using technology and computers in the classroom... vs. willy-nilly handling out freebie netbooks and pad devices to students (and particularly young students).

The first can be very effective and improve student learning if done correctly.

The second is just a politically motivated election scam that, if ever fully implemented, will just end up wasting a lot of education funds that could have been much better used.

TV members here above have raised some very good questions beyond the basic ones:

--What's to prevent the students from simply selling or pawning the devices once they receive them? (None that I've heard of).

--What if any requirement will be in place for the students to actually bring the devices with them and/or use them when they arrive for their classes. (None that I've heard PT talking about).

--And even if there would be a requirement for students to bring and have their devices, what's being done to equip and prepare the teachers to teach making good use of those devices.

--Since the devices apparently are being considered a gift that doesn't need to be returned or exchanged, does that mean the PT government is going to be funding new pad/netbook devices each year in perpetuity... since there will be new students coming into the school system every year....

Or maybe they mean, we're going to fund the pad and netbooks giveaways for the next couple years until our party gets disbanded again or otherwise thrown out of power.

Maitree Inprasitha, dean of Education at Khon Kaen University...

Maitree said: "It's useless if you [Pheu Thai] just give them tablets, while there are no e-books or other software that will help arouse their learning. Lots of students now cannot even [calculate numbers], which is a basic skill."

And that's even after they arrive at university....

But seriously, those tablets and netbooks will be great for the kids watching YouTube videos and playing/downloading MP3s...

BTW, where's the internet access going to come from, and who's going to be paying for it, for all the pad and netbook-carrying kiddies out in the boonies?

I guess I should add, the XL for Men shop in the Silom Complex also has a very small closet enclosure that would allow one to try on some clothing item in private....