Stocky

1 hour ago, TGIR said:

I'd try Unix but at my age I'd rather have a daily rectal exam.......

You don't need to go to that extreme, just install Linux Mint.

44 minutes ago, tutsiwarrior said:

I figure it's the best ISP connection for the area where I live...

I think that's the key, it all very much depends on where you live; the quality of your local infrastructure, and the load that infrastructure has to carry.

We've been on TOT Fiber2u for about 3 years, there have been a handful of outages, but 99% of the time I get what I paid for. I have no complaints with TOT, never have done, even when it was adsl and before that dial-up.

2 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Yes, a Danish guy called Thomas is so helpful, both before you buy and after. Returns are no problem either.

+1

Thomas is very helpful and responds to emails quickly. They're happy to let you try something and return if it doesn't work out. I've been using InvadeIt for nearly ten years, they're not always the cheapest, but their prices aren't far off, and I don't mind paying a fraction more for the peace of mind of knowing I'll get what I ordered, and if there's a problem it can be replaced or refunded.

4 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

I miss CompuServe so much

We were all numbers then.

Gave up on them five years ago, cancelled by phone, they came to collect the dish and decoder, and yes they returned the deposit.

2 hours ago, moogradod said:

But where to go ? InvadeIT is only an online shop or am I mistaken ?

http://www.invadeit.co.th/contact-us/

15 hours ago, smotherb said:

My point is that Songkhla is hardly a pristine paradise and that the OP should try some more remote areas

The OP wasn't asking for a pristine paradise, I don't think they exist anymore anyway, the question the OP posed was:

"What regions are the least polluted and yet still have things to offer a tourist.  I'm not looking for a grass hut on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Maybe some quiet little semi-remote beach town away from the boozing/prostitution nonsense at the usual tourist destinations?"

I don't think my suggestion of Songkhla as a option is too far away from that brief. I mean you really have to go looking for "the boozing/prostitution nonsense" in Songkhla Town, it's certainly there, but that's the same for any Thai town, it's just not in your face.

Anyway, I suspect we'll have to beg to differ, the OP doesn't seem to have returned to the thread, so who knows what they wanted, but they've certainly been given several good suggestions.

I've driven through it a few times, but never felt like stopping.

16 hours ago, MarcelV said:

I live in Narathiwat Town and don't ever feel unsafe.

Glad to hear that, as it happens my daughter and granddaughter are going to Narathiwat at the weekend with a party of girls from where my daughter works; one of the Muslim girls is getting married.

3 hours ago, ThaiSauce said:

Hard to believe that pattaya is above Mexico city, Jakarta, among others, weird. Also Chiang Mai above Bangkok, I don't get it.

Sent from my BLA-L29 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

It's not based on empirical data, rather, as their website states "Most of our data are based on perceptions (opinions) from visitors of this website."

So it's what visitors or residents feel, not what has been scientifically measured.

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Songkhla air quality is whole lot better than Bangkok, and it was air quality that had him all a quiver. As for Numbeo, please, "These data are based on perceptions of visitors of this website in the past 3 years." Highly scientific.

10 hours ago, smotherb said:

I had to chuckle at some of the other posters' suggestions of going to Chiang Mai or Phuket, or even Songkhla--where I lived for eleven years--to avoid pollution.

You're surely not suggesting the air quality in Songkhla isn't a considerable improvement on Bangkok!

What about the pony rides, beach scattered with piles of dung.

It was a great little resort, family had several enjoyable holidays there. The actual encroachment on the mangroves and protected forest was minimal, a far better solution would have been a land swap; the hotel buying an equivalent parcel of land identified by the forestry department as suitable for incorporation into the national park. 

But just emphasises the need to conduct a thorough due diligence. When MHG bought the property back in 2008 they failed to properly check the validity of the land ownership documents, which proved to be forgeries (or fraudulent).

18 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Please forgive me for asking what may sound like the obvious, but I assume that your Windows 7 installation was based on the official MS version rather than an unofficial Thai one?

Yes, genuine Microsoft products. OEM versions that came with the Dell laptops from the Dell dealer.

2 hours ago, AAArdvark said:

Don't forget the Windows 7 will no longer get updates as of January 2020.

Indeed, as I said "I'll remain with Win7 until the end of support updates" that's still a year away.

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I've been happy with Win7 Pro, this is the first time I've had an issue with updates, apart from the fight to stop the Win10 update nag screens.

I've remained with Win7 on my two work laptops because initially the software I use for work wasn't supported on Win10. They are now, with the exception of one program that I can't migrate. So I'll remain with Win7 until the end of support. I have one mini-PC for the TV that runs Win10, which is fine I quite like it, but I'm in no rush to upgrade the laptops. Desktops in the house all run Linux Mint.

Today I got an update available pop-up as normal, whatever it was affecting my connection to the windows server has gone just a mysteriously as it arrived.