lomatopo

They've been constructing these one-way turnstiles for quite a long time. Fully operational now. Challenging to leap unless you 'Fosbury' them. Believe they are ostensibly meant to prevent "taxi back-wash". All that said, still lots of taxis loitering about, and there are semi-permanent/movable barriers adjacent - for safety reasons one hopes - which may be easily traversed.

I have no issues with people using level four to grab a taxi as it keeps the official lines on level 1 clear for me. Also, if going somewhere near the airport, say a fare of less than 100 baht, it is better to use a level 4 taxi rather than stick a short fare on a driver in the official queue. Also a lot of air crew, presumably domiciled here, use level 4 all the time.

^ Understand you love your mJ and are indifferent to GV.

Personally I'd be more inclined to pay for GV than mJ given the additional functionality, so if/when GV is no longer free I expect I will pay for it.

Like I said, I just re-upped my mJ for five years, but if they went belly-up tomorrow I'd still have my GV.

223,000 baht for a 30-March departure

Travel period 4th November 2013 - 31st March 2014

So travel must be completed, i.e. your return, not just your departure, by 31 March 2014.

A departure on 30 Match 2014, along with a min. stay of three days would make your proposed itin. invalid for this promotion.

As long as Mr. Borislow doesn't take off to some country, which does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S., on his yacht, we should be fine with mJ for the foreseeable future.

My expectations of mJ are so low that I am rarely disappointed. I do not rely on it for voice communications. Yes, it works OK when my PC is turned on, and when I am home.

Most GrooVeIP "customers" used the free version to extend their GV into the mobile world, so they are out, well, nothing. I paid $4.99 for the paid version of GrooVeIP, which allowed to receive and originate calls anywhere, and I was more than satisfied with the service, which I can still use for another six months.

Obi customers have had free VoIP, and still have an industry-standard VoIP adapter, which can/will be used with VoIP service providers. Obviously mJ or netTalk adapters are non-standard, so cannot be used with other VoIP service providers.

Yes, Google will stop supporting XMPP on May 15, 2014, so six months from now. I do not find it a stretch to think Google will offer us the ability to extend our GV services into the mobile world as they have so publicly committed. The added features/functionality of GV, which are of course free, are very, very, very impressive and useful, and I understand that it is unreasonable to expect the same from mJ. I wouldn't expect my "Flowbee" to trim my nails now would I?

A lot of times these fares are tied to the highest bucket, which even when divided by two can be on the higher side of a heavily discounted, low-fare bucket.

Obviously you need to be flexible re: travel dates, and there may only be two seats available for this promotion on certain routes.

Search around, and be ready to pounce, and assuming you are flexible, you should do alright. Note that taxes and surcharges apply to the Companion (free?) ticket as well, and if they add on YQ, that can be significant.

Note the ticket by/travel by dates, blackout dates, min (and max) stays, Max stay is bounded by the travel complete date of March 31, 2014.

I have fairly low expectations from my mJ device/service so I am never disappointed but...

Magicjack: Good idea but many complain of bad service

Magicjack appears to be one of those companies inspiring a steady stream of complaints every month—indeed, every week. And when we limit ourselves to only the past fortnight’s worth of Magicjack letters, we see two consistent trends: complaints about the quality of the service itself, and either difficulties or “hidden” charges involved in porting phone numbers to or from Magicjack.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/magicjack-bad-service-complaints-might-be-justified-hidden-porting-charges-are-not-102113.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_phones/magicjack.html

To me "flaky" is naming a professional sports team "magicJack"!

MagicJack is an American professional soccer club based in Boca Raton, Florida. The team competed in Women's Professional Soccer for one season until legal challenges caused the team's owner to become banned from the league, the WPS, which subsequently went on hiatus.

MAGICTRICK

I think there is a T-Mo month-to-month plan which offers 5 GB of data and 100 voice minutes, for $30/month, and people buy discounted vouchers on eBay driving the price even lower. But this plan may be challenging to locate and subscribe to.

If people are going back for more than ~ two weeks then a month-to-month plan, if only subscribed to for one month, may be the best option? Further, a StraightTalk/AT&T SIM/plan might offer the most coverage. My trips are frequent but short so I use the T-Mo $3/day plan.

As always, I'd recommend reviewing any/all terms and conditions, being aware of any automatic renewals tied to a credit card, for example. It looks like that WalMart promo requires a one-time starter package fee of $25.

The good news is that there are so many options now, they are getting a bit easier to subscribe to, there is plenty of coverage including 3G and 4G, and prices are coming down. Unlimited voice is important as, in the U.S., we pay for both incoming and outgoing calls.

What is the exact make and model? "Motorola" and "Galaxy" do not exactly go together, "Galaxy" being a Samsung name. A link would be ideal. Is this an Android phone?

I had, and still have, an AT&T Samsung Captivate (their Samsung Galaxy S(1) variant) which I was able to unlock, replace the SIM, and use it here.

You should be able to get an unlock code from AT&T. You should be able to remove the SIM, and replace it with a Thai SIM.

If you truly can't remove the SIM, and I'd be shocked if you can't, running it (the phone) over with your car might be the most enjoyment you might get from this phone now.

All the extra features and functionality: mobility, messaging, follow-me, speech to text, SMS, along with the price (free), of Google Voice make it an obvious choice. Who doesn't like 'free'? GV is integral to Google's (mobile/Android) strategy so expect it to both stay around, and be integrated into Hangouts before May 15, 2015, thus replacing my usage of GrooVeIP. "Flaky" is just not a word I associate with GV. I have transitioned many of my contacts from mJ to GV.

I did just re-up my mJ account; 5 years for $100. For $20 a year it's OK, I just wish they'd add some features, but understand they're a bit of low-budget operation. Just hope they stay around for another five years.

Slightly related, if anyone uses T-Mobile pre-paid in the U.S. note that T-Mo now supports roaming in Thailand so if you need SMS, say for an OTP, or to initiate a credit card, or even monitor in-bound calls/voice-mail, it is easy to pop the T-Mo SIM into a phone.

What about 3g 900 mhz

Not important or relevant for Thailand as the sole provider of 3G/900 MHz is AIS, and you'd be better off using their 2100 MHz service.

But both variants do support 3G/900 MHz (WCDMA Band 8), so no problem.

Here, at long last, is my question: will there be problems with Thai customs in bringing canned lima beans into the country. Am I better off requesting shipment via DHL/UPS/FedEx or is USPS Global Priority Mail better?

This question/topic, obviously not specific to "canned lima beans", that's a first, has come often, as you can imagine, and there have been many, many, many first-hand experiences. My vaguest recollection is that FedEx is by far the worst re: requiring you to pat VAT/Excise/Duty. And UPS/TNT/DHL have gotten poor marks in some posts. But then often, people get stuff delivered straight away without any additional taxes/fees/duty, so it can be a crap-shoot.

U.S.P.S. Global Priority, or Flat Rate, seems to get decent reviews. I think a lot will depend on where/when (exactly) your shipment arrives as to how it might eventually be routed.

I can see some potential issues re: importing food products which might raise additional hurdles? I might ask the mail forwarder to break the case down into two or more separate shipments, assuming you don't need all 12 cans for your holiday succotash recipe, which might insure at least one gets through Thai Post/Customs?

I bring back (in checked bags/boxes) a lot of similar "food products" on my frequent trips to the U.S., and have never had an issue at SBIA/BKK Customs.

I am guessing here as you've provided no information...but this is an Android phone?

If so, go to Settings, About phone, Model number. Then post that information.

I have looked for an "i-Mobile 405" but cannot find any references to this model. My best guess is that you purchased this phone here in Thailand, and that it is an i-Mobile brand phone, perhaps with a different model number?

Lastly, it sounds like you've used this phone while roaming in other countries on 3G/2100 MHz so assuming you have AIS, have IR enabled, are a customer in good standing, and are able to search for and register on partner networks, then you will be fine in Japan. Good luck.

Chromecast is pretty slick, particularly if you live in the U.S. Given the challenges - VPN/bandwidth - I find mine to be of limited usefulness here.

FWIW, they've just added Pandora so now have Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, YouTube, Play Store and Chrome.

I am waiting for the ability to cast off Google Drive, which is apparently set to be available soon.

I don't need another SIM, AIS tells me that I need another PHONE.

My question is whether this is true

Based on what you've said about your phone so far in this thread it seems like it supports 3G/2100 MHz so it will roam in Japan, for voice and data. That said, I cannot find any information on an "i-Mobile 405" to confirm this. Can you provide a link to any description of this exact model?

For traditional GSM voice/text and with IR enabled you will have little/no control re: the partner your may currently roam onto. So you will roam onto DoCoMo/NTT and SoftBank based on a number of criteria. As both are IR partners for AIS/2100 MHz it doesn't matter to you which you happen to roam on to. Obviously you can disable mobile data, if at any point you feel like you have exceeded the limits of your official AIS regional data roaming package.

Will this phone be usable in Thailand?

Yes. Both variants, D820 and D821, will work here on GSM, 2G, 3G, 4G/LTE (TrueMove H/2100 MHz).

Fear not.

Believe the name of this establishment is El Osito.

http://elositobkk.com/EL_Osito_Sandwiches_and_Tapas/Welcome.html

^ Believe that announcement relates only to using OBi ATA's with GV as GV is evidently moving away from XMPP. This also means that GrooVeIP will stop functioning on May 15, 2014.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/GrooVe-IP/118608074886558

Assume GV will remain free in 2014 but we won't know until we know.

Also assume GV functionality - inbound and outbound - will be rolled into Hangouts, thus enabling us to originate/terminate GV calls on Android devices?

Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice, and making/receiving phone calls is just the beginning. Future versions of Hangouts will integrate Google Voice more seamlessly.

https://plus.google.com/106636280351174936240/posts/DG6h32BWaQW

http://phandroid.com/2013/10/31/new-hangouts-v2-will-support-sms-and-mms-but-google-voice-integration-will-take-some-time/

^ I wouldn't over-think your situation. Get back to Thailand, get settled/relax. Your current/existing SIM will work fine, snafu-less. When you have time head to the nearest AIS/TWZ shop and tell them you want to port out of AIS/One-2-Call and in to AWN/AIS/2100 MHz. They'll check your SIM, and initiate the port out/in, re-configure your phone then you can use 2100 MHz where available or roam back to 900 MHz. Easy-peasy.

There would ne no advantage to initiating the port prior to your arrival in Thailand.

Customers are required to initiate (via an SMS, or web-site visit, call center, etc.) the port out/in for obvious reasons - you are changing service providers (subsidiaries anyway). For some/many it can be done easily over-the-air. There would be "no going back", unless you were able to find an old SIM in some shop. No reason to go back when you can roam back.

Note that your days of 12 month expiry are long gone. You will likely be on a 60 day rolling expiry so be prepared to manage your SIM during any time outside of Thailand.

How often do you fly?

Is it always LAX-BKK and BKK-LAX?

Do you prefer to start your trip in LAX? Or BKK?

What is your budget?

$600 - $700 for one-ways, and all the flexibility those allow seems reasonable.

With a 90 day return, say LAX-BKK-LAX, stay in LAX for a week then string together another LAX-BKK-LAX itin., may be the best option. With a six-month return you're running into season overlap, max. stay limits. R/T's ex-USA will be cheaper than ex-BKK.

Nail down your travel dates, firmly, assign a value, then purchase when you see the target price.

Every airline has multiple fare buckets, each with its own set of rules re: changes. You'll need to familiarize yourself with the carriers who operate LAX-xxx-BKK, and their schedules, prices, rules, nuances.

I might short-list ~ 5 carriers (DL, UA, BR, CI, CA) and then educate yourself. Or just use a TA in Los Angeles who specializes in Asia/Thailand air travel.

It seems obvious to me that most/all charges will eventually be dropped against Mr. Snowden, save perhaps theft of government property, as they should be.

Snowden seeks world's help against charges

Auto-pilot? Sheesh. What a doofus. At least they are finally admitting to "going to far".

John Kerry: NSA Spying Has 'Reached Too Far,' Was Happening 'On Autopilot'

Flights are a mess, mainly because of road closures, ATC delays (outbound), airside security. Believe the one fatality was a TSA employee. Seems like the shooter wanted to kill as many TSA employees as possible.

A shooting at LAX left a TSA agent dead and six other people injured

LOS ANGELES — A deadly shooting spree at crowded Los Angeles International Airport by a lone gunman left a security official dead and a half-dozen other people injured Friday, creating scenes of mayhem that sent hundreds scurrying and snarled travel plans for thousands more.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/01/los-angeles-airport-terminal-incident/3351473/

The TSA Found 29 Firearms at Airports This Week, Before the LAX Shooting

Over the last week, the TSA discovered 29 firearms—27 of which were loaded. Here, from the TSA, is the breakdown of what kinds of guns were found where:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/defense/the-tsa-found-29-firearms-at-airports-this-week-before-the-lax-shooting-20131101

I think these guys have them already.

Not sure that's physically possible without a time machine and/or transporter.

Yes, they "have it" on their web-site.

The house and grounds are indeed beautiful.

Other than the torrential downpours during rainy season, any similarity between Bangkok and Key West is a stretch, as is the tenuous link between Hemingway and Bangkok.

That said, Hemingway's has managed to remain open in a space which has been challenging for several other restaurants over the years, so they - as the saying goes - must be doing something right, even if it is only a place to move money through.

Reviews are generally positive, again with the location/house/grounds getting full marks, perhaps given the contrast with the grit/hustle/bustle of the city in general.