Advice Needed

[doctormann]

Moving to Pattaya from UK in October and will need to buy a computer system (PC, printer, scanner) to maintain my Window on the World.

Any advice on where to shop for IT products in Pattaya? I've seen somewhere that Tesco Lotus or Big C are OK - are their prices competitive / cheaper than specialist outlets? What about after sales support?

Also will need International Internet Access - any thoughts on a good reliable ISP. Probably only need a dial-up package. What would be the typical monthly cost for unlimited access?

Any help would be appreciated.

[monty]

With a little bit luck the Pattaya branch of TukCom will be open. This will be a big IT mall, with only two sections, 1 mobile phone and 1 IT...

If not finished by the time you arrive, go down to the Sri Racha Branch (about 30Km towards Bangkok) of TukCom.

Do never buy a PC in Tesco or BigC unless you are thechnically very savvy to handle any problems wich might show up. Their after sales is nonexistent, the salespersons do not have a clue what they are selling, let alone helping you with a problem!

Alternatively buy in one of the computershops in Pattaya, more expensive (sometimes a lot!) but at least you have the support of real computerminded people...

Advice on dial-up: Buy one of the prepaid unlimited packages (between 300 & 500 Baht/month) and one prepaid 20 something hour package from one of the reliable big ISP's. (between 10 & 15 Baht/hour).

Use the hour package as a back-up for the unlimited package, as these are not always reliable! You'll have to experiment with a few ISP's, because quality of service depends a lot on what phone line/company you'll end up with. One ISP can work perfect for one customer, but will be unreliable for somebodey else!

Welcome to the land of smiles

[astral]

The best choice for mcahines will be at TukCom in Sri Racha.

They will also make up a machine to your own spec.

For the ISP's give them a try with the prepaid packages before you sigh up. I use Pacific RAP, unlimited for 30 days at 450baht.

Look also for the TT&T broadband deal at 1000 baht a month

[doctormann]

Thanks for the help guys.

I guess that TukCom sounds like the best bet. I suspected that Tesco / Big C might be a bit short on customer support. I bought my present system from Tesco in the UK and luckily it's been fine. There would have been very little support if not but in the UK we are fairly well protected by the Sale of Goods act, which more or less guarantees that faulty goods wil be replaced. Is there similar protection in Thailand or is one reliant just on the Manufacturer's warranty, if any?

Doctormann

[monty]

They do have such a protection scheme in Thailand, but nobody seems to care!

Anyway, those big superstores probably would live up to their guarantees, but you'll have to be very patient and maybe left without pc for several weeks before repair/replacement! I have been very happy with support in these small shops in TukCom, they have good technicians and replace faulty items mostly without even blinking an eye. Only a bad cpu seems to be difficult. I had an overheated AMD once, which they sent to the distributor before the replacement got through eventually...

[johng]

Monty :

There is no chance that TukCom ( Pattaya branch ) will be open for October

it's still just a shell

[monty]

Yep, saw it as wel!

They said it was supposed to open august 2004, but by the look of it it'll be more something like august 2005

[francois]

hi'

you may try DCO shop, they make good com and nice support for them, the owner is honnest ... farang as you may guess ...

I think that you can get his address with a search on the web, they had a nice site ...

don't know if still the same ...

but anyway, worth to try

cheers

francois

[Freddie_fly]

You may want to try Wattana Computers opposite Foodland. They have a pretty good range of laptops at reasonable prices. I have dealt with them for 14 years and always had good service. The IT mall in Sri-Racha has some good deals. The large shop on the third floor gives a warranty and honours it. You can probably get the same in Bangkok for 1-2000 less, but that is eaten up by the travel. There is a small computer shop on central about a klick down from foodland (DCO??). One of the Farangs there has shops in Bangkok as well and used to work for my company. You will get good service.

I have used loxinfo for several years now after kicking ksc into touch. Support is good and my phone line is fine. However a friend two streets away has real problems with the same connection. Basically its down to your phone line and they are not interested in complaints.

regards

Freddie