joekicker

Try HomePro but I doubt it. Given your stipulations, find a contractor who can build one and move it in. Personally, I'd go for the roof-only extension, a "carport" so to speak. .

Went over my crewcut! Internet without a phone line? Actual real Internet, like WITH a phone line? .

No "but" about it. That *is* the point, there really is no other. As I say, a microcosm of what has long, long held Thailand back. I have to get in my own commercial by noting it is entirely a government thing, the telecoms duopoly being state firms. If it were a capitalism thing, we'd have had 3G ahead of the US. .

Doesn't your arm get tired holding it up to your ear, though? .

Wow. Only thing that occurs to me now is to do a System Restore back to before you put that Blaze program in. .

The whole 3G epic is ... well, epic. It reveals all sorts of things about Thailand, and in a nutshell that everyone can quickly grasp. But really, it's been made into a whole that is WAY bigger than the sum of its parts. A country without 3G is hardly "in the dark ages". So Thailand doesn't have 3G and Apple smartphones make great paperweights and it takes 30 seconds to check your email via BlackBerry instead of 10 seconds. So what, really? So you have to load last night's soap opera on your iPad to watch it, instead of watching it live on the BTS. Is that really "the dark ages"? Some good and snide comments, but that's a SILLY comment about "extend(ing) access to information to areas where there are no land lines". What does 3G have to do with that? Mobile phones in Thailand have MORE than 100% penetration rate, and all TV broadcasts are available by satellite. 3G would not extend access by a metre beyond what it is now. .

You'll need to put those back of course. Aussiechic, does the "beep" work on the computer. Do you get those weird noises when you click the wrong file and so on? That's a sign that the physical speaker is working/broken. As Skygod says, first thing is to click on the little speaker thingmy-icon down near the clock. Make sure none of the boxes with "Mute" are ticked. Make sure the volume levels aren't at zero. Go into the Sound section on Control Panel. Click Start, Control Panel and double-click Sounds and Audio Devices. You'll get a Properties window. Make sure "mute" isn't checked. Make sure the "device volume" is somewhere near High. Click on the speaker settings, go through there, look for stuff like "mute" ticked. Click on the Audio tab, go through "Default device" and playback options. UNTICK repeat UNTICK "Use only default devices" in case it is ticked. Click on "Hardware" then "Troubleshoot" - why not? Then as wac says, the next two steps will be to reinstall the drivers from the people who made your sound card. If no response, you'll have to open the box and find the actual sound card and make sure it is tightly seated, with all attached wires going somewhere and doing something. If all of these options fail, then something is definitely broken. Could be a wire cut or grounded, but probably the speakers have packed up or something along that line. Good luck. These machines are out to get us.

Very funny. I presume you get paid for all those popup adverts, including the dozen or so that don't get past my popup blocker? Tough way to finance a Pattaya trip. .

Jeez! I hope something good comes from this, but even so, it sure skewers the belief that some hold that "they know what they're getting into". Almost none of them do, as you report. There are divisions of the police to deal with this, and they go into the foreign ministry. Your wife needs to get with the local cops, preferably in a city. They're sure to have at least a liaison officer involved in trafficking and the like. There are lots of cases that get resolved with a rescue. At least make an effort. Trafficking is taken fairly seriously at most levels these days. Good luck!! .

I wish it WAS so simple. They don't want to operate and they don't want to compete. They want to rent the licences, like they do with 2G. The only 3G currently available is provided by experimental setups by TOT and CAT Telecom. They want to rent it, not market it. These are massive, huge cash-cow operations which suck 20 to 50 satang of every 2-baht mobile call you make, and in return they provide... well, nothing really. .

No, but you're on the right track. TOT (the original "telephone organisation of Thailand") and later on, CAT, control ALL telecom operations in a "duopoly". And the proposed formats for 3G will cut them out, wholly or partially. They don't like that. PLUS by strange coincidence they have the law on their side like state firms and state monopolies everywhere. .

Gentlemen, we have a red shirt in our midst!!! It's okay, so long as there aren't four more. .

Early next year. All right!! A braver man than me. I lean toward "never", simply because I would never take a bet against the TOT/CAT and I don't see how they can get dealt in on this 3G in an acceptable (to them) way. Legally, they have an excellent case in my opinion, although a lot of people are "surprised" so I guess some people disagree. You read the last two constitutions, tell me where the NTC can give out bandwidth, regulate new technologies. I can't find it. I think that TOT/CAT are odious AND correct. And that's why Mayor Abhisit is promising to get the NTSB up and running because that IS the body designated by the supreme law. No, there is real 3G in nooks and crannies of Bangkok and Chiang Mai. You can subscribe through a virtual supplier like Samart. But to call it "limited" is giving a lot of credit. .

Wow. Why not go out on a limb? If those licences were auctioned on Monday as scheduled, or if those licences are auctioned around 2015 -- makes little difference to your "prediction". Technically there IS 3G "in Thailand" now, if you're in exactly the right spot and have just the right contract and hold your mouth right. But full 3G service all over Thailand like the current 2G is always at least a year away. You've basically "always said" that tomorrow is likely to be hot. You want to take a chance, and live by it, tell us when the first 3G auction will be. Monday? December? Next year? .

Actually, Pattaya does have red lights, and actually traffic stops at them when they're red. .

I'm actually shocked that people call this a "surprise", which some do. Legally, CAT and TOT are on very solid ground and these cases have been threatened and discussed and analysed for at least two years. Yes, it's the last minute, but there's no real suprise. I'd be shocked (and still could be in the next couple of days) if the court does NOT rule the way it ruled. There's another case and an appeal all coming in a mad weekend. .

That was really my point, I guess. Key money is not for the benefit of the rentER, yep. .

No, key money is so the landlord/owner GETS low rental. His taxes are based on the rent. Key money is a VERY old, tested, tried and true concept throughout Asia, but at the base, it's a tax dodge by the owner of the property to lower his monthly income and thus taxes. .

I managed to get a little football in amongst the baseball games, notably the last part of the first half and the last five minutes of the game - Redskins-Dallas. The 'Boys are a severely challenged team. I predict that when Wade Phillips retires, he will have as many Super Bowls as his old man. But c'mon Vic - this is baseball season!! .

Several have. Did you read the article at the ThaiVisa link, which mentions "drugs" several times? Well, yes there is order. For one thing everyone but one driver goes counter-clockwise. That this one driver did not go this orderly way seems pretty certain from the photos, and not just the eye-witnesses. There IS some evidence-gathering to be done before we throw the key away on this guy, which wouldn't bother me as of now. .

Have you got a map and a telephone number? .

I don't think anyone's surprised tourist numbers are dropping, since tourist numbers are rising. And I don't think a $14 or $140 charge will affect that, either. I doubt many of them are attracted by the 7-Elevens though. The Thai ones are MUCH better if that's your travel purpose. .

Well, this has been a misleading story all along. *IF* you do not have a visa to the US, you have to pay $14 for the non-visa stamp for a short stay. I'm not defending this unprecedented tax, just pointing out there's less to it than meets the eye. And yes, an actual visa costs $140 and yes getting the non-visa stamp (on the Internet) was already a pain and now it's going to be a $14 pain and yes, the ridiculous government getting $14 for all the bad PR is definitely stupid not to mention onerous. But rising taxes under His rule isn't even news, really. .

All of those I have seen, all in Bangkok, they might as well have put a fake button. If they have any effect on the lights, I haven't figured out what. That said, light turns red, traffic generally stops, emphasis on "generally" and "pedestrian beware". .

It's coming along every half hour. Mixed reviews but definitely working as designed. .