byte me, bangkok

"Free AIS Wifi" at Siam Paragon

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:02:00 +0700

I feel like I should revive this geeky rant blog after what I had encountered at Siam Paragon on Monday.

So the malls have banded with Thailand’s top ISPs: DTAC, AIS, True and TOT, to provide “free wifi” in their perimeters to existing customers of the mentioned services.

I, a committed AIS customer of over 12 years (true story), was delighted to see the sign and “AISwifi” on my iPad’s available network list.

I’m currently paying the B899 a month iPhone package, which includes free AIS wifi, both offered by AIS and by 3BB.

So here I was, at Le Notre trying to connect my iPad. A screen pops up with three things:

Login fileds
Instruction 1: Call *388# if you do not already have wifi package. This will cost you B99/month.
Instruction 2: If you already have a wifi package, call *389# to receive your login details.

So I did the second instruction. Then it pops on my phone saying “to get your password, please call *388#”

Well no freaking way. I’m already paying for the wifi, why should I pay extra B99 for this “free wifi” service?

So I called AIS hotline. First customer service person said I should request for a new set of login as this is not included in my wifi package. Almost threw a fit until she told me it would be free but at the limit of 2 hours.

Fine. I did. Got the password. Then of course it said “password not usable”.

So I called again. Now the second customer service girl said the CORRECT number to request for password is not the ones listed on the login page. SO WHY ARE THEY LISTED THERE TO CONFUSE PEOPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE?

According to the second girl, it’s supposed to be *199*555#. So I got another set of password. Tried. “Password unusable”.

So I threw a fit at the third customer service girl who, probably after seeing my name in their call log three times within 10 minutes, finally transfered my call to their “wifi engineer”. And this is the answer for their promoted “Free Wifi throughout Siam Paragon” deal:

AIS wifi signals are only available near Swensen’s and SE-ED bookstore

/facepalm

Not only once, but Nithi C. has managed to surprise us one more...

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:59:48 +0700

Not only once, but Nithi C. has managed to surprise us one more time with his amazing ability to tap foursquare’s mayorship with another hidden place like “Backdoor of Luangpor Nen Temple”. (ประตูหลัง วัดหลวงพ่อเณร)

Wow, Rittichart S., you’re on a roll! This is your second...

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:39:15 +0700

Wow, Rittichart S., you’re on a roll!

This is your second honorable mention in our little Foursquare Fail blog, you must be so proud!

And what a good idea that is! Now I can follow you and know exactly which ATM you’re going to so I can easily mug you. Watch your back.

This is not MRT station, yes you read that correctly. It is...

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:59:00 +0700

This is not MRT station, yes you read that correctly. It is “somewhere” near MRT Rama IX! Amazingly there are three people checked-in here. Akarawuth T. is the current mayor of this place along with Rama ix rd and Rama9 junction.

Such a mysterious place, “Room 505”Let’s guess...

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:34:00 +0700

Such a mysterious place, “Room 505”
Let’s guess what it is; Classroom? Apartment? Hotel? Den?!
All hail to the mayor, Saran Y.

Wow, Maximumboy. You rock. There’s also a 7-11 and your...

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:27:01 +0700

Wow, Maximumboy. You rock. There’s also a 7-11 and your own home under your Mayorship.

Since the launch of Foursquare in Bangkok, it has seen a surge...

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:13:00 +0700

Since the launch of Foursquare in Bangkok, it has seen a surge of Thai users—the very same group of idiotic Thai Social Media users who would tweet every second of their life. From tweeting about going to the toilets, now they’re also checking in when going to the toilet. The launch of Foursquare Bangkok has given birth to a whole new level of social media idiocy.

Evidence One in the picture.

Among the misspellings, there are unnecessary “places” such as “My Room”, “Toilet”, and every bus station and junction, useless tips like “This office building is full of bitches” or “Drunk drunk drunk”, and unforgivable duplicates (Lotus On Nut, Tesco On Nut, Tesco Lotus On Nut, lotus onnut, etc) due to users’ either laziness to use the search function or their egotistical nature to try and nab the Mayorship of every place they go to.

Since this tumblelog is dedicated to documenting every little Thai tech faux pas, I thought I’d revive it with the newest nuisance in the Thai interwebs in hopes of creating awareness about how to correctly use Foursquare to avoid ruining yet another good online movement.

*We’re also gonna be posting the IDs of the wrongdoer to shame them. Some particular IDs are also known for making stupid entries. Here’s to hoping they will finally get the message.

So PPat69, I’ve corrected the above entry, as well as your “Chester Grill Checken” place.

The MICT campaign on BTS encoraging people to report...

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:32:00 +0700

The MICT campaign on BTS encoraging people to report “society harming” websites.

Like what? Websites by government organizations that are still using animated cliparts, frames, background midi and embeded WMVs?

Those equally damage the image of the country.

turbow: Happy Bar Code’s day (:

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:16:01 +0700

turbow:

Happy Bar Code’s day (:

Windows 7 Nerds Day

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:10:00 +0700

You know how a few years back, hipster nerds and geeks like Adam Brody and Jon Heder have “supposedly” made nerds and geeks cool? Well, the trend never caught on here. Here, nerds are still nerds. The only things that excite them are computer codes and girls.

Why am I ranting? I signed up for the Windows 7 Blogger Day event on Saturday because I, according to the posted qualification of participant, am a blogger and have an interest in new technology. Although I am a Mac, I was genuinely interested in Windows 7.

I signed up, went, and left half way. I did have plans to leave early but I thought if the thing was worth canceling plans, then I would. But then things didn’t go that way.

If you had followed the #win7thai Twitter feed on Saturday, among the peer-praising and Windows-wowing tweets, somewhere there’s Gnarly Kitty doing what she does best—ranting. But it was a justifiable rant. Why? Think of this scenario for a second. I was in there, with my Chanel and my itsy bitsy tiny pearly white Samsung netbook (I was clever enough to not bring a Mac) and I was lodged in the back of a room full of male computer nerds. The females I saw were either staff or girlfriends of the lucky few who managed to keep a successful romantic relationship with the opposite sex.

Basically, any female forms in that room were deemed unimportant.

Rather than a professionally composed workshop for Windows 7 enthusiasts, it was more like an offline get-together of Bangkok’s best known nerds, who by the way know each other. They should have warned me that the event was for insiders only so I wouldn’t have embarrassed myself, dragging my female ass to a place where I would not be welcomed.

After series of inside jokes exchanged at one another, even between the guys from Microsoft themselves who apparently were best friends with these attendees, the event finally started. The program promised a showcase by a group of Thai bloggers and developers, some of whom I have seen and followed online, who would come up and show off their favorite Windows 7 features.

By the end of it, if you asked me what Windows 7 can do, I wouldn’t be able to answer a thing.

Oh they showed off some features alright. Like how Windows 7 new wallpaper gallery can make you switch from one half naked girl lying on the bed wallpaper to another half naked underage Japanese girl in tight uniform wallpaper in a matter of a second. Oh and I also learned about the nicknames these guys give to different versions of Internet Explorer, such as gigs, mistresses, boring first wives and new younger girlfriends.

Then they showed one of the guy’s TwitPic gallery—which I still don’t know how that was relevant to anything about Windows 7—and it was full of even more thumbnails of Motor Show girls, PGs, sexy uniformed girls and more Korean/Japanese fresh meats.

And some of these guys were online individuals I have longed to meet, those I have had respect for for their coverage of technology in Thailand. The David Pogues and the Brian Lams of Thailand. Though they weren’t the ones displaying these photos, I just can’t imagine them being among those who cheered and whistled as each slide showed up.

I was there, sitting at the back, speechless and offended. And they all seemed to be enjoying all this. One even said it’s alright for him to do this because he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Oh really? Don’t you think that because of your personality and derogatory thoughts about women, that’s why you don’t have a girlfriend?

And there was this poor girl, a Microsoft trainee. She got the very look that would make nosebleeds out of these nerds. She was the subject of teases and jokes between the guys and I did not understand why she did not feel offended. She even added fuel to the fire at times by flirting with the presenter about how he did not have enough of her pictures on his presentation.

Where the hell was I? Microsoft’s secret gentlemen’s club? Did you people not see there were other attendees whom you did not know, who were female?

Just imagine this for a second. If this exact same event was held in, say, Silicon Valley, California, what would the reaction be? More cheering, clapping and encouragements? No. It would be more like lawsuits, discrimination charges and a huge PR clean-up by Microsoft.

So I left. Learned nothing. Besides not getting any useful information about Windows 7 out of it, I didn’t even at least get the documents. Thanks for the big Microsoft PR photobook, a B20 tshirt and an even cheaper notebook. But I think only those boring sheets of paper with useful information about Windows 7 would be able to make up for the time I had lost watching members of my gender being ridiculed.

iStudio and Apple conferences are boring, I must admit, but at least I learn things. And most importantly, at least I was considered valuable to their brand and service. If I wanted to see a group of men going googly eyes over half naked girls, I’d go to my neighborhood coyote club.

CAT Telecom eyes WiMax deal with MCOT

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:49:24 +0700

The Nation Newspaper

BANGKOK: — CAT Telecom is keen on using MCOT’s 2.6GHz spectrum to offer WiMax broadband cellular services as part of its plan to develop new wireless businesses.

CAT’s new CEO, Jirayuth Rungsrithong, said yesterday that CAT would talk seriously with the broadcaster’s management on a possible tie-up to develop WiMax on the 2.6GHz spectrum.

CAT has already floated the idea to MCOT, he said.

However, the National Telecommunications Commission has earmarked only the 2.3GHz spectrum for WiMax, since other potential alternatives, such as the 2.5GHz spectrum, are now being used for broadcasting.

CAT’s board on Wednesday appointed Jirayuth to a four-year term and will evaluate his performance every six months.

Jirayuth said that besides seeking new business, his other top priority is to finish merging CAT’s CDMA 2000 1-x cellular network with Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia’s network by December.

Hutchison-CAT is a joint venture of CAT and Hong Kong telecom operator Hutchison Telecom.

CAT operates its own CDMA network in 51 provinces, while Hutchison-CAT markets the CDMA service under a contract with CAT on a separate CDMA network in 25 provinces.

Hutchison-CAT leases the CDMA network from BFKT, which is wholly owned by Hutchison Telecom.

Their combined network will strengthen the state enterprise’s CDMA service offering and marketing.

Hutchison Telecom has already informed CAT of its intention to sell the BFKT network to CAT.

CAT’s CDMA service, which has 350,000 subscribers, generated revenue of Bt618 million in the first eight months of this year, while Hutchison-CAT, which has 1.1 million subscribers, contributed about Bt400 million to CAT in the same period.

CAT’s CDMA network in 51 provinces features the 3G wireless broadband technology, Jirayuth said.

CAT plans to upgrade the BFKT network to the technology after the merger, as it wants to evolve the merged network to 4G technology in a few years.

CAT targets total revenue of Bt52 billion this year after posting revenue of Bt31.9 billion in the first eight months, of which Bt12 billion was from its own operation and Bt19 billion from its concession holders.

————

When two government companies plan to join forces to do something IT-ish, don’t keep your hopes up.

Holy mother of all geeks. The fourth flood of The Emporium has...

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:48:01 +0700

Holy mother of all geeks. The fourth flood of The Emporium has turned into a mega tech hub! From a sad little corner on the fifth floor it now looks like an IT mall.

Crossing the Chao Praya River on Bangkok’s BTS...

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:47:27 +0700

Crossing the Chao Praya River on Bangkok’s BTS Skytrain.

If only could these things get to more parts of Bangkok, the city would be a much happier place to live in.

At Maximum the phone wrapping shop in MBK. Now look what...

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:54:47 +0700

At Maximum the phone wrapping shop in MBK. Now look what everyone is holding. Can you spot another bag behind this guy in blue.

Saw an ad for this App in today’s Daily Xpress. The...

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:44:23 +0700

Saw an ad for this App in today’s Daily Xpress.

The Nation is really advanced in terms of multimedia. They have two apps already. They have videos on their site, and even free blog hosting. Bangkok Post can never match.

But just like their news app, The Nation still fails in terms of design. From the preview, the app is so ugly they shouldn’t even charge US$0.99 for it.

See the multicolor blobs on the right side of the picture? That’s supposed to be event calendar. Not a puzzle game for 6-year-olds.

But it’s a great idea. A portal to events and festivals in Bangkok from art exhibition to sales and shows.

To buy or not to buy?

True Fail, Again

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:55:00 +0700

Just like I expected. True Move doesn’t have enough iPhone 3GS for the customers who reserved for them.

Yes those very customers who were forced to pay B2,000 with a promise that they will get their phone on Aug 28.

At the iPhone 3GS second press conference held today, True said they only have 3,500 units available, and will only be for those who made a reservation for a pickup on Aug 28 only.

The rest of the customers will have to wait until mid September to get their units.

True also said they are also short on iPhone 3GS Black 32GB models, with only 262 units currently in True Move’s stock.

Good luck to those who have yet to make a reservation. Mind you the mid-September distribution is for those who already have made a reservation for a unit. Planning to walk-in and grab one? It could be October.

Update: Those who do not want to wait for True to fail some more can contact True for the deposit refund on Sep 1.

And for those who don’t give a damn about 3GS can still get regular 3G as they’re start selling them again. They have about 600 units in stock. Don’t know how much or which models. Should be cheaper though. It can’t be that much of a fail.

——————

News from: SiamPod.com

Some people just should not own an iPhone.

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:00:00 +0700

iPhone Forum User A: แย่แล้วครับ ผมกำลังลง app อยู่ พอเครื่องผมบูทเสร็จ มันก็กลายเป็นหน้าจอสีดำแล้วมีรูปแบตเตอรี่ขึ้นมาอ่ะครับ ผมลองไปที่ setting เลือก wallpaper ใหม่ แต่พอเครื่องดับไปแล้วผมเปิดขึ้นมาใหม่ wallpaper มันก็หายไปกลายเป็นรูปแบตอีกครับ ทำไงดีครับ
iPhone Forum User B: ถอดสายชาร์จออกก่อนสิครับ
iPhone Forum User A: เออจริงด้วยครับ ขอบคุณครับ

------translation------

iPhone Forum User A: Oh my god something went wrong! I was installing an app, when I finished restarting my phone, the screen turned black and a picture of a battery just appeared! I tried going into the settings and changing the wallpaper already but when I restarted the phone again, the battery is still there on the screen! What should I do??
iPhone Forum User B: Why don't you first try unplugging your phone?
iPhone Forum User A: Oh yeah that worked. Thank you.

Tweet Your Rants

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:35:00 +0700

Wow Thai telecom companies are starting to pick up on this whole social networking thing. Finally!

Though for them it’s just another way to spam us with endless promotional pleas, but for us, it’s a way to directly, and publicly, attack them with personal complaints and rants.

Here are the Holy Telecom Trinity on Twitter. Follow your respective carrier and start tweeting your complaints:

@personalbutler: Have no idea why AIS chose this name. Really bad branding. I thought it was a catering service.

@dtac_feelgoood: From DTAC’s Feel Goooooooood campaign. They also tweet rather weird suggestions of ways you can do to make yourself feel gooooooood.

@trueconvergence: This title doesn’t just involve True Move apparently. And it’s quite interesting to see that most of their replies to followers start with the word “ขออภัย”.

Webcamp Thailand

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:39:00 +0700

Webcamp Thailand:

Sometimes good things do happen in Bangkok tech world. Like these geek camps. Wordcamp, Barcamp, Beercamp. And now Webcamp for web designers and developer.

The participation is free. It will be a whole day event, which will be held ~~at the cozy Third Place Thonglor on Sat Aug 29 from 10am onwards.~~ soon. They have postponed the date. Keep checking their website for updates.

DriveDD

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:09:34 +0700

DriveDD:

It’s quite refreshing to see Thai people come up with concepts like this. I don’t know how effective this site can be but at least it makes you feel better about not being able to retaliate on the road. Saves both your life and your embarrassment.

On a curious note: I thought we’re not supposed to use the mobile while driving? That’s DriveMaiDMaiD no?