By Graham K. Rogers

More to get out of the house that anything, after the excesses of the night before (when I discovered that pomelo juice makes an acceptable if unusual substitute for Indian tonic water in gin) I had a quick after-lunch wander round the Siam area.

Siam Discovery itself was relatively quiet in the early afternoon and the iStudio store was almost deserted at times: a stark comparison with a few days before.

While in Siam Paragon a while later, I tried to keep the iPhone on 3G, because the True wifi service is slow and inconsistent. I noticed, however, a new login screen. The government-inspired free wifi service, as provided by True, DTAC and AIS has just been set up in the Siam area and the login panel for DTAC on my phone told me I had to visit the floor 3 DTAC shop if I wanted a password. As I was on floor 3 at the time, I ambled along.

It took two or three attempts before I was handed to the right person. She asked me for my phone number and handed me a login and password slip. My passport (nor the ID card of Thais) was wanted as the company already has my details with the phone number registration. I wrote my name down alongside the phone number. That was it. I walked outside, brought up the panel and logged in. Quite fast too.

The lady had told me that this was an experimental setup and that passwords were changed each day for the moment. In this case, DTAC will be my first port of call when I arrive in Siam area for now. Near the DTAC shop, the signal was fine, but when I went to a remore area on another floor, I could see no signal. The login panel appeared after a short while and I entered the details again, so checking the "remember me" box is useful. The signal later dropped again as I moved about the mall.

After DTAC I went next door to another iStudio which was a little busier, but again not as frantic as a few days earlier. I spent a few minutes looking at iPhone cases and see that Moshi, whose other accessories I like, has a couple of nice examples.

A friend asked me also to arrange for an update of the standard True 3G service to the 3G+ so I went into the True store that was also on floor 3 to ask about this. Much to my friend's chagrin he needs to bring the phone in for a SIM card change, an update to the service and a wait of 7 - 10 days. This one is on the back burner for the moment.

Oh, and I lost my glasses on the way home so had to go out again and buy another pair: a great way to start the new year.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.