Douglas123

ha ha that was actually me. Putting multiple fishing rods out on the river - so to speak.

Thanks zzz for the suggestion. I have also heard of dummyflights.com. I checked out their reviews and posts activity and seemed to have gone quiet since last year. Would just like to know if any of the users on here have had recent success with these companies? Cheers

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Seems it is pretty clear that I need a round trip flight ticket (a land border bus booking will not suffice). So I am trying to find an airline where i can book a flight ticket out to nearby SEA country and then just cancel/refund it as soon as I get the visa approved. Can anyone recommend a carrier that can do this? I find the usual flight carriers policy on this very vague: Viet Jet Air Asia Scoot Lion Air etc PS - I have my current condo lease until November this year so that should be fine.

I'm just finishing up a work visa on a contract. I need to get a new visa next month to stay here in Thailand. I wanted to get the Single Entry Tourist Visa and then extend it for 30 days later. I would just like to get some others opinions as to what city has the better embassy, Phnom Penh (PP) or Ho Chi Minh (HCM)? I do plan to make a trip out of it as I understand the process takes about 3 business days and I need a holiday anyway. Both destinations are pretty comparable on price but I think HCM has some better accomodation and transport options. I am also aware that I will need to apply for a visa on arrival in both countries (as an Australian I understand some USD will be exchanged) I've heard that PP is quite strict and I am concerned about my history of visa before 2019. I have been on a work visa ever since. I just wonder if HCM has a more friendly experience for getting a SETV. However the proof of onward journey I do not understand too well. If I plan to pay 1900 THB for the 30 day extension - does that mean I need to book an open flexible ticket out of thailand (that can be changed once i get extension)? I plan to fly over for a week at whatever destination. Have to do it next month.

ALDI sounds great! I guess the only problem I will have with that is the MNP process. The telcos I have spoke with so far have advised me that I need to do the process in Australia as it will reject my application when doing it from overseas. Can anyone confirm that with ALDI? I guess a VPN service probably will not resolve that issue either.

Thanks for the comment. Some of the services such as Citibank have let me change to thai number so that works fine but I am fairly sure some others (e.g. my.gov.au) will only accept Oz number unfortunately. I honestly would wash my hands clean with Australian telcos if I could.

It has become pretty much universally mandatory now to use OTP codes as a security login feature. I need to keep an Australian mobile number active just so I can receive SMS OTP code from time to time so I can login to government and other financial services back in Australia. Optus used to have some fairly decent long term plans before the COVID epidemic that would not have the service expire for a long period (even if your credit was expired). Seems like that all has changed now and I suspect blatant profiteering has become norm since login security with OTP has become so normalized now. Right now I am using an Optus Prepaid Long Expiry plan where I can top up $10 AUD every 45 days to keep the service active. My friend (expat too) has it even worse where they can not even access this plan and are on the Optus Prepaid Flex and getting done dirty being forced to topup and have credits expiring in a couple of days. We tried to move them to the long expiry plan but it seems impossible. I talk to Optus support and they just seem to deny it even though i am able to find the evidence here https://www.optus.com.au/shop/cis/Mobile?subGroup=Prepaid+Mobile I have investigating porting the number to another carrier but it seems that they are not any better and will need me to be in Australia for it to happen. Feeling a bit frustrated about it TBH. I heard about VOIP options with Google Voice, Zoom and such but it seems like they are setup for US citizens and also often charge more monthly costs than the Australian telcos. Is there any good options out there or should I just resign to the fact to keep smiling and take it as they bend me over?