AIS number / away for 1 year +

[hellohello]

I have had the same Thai # for 14 years ,  I had to leave LOS for 1 year+

Its registered with my passport.

 

I tried to just add credit online. No luck. Says phone # dose not exist .

What is the protocol to get my number back?

 

Thanks in advance!

HH

[manarak]

I don't think you can.

You should have switched the contract to postpaid with automatic bank charges.

But why don't you go to a 1-2 call /AIS office and find out?

[cnx355]

Check this web site,

 

It was posted by someone on TV a few months ago.  I did not try it yet.

 

https://www.recharge.com/en/thailand

[TheRascal]

This one works, I always use it: mobiletopup.com

[shaurene]

Have a word with the server. I am with IAS. IF I keep topping up, say 20bt each week or so and wait till you get a long valid date.

[agrow]

i'm with ais 12call, need my ph for internet banking no problem as long as ph is in credit can be out of Thailand more than 12 mths.

[kiteman9]

I'm using this website to  keep my US cell number, There service enables you to keep your number and when someone calls you you can set it up to have your other number ring or leave a voicemail. Check them out https://www.tossabledigits.com

[sometimewoodworker]

18 minutes ago, agrow said:

i'm with ais 12call, need my ph for internet banking no problem as long as ph is in credit can be out of Thailand more than 12 mths.

It isn't just that your account is in credit. The expiry of the credit is also important. 

 

You can have have a lot of credit and it may expire in a month. You can have a small credit and it is valid for up to 12 months. It just depends when you added the money.

[agrow]

38 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

It isn't just that your account is in credit. The expiry of the credit is also important. 

 

You can have have a lot of credit and it may expire in a month. You can have a small credit and it is valid for up to 12 months. It just depends when you added the money.

i allways top up just before i leave  ,make sure internet is turned off,tell ais i'm going ,come back 12 to 13 mths later no problem .been doing this for years.only had small problem when u had to register the sim,was out of Thailand at the time had to get a mate to do it.

[cracker1]

The easiest way is to top up regularly via Internet Banking from wherever you are in the world. Of course you will need a Thai bank account but if you have been here as long as you say, that will not be a problem.

[jumbo]

top up 1,000 thb and your good for a year... 

[QPRFC]

If you are with AIS then download the mobile phone app and you can keep an eye on your expiry. 

They recommended that I have a Thai friend top-up with 20 baht every 2 months at any 7-11 or AIS top-up machine.

[Dene16]

3 hours ago, shaurene said:

Have a word with the server. I am with IAS. IF I keep topping up, say 20bt each week or so and wait till you get a long valid date.

I have been out of thailand 7 months i went to AIS to ask them how i could do this.

They put about 7 transactions of 20 baht on the phone, each one increases the valid until date i was good for about 9 or 10 months still get AIS sms from thailand on it

Edited October 31, 2017 by Dene16
remove repeated word

[sead]

Very easy.

You just enter the*....# code of lets say 99thb per month and it will automatically retract that amount every month. But remember to fill up your card. Take a walk to the phone company and they will tell you all about it

[shoregold]

I was using True move on a post paid account with data for little over 1k baht per month. Told them was going to,leave for several months but did not want keep pay that much per month and still wanted to keep the number. They then put me on plan of about 56 baht per month to hold the number. It actually gives me 40 minutes but not using that anyway as I’m out of country. I just pay it monthly using my CAD credit card through the True app

[pumpjack]

top up 500 baht in sim before you leave,,,i just done it a few time with one2call and it works !!!

[hawker9000]

I've just been keeping loose track of my "valid date", and for years now that's kept my DTAC prepaid simcard and number "active".   However, on my most recent return, while the simcard and number were working fine, going online to top-up I became unable to log on to my account.  When I called customer service, they "fixed" it for me and my account access was restored, but when I asked how it had happened I was told that after 60 days my online account goes dormant (or something like that; I wasn't able to totally clarify just exactly what happens after 60d...).   'Kind of strange because the interruption in account access came AFTER two or three successful online transactions, but then suddenly stopped.   All I could take away was that FNO non-use for multi-month periods is likely to result in some inconvenience, valid date or no...

 

 

[mtls2005]

How long, exactly, will you be outside of Thailand?

 

Why keep the number if you're going to be gone for so long?

 

Personally, I would ask a friend to top-up my number for me in my absence. I top-up ~ 12 numbers for friends/colleagues at a BoonTerm top-up machine for 10 baht (12 baht with the 2 baht fee) every 30 days. Each top-up adds 30 days expiration, essentially maintaining a 365 day expiration. This activity also satisfies any usage requirements the provider may have  - some providers have a 90-day usage requirement (top-up, outbound call, etc.), which may or may not be strictly enforced.

 

So for one year, it is 144 THB.

 

 

[Gudge]

Before I go back to Canada I go to the d-tac counter in Big C mall and top up my sim with 800 baht and ask girl to make expiry date in one year. No problem , girl always does it and when I come back 6 months later still have number and same amount of baht on sim card as when I left

[wcoast]

AIS is the best as they will allow a full year of validity. Go to a top up machine at 7/11 and pay 10baht at a time into the number 12 times, fee is 2 baht per transaction. AIS used to give you expanded validity for a fee a few years ago, I don't know if they still do it. Post paid is a great way to go too, as they have many promotions to lure prepay customers to postpay.

Sent from my SM-A910F using Tapatalk

[sandyf]

On 10/31/2017 at 3:10 PM, sometimewoodworker said:

It isn't just that your account is in credit. The expiry of the credit is also important. 

 

You can have have a lot of credit and it may expire in a month. You can have a small credit and it is valid for up to 12 months. It just depends when you added the money.

That is the way that mine works but not sure about other plans. I always top up in small amounts to get the extended validity.

If you go to this website and follow the service tab in the top right you can see all your account details.

http://www.ais.co.th/2g-notice/en/

Note it is best to change to English before you enter the OTP.

[JamJar]

A really odd mixture of "advice" here, from the really bad to the irrelevant.

If you have left it for for more than a year, but didn't have a full year of validity for the SIM. The number would likely have been suspended, disconnected and recycled.

manarak has it right that you should go to an AIS service centre. They are the only ones who can reinstate it if possible.

 

In fact AIS is the most difficult when it comes to extending validity, as both  DTAC and TRUE have a system wherein you can pay 2 baht per month of extra validity, up to a year in advance.

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2017 by JamJar

[JamJar]

On 02/11/2017 at 8:47 AM, sandyf said:

That is the way that mine works but not sure about other plans. I always top up in small amounts to get the extended validity.

If you go to this website and follow the service tab in the top right you can see all your account details.

http://www.ais.co.th/2g-notice/en/

Note it is best to change to English before you enter the OTP.

https://eservice.ais.co.th/eServiceWeb is the correct link to the OTP service.

[sandyf]

16 hours ago, JamJar said:

https://eservice.ais.co.th/eServiceWeb is the correct link to the OTP service.

Academic, the service tab is in English and takes you to the same page. More than one way to skin a cat.

[tolsti]

On 10/31/2017 at 5:29 PM, QPRFC said:

If you are with AIS then download the mobile phone app and you can keep an eye on your expiry. 

They recommended that I have a Thai friend top-up with 20 baht every 2 months at any 7-11 or AIS top-up machine.

This may not work anymore.  7-11 dumps AIS

 

[KittenKong]

On 01/11/2017 at 8:38 PM, wcoast said:

AIS is the best as they will allow a full year of validity.

 

As far as I know all the service providers allow this for prepaid accounts. My True account certainly does, as does a friend's DTAC account.

 

Both have a simple code that can be dialled which adds 30 days to the validity for about 2B or 3B per month, up to a maximum of one year.

 

So as long as you have enough credit (which at most will be less than 50B per year) you can extend the validity for as long as you like, without actually having to top up if you dont need to or cant.

[Chivas]

2 hours ago, KittenKong said:

 

As far as I know all the service providers allow this for prepaid accounts. My True account certainly does, as does a friend's DTAC account.

 

Both have a simple code that can be dialled which adds 30 days to the validity for about 2B or 3B per month, up to a maximum of one year.

 

So as long as you have enough credit (which at most will be less than 50B per year) you can extend the validity for as long as you like, without actually having to top up if you dont need to or cant.

Literally half hour ago used Trues short code for 2 baht to extend validity for another month. Am sure AIS will have similar codes

[sometimewoodworker]

7 hours ago, Chivas said:

Literally half hour ago used Trues short code for 2 baht to extend validity for another month. Am sure AIS will have similar codes

AIS does not have that service.

[KittenKong]

5 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

AIS does not have that service.

 

According to this page it does, or did:

 

http://help.mobiletopup.com/knowledge-base/how-do-i-extend-the-expiry-date-validity-of-my-sim/

[JamJar]

10 hours ago, KittenKong said:

 

According to this page it does, or did:

 

http://help.mobiletopup.com/knowledge-base/how-do-i-extend-the-expiry-date-validity-of-my-sim/

 

Then you didn't understand what you read.

 

The other two networks allows you to add validity for 2 baht per month.

 

The page to which you linked indicates that AIS will charge you 30 baht per month.

 

Some would argue that is not the same service.