Phone under 3,000THB

[elgenon]

My bud is coming to Thailand from the States and wants a phone he doesn't have to worry too much about (working. losing). And would use it as a backup in the States. He would like to keep it under 3,000 THB or thereabouts. Is it possible? Any recommendations? His current phone is android.

 

If not, how about 3,000 - 4500 THB?

[Anders W Ferslev]

Nokia 3 

[KhunBENQ]

As a basic overview: about 3200 offering on Lazada

https://www.lazada.co.th/shop-mobiles/?location=local&price=-3000

(just for comparison, he can buy at one the x-thousand mobile shops)

 

Sure he can get a fairly usable thing with Android for under 3000.

So many.

Huawei is strong in this segment.

 

To know exactly whether it is good for the USA, you should state what provider (telecom) he wants to use it with.

Edited March 11, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[RichCor]

3 hours ago, elgenon said:

And would use it as a backup in the States

 

What is his current mobile provider in the US?

 

You're unlikely to find a 'budget' phone that has the same freq/band coverage similar to a high-end Samsung or Apple phone that will cover all the different freq/bands necessary for 'world phone' coverage.

 

 

Thailand 3G/4G(LTE) service is provided on Freq/Bands:  850MHz(B5), 900MHz(B8), 1800MHz(B3), 2100 MHz(B1)

 

US service is 

 

CARRIER		3G BANDS	3G FREQUENCIES	4G LTE BANDS	4G LTE FREQUENCIES
AT&T		2, 5	1900, 850	2, 4, 5, 12, 17, 30	1900, 1700/2100, 850, 700, 2300
VERIZON		5, 2	850, 1900	2, 4, 5, 13	1900, 1700/2100, 850, 700
T-MOBILE		2, 4	1900, 1700/2100	2, 4, 12, 66, 71	1900, 1700/2100, 700, 600
SPRINT		2, 10	1900, 800	25, 26, 41	1900, 850, 2500
US CELLULAR		5, 2	850, 1900	2, 4, 5, 12	1900, 1700/2100, 850, 700

 

 

[Jeffrey346]

Some of the phones under B3000 may work on the 3G band in the US. 4G most likely will not.

 

Why not use his US phone? If the SIM is locked he can call the carrier for the unlock code. 

[QPRFC]

Just bought an Oppo A37 for the mrs....it works well for 4,000 baht. 

Android 5.1 OS, microsd slot, dual sim. 

No NFC though if that matters to you. 

[lopburi3]

This was selling for 3300 last week but now 3900 (list 5990) and seems to have everything covered and with enough memory to run all the apps needed.  

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/wiko-u-feel4g-5-hd-32gb3gb-13mp5mp-i134183064-s149652036.html?search=1

[mikecha]

we have an oppo To works great and cheap 

[ujayujay]

Cubot Magic. 3 GB Ram/16 GB Rom. Dualsim. Memorycard up to 128 GB. 2700 THB from China.

Edited March 11, 2018 by ujayujay

[edwardflory]

ASUS... SET to AMERICAN English before you activate Th SIM.  Works on T-Mobil and ATT,  →Thai SIM (AIS) automatically searches for strongest network in US ← when set to US English, enter your ZIP code for nearest service center for warranty service etc.  Works on 4g LTE. 

2/32 memory max.

2 SIM,  SD card slot

Quad band

 

About the only thing missing is OTG

 

Look for the International model.

 

Phone at 3000 to 3600THB at Lotus, for lowest cost mobile..ask if "THIS MOBILE" , if you buy, automatically UPGRADES to Android 7.1 - some do, some don't,  upgrading takes about 45 minutes,  make sure battery fully charged or keep pluged in.

 

Freedom Pop gives free minimum service in the USA, so, free backup/private number.

[IAMHERE]

Samsung Galaxy J3 are pretty cheap on ebay in the USA, just make sure it is unlocked. I use a Thai Sim(ais) in Thailand and a Consumer Cellular Sim in the USA.

[elgenon]

Sorry, things have changed. He told me he has a Microsoft phone which is no longer supported so he will use the phone in US after Thailand. So I convinced him to up the limit to 6000 THB. I will probably add some money to his budget.

 

I keep hearing Moto g5 Plus is great and Moto g4 is also. Yes? Works with ATT which is his carrier here.

 

What others?

[edwardflory]

I still say ASUS...Got to the high end.

With more memory and OTG

 

The reason I say this is the ability to register for service ( warranty ) in the US from the get go.

 

Make sure WARRANTY service - LOCAL USA .. IS .. available in US with ANY mobile you buy. 

[lopburi3]

1 hour ago, edwardflory said:

I still say ASUS...Got to the high end.

With more memory and OTG

 

The reason I say this is the ability to register for service ( warranty ) in the US from the get go.

 

Make sure WARRANTY service - LOCAL USA .. IS .. available in US with ANY mobile you buy. 

Or do as originally intended and buy in the 3000 baht range and throw away if it fails.  Not a great believer in such service (probably because failure is always a month after expiration or they take ages to fix or they find a reason to not cover.  Better start with good quality at low price in today's world IMHO.

[Kron]

With a kid that seems to go through phones at an alarming rate I decided to go for the cheap throw away type.

 

Got a Chinese SKG S1 (RAM2GB/32GB) mobile from Tesco for 2590 Baht. Lazada is selling it for the same price - SKG S1

 

Despite being dropped a number of times, left in the sun, kept on charger all day, it is still working after 10 months. Which is longer than 2 Samsung phones had survived.

[RichCor]

7 hours ago, elgenon said:

I keep hearing Moto g5 Plus is great

 

WillMyPhoneWork.net is a website that was created by a Reddit user that will check phone compatibility against different world-wide mobile networks. Unfortunately the site doesn't have an https: security certificate so is being flagged in some browsers as 'Unsafe/Not secure'.

 

 

 

 

Please note: Make sure to check the phone model number and that model's specifications. as this will have a direct impact on network compatibility.

Edited March 12, 2018 by RichCor

[Lokie]

8 hours ago, elgenon said:

Sorry, things have changed. He told me he has a Microsoft phone which is no longer supported so he will use the phone in US after Thailand. So I convinced him to up the limit to 6000 THB. I will probably add some money to his budget.

 

I keep hearing Moto g5 Plus is great and Moto g4 is also. Yes? Works with ATT which is his carrier here.

 

What others?

I got the Moto G5S Plus seven weeks ago in Big C Jungceylon Patong, is a great phone running android 7 with all the bells & whistles for 8995 Baht, the version you mention is a lower spec model than mine so will be lower priced, I do know the best phone for sub 5K baht is the Moto E4 Plus, even has a great 5000mAh battery giving very long batt life Big C had them for 3995 Baht on offer, check youtube links on these models, they have great write ups, the former voted best cheap smartphone 2017/18 v price

Edited March 12, 2018 by Lokie
model confirmation

[elgenon]

Thanks all! 

[mtls2005]

I'm not sure you'd be able to buy the Moto G5 Plus XT1687 variant here in Thailand? Probably the XT1684 or XT1685 variants would be sold here.

 

Maybe best to buy in the U.S.? eBay has a few XT1687's, open box as low as $195.

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2018 by mtls2005

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 3/11/2018 at 12:19 PM, RichCor said:

Thailand 3G/4G(LTE) service is provided on Freq/Bands:  850MHz(B5), 900MHz(B8), 1800MHz(B3), 2100 MHz(B1)

 

 

Hey Rich, do you know, or can you point to an accurate source, that shows a CURRENT breakdown BY CARRIER for just what 3G and LTE bands each of the three main Thai carriers -- AIS, DTAC & True -- are actually using for their services right now?

 

Some of the generic sources I'm finding out on the Internet seem to be out of date, such as the Frequency Check website saying AIS has no LTE service. And I found a True Move investor presentation from earlier this year saying they have access to 4G bands on 900, 1800 and 2100, but no 3rd party site I can find shows them running 4G on 900... Just two of the confusion issues out there on this kind of subject.

 

[mtls2005]

The three major providers have spectrum, so 850/900/1800/2100, etc., on which they often divide to offer 2G, 3G and 4G/LTE services.

 

So, for example, AIS has 15 MHz of both 1800 and 2100 spectrum. In some places, down to the base-station, they might split that out to 5 MHz for 3G (primarily to handle voice fall-back) and 10 MHz for 4G. The 900 MHz slices are small, only 10 MHz each for AIS and TrueMove H. Sometimes the providers make proclamations, like TrueMove H saying they would use their 900 MHz "...on 16,000 base-stations for both 2G and 4G..."

 

I'm not sure they make this level of detail public, and it varies by location, and is even a bit dynamic. Very generally speaking, I'd suspect AIS and TrueMove H to be using their 900 MHz primarily in more rural areas, but that's just a guess. Just one reason why they're probably going to get an Article 44 bailout?