Cell Coverage & Vehicle Rental & bus costs

[CanuckT]

Hi all, 

 

   Coming to Samui next week and have a couple questoins:

 

  1. Mobile (Cell) Coverage - which provider has the best coverage on the 3 islands (Samui, Phanang and Tao)?  I am going to get a SIM at the airport if I can with a large data plan, just wondering who has the fastest speed and best coverage on the islands.  Any other tips or tricks for saving some money on service would be great too.. I'll be on the islands for 4-6 weeks.

 

  2. Car Rental on Samui.  I'd like to rent a car for a few days at a time a couple times to explore Samui.   Where do people recommend renting from for a fair price with good insurance. Just need a small car, doesn't need to be fancy or anything.

 

  Last questions if you have made it this far..   How much are the Songtaews (sp) buses on Samui, I've heard some really high prices from others of 100-200 bhat for short shared rides.

 

Thank you!

[evadgib]

1. Dtac. My wife has Ais but hers failed when we encountered a problem on the mountain rd recently. Mine was ok and enabled us to call for assistance quite easily.

 

2. There are several on the island. I'll PM one that came up in conversation a few days ago if I can find the details.

 

3. Keep a stash of THB 20 notes handy for journeys before 6pm. The most you'll need is 3 unless you're daft enough to ask 'how much'!

 

HTH

[CanuckT]

Thanks! So for the rides, do they just tell you a random price when you get off?  What happens after 6pm?

[khunPer]

2 hours ago, CanuckT said:

Thanks! So for the rides, do they just tell you a random price when you get off?  What happens after 6pm?

You need to negotiate a price, often same as a negotiated taxi ("Taxi Meter") price at that time.

 

The major car rental companies use to have full insurance, whilst some small local shops may have limited insurance. Often they'll deliver the car to you. You can book from your resort, or from Internet.

[notmyself]

3 minutes ago, khunPer said:

You need to negotiate a price, often same as a negotiated taxi ("Taxi Meter") price at that time.

 

 

Yeah. Might get it for less if there are other people going to the same general destination but otherwise it's private hire. See arguments all the time when the Sunday market is on. People come down early (late afternoon) from Chaweng or what not and then when they wish to return it's 3-4 x the cost. Someimes I'll stop and take the time to explain but if it looks like it has the potential to get ugly (like too many 69 Baht cocktails) then I'll just keep walking and not get involved. 

 

When was the last price change because I'm pretty sure it was 60 Baht max when I came here some 18 years ago?

 

 

[khunPer]

14 hours ago, notmyself said:

Yeah. Might get it for less if there are other people going to the same general destination but otherwise it's private hire.

What can happen is that you negotiate a price, for example 400-600 baht from Chaweng or Lamai to your destination – same a "metered taxi" would chage you as negotiated fixed price, when not using a meter – but where the taxi will take you straight to the agreed spot, a song thaew may stop on the way and fill up with other passengers heading same direction, and charge them separately; even if they should head to the same place as you, you won't get a discount...

14 hours ago, notmyself said:

When was the last price change because I'm pretty sure it was 60 Baht max when I came here some 18 years ago?

The daytime price per passenger depend of distance, from 20 baht and up, I believe in steps of 20 baht; i.e. 40 baht, 60 baht, etc. I seem to remember that someone posted that from the ferries in Nathon and Lipa Noi, and to the other side of Island to Chaweng or Lamai, the fare now is around 100 baht. I'm however not a frequent song thaew user, normally using my own vehicle.

[notmyself]

1 hour ago, khunPer said:

What can happen is that you negotiate a price, for example 400-600 baht from Chaweng or Lamai to your destination – same a "metered taxi" would chage you as negotiated fixed price, when not using a meter – but where the taxi will take you straight to the agreed spot, a song thaew may stop on the way and fill up with other passengers heading same direction, and charge them separately; even if they should head to the same place as you, you won't get a discount...

The daytime price per passenger depend of distance, from 20 baht and up, I believe in steps of 20 baht; i.e. 40 baht, 60 baht, etc. I seem to remember that someone posted that from the ferries in Nathon and Lipa Noi, and to the other side of Island to Chaweng or Lamai, the fare now is around 100 baht. I'm however not a frequent song thaew user, normally using my own vehicle.

 

Also now not a frequent user. Private hire means exactly that so whilst the driver may speak limited English, her or she does know the phrase along with the concept. In cases of post 6pm you negotiate 2 prices in that you pay half the amount should they decide to pick anyone else up and never had a problem with it. I actually prefer a song thaew because both myself and whomever I am traveling with can sit and have a beer and a cigarette if wanted.

 

All very reminiscent of the 'tuk tuk' scam. Standing there with your missus and they ask for 200 Baht to take you to 'x' which you negotiate down to 100 only to find at the destination that it is 100 Baht each.

 

With regard to the 100 Baht max... I'm not sure that that is actually the legal maximum fare but as mentioned earlier, if you ask how much then you could well get charged anything. Exactly how far 20 Baht or 40 Baht would get you I have no idea on so I've just always paid the max 60 Baht and never had an issue nor have others who have done the same on my suggestion.  I wonder where I or we could find out the actual legal answer insofar as what that very question really means over here in LoS.

 

 

[evadgib]

2 hours ago, notmyself said:

I wonder where I or we could find out the actual legal answer insofar as what that very question really means over here in LoS.

Details are posted at the land transport office and behind every driver. I don't use them often but usually photograph the latter as it also shows who is at the wheel!