I've done several searches on ThaiVisa and haven't found an answer. I just have a cheap little Nokia phone without a "dual-band" system that I once saw offered on more expensive phones. Two questions:

#1: Does DTAC have international roaming for those using a DTAC SIM card in the USA? I went to the Thai DTAC website, but every time I clicked a promising link in English, it inconveniently switched to Thai language. I know that four years ago SE Asia and the USA used entirely different cell phone systems and were incompatible. But has there been any progress in 4 years?

#2: Can a SIM card be bought in the USA, installed into my Nokia phone, and a pre-paid card be bought to use there? Or again, does the USA/ASIA incompatibility for phone systems crop up again?

Appreciate being educated about this....

I think you'll need a "tri-band" phone to be able to use it in USA

totster

You will need a tri-band phone, GSM900/1800/1900, in order to connect to the T-Mobile or Cingular (now AT&T) GSM1900 networks in the U.S.A. I suspect your phone is GSM900/1800 only.

If you had a GSM1900 capable phone, and had made arrangements with DTAC for international roaming then you would be able to receive calls, and originate calls (albeit at grossly inflated per minute charges, with a very kludgey dialling sequence), and receive SMSes. You cannot originate an SMS.

With my 1-2-Call SIM I get a signal from both T-Mobile and Cingular in The U.S.A. I have two phones. When someone from Thailand calls me I do not answer, but rather call them back on my T-Mo phone (using a calling card!).

T-Mobile To-Go is a pre-paid service in the U.S.A. that I use. It works for me.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/default...?plancategory=4

You can buy a T-Mo SIM in any T-Mo retail outlet, or on e-Bay. Check the coverage map to make sure you'll have a signal. You would need a GSM1900-capable phone in order to use a T-MO pre-paid SIM. E-Bay is the best option, maybe someone in the U.S.A. could buy it for you and give it to you when you arrive?

Maybe check out this link --> http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=652219

I have a basic Nokia 6010 GSM1900 phone, locked to the T-Mo network, that I no longer need, and would be willing to sell for 1,000 THB. I live in Bangkok.

For anyone who is travelling with a dtac phone it might be worth bookmarking the following page:

http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/roa_thta.shtml#SectA

Hope of some use...