SIM card on arrival at Suvarnabhumi

[coralia]

Is there a place where I can buy a Thai SIM card upon arrival at Suvarnabhumi? Or add money to my old one?

[Aachen]

Quote

There are several Family Mart's at BKK.

 

[KneeDeep]

AIS/DTAC/Truemove H all have booths in the arrivals hall. But just top up existing SIM at Family Mart if still active.

[coralia]

I'm not sure if it's still active... I haven't been in Thailand since February.

I would rather go to a DTAC booth if there is one than to Family Mart... 

I have a new phone and it's supposed to be dual-SIM. Does this mean that I can use a Thai SIM and the SIM from my country concurrently...? I apologize if this is a stupid question ????.....

[Aachen]

Put the card into a mobile phone and check whether it logs in. Then check you balance. Or call the nbr.

 

[petesc55]

If your local phone has coverage of some sort in Thailand it will work. 

You usually have options in the settings which sim card to use for calls, internet, messages, etc.  

I'd check with your home phone provider to make sure what coverage you will have, and at what price?

 

Dtac has a booth in arrivals.      Unless you set your card up to stay active before you left thailand, paid the minimal fee to extend the activity of the card, up to 12 months, I think, it has been deactivated. 

I forget the fee to add months of activity to your phone BEFORE you leave thailand, but it's not much.

I remembered to do this  the last time i left thailand.  I don't think there is any way to check if it's active unless you are in thailand, even if you paid the fees before leaving thailand.    When you go to the dtac counter they can check your old sim card, but it's probably pointless.  

[Aachen]

9 hours ago, petesc55 said:

if you paid the fees before leaving thailand.

At any time - before and after leaving. Even from abroad.

[petesc55]

I never figured out how that worked (From abroad) with a Dtac sim card, when the dtac sim wasn't set up previously to work in another country before leaving thailand.   (from the phone itself, unless there is someway to set up an online account you can do from a computer?)

   I topped up my number from abroad last year a few weeks after leaving thailand without doing anything.  The money just vanished. 

  I think I did it correctly this time, using the code to add months to the number before leaving thailand.  Got the confirmation texts.

I will see in 4 months when I go back.

[LongTimeLurker]

21 hours ago, petesc55 said:

I topped up my number from abroad last year a few weeks after leaving thailand without doing anything.  The money just vanished

Did you still have the SIM card in the 'phone?

 

If so it switches to roaming and you get charged for all those spam messages that keep getting sent

[LongTimeLurker]

On 11/24/2018 at 3:24 AM, petesc55 said:

I don't think there is any way to check if it's active unless you are in thailand

Put the SIM card in the 'phone and dial the SSD number for your balance.

 

Also if it's active you'll see an 'R' where the signal bar is.

[Horace Lamb]

7 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

If so it switches to roaming and you get charged for all those spam messages that keep getting sent

Definitely don't get charged for spam SMS or any SMS for that matter received on a Thai SIM abroad.  Use my Thai SIM abroad all the time to receive OTPs.

[Aachen]

12 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Put the SIM card in the 'phone and dial the SSD number for your balance.

 

Also if it's active you'll see an 'R' where the signal bar is.

Do not think, just do it! It works, with and without roaming!

[LongTimeLurker]

4 minutes ago, Horace Lamb said:

Definitely don't get charged for spam SMS or any SMS for that matter received on a Thai SIM abroad.  Use my Thai SIM abroad all the time to receive OTPs.

I did when I left it active overseas, my balance was run down and all I had received were SMS.

[Horace Lamb]

21 hours ago, petesc55 said:

I never figured out how that worked (From abroad) with a Dtac sim card, when the dtac sim wasn't set up previously to work in another country before leaving thailand.   (from the phone itself, unless there is someway to set up an online account you can do from a computer?)

There's no need for any special setup to the SIM prior to leaving Thailand. 

 

Turn on your phone with your DTAC SIM inserted wherever you are in the world and let it pick up the local network.  Head on over to the DTAC URL and type in your Thai phone number.  Then you'll receive a SMS with a 4-digit OTP.  Enter the OTP into the website and head to Jaidee services then Jaidee Day Give-away.  If you haven't enough credit then topup with your credit card. 

 

I leave very little credit on the SIM once I've left Thailand and only topup with roughly the amount I require.

 

https://my.dtac.co.th/esv/en/login

[Horace Lamb]

7 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

I did when I left it active overseas, my balance was run down and all I had received were SMS.

I suspect you're losing balance on data roaming rather than SMS, in fact I'm absolutely certain of it.  Turn off data roaming which doesn't affect your ability to receive SMS. 

[Aachen]

12 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

I did when I left it active overseas, my balance was run down and all I had received were SMS.

Maybe background data traffic?

[LongTimeLurker]

2 hours ago, Horace Lamb said:

I suspect you're losing balance on data roaming rather than SMS, in fact I'm absolutely certain of it.  Turn off data roaming which doesn't affect your ability to receive SMS. 

I didn't have data turned on. I never do.

[Horace Lamb]

3 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

I didn't have data turned on. I never do.

Okay, so not sure what is going on then.  But I know for a fact that I've never been charged for receiving DTAC SMS in my home country.  As soon as I turn on my phone with my DTAC SIM inserted then I'll receive at least half a dozen spam texts and never been charged.  Same vice versa, if I receive a text in Thailand on my home country SIM I also don't get charged.  This is a well known fact that receiving SMS doesn't incur charges, but sending SMS abroad will incur a charge.

 

Something else going on with your plan.

[Bangkok Barry]

On 11/23/2018 at 5:41 PM, coralia said:

I'm not sure if it's still active... I haven't been in Thailand since February.

I would rather go to a DTAC booth if there is one than to Family Mart... 

I have a new phone and it's supposed to be dual-SIM. Does this mean that I can use a Thai SIM and the SIM from my country concurrently...? I apologize if this is a stupid question ????.....

 

The DTAC booth will be able to tell you if it's still active. And you can probably control your sims via settings on your phone (ie set it to use both, or one or the other)

[The Fat Controller]

For prepaid DTAC SIMs International Roaming has to be activated using the APP or the website, so if the OP is already out of Thailand there is no way to get the OTP if they cannot connect to a local network.

 

IR works fine, and you can add validity as long as you can get the OTP and have credit.

 

Credit can be added easily overseas if IR has been enabled.

[owenm]

On the question of whether your DTAC sim will work in your new dual sim phone will depend solely on the sim type.. Many duos now accept nano size sim cards for both sim 1 and 2.. Others may be nano for sim 1 and for sim 2 either Micro SD for additional phone storage, or micro sim or nano depending on your phone.. Mobile data and/or roaming if set is usually only active on sim 1 slot with 4G.. Sim 2 slot only 3G and Internet only via WiFi.. 

If your DTAC sim is the wrong size can usually be replaced with correct at no charge, but most now enable you to pop out the external frame of your sim to make nano size.. 

[sandyf]

On 11/23/2018 at 5:41 PM, coralia said:

I'm not sure if it's still active... I haven't been in Thailand since February.

I would rather go to a DTAC booth if there is one than to Family Mart... 

I have a new phone and it's supposed to be dual-SIM. Does this mean that I can use a Thai SIM and the SIM from my country concurrently...? I apologize if this is a stupid question ????.....

Yes you can have both sims in the phone at the same time but you need to be very careful with your preferences if you want to have them both active at the same time, can be quite confusing. I got fed up and now only have one active at any one time. If like me you decide to switch from one to another you do not need to worry about preferences but on switching back have to remember to switch off data again, there are 2 settings for data, data roaming and data usage.

 

[THE REVERAND]

Simple when you arrive buy  a sim card at airport there are many to pick charge it with 100 bht then next day see if both work. If they both work then you have a backup. You will spend 125bht sim n top up. The cheapest insurance you will get in Thailand. 

[ravip]

On 11/23/2018 at 4:11 PM, coralia said:

I'm not sure if it's still active... I haven't been in Thailand since February.

I would rather go to a DTAC booth if there is one than to Family Mart... 

I have a new phone and it's supposed to be dual-SIM. Does this mean that I can use a Thai SIM and the SIM from my country concurrently...? I apologize if this is a stupid question ????.....

Yes, you can insert both SIM's and use them concurrently. When ever you need, you can deactivate either SIM if you prefer to stop incoming roaming calls, and activate same when necessary (saves battery too!). Data roaming can be very expensive.

Hence, if you are not very familiar with the settings, please ask someone who does to explain how it works.

A very convenient facility, when used correctly. Normally, international incoming SMS are free - useful for OTP.

Edited December 5, 2018 by ravip
Add info...

[observer90210]

Change your phone operator. You can still keep the old number I think. Not sure however if the process is fast and if it can be handled at Swampy Airport.