Thai Sim Cards

[qwertz]

I'd welcome some input on this. My customers always call my mobile wherever I am and often want translations in a hurry, often by phone. I'm on German Telecom and this can run up hefty bills. Is there a financial benefit in having one mobile on a Thai SIM card just for that purpose?

[soundman]

I'd welcome some input on this. My customers always call my mobile wherever I am and often want translations in a hurry, often by phone. I'm on German Telecom and this can run up hefty bills. Is there a financial benefit in having one mobile on a Thai SIM card just for that purpose?

Really depends alot on whether you are using the phone in Germay or in Thailand. Some of my Australian friends actually keep their thai simcards even if they are in thai only 2 -3 weeks a year. They just top up their pre-paids getting a year or more time limit & therfore don't have to buy a new one on any given trip to thailand.

Last time my wife took her mobile on global roaming to Australia the intrnational roaming charges were quite expensive.

Cheers,

Soundman.

[qwertz]

I'd welcome some input on this. My customers always call my mobile wherever I am and often want translations in a hurry, often by phone. I'm on German Telecom and this can run up hefty bills. Is there a financial benefit in having one mobile on a Thai SIM card just for that purpose?

Really depends alot on whether you are using the phone in Germay or in Thailand. Some of my Australian friends actually keep their thai simcards even if they are in thai only 2 -3 weeks a year. They just top up their pre-paids getting a year or more time limit & therfore don't have to buy a new one on any given trip to thailand.

Last time my wife took her mobile on global roaming to Australia the intrnational roaming charges were quite expensive.

Cheers,

Soundman.

Hence the question. Once I'm in LOS I usually fly on to OZ; I get calls everywhere and I don't know if it's cheaper to carry a spare mobile on a Thai top up card. From the charges I get it looks like the calls are relayed somewhere so that I'm charged for receiving as well as sending.

[soundman]

I'd welcome some input on this. My customers always call my mobile wherever I am and often want translations in a hurry, often by phone. I'm on German Telecom and this can run up hefty bills. Is there a financial benefit in having one mobile on a Thai SIM card just for that purpose?

Really depends alot on whether you are using the phone in Germay or in Thailand. Some of my Australian friends actually keep their thai simcards even if they are in thai only 2 -3 weeks a year. They just top up their pre-paids getting a year or more time limit & therfore don't have to buy a new one on any given trip to thailand.

Last time my wife took her mobile on global roaming to Australia the intrnational roaming charges were quite expensive.

Cheers,

Soundman.

Hence the question. Once I'm in LOS I usually fly on to OZ; I get calls everywhere and I don't know if it's cheaper to carry a spare mobile on a Thai top up card. From the charges I get it looks like the calls are relayed somewhere so that I'm charged for receiving as well as sending.

Unfortunately, as far as I know, a top up card only works inside thailand. (no global roaming).

Cheers,

Soundman.

[qwertz]

Thanks anyway, soundman, I'll have to check into it further. I'll leave the thread open, maybe the Dutch or German BMs have an answer.

[Naam]

Thanks anyway, soundman, I'll have to check into it further. I'll leave the thread open, maybe the Dutch or German BMs have an answer.

thai sims to top up do not work outside thailand. for international travel i use vodafone.de which is bloody expensive too. received a few calls in Brazil last month... €UR 2.84 per minute!

[peter991]

What I bought on eBay was a dual SIM card adapter holder. This compact device slots into the standard SIM card holder and allows me to switch between my Australian SIM card and my Thai SIM card easily. It cost $AUD1.99 and is available from most Thai mobile phone shops.

Another option is to have a second phone - with your home country's SIM card in one phone and a Thai SIM card in the other phone. Let you contacts know what times (your home country's local time) that this phone will be turned on. Give them both phone numbers, so if they really want to contact you at any time, they are forced to phone the Thai phone number. Make sure they know they have to phone the Thailand prefix, which is +668.

Peter

Edited March 24, 2007 by peter991

[Crossy]

Thanks anyway, soundman, I'll have to check into it further. I'll leave the thread open, maybe the Dutch or German BMs have an answer.

thai sims to top up do not work outside thailand. for international travel i use vodafone.de which is bloody expensive too. received a few calls in Brazil last month... €UR 2.84 per minute!

My 12Call prepay phone works just fine overseas, tried it in Europe, UK, Philippines, you have to ask them to enable it (free IIRC). You pay for incoming calls @ something like 40 Baht a minute (still cheaper than €2.84 per minute, ouch!!) so make sure you have plenty of credit, there's a weird prefix to add when dialling out but I use Skype to call out so I can't remember the prefix.

Although you can't top-up from the phone when abroad you can still get someone to in Thailand to add credit using an ATM should funds run low.

Edited March 24, 2007 by Crossy

[Jacqqq]

Just a quick question here ... I'm using a 1-2-call and let's just say that I have 200baht credit left which expires on 31st March. Granted that I will lose the remaining credit upon expiration, can I still keep the number and reload 3 months down the road on my next visit ???

[KhunMarco]

Just a quick question here ... I'm using a 1-2-call and let's just say that I have 200baht credit left which expires on 31st March. Granted that I will lose the remaining credit upon expiration, can I still keep the number and reload 3 months down the road on my next visit ???

I'm not 100% sure, I think you have to "keep it alive" by recharging periodically, even if you don't use the credit.

Can't tell you exactly the time span though, sorry

[Thai-Spy]

There seem to be some misunderstandings in this thread.

You can in fact top up a Thai mobile phone while the phone is with you in another country (although perhaps not all countries) with the code from an ordinary scratch off card. We've done this frequently in the past for staff members, clients and friends of the firm.

In some instances it does seem that certain card values don't earn as much validity time as they would if reloaded within Thailand.

The best solution is to call your service provider or send them an email, and ask for specific guidance. This would make a good start:

"I am taking my Thai phone home with me to 'country X'. Can I top up my phone from there if a friend emails me the code from a top up card? If he sends me the code from a card with 'value Y', how much extra time to do I get".

There are just too many variables such as the foreign country involved, the provider and service plan you have and the amount of the top up card to make any definitive statements.

[qwertz]

What I bought on eBay was a dual SIM card adapter holder. This compact device slots into the standard SIM card holder and allows me to switch between my Australian SIM card and my Thai SIM card easily. It cost $AUD1.99 and is available from most Thai mobile phone shops.

Another option is to have a second phone - with your home country's SIM card in one phone and a Thai SIM card in the other phone. Let you contacts know what times (your home country's local time) that this phone will be turned on. Give them both phone numbers, so if they really want to contact you at any time, they are forced to phone the Thai phone number. Make sure they know they have to phone the Thailand prefix, which is +668.

Peter

Thanks for this this, I'll give it a try. It's the any time that's the problem for me because all my customers are in Europe and there's up to 10 hours time difference depending on where I am. I attract the same charges Dr. Naam mentions and I don't want to pass them on to customers if I can avoid it.