True Move - Why I Moved To Ais!

[scratt]

For about the last three years I have been an ex-Orange / True Move customer... No longer, and what a blessed relief!

In that period of time people that know me have taken to calling me on my wife's AIS GSM pay as you go phone.

This is simply because whether I am in Bangkok, Jomtien, Korat or Koh Samui - or anywhere in fact - it is easier to get a clear line, nay simply easier to get through, on my wife's phone when compared to True.

Likewise I have taken to using my wife's phone to make calls making a mockery of the supposed saving I get with a contract phone and paying for x hundred minutes per month... Each month I would pay the bill dutifully and just try to make as many calls as I could (hands-free) in the car. Our car being the only place I seemed to be able to get a good signal with True... and even then it would drop out far more than my wife's phone.

Before you ask.. Yes I have tried changing my phone, and have also swapped SIM cards between the two phones.

Fast forward to three months ago, and I get a bill for 2000 Baht on top of my usual monthly bill for an additional 350MB of internet transfer. Not withstanding that I have paid for FOUR 7 day unlimited GPRS packages in that same month. Apparently this massive 350MB transfer was done a 'few minutes' before I text to renew my 'one week unlimited' GPRS package for that week. [i'll do some maths in a bit about how 'easy' it is to do 350MB of transfer on a mobile connection in Thailand!]

Of course I objected. True said they would investigate. I explained this was my business phone and that I cannot afford to be cut off, so would continue to pay all bills while they investigate, except the 2000 Baht I am disputing. They said they would certainly not cut me off.. "being a good customer" and all. "Always paying my bills etc."

To cut a long story short. I continued to pay my bill. I continued to chase the 'investigation' and in fact initiate two new investigations over a period of two months as no-one inside True seems to know what is going on. I was promised itemised bills, reports, answers etc. etc.

Finally they came back with a glib reply that I had used the internet at 11pm on one day and then asked for my unlimited package (which incidentaly was 7 days and costs 90 baht) a little after midnight. My phone logs (that I keep on my Treo) show something completely different.. But anyway doing some simple maths it is totally impossible to do 350MB of transfer on *any* True internet connection in an hour in my experience... especially on their mobile network where the best average speed I have ever seen is around 5k/sec. Of course this maths was beyond anyone in the True office! Their "techs" said I had done it, so I must have! Let's forget the fact that I am actually in IT and Computer Engineering, and have been dealing with this kind of stuff for over 25 years!

I of course kept a paper trail of my calls, and who I spoke to, and eventually started asking to speak to a supervisor, or a manager.. Of course none of those kind of people are *ever* in the office at all! I guess they must be out playing golf....

Eventualy my phone did get cut off, even though I had confirmed several times that it would not be, and had continued to pay all bills in full the day they arrived. What was super annoying was that not only had they now made me look stupid to all my business contacts they had also cut me off mid-cycle in their new-improved one month uber expensive GPRS package, and half way through my minutes package.. At one point they did offer a 400 Baht discount spread over three months if I would pay the 2000 Baht I did not owe them *now* in full!

They then proceeded to tell me that I had to pay everything, the disputed amount, the bill to date (including stuff I could not now use, and at this point had not been able to use for 10 days while I argued with them further), and a re-connection fee to boot! Of course at that point I involved my laywer, and he is still waiting, as I am, for a copy of my bill, my investigation, or some explanation. It's all gone very quiet at True, but they keep sending the bills. Of course I can cancel my contract if I spend half a day of my time "to go to the head office, and pay everything" they think I owe them.. Thanks!

Today I went to get a contract version of my wife's phone - AIS - and found the staff to be so helpful it was "untrue" (pardon the pun). My phone was online with loads of free minutes, and with text, talk and GPRS bundles that make sense. They even enabled me for roaming there and then ready for a business trip tomorrow.

When I got home I simply plugged their SIM in and all my GPRS settings, answer phone settings etc. etc. were updated in my phone immediately. No fuss. A big difference from the hours I spent on the line trying to simply get GPRS access points that work from True staff (admittedly that was a couple of years ago). I think I was still using 'orange' as my username and password to use GPRS on True up until quite recently, and when I asked them what the new ones were they had no idea in the 'tech' dept.

And guess what.. I can make calls with crystal clear voices whilst relaxing on my sofa just like my wife can.. It's a lot easier than climbing off the side of our building and hanging from the balcony on a rope.... which is what I reckon I would have to do to get a signal with True! Perhaps that is why so many foreigners are found dead at the bottom of tall buildings? Nahh...

In short.. I am now seriously considering ditching UBC as well this year as I am fed up with their low bandwidth, crap quality satellite signal for western HDTV prices. Not to mention adverts (blocked with the pink screen of censorship) in Live F1 on Star Sports! Grrrhhh!

The only thing I think I'll keep is my True Internet, even though I have never seen anything approaching the speed I pay for either inside or outside Thailand. How their True IPTV package works at all I will never know.

So a word to the wise.. If you want to actually be able to use your mobile phone IMHO go with AIS.

Have a look at some alternatives to UBC, and send True a message this year. They need to shape up. Big time.

But hey what can you expect when the whole outfit is owned by Chicken farmers? Hmm?

Peace.

P.S. Here's the maths on that 350MB transfer..

To do 350MB of transfer on a mobile phone in Jomtien where the real average speed of a mobile connection provided by True is around 2K per second would mean this...

350MB = 358,400K

Let's be generous and say that True runs at an average of 5Ks per second on a mobile connection. It doesn't but lets assume that anyway...

So 358,400 K / 5K per second = 71,680 seconds to transfer that much data. Transmitting continuously.

71,680 seconds = 1194.6667 minutes, which equals = 19.9 hours, which equals most of one day!

Edited April 10, 2007 by scratt