Cell Phone Rental Possible?

[berkeleydb]

I have heard that it is possible to rent a cell phone in Thailand for a few weeks,

and also heard it's possible to do this in the airport.

Is this accurate?

Where in the airport would I find this upon arrival, and does anyone have any idea

of rates, etc?

Thanks....

[bino]

AIS has a booth near exit door number 7 on the arrivals level (2). DTAC have one also close by to there.

Not sure about rates... but you might find info on their respective websites.

[billp]

Don't RENT a cell phone in Thailand; BUY one cheap and get a prepaid SIM card for under 200 baht (last one I got was only 99 baht with 50 baht credit on it). If your home cell phone is on the GSM system and it's a tri- or quadband, get it un-SIM-locked and bring it along (or get it unlocked in Thailand for a small fee). The place to get set up is NOT the airport, but the MBK shopping mall 4th floor, where there's a warren of competing phone shops. You can get a brand new garden variety Nokia - no camera, MP3 player etc, just a phone - for about 1600 baht. Or a used phone for under 1000 baht. Calls back home are as little as 5 baht a minute when you use 008 or 009 as you international access code instead of 001 or "+". When you leave Thailand, sell your phone back to the phone shop, or keep it for your next trip to a GSM country.

[walangij]

Don't RENT a cell phone in Thailand; BUY one cheap and get a prepaid SIM card for under 200 baht (last one I got was only 99 baht with 50 baht credit on it). If your home cell phone is on the GSM system and it's a tri- or quadband, get it un-SIM-locked and bring it along (or get it unlocked in Thailand for a small fee). The place to get set up is NOT the airport, but the MBK shopping mall 4th floor, where there's a warren of competing phone shops. You can get a brand new garden variety Nokia - no camera, MP3 player etc, just a phone - for about 1600 baht. Or a used phone for under 1000 baht. Calls back home are as little as 5 baht a minute when you use 008 or 009 as you international access code instead of 001 or "+". When you leave Thailand, sell your phone back to the phone shop, or keep it for your next trip to a GSM country.

The phones that are sold in MBK, they are unlocked correct? So I could use them in my home country granted that the same bandwidths are supported?

[Lucifer]

Don't RENT a cell phone in Thailand; BUY one cheap and get a prepaid SIM card for under 200 baht (last one I got was only 99 baht with 50 baht credit on it). If your home cell phone is on the GSM system and it's a tri- or quadband, get it un-SIM-locked and bring it along (or get it unlocked in Thailand for a small fee). The place to get set up is NOT the airport, but the MBK shopping mall 4th floor, where there's a warren of competing phone shops. You can get a brand new garden variety Nokia - no camera, MP3 player etc, just a phone - for about 1600 baht. Or a used phone for under 1000 baht. Calls back home are as little as 5 baht a minute when you use 008 or 009 as you international access code instead of 001 or "+". When you leave Thailand, sell your phone back to the phone shop, or keep it for your next trip to a GSM country.

The phones that are sold in MBK, they are unlocked correct? So I could use them in my home country granted that the same bandwidths are supported?

Yes mate.

Make sure it's a tri-band.

[billp]

In my experience, cellphones sold in Thailand are ALL unlocked. In any case the phones I've personally bought at MBK (including my new sweet little Samsung ) have all been unlocked.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Don't RENT a cell phone in Thailand; BUY one cheap and get a prepaid SIM card for under 200 baht (last one I got was only 99 baht with 50 baht credit on it). If your home cell phone is on the GSM system and it's a tri- or quadband, get it un-SIM-locked and bring it along (or get it unlocked in Thailand for a small fee). The place to get set up is NOT the airport, but the MBK shopping mall 4th floor, where there's a warren of competing phone shops. You can get a brand new garden variety Nokia - no camera, MP3 player etc, just a phone - for about 1600 baht. Or a used phone for under 1000 baht. Calls back home are as little as 5 baht a minute when you use 008 or 009 as you international access code instead of 001 or "+". When you leave Thailand, sell your phone back to the phone shop, or keep it for your next trip to a GSM country.

The phones that are sold in MBK, they are unlocked correct? So I could use them in my home country granted that the same bandwidths are supported?

Yes mate.

Make sure it's a tri-band.

No need for it to be Tri-Band, unless you're from the USA or some other obscure country.

[Martian]

No need for it to be Tri-Band, unless you're from the USA or some other obscure country.

Hahaha!

You need an unlocked GSM phone.

900/1800/1900 used in Thailand.

850/1900 used in USA (for you people who travel to obscure countries)

Just buy an Unlocked Quad band or a quad band that can be unlocked...usually 20 to 30 US$ (unless doing in Thailand, which is less). Good deals on eBay for these phones. I purchased a new Unlocked Sony Ericsson W810i which has 2 MP camera, and MP3 player as well as being a Quad Band phone for a good price. I am using it in the USA on T-Mobile Pay-as-you go and will use in Thailand with 1-2-call Sim. I carry one device and have Phone, Camera and music. Can use up to 4 GB Pro Duo card so no problem with storage space.

Or go the 1600 Baht, "buy in Thailand", route if you only want a phone..........don't rent!

Martian