Mobile Phone: To Rent Or To Bring My Own?

[aroydee]

Thanks for reading this, people!

I will be living in Bangkok for three months this summer and want to use a mobile phone (of course).

I currently have a (much beloved) iPhone, but it seems the expense of using it in Thailand is beyond prohibitive.

My question is: should I just endure the expense or can I rent a phone for a three-month period when I arrive in BKK?

Thanks for everyone's help here -- this is an amazing community.

Richard

[Crossy]

Plenty of budget new and used phones in MBK (that's a big mall in central BKK), team it with a readily obtained pre-pay SIM and you're in business

Edited May 21, 2008 by Crossy

[swain]

Well... when I came over I brought all my old phones that I didn't use when I upgraded. They can ulock them if locked and buy a sim and your set... if you have them bring them... I have never paid over 10 dollars to unlock one.

Edited May 21, 2008 by swain

[thecatman]

Yeah, that's the best way to go, as swain said, if you have an old mobile from home, bring it, and you can get it unlocked at MBK (300bt). Failing that, buy one in MBK for about 1000 bt on your arrival, and sell it back to them just before you leave (if you have no further use for it). Couldn't be easier.

Edited May 21, 2008 by thecatman

[Boater]

why not just unlock your iphone? any Apple store will happily do it for you

[Seizhin]

Mobile phone are pretty cheap in Bangkok.

I'm not sure if there are any shops who are willing to rent the handphone to you or not.

[SeaVisionBurma]

As other posters have said - best to get a pre-paid sim card upon arrival, can get them from any phone shop, 7-11 etc with photo ID.

If you really want to use your i-phone - you can get someone to 'unlock it' at MBK (ie they will have knowledge of the phone's operating system to enter certain codes to remove the network restriction), ask around the phone shops there.

Otherwise, if you have another mobile phone, bring that to use with a Thai pre-paid sim card for the 3 months you are there. If that phone is network locked - check the providers website, they normally have a link for unlocking most brands of phones, even if it is not clearly advertised on the site. MBK can unlock these as well, probably cheaper than unlocking your i-phone

Good luck!

[Brigante7]

Yeah, that's the best way to go, as swain said, if you have an old mobile from home, bring it, and you can get it unlocked at MBK (300bt). Failing that, buy one in MBK for about 1000 bt on your arrival, and sell it back to them just before you leave (if you have no further use for it). Couldn't be easier.

Don't go to MBK to get your phone unlocked, do it before you come to Thailand.

[SeaVisionBurma]

Don't go to MBK to get your phone unlocked, do it before you come to Thailand.

Why before? Convenience? I have had phones unlocked both before leaving my home country, and have had it done in Thailand as well. Didn't make any difference where I unlocked the phones.

[Dakhar]

photo ID, I have never been asked for a photo id to buy a card?

[TAWP]

Why couldn't you bring your iPhone? I recently bought a phone much better and more expensive than that POS and I have no issues using it here...or carrying it around. Heck, less chance getting robbed of it here here than back home...

[alexandrine1258]

I would also bring my phone and get it unlocked here. Doesn't cost a lot and you don't have to bother with getting used to a new phone!

[naka]

Couple of mates fom US tried to get their phones unlocked and a local SIM

fitted but the shops said the could not do this with these particular phones for some reason.

Probably best to bring your phone and try, failing that a new simple phone

is only a couple of thousand or even a thousand for a second hand job.

Naka.

[sweetchariot]

As other posters have said - best to get a pre-paid sim card upon arrival, can get them from any phone shop, 7-11 etc with photo ID.

Why??

[SeaVisionBurma]

As other posters have said - best to get a pre-paid sim card upon arrival, can get them from any phone shop, 7-11 etc with photo ID.

Why??

Looks like my comment about photo id has raised some eyebrows. I am fairly certain that for the last couple of pre-paid sim cards I purchased in Thailand - I had to show some kind of ID. I may be mistaken about the photo bit (from memory I only had my passport, so used that).

Does anyone recall a few years ago that C.A.T. introduced some legislation requiring new mobile account holders in Thailand to show ID, or at least record full name etc - when purchasing a new SIM card? Please correct me if I am mistaken. Again - this is just from memory and I may be right off the mark here, but I thought it was something to do with authorities requiring records on mobile phone SIM users in case of anything illegal being done with a mobile phone - eg using a mobile to trigger a bomb. (SVB awaits an avalanche of posts telling him he is an idiot )

Again - if I am wrong I will happily be corrected.

Anyone?

[TheDon]

Just come to Thailand and buy a cheap shitty phone that will last the time your hear. I did that the phone went through hel_l, went in the pool with it (took 3 days to work again), dropped plently of times in the pubs etc.

I still got it, one of the buttons you need to press hard, but I dont use it anymore, but will probably take it on my next trip to Thailand also.

Renting is too much trouble IMO

[Governor]

I purchased a cheap Nokia from Sainsburys or the like for £10 and got it unlocked at MBK for 200 Baht.

Apple will not unlock your iphone, they make too much money from locking people into contracts.

Edited May 22, 2008 by Governor

[Gary A]

I certainly wouldn't bother with unlocking a US phone. You can buy a new Nokia for between 999 and 1,200 baht. A Dtac SIM card will cost you about 49 baht. There are MANY higher end used phones available for 1,200 baht and up.

[naka]

As other posters have said - best to get a pre-paid sim card upon arrival, can get them from any phone shop, 7-11 etc with photo ID.

Why??

Looks like my comment about photo id has raised some eyebrows. I am fairly certain that for the last couple of pre-paid sim cards I purchased in Thailand - I had to show some kind of ID. I may be mistaken about the photo bit (from memory I only had my passport, so used that).

Does anyone recall a few years ago that C.A.T. introduced some legislation requiring new mobile account holders in Thailand to show ID, or at least record full name etc - when purchasing a new SIM card? Please correct me if I am mistaken. Again - this is just from memory and I may be right off the mark here, but I thought it was something to do with authorities requiring records on mobile phone SIM users in case of anything illegal being done with a mobile phone - eg using a mobile to trigger a bomb. (SVB awaits an avalanche of posts telling him he is an idiot )

Again - if I am wrong I will happily be corrected.

Anyone?

That was correct a few years ago, even people who had not previously registered were then required to do so.

However the requirement no longer (seems) to apply.

Naka.

[Brigante7]

Don't go to MBK to get your phone unlocked, do it before you come to Thailand.

Why before? Convenience? I have had phones unlocked both before leaving my home country, and have had it done in Thailand as well. Didn't make any difference where I unlocked the phones.

Twice I've had a phone unlocked at MBK and both times the phone hasn't worked after, each time I went to different location in MBK.

[Gary A]

Don't go to MBK to get your phone unlocked, do it before you come to Thailand.

Why before? Convenience? I have had phones unlocked both before leaving my home country, and have had it done in Thailand as well. Didn't make any difference where I unlocked the phones.

Twice I've had a phone unlocked at MBK and both times the phone hasn't worked after, each time I went to different location in MBK.

Good point. I have seen friends have their high end phones fried because the people unlocking them didn't know what they were doing. Why take a chance when new or second hand phones are so cheap?

[astral]

Get your phone unlocked and buy a local prepaid SIM card.

[swain]

I always bring my phones back to Thailand... even get my friends to give me the ones they wont use ever again. Nice to have extras around and they ALWAYS come in handy... and anyway... bringing a phone from a past contract and getting it unlocked in Thailand IS the cheapest way to go.

[bigtimeali]

hi, from my experiance its easy to get a phone unlocked in thailand, and just get a sim on a thai network, found them really cheap as well to phone the u.k. if you put 00944 as the international dialing code instead of just 0044. its easier to get a sim in LOS then in germany where you need a passport to get a sim!!!!

[Groongthep]

Couple of mates fom US tried to get their phones unlocked and a local SIM

fitted but the shops said the could not do this with these particular phones for some reason.

Naka.

If I am not mistaken AT&T (who bought out Cingular) and T-Mobile are the only two major wireless companies left in the US whose mobile phones still use SIMS cards. All others are hard-wired so that you cannot buy a card from another company and put it in their phone. In fact, you can't put a SIM card in them at all; there's no place for it. This is because many of these companies offer expensive mobile phones at a huge discount if you buy a 2 or 3 year air time contract from them. This is how they rip the American consumer off by luring buyers into an expensive contract with the bait of an expensive phone at a ridiculously cheap price. They don't want anyone buying a $400.00 phone from them for $25.00 then cancelling the contract and putting a cheap Go-Phone card in it and thereby getting the expensive phone for less than cost. Your friends from the US probably had one of these type of hard-wired phones and that is why they couldn't be unlocked and used with a Thai SIM card. There are companies like UStronics that sell unlocked tri band and quad band phones with no associated service but for what you pay it would be much wiser to simply go to MBK or one of the other gazillion used phone kiosks in Thailand and just buy a cheap one for the duration of your stay.