Hi All

I'm a Newbie here, love your site   , great source for info.

Have a friend coming from China next week and she wants to know if she buys a sim card here will it work in her phone, if so which is the best for price of internal , external calls and where do u buy them. She will be mainly in Bkk and Pattaya so nationwide coverage is'nt that important.

Thanks All.

Normally SIM cards work with foreign phones.But I don't know if chinese phones have any kind of block. Thai Sim cards haven't.

He can buy in any department stores either Orange, DTAC or AIS pre-paid cards.

For costs see the links :

www.orange.co.th

www.dtac.co.th

www.ais900.com

For external calls have a look at the link http://www.thaivisa.com/phonecard.0.html

Thanks alot for the info buasaard.

Da Bear

It would depend on mobile telephone. What model etc

Most mobile telephone can be 'network unlocked'(If needed) for a nominal fee on the fourth floor of the MBK centre near Siam Square.

Then, depending on the model of the telephone; http://www.happydprompt.com/en/index.html  would be the best overall for call charges.

You can purchase a SIM card for as low as 500-600 baht on the AIS network, which is the most reliable and certainly offers the best coverage - especially out of Bangkok. Dtac is also popular and I have seen SIM cards available for about 300 baht at MBK centre.

Most foreign phones will work in Thailand, but some require the "EMMI" to be changed. Any service agent can do this for a small fee at MBK also; I have changed the "EMMI" on a Nokia phone before at MBK without any problems.

You can purchase a SIM card for as low as 500-600 baht on the AIS network, which is the most reliable and certainly offers the best coverage - especially out of Bangkok. Dtac is also popular and I have seen SIM cards available for about 300 baht at MBK centre.

Most foreign phones will work in Thailand, but some require the "EMMI" to be changed. Any service agent can do this for a small fee at MBK also; I have changed the "EMMI" on a Nokia phone before at MBK without any problems.

Where can you get a AIS sim card for 500-600 baht?  I've only seem around 800 bt.

Fourth floor, MBK centre in the cellular section. You can get a AIS one-2-call prepaid SIM card for between 500-600 baht if you shop around the stall shops in the middle of the section.

Jade

The IMEI numbers no longer need to be changed.

As the the Dprompt/One2Call reception argument... I have both and many times I find the One2Call reception suffering, while the Dprompt does not.(This is from Bangkok to as far south as Samui island)  

I can't vouch for reception north of Bangkok.

One2call offers poor value. IMO

On this note, I would have to disagree. I had to have the IMEI changed on a Nokia 8850 brought from overseas just a few weeks ago.

I have found One2call coverage to be far superior to Dtac's on all occassions, especially outside of Bangkok.

Again, Jade, there is no need to change the IMEI.

In the 'no so distant' past AIS and DTAC only allowed mobile telephones sold by themselves on their networks.

Now, as long as your mobile telephone is not locked to another network(from another country perhaps) and is frequency compatible(GSM 900 or PCN 1800) you will be able to log onto their networks.

The IMEI number is irrelevant in this case, so there would be no need to change it.

It was probably a 'network unlock' that was performed on your telephone.

As to the coverage question... I have two mobile telephones, both on at the same time,  I have found that outside Bkk the only signal problems I have had is with the One2Call mobile. A friend calling me from Pattaya also has had signal problems with his One2Call mobile. While I was there I had no signal problems.

I think it's possible that people relate their experience from the time when DTAC was a fledgling company and coverage was patchy. Try it again.

You won't go back to rip off One2Call again. (I can't vouch for 'up country' areas as I've not taken both mobiles up there with me)

When I was up north of Kanchanaburi in April this year, the only mobiles in a group with 12 phones that was getting a signal were all One2Call.