I'm thinking about buying an iPhone and buying a SIM card from AIS for 3G (http://www.ais.co.th/3g/TH/). Will that work? As in, will I be able to use 3G? I live in Chiang Mai.

should work fine, as they have 3g in ChiangMai as I recall.

I use the AIS edge/gprs on the iphone here in BKK and it's OK, and my wife sometimes can find her 3G in the inner city area with her True Iphone

When I was on holiday in home country recently, just snapped in a local sim and had the real dutch 3G treat, I keep dreaming that we would have that here as well.

So all should be OK for you as well.

AIS 3G is in 900MHz frequency, i doubt iphone will support it. Better to check first before purchasing.

Edit: Quick check from google seems to give following for iPhone

# UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)

# GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

So answer is no, not working with AIS 3G but works on GPRS/EDGE.

On the AIS site it says:

Q: How do I know if my phone is 3G 900 supported?

A: You can check from devices page in 3G website or phone manual if it can support 900/2100 MHz.

As both the iPhone and AIS (seem to) operate on 2100Mhz does that not suggest that the iPhone will work?

Hmm, so I'm hearing two things, I wonder whether anyone reading this has actually tried it? It would be really really nice to have real (not true, forgive the pun) 3G, not just GPRS/EDGE...

OK Monkey...off down to the AIS shop with you...let us know if it works or not.

I was hoping to avoid being the guinea pig

I phoned AIS and asked where their 3G network was available and was told Chiang Mai, Chon Buri and Hua Hin and 'soon' to be in Bangkok. I also asked if the iPhone 3G will work, he went away to check and came back with...No.

Been doing this for ages. Got an Iphone from 02 Uk and then jailbreak and unlock it. all the info is on www.iclarified.com.

Then just pop in any SIM you want.

Do not get one of the mobile shops to do this for you as it will lock your phone up to the itunes of the computer that you load it from.

I phoned AIS and asked where their 3G network was available and was told Chiang Mai, Chon Buri and Hua Hin and 'soon' to be in Bangkok. I also asked if the iPhone 3G will work, he went away to check and came back with...No.

I wound't take that as the final authority. AIS told me emphatically that you cannot send or receive MMS on their network using an iPhone, but of course you can. I don't think they are extremely motivated to assist iPhone users since True got the iPhone following unsuccessful initial negotiations between Apple and AIS.

AIS uses 900 MHz for their 3G service in Chiang Mai. iPhone does not support 900 MHz for 3G. So while you can use the iPhone for EDGE and GPRS using AIS, you cannot use it for 3G. And that is that. So I guess I will be switching to True so that I can use their 3G network :-(

AIS uses 900 MHz for their 3G service in Chiang Mai. iPhone does not support 900 MHz for 3G. So while you can use the iPhone for EDGE and GPRS using AIS, you cannot use it for 3G. And that is that. So I guess I will be switching to True so that I can use their 3G network :-(

I'm about to be in the same situation. What is the down side of using TRUE?

AIS uses 900 MHz for their 3G service in Chiang Mai. iPhone does not support 900 MHz for 3G. So while you can use the iPhone for EDGE and GPRS using AIS, you cannot use it for 3G. And that is that. So I guess I will be switching to True so that I can use their 3G network :-(

I'm about to be in the same situation. What is the down side of using TRUE?

TRUE 3G is available only in select places. Bankgkok, a few others. Definitely not Chiang Mai. All these 3G rollouts now are "trial" rollouts until the licenses are auctioned off which might never happen.

BTW AIS told me the same thing, iPhone doesn't work on their 3G network. Neither do most other 3G phones.