Thailand's Mobile-phone Price War Intensifies

[Highwayman]

ORE, with Dtac pre-paid, the best cards l've found are the 400 baht ones that give you 50 days access. They can be hard to find as many small shops won't stock them due to the high price.

The one reliable place to get them is at the service counter of Tops supermarket branches.

I was offered a 500 baht card in one phone shop but strangely that was only good for 30 days.

[brubo1]

I have never had a problem wiyh AIS. Been using them for 2 years now still with the same number and I don't live in Thailand! Always top it up with 1-2-call credits which can be bought EVERYWHERE! My number is currently valid until July 2006.

If you guys don't use your mobile often enough - why not give it to the GF every now and then?!

[lung]

A.I.S >> bak taksin??

i have orange .no problem. 23.00 to 17.00 just 1baht and 50baht every month bonus free... have satelite untill malaysia, 50km in cambodia. only in mae sot not...

and all 7month change (for the 50baht ... )

yipp ORANGE

[amal2029]

Well, well,

But for Thais, who need to talk on the mobile with their friends 18 hours a day, even if they stand only 2 meters away, the cost involved could play a key role .... 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And this the only country in the world where this happens.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Absolutely correct.........

[thymode91]

Well, well,

But for Thais, who need to talk on the mobile with their friends 18 hours a day, even if they stand only 2 meters away, the cost involved could play a key role .... 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And this the only country in the world where this happens.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Absolutely correct.........

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[uhuh]

Been with Dtac for years, never had coverage problems anywhere. I do not use the phone much, however, and when I bought the sim I could top it up once in a while without the time expiring. Was valid for a year or more. Now I find I am having to top up every few weeks, as the time expires on a 3 week basis. So the balance is growing as I am not using it enough.

This to me seems like forcing me to spend, which gets my back up. Do all the services run the same system? Can't you buy a basic airtime validity period like a year from any operator, then top up at will?

Don't really want to go the contract route, normally thats much more expensive?

Does all this make sense?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Use Orange prepaid, its called Just Talk.

Do NOT top up your account by yourself. Go into an Orange shop or to a mobile shop that offers "mobile top up" (they will have an orange sign showing 2 mobiles advertising this). Ask for a "mobile top up" (you must use exactly these words) of 150 B. Do NOT buy a refill card, but insist on "mobile top up". The staff will use the shop's mobile to send you 150 B. You will get 90 days. This is the cheapest way to get airtime in Thailand at the moment.

Do it during daytime, the system is often down at night.

[thanchart]

Even the people there told me that AIS would be better and DTAC would not work. Then I took their phone, put my DTAC SIM in it, and showed them the stronger signal they had with it, still 2 bars where AIS was just getting 1, and even that only with the help of an external antenna on a 10 m high post

Surely this depends on where you are. I was staying in Chiang Mai in the mountains recently and nobody could get a mobile signal. By chance one guy found a small area (about 3 square meters) where for some reason or other we could get a reasonably strong AIS signal. None of the others (DTAC and Orange ) could use their phones.

Anyway up until about 1 week ago I didn't have any complaints about AIS, but...... now things seem to be getting worse. My voice box is acting strange. Sometimes I just get loud static noise, sometimes I press "1" to listen and nothing happens. On top of that I have had many many "error in communication" messages or "network busy" the last 5 or 6 days. What's happened to AIS?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Seems like both AIS and DTAC are having problems these few days, both with calls and SMSes. And the reason they gave was Equipment Upgrading. Which is the reason they often gave when there are similar problems. Why are they upgrading all the time? Every few weeks!

My thai gf uses both AIS & DTAC, DTAC is cheaper indeed but there are some areas upcountry) where there is little or no DTAC signal, whereas AIS still has 2-3 bars. I experienced it myself at her mum's Phayao home where there is a 2x2 sq meter area at the balcony where I can get 1 bar and none else where. Or I walk a few minutes to the road and I can get 2-3 bars for DTAC.At her granny's home in Phrae there is NO DTAC signal. Even for AIS she has to walk around in the house to locate a place with better signal.

Having said that, she still prefers DTAC and uses AIS only when DTAC dun worked.

Edited June 4, 2005 by thanchart