Advice Needed On Sim Card When Visiting Thailand

[johndmf]

We are coming to Thailand for 3 weeks in August. My uk mobile phone provider charges £1.40 per minute to make calls and £1 to receive calls in Thailand.

I was thinking of buying a Thai pay as you go SIM card when I get to Thailand and would like some advice please. I've got an unlocked phone so I can put any SIM card in I want.

We will be making some local calls to various hotels and airline offices while there and also phoning back to the UK.

Can someone recommend the best SIM card to get which will provide reasonable charges for making these calls. Where would I buy this SIM card.

We are travelling round North East and Northern Thailand and will be staying in some remote places at times. Where (i.e. what shops) can I top up the credit and how easy is it to do (I've never had a pay as you go contract so not sure how it works).

Finally, I would also like to download some data e.g. check emails on my phone. Will I be able to do this and how much roughly would that cost.

Thanks for your help.

John

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Would advise you to get two. HAPPY SIM and a One2Call SIM. HAPPY SIMs costs as little as 49 baht(Simple SIM) at your local SevenEleven/FamilyMart. You can change the tariff easily. Topups available there too. So no problems there.

Both are able to connect to the Internet via EDGE nationwide at no more than 1.o7 baht per minute. Internet packages are available.

HAPPY are cheaper for International SMS. 5 baht.

[sulasno]

anything except from True;

in view of the rainy season, a 12Call SIM is preferred

[johndmf]

Would advise you to get two. HAPPY SIM and a One2Call SIM. HAPPY SIMs costs as little as 49 baht(Simple SIM) at your local SevenEleven/FamilyMart. You can change the tariff easily. Topups available there too. So no problems there.

Both are able to connect to the Internet via EDGE nationwide at no more than 1.o7 baht per minute. Internet packages are available.

HAPPY are cheaper for International SMS. 5 baht.

Thanks. The link to Happy/DTAC's website is very helpful.

I'm clear now about where to buy the SIM card, how to top it up and the internet charges.

I'm still not clear about international calls. The website gives 2 rates for international calls, DTAC Plus + premium calls or 004 standard calls. How will I know which rate I am using? Do I just have to dial 004 before the international number to get the cheaper rate? Also, will I automatically be able to make international calls on inserting the SIM into the phone (I understand I have to activate the SIM as well) or do I need to do some form of additional registration/activation to make international calls.

I wasn't sure if you are recommending I buy either the Happy SIM or the One2call SIM or I buy both of them. If you are recommending I buy both, why would I need 2 SIM cards?

Thanks for your help.

[johndmf]

anything except from True;

in view of the rainy season, a 12Call SIM is preferred

Do you mean that the coverage and signal of the one2call SIM is the best in the rainy season?

Thanks.

[monty]

Both dtac and AIS have excellent coverage nationwide, rain or not, so not sure where that bit of advice came from

As you indeed stated, the network used for your international calls will be decided by the prefix.

The normal, government owned network (CAT) will be automatically used when using the + prefix (or 001). This is also the most expensive, although likely much cheaper then you expect at less then 1 Pound per minute.

Then you have the budget networks, the 004 prefix is the one owned by Dtac itself, but there are others such as 007, 008 and 009. Most have roughly the same price I think, around 10 to 15 Baht/minute...

You can easily check the cost per minute by checking your credit before and after your call.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Forget about 004 if it adds complications, you can use 009 44 ******* Cost will be between 6 & 7 baht per minute. You can check the prices here.

If you want really cheap International calls to say, UK landlines, then you'll need another SIM card, but don't worry, it's only 49 baht(£1). Calls are from 1 baht per minute. TRUEMOVE Inter SIM

I only mentioned the One2Call SIM card as backup in case there is ever a time where your DTAC card doesn't work.

[johndmf]

Ok, I think everything is clear now. I checked Happy/DTAC's website and once I've activated the SIM card I can make international calls as well. I am also now clear about dialling different prefix's to route the international calls through different providers.

At 199 Bt the SIM card comes with 300 Bt credit. It says by using the 004 prefix it's about 5 Bt a minute to UK landlines and 10 Bt a minute to UK mobiles, so I doubt we'll even use up the credit by the end of the holiday. At those prices I'm not too bothered about getting the absolute cheapest calls as we won't be phoning home that much, but the charges are much cheaper than using my UK SIM card!

Thanks for all your help.

John

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Ok, I think everything is clear now. I checked Happy/DTAC's website and once I've activated the SIM card I can make international calls as well. I am also now clear about dialling different prefix's to route the international calls through different providers.

At 199 Bt the SIM card comes with 300 Bt credit. It says by using the 004 prefix it's about 5 Bt a minute to UK landlines and 10 Bt a minute to UK mobiles, so I doubt we'll even use up the credit by the end of the holiday. At those prices I'm not too bothered about getting the absolute cheapest calls as we won't be phoning home that much, but the charges are much cheaper than using my UK SIM card!

Thanks for all your help.

John

No, that's wrong.

•Receive 50 baht free calling credit valid for 30 days after activation.

•Receive a Happy Bonus worth a total of 250 baht for calls and SMS/MMS within dtac network, 24 hours! All you have to do is keep your phone activated, and dtac will give you 50 baht per month for the first 5 months!

Just buy the HAPPY Simple SIM for 49 baht and top up the amount of credit you wish to use. 'Activate' means to put the SIM card in the mobile. You can make International call straight away.