The last time I went to Laos (Vientiane) for a day I got pegged 30 or 40 baht by AIS just for turning on my handphone and getting a signal, which was strange because I did the same thing in 2006 and not only did I get a signal but no charge.

I have two sims now, DTAC prepaid Happy and AIS 1-2 Call also prepaid. If I turn on my phone in Phnom Penh will either company charge me? Is the charge by day, by week, month or? I will stay there longer term so I need to know how much money I should load up prepaid. Thanks.

shit loads.

everytime i'm in laos or cambodia with a 12call chip it eats up 500bt after a few calls and texts. mobile companies love to screw you when you're abroad. whenever you go to a new country just buy a new sim. virtually free these days

DTAC tells me I'm charged 15 baht a minute while my phone is roaming in Cambodia. If I'm going to be doing a lot of calling I just buy a local SIM cheap. But for occasional calls it's more convenient not to change cards, for me anyway.

I went to Cambodia earlier in the year and despite being assured my sim would work, it didn't.

Thanks for the replies. Spoilomania, not to sound silly but I am assuming you mean 15b per minute of phone calls you make while in Cambodia, not 15b per minute if your phone is simply turned on? Just wanted to clarify, and also if that's the case, is it per minute for calls to Thailand, or inside Cambodia, or?

Anyhow I am in Cambodia now but don't want to bother using my Thai sims, I only had like 80 baht loaded in for each sim card and won't use them unless I'm expecting someone.

Just as an update, I am in Phnom Penh and finally turned on my Thailand phone (two sims inside, dual sim phone). I haven't been charged anything just for keeping it on (balance is same as when I left) however got a message from DTAC quoting very high prices for usage -- 48B a minute to receive a call, 85B a minute to make a call and 12 baht per sms.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working really well, on the phone is says "Camshin" not DTAC or AIS, etc. Also, I don't think all calls are going through. I tested it out and some calls never got to me when I called from another phone.

Just as an update, I am in Phnom Penh and finally turned on my Thailand phone (two sims inside, dual sim phone). I haven't been charged anything just for keeping it on (balance is same as when I left) however got a message from DTAC quoting very high prices for usage -- 48B a minute to receive a call, 85B a minute to make a call and 12 baht per sms.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working really well, on the phone is says "Camshin" not DTAC or AIS, etc. Also, I don't think all calls are going through. I tested it out and some calls never got to me when I called from another phone.

Camshin is the local service provider your Thai provider has a roaming agreement with.

Yah, I was thinking at first Camshin means Cambodia + Shin (of AIS "shin" corp), but I am not sure.

Anyhow it doesn't seem to be working wonderfully well. When I get a call on DTAC it only shows the phone number as +001, just like that. On the AIS sim, an incoming phone number also looks to be mixed up (started with 07....) nothing I recognize from Thailand. I didn't bother to pick up the calls as I am not going to pay that rate -- I can get SMS no problem if anyone really wants to contact me. Anyhow I don't think all calls are going through to me either with dtac or ais -- when I called them it just rings and rings sometimes, or I get a Thai msg recording I can't understand, all while my phone is currently on here in Cam. A few calls did go through, though.