Ais Smartphone Load Strategy?

[smiling mantis]

So I'm in Thailand for a couple of weeks now, and I have AIS. I top it off with 400 baht and use 300 of it to buy their 200MB Volume Package, which I have a whole month to use.

It's brilliant. I really like this, I can basically turn on features like push notifications on my iPhone or check my email whenever and not worry about getting billed by time. And 200MB for a phone really is a lot, it's not like I'm running torrents or downloading porn on the thing. I really just want Google Maps to load tiles, and occasional web access to sites like TV.

I'm using the phone to actually call people and send texts too. I can check my balance, but apparently I can only see how many baht are remaining. It doesn't tell me how many MB I have remaining to use from the Volume Package.

So here's what happened: I top off with another 500 baht, so I can continue using SMS and make calls. I was planning to buy another volume package out of this too, but I figured it would send me a text alerting me that I'm out of MB. Well, it doesn't. Apparently when your Volume Package is all used up, it just siphons off baht from your overall balance, and at a very expensive rate too, because in no time at all I'm down to zero on everything.

How do I prevent this from happening again? If they don't send me a notification that I'm out of MB, and they don't let me check my MB balance, then I don't want to use Internet on the phone. It's as if the best solution is to have two phones, one for voice/SMS, and another for Internet, so I can keep these balances separate and never have to pay their premium rate for data. But I don't want to do that, obviously, because it's nice to only have to carry around one phone.

Ideally, data transfer would simply stop working, and that would force me to buy another flat-rate package. Is there any way I can do this?

[lomatopo]

I think you can check your current usage with *139# SEND. Once you exceed your package limit you pay 0.01 THB per Kilo-byte. Many phones have both time and data counters, for data calls. Maybe monitor that more closely? Or go with the 3 GB plan at 650 THB/month? I've found AIS/One-2-Call to be very responsive and helpful, dial 1175 from your phone, and maybe they can alert you to notification features re: data plans, which might not be highlighted on the various web-pages.

It seems like a lot of people have issues with data usage on the iPhone. I guess maybe you can't turn off 2G? But I'm not sure. On Android phones I think you can toggle 3G, 2G, WiFi quite easily so can limit your data usage.

Edited December 28, 2010 by lomatopo

[smiling mantis]

*139# was exactly what I was looking for, thanks. I had been using *131#.

So is the 3GB plan... 650THB is a great price for that.

I don't know how I missed this. Then again, I seem to have lost that little pamphlet dealie they include with the SIM.

Yes, on the iPhone 2G is always on, but, you can turn off push notifications so that you remain in control over when the phone actually accesses the net. In my case I was just merrily accessing this, accessing that, and I think when I discovered I could tether the phone I maybe went a little nuts. With only one exception 2G tethering has outperformed the wifi in the hotels I've been staying in.

Edited December 28, 2010 by smiling mantis

[lomatopo]

http://www.ais.co.th/dataservice-contents/th/dataservice_package.html

Use Google translate.

[smiling mantis]

Made a big mistake here. It's 300THB for 200MB, but that's all you get for the month. You do not get to buy another 200MB for 300THB. After you use it up it's 0.01THB per KB, which is akin to barfining your own phone.

So yeah, absolutely go with the 3GB plan and try not to get too drunk.

Edited December 28, 2010 by smiling mantis

[smiling mantis]

Got on train in Chiang Mai with 995THB load, got off in Bangkok with 768THB load. Didn't do anything with the Internet! Push notifications are off, mail set to update manually... <deleted>?

[NanLaew]

That's iPhone's for you! It seems like you never really do control what it sends and receives whereas android phones have the (downloadable widget) option to completely kill the APN and leave your phone in voice/sms mode ONLY.

Maybe you need to fork out 799 baht for the AIS 30-day unlimited package... just make sure you have sufficient balance on the renewal date or it will cancel and you will need to re-apply although as stated, the people on the 1175 are super fast and efficient.

[smiling mantis]

That may be the way to go, but for now, I'm getting good success by manually turning cellular data off.

Really the big usage seems to come from Google Maps and loading tiles. However, once you've loaded the tiles for a specific area, they remain cached on the phone, so I can run around town and continue to use Google Maps even though cellular data is switched to off.

If I want to check email I guess I need to manually turn it on, fetch the mail, then remember to turn it off. If I can remember to do that, then I think my usage will be well below 799 baht per month.

This only works now of course because the hotel I'm in now gives me good, free Wifi. The next place may not, in which case... sigh.