Ais Or Dtac Prepaid Internet Sim....Can You Get In Karon?

[souths123]

Hi, how hard is it to get either the AIS or DTAC internet prepaid sim cards in Phuket? (I only need for a week) I will be in Karon so there will be none of the big stores there, hence wondering how hard it is to get them. My Nokia e63 doesn't support the DTAC 3g network (if it is there yet) as it is the wrong frequency, however it is the correct frequency for AIS. I had heard AIS 3g was up and running in Phuket now, is this true? I know here in Australia I can get a max speed of 460Kbps on 3g on the netbook when it is tethered to the phone (even though technically that is faster than the specs say for the phone), so I would prefer to be able to use 3g if possible to get the best speed I can. Not sure of exactly how good the EDGE network would be through DTAC..they say up to 384Kbps on DTAC however the Nokia website says max 296kbps for the phone modem, which is much slower (not sure if they meant 296Kbps instead as that is totally different speed) I would prefer the DTAC SIM I guess as it seems the easiest to understand and includes 300 free minutes of internet anyway and when topped up can be used for calls and sms as well, although if it is easy enough to get an AIS internet sim I would use that. Can you make calls and SMS with credit on the AIS sim? It doesn't say and not sure what the rate would be and which ones are prepaid?

[Jimi007]

When I needed one earlier this year (was going to the inlaws out in the country) DTAC wanted me to sign a one year contract. I then went to Telewiz on the bottom floor at Big C in Central and found that I could just add internet to my AIS SIM card. You should be able to buy an AIS SIM card in Karon. Then dial*138 to subscribe to a plan. Your plan will be deducted from your pre paid minutes that you can top up at any 7-11. Some limited areas have 3G in Phuket many are still EDGE. I don't know if can can subscribe to 3G this way though. Try looking around on the AIS website for more information. And yes with that I was able to call, SMS and check my email. Not too great for surfing the internet with EDGE though... Hopefully your phone and where you are staying has wifi. Karon may have 3G, I really don't know... Good luck!

[woodyleonhard]

AIS "3G" HSPA service is available all over the island. See my August 9 Live Wire column in the Phuket Gazette. You can get pre-paid AIS SIM cards at any Telewiz office.

We're commonly seeing international download speeds around 800 to 900 Kbps in various locations. Check the Phuket Internet Speed site for the latest.

As noted, the Nokia E63 runs UMTS at 900 MHz, so I believe it'll work on the AIS network. To be sure, take your phone to Telewiz and make sure it's pulling a 3G signal before you leave the shop.