Sim Cards And Validity Periods

[sunsetlover]

I used to have a Happy SIM, but the number expired. Which provider offers cheap rate and the longest validity period on top ups?

It seems dtac has dropped their validity periods? I'm now checking AIS.

Thanks!

[maprao]

When I was in Thailand I made sure AIS 1 2 call SIM was good.

I went into a shop and asked. You can send a service text. It charges 30 Baht and extends the expiry date by one month.

You can only send 1 text a day. So over a 3 day period you can send three texts costing 30 baht x 3 and get three months worth of "life" on the SIM.

I made sure it was good for 1 year.

I forget the text and service code number but go into any telewiz shop and they will help you.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

From where did you get this story about HAPPY?

If not on the SIMPLE tariff, where each top up takes the validity back to 12 months, you can simply pay 2 baht per month to extend validity to a maximum of 6 month for each application.

[Darrel]

As far as I know the best in this respect is still the True InterSim.

Only one top-up of at least 10B required each year.

Nothing is deducted from your balance if you dont make any calls, and the balance rolls over indefinitely.

[lomatopo]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/337888-extending-the-validity-of-your-dtac-sim-card/

Looks like 24 baht gets you 365 days with DTAC/Happy. Pretty sure AIS/One-2-Call have a similar option.

With the TrueMove Inter SIM you will not be able to get any 3G mobile broadband data plan so if you need 3G maybe best to steer clear of the Inter SIM?

Almost all SIMs/pre-paid promotions have a 90-day usage requirement, which may or may not be enforced. Given the current lack of numbers one might expect service providers to mor rigorously enforce it?

http://www.truemove.com/en/Inter-SIM-Prepay-condition-1.rails

10. Participants of this sales promotion will get 365 days service validity immediately by topping up value from 10 baht to 1,000 baht. The subscriber can only collect service validity up to 365 days.

11. Subscribers who do not make call or top up TrueMove Prepay credit within 90 days, True Move has the right to temporarily suspend the service for 18 days and service will be automatically terminated on day 19th.

12. Subscribers who find that service has been temporarily suspend, the subscriber can top up to TrueMove Prepay credit in order to have the service re-activate in accordance to article 10.

13. Subscribers who decide to change to another sales promotion, the subscriber can carry remaining service validity maximum at 30 days. This service validity will be instituted within the next day or 48 hours since subscriber has changed promotion.

[Darrel]

11. Subscribers who do not make call or top up TrueMove Prepay credit within 90 days, True Move has the right to temporarily suspend the service for 18 days and service will be automatically terminated on day 19th.

It is in the T&Cs but it isn't currently applied.

I've had my InterSim for 2 years and I don't think I've made more than 3 outgoing calls and sent a couple of texts in that whole time. I do get incoming calls and texts though. My balance is still 80B out of the original 50B + 50B top-up made 12 months after purchase.

The DTAC procedure for extending validity seems relatively complex and I suspect that all operators here including DTAC probably reserve the right to cancel any SIM at any time for whatever reason they see fit. So in the end you probably always rely on the goodwill of the operator to keep your SIM alive.

[lomatopo]

The DTAC procedure for extending validity seems relatively complex

Yes, it involves dialing a number. I suspect most are capable of this "complex" task?

[Chivas]

Out of interest I have a True Intersim that has not been used for over 12 months so I assume the few baht that was on it are lost, but the number is still valid on the network and picks up signal back here in the UK...

[lomatopo]

Out of interest I have a True Intersim that has not been used for over 12 months so I assume the few baht that was on it are lost, but the number is still valid on the network and picks up signal back here in the UK...

Try #123# then send/call/green phone icon.

TrueMove are pretty much incompetent so one would expect they are incapable of managing their SIMs, hence I would expect your inter SIM to have the shelf-life of a twinkie, endless.

[PattayaParent]

I put a 200 Baht top up on my DTAC SIM yesterday and it extended validity by 365 days same as always.

[PattayaParent]

11. Subscribers who do not make call or top up TrueMove Prepay credit within 90 days, True Move has the right to temporarily suspend the service for 18 days and service will be automatically terminated on day 19th.

It is in the T&Cs but it isn't currently applied.

I've had my InterSim for 2 years and I don't think I've made more than 3 outgoing calls and sent a couple of texts in that whole time. I do get incoming calls and texts though. My balance is still 80B out of the original 50B + 50B top-up made 12 months after purchase.

The DTAC procedure for extending validity seems relatively complex and I suspect that all operators here including DTAC probably reserve the right to cancel any SIM at any time for whatever reason they see fit. So in the end you probably always rely on the goodwill of the operator to keep your SIM alive.

Are you known locally as Darrel-No-Mates?

[lomatopo]

I put a 200 Baht top up on my DTAC SIM yesterday and it extended validity by 365 days same as always.

Well, not exactly, and I suspect you may find this challenging to comprehend but a 200 baht top-up with Happy (DTAC) adds just 20 days of validity, on most SIMs (60 days on an Internet or Smartphone SIM). However in your case you already had between 345 and 365 days validity accumulated when you topped up most recently. Basically you've been topping up for some time, nearly always before using those days included in each top-up thereby building up your validity.

For the Happy Simple SIM, activates since 26 July 2011, each top-up, of any value, adds 90 days validity up to 365 days max. But the Simple SIM does have pretty bad call rates.

The Happy Kong Kra Pun SIM, as its name implies, never ends, assuming you use it at least once every 1,000 hours (~ 40 days). The call/SMS rates are pretty good - 99 satang per min or per SMS anytime, to all networks.

365 days is the maximum validity balance one can carry.

[Chivas]

Out of interest I have a True Intersim that has not been used for over 12 months so I assume the few baht that was on it are lost, but the number is still valid on the network and picks up signal back here in the UK...

Try #123# then send/call/green phone icon.

TrueMove are pretty much incompetent so one would expect they are incapable of managing their SIMs, hence I would expect your inter SIM to have the shelf-life of a twinkie, endless.

Yes wouldn't be surprised if it still works later this year.

[PattayaParent]

I put a 200 Baht top up on my DTAC SIM yesterday and it extended validity by 365 days same as always.

Well, not exactly, and I suspect you may find this challenging to comprehend but a 200 baht top-up with Happy (DTAC) adds just 20 days of validity, on most SIMs (60 days on an Internet or Smartphone SIM). However in your case you already had between 345 and 365 days validity accumulated when you topped up most recently. Basically you've been topping up for some time, nearly always before using those days included in each top-up thereby building up your validity.

For the Happy Simple SIM, activates since 26 July 2011, each top-up, of any value, adds 90 days validity up to 365 days max. But the Simple SIM does have pretty bad call rates.

The Happy Kong Kra Pun SIM, as its name implies, never ends, assuming you use it at least once every 1,000 hours (~ 40 days). The call/SMS rates are pretty good - 99 satang per min or per SMS anytime, to all networks.

365 days is the maximum validity balance one can carry.

I got a message from Happy saying "your validity has been extended 365 days" and new validity was 1 year from 13 July, previous validity was mid-May so it was extended by more than 20 days.

Usually I top up 800 baht over the counter at DTAC but wasn't near one and with low credit just put enough on to tide me over.

[Darrel]

Are you known locally as Darrel-No-Mates?

Nope.

"Cheap bastard".

[Chivas]

Are you known locally as Darrel-No-Mates?

Nope.

"Cheap bastard".

Darrel

To your knowledge does the True Intersim still have the 1baht a minute promotion running to landlines in most European Countries....??

[Darrel]

To your knowledge does the True Intersim still have the 1baht a minute promotion running to landlines in most European Countries....??

Yes, AFAIK.

[Chivas]

To your knowledge does the True Intersim still have the 1baht a minute promotion running to landlines in most European Countries....??

Yes, AFAIK.

Ok thanks for that...