7000 Baht For A Sim Card On My Iphone?

[cooked]

Yes I laughed too. I bought my beloved phone to Thailand expecting to get a new card fitted on arrival. No time at the airport as my son-in-law was parked wrong. So what? This is the funny part, in Buriram they put in a card for me (very nice girl, she cut the card correctly to put in my phone. It worked, but the phone language was Thai, she can't change. We go to another place, they tell me it will cost me 5000, no hang on, 7000 Baht to get me a card. I rarely had so much fun, they didn't seem to mind when I roared with laughter and made a scene, they were back to sleep before I left.

If I could 1: read Thai or2: my wife was savvy in iPhone technology, I assume that I would not be having a problem. Correct?

Do I have to wait until I get back to Bangkok in 2 weeks time?

Ok ok I love Thailand, I laugh a lot, but the language barrier bet me this time. Any advice please?

Edited July 30, 2012 by cooked

[malcyx]

try and learn thai...5555

simple ..

[lomatopo]

I've read your post several times but I still can't seem to figure out what it is you may be asking?

I'm guessing you are looking for a pre-paid micro-SIM for your factory unlocked iPhone 3GS/4/4S? If so, you should be able to find one from AIS/One-2-Call, DTAC/Happy, TrueMove or TrueMove H in any convenience store (7-11, Family Mart, etc.) or phone shop. SIMs are, on average, 49 baht each, and then you have to add value so you can make calls, send SMSes and even add a mobile data plan. Again, on average, calls are 1.1 baht/min and 1.1 baht to send an SMS. Mobile data plans are time-based or volume-based (1 GB/400 baht).

[BuddhistVirus]

Can you come again as you would tell a five year old?

What SIM you got? AIS/DTac/True? What do you mean by phone language? iPhone? SIM/Call service language? What is that B7000/- charge for? New SIM? Etc.

[cooked]

sorry, thanks for your efforts. I have a Swiss sim card on the iPhone and I wish to put in a Thai card, phone language English. The girl put in a card that worked, however when I tried to look at settings and stuff, they were in Thai, must pay 7000 for a card that lets me read my phone in English.! Maybe the fact that you don't understand my question means that the people I went to are abysmally thick or I am?

I think I should be able to buy any card and then change its language to Japanese, Eskimo or whatever I want?

[PattayaParent]

Can't you just change the language on your iPhone?

Can't say I had any problem though, just bought a DTAC card from 7-11, put it in the iPhone and it works great except for occassional SMS in Thai which I can't read as I don't have Thai fonts installed.

[BuddhistVirus]

Changing the SIM won't change the phone language. And SIM won't cost B7000.

If you are on AIS network, calling 1175 and talking to the call center guy will solve receiving Thai SMS (to some extent) and you can also request them to change the network/call notification etc language to English.

Edited July 30, 2012 by BuddhistVirus

[necronx99]

Hmm, got mine from dtac for 69 baht. Sim has no effect on your phones language settings, I guess the chick changed it to Thai while she was putting your sim in

Google should help you change it back to English

[Jayman]

When you put your old sim in does it go back to English? If so perhaps you have the language set to default rather than English. With the old sim in navigate to the language setting and make sure to select english. Then put the new thai sim in and see what language it's in.

[richard_smith237]

try and learn thai...5555

simple ..

Great Idea - Another golden droplet of ThaiVisa.com wisdom from a keyboard genius...

Learn to read and write Thai within a few hours... Or.. Learn to read and write while waiting months or years to be able to use your phone... hmmm....

Or, with the UK sim installed - switch the default language to English rather than 'default language' that should prevent the phone from switching languages when you switch to sims from another country. If you can't do that for whatever reason (version of os or you no longer have your original sim with you), try copying the steps with a second iPhone to change the language back to English (everyone has them and many ppl use them in English).

7000 baht is laughable... A Pay as you go sim should be dirt cheap - the AIS website should have the costs. You might be able to buy a sim from a 7-11.

[JakeBKK]

The language you are referring to is set by your phone company. Call them and tell to switch the language to swiss - german english - that should do the trick. And a sim is around 50 THB

[Pib]

Yea, if the OP is talking about the SMS's that show up and they are in Thai, then just call the phone company and tell them to set your account to English. At least that will cause the great majority of "phone company generated" SMSs to arrive in English (like your account balance, phone company promotions, etc) since the phone companies usually create Thai and English versions of such SMSs. But for SMSs from advertisers or other folks those will be shown in whatever language they are written/sent in...they won't be magically show-up in English.

For the language all your phone settings appear in that is determined by your phone/your phone's firmware...you might want to check the language setting of your phone to ensure it didn't get set to Thai...usually your phone will have a variety of language settings to select from.

[lomatopo]

My best guess on this one is that the helpful service person changed the iPhone UI language settings from English to Thai to facilitate activating the SIM, then for whatever reason neglected to switch it back. However given how basic this sounds I have a hard time understanding why the OP can't simply change the language setting back to English? Settings, general, international, language. But this can be challenging when the language is set to Thai.

[Trembly]

I'd take your iPhone into an AIS / DTAC / True shop.

If it is a simple matter of changing the phone language from Thai into English then they will be able to do that for you.

Edited August 1, 2012 by Trembly

[cooked]

thanks guys, that's the conclusion I ocame to also. My wife was afraid to touch the phone and I can read Thai only when I'm drunk.I'll go buy a cheap card and see what happens. I think I may have to jailbreak the phone at some point.

[thenoilif]

Question for the op. Did the SIM actually work like can you make calls, send sms and does it connect to a 3G network? I brought my phone from the US and it didn't work until I got it modded. A shop had to first unlock it and then I had to add a second SIM card that allowed my phone to communicate with a local SIM card. Now this was over a year ago so maybe the newer SIM cArds work with older American iPhone's. All of this set me background 2000 baht at the time at a place in MBK so maybe this service person was having to do the same.

[Pib]

thanks guys, that's the conclusion I ocame to also. My wife was afraid to touch the phone and I can read Thai only when I'm drunk.I'll go buy a cheap card and see what happens. I think I may have to jailbreak the phone at some point.

Or just set the phone language back to English.

[lomatopo]

I brought my phone from the US and it didn't work until I got it modded.

This really depends on the exact brand/model/carrier.

Assuming the phone can accept a SIM card and supports (minimally) GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and is unlocked it will work here, for GSM voice, SMS and 2G data - 3G data is another issue. If it is not unlocked it can generally be easily unlocked either through the use of a utility, or a third party service (based on the IMEI) or even from the carrier/service provider.

Generally speaking service providers in the U.S. will unlock a phone provided you are customer in good standing. This of course varies by phone, model and service provider.

Again, I am guessing here that the OP has a factory unlocked iPhone 3GS/4/4S - he said he had a Swiss SIM which worked - so it should work fine without any need for additional tinkering (unlocking/jailbreaking).

[cooked]

I just put in a new card and although now, for some reason, everything is in English, I get 'no service'. Before I had service but no English language. As I said, I will unlock my phone and then try again. This isn't the same as jailbreaking it apparently.

[Jayman]

I just put in a new card and although now, for some reason, everything is in English, I get 'no service'. Before I had service but no English language. As I said, I will unlock my phone and then try again. This isn't the same as jailbreaking it apparently.

with the new card in make sure you set the language to ENGLISH and not default. Then go and put the thai sim card that was giving you service back in.

No need to unlock anything or pay anyone for any added service. You already have it sorted mate.

[cooked]

Nope, thanks. The phone is about to be thrown at a wall very very hard.

[JimShortz]

It's a dumb tax, payable for buying into the whole overpriced Apple joke in the first place...

Go for Android next time...

[Jayman]

Nope, thanks. The phone is about to be thrown at a wall very very hard.

I will be first to admit I don't know sh!t about apple products. It sounds like the issue you posted about was an interface language issue. You said originally you had english interface. Then the thais put a local sim in and all changed to thai interface. Then you said you put in new card and all back to english. It seems to me that you have proven to yourself that the language change shouldn't cost 7000thb or any fee at all.

As for getting service in Thailand to use your phone.... it seems like you have that sorted as well as you said you got a thai sim card and the phone works (just with thai interface). So you have it nearly sorted... just use the original thai sim that gives you working service and manually change the interface language to english.

if you don't know how to navigate through the menus in Thai then might i suggest you put the sim in that gives you english and write down the steps to navigate to the language setup pages. Then you should be able to do that when the language is Thai and switch it back to english.

[BuddhistVirus]

Are you shutting off/restarting phone or toggle Airplane Mode OFF/ON when changing SIM?

I think language will not be localized if you turn Airplane Mode ON, Change SIM, turn Airplane mode OFF.

Edited August 1, 2012 by BuddhistVirus

[cooked]

As usual I'm afraid I muddied the issue.

First visit to shop (20 Km away): they put in a Sim card I have service but the language is in Thai. They don't know how to change the language back without unlocking the phone. Which they can't do. So I don't buy the card.

Second visit: I tell them to give me a cheap card, I will unlock the phone myself. This time I have the English language but no service. Unlocking has proved more troublesome than I had imagined. I'll get back on that.

[simple1]

I have an iPhone, unlocking for Thai service provider (AIS) was 600 baht. As said for pre-paid SIM card contact the call center for English language SMS messages, you can also request cancelling SMS marketing messages that can get annoying.

EDIT: Be careful if you want internet access as some shops enable for by the minute that is very expensive - get a package

Edited August 2, 2012 by simple1

[Jayman]

As usual I'm afraid I muddied the issue.

First visit to shop (20 Km away): they put in a Sim card I have service but the language is in Thai. They don't know how to change the language back without unlocking the phone. Which they can't do. So I don't buy the card.

Second visit: I tell them to give me a cheap card, I will unlock the phone myself. This time I have the English language but no service. Unlocking has proved more troublesome than I had imagined. I'll get back on that.

yes.. you have completely muddied the issue. Telling us facts like how far away the service shop and what not are details that are not at all needed for us to try and help you.

Maybe you can answer these questions..

#1 What brand of sim card was put in your phone that made the interface change to Thai and gave you service?

#2 What brand of sim card was put in your phone that kept the interface English but gave you NO service?

#3 While the phone interface is in english, have you gone into the settings to make sure the language selection is set to english and NOT default?

I fear you are very confused with what you have and what is needed to make it work. This is why you are obviously being taken advantage of with the 7000thb quote to get up and running.

It just occurred to me that you need a cut down sim card (micro sim) so you can't just go testing sims to see what works. Too bad you have an apple indeed. I was going to suggest you just use any thai sim you can get your hands on to test and see if you can actually use the phone with the sim card in it. Of course, your phone takes a non standard sized sim card so any full size sim will have to be cut down to fit in the phone. I seriously doubt that anyone will want you cutting down the sim nor does it sound like you would even feel comfortable doing this.

The fact is that if anyone put a thai sim in the phone and it worked then it's not simlocked. The language issue does not require special unlocking or software. You just need to do that in the settings menu.

[irlguy1]

Why when it changed to Thai did u not simply ask the Thai in the shop to change it back to English? Surely the guy can read a Thai phone.

[lomatopo]

Can you tell us anything about your iPhone? Which model? iOS version? Where did you buy it? Was it factory unlocked? Which SIM were you using in Switzerland? Was that a pre-paid SIM?

Lastly, is there any chance your iPhone is/was locked and maybe you are using a Gevey GPP SIM adapter? MicroSIMs are widely available here now, and many come as snap-outs from normal-sized SIMs, but I think you need to cut a MicroSIM slightly to fit the Gevey GPP adapter. So this makes me think, along with the original mention of cutting the SIM, that there may some additional issues surrounding the use of a Gevey adapter?

I still think the original woman who worked on your phone had to change the UI, perhaps to activate the SIM or walk through the Gevey process, and then neglected to change it back? It seems like there are many ways one can screw up when using the Gevey adapter to initially set up a SIM?

Maybe this should be moved to the Apple forum, where it would get more iBalls which are experienced with all the nuances of using a potentially locked iPhone here?

[Pib]

Has the OP tried the Apple instructions to change languages shown at this Apple support Link. Even if the words are in Thai the OP could still follow the icons/selection positions to change languages. Heck, I do the same thing on my Thai wife's Android-based phone all the time to switch the phone from Thai to English so I can do maintenance on her phone...then I set it back to Thai....all just following the icons becasue I ain't got a clue what the Thai words say.