I'm newly arrived in Chaingmai, Thailand. Yesterday I walked into an electronics store and asked for a SIM card. I was sold a "Truemove H" sim. On the package it says "iPhone SIM" and I expressed some concern about this to the salesman, because I am using a very basic Nokia model phone. I was assured it would work just as well with my phone and that calls were 1 baht a minute. However, since then I made one short call and sent one text with the phone and 15 baht have already disappeared from my balance. It doesn't add up.

I am having trouble finding details about the H card in English online, but from what I've read so far my impression is that it is a specialized card for 3G and wifi, which are irrelevant where my phone is concerned. I'm wondering if anyone could confirm whether this is a good sim to continue to use with my phone or whether I would do well to invest in another. If the last, any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

Nobody out there who has some familiarity with this SIM Card? Still hoping to hear something!

Nobody out there who has some familiarity with this SIM Card? Still hoping to hear something!

I have a True Intersim which works fine on a Nokia Express but never showed a 3G signal even in an area I knew the signal to be strong....

Was the cheapest all round pay as you go package for calls when I had it originally in July 2011.....

No idea if thats still the case.

You can change your promotion to one geared towards calls instead of 3G, will probably be cheaper.

I was assured it would work just as well with my phone and that calls were 1 baht a minute. However, since then I made one short call and sent one text with the phone and 15 baht have already disappeared from my balance.

Call where? How long was the short call? Text where?

Contact True Move call center at 1331 and tell them to change promotion, disable 3G etc.

How do you know your balance decreased by 15 baht? Did you check (#123# SEND/CALL) before and after? Or did you simply burn through the 15 baht complementary balance?

With that SIM calls to any network, 7/24, are 1 baht per minute and SMSes are 2 baht each. These rates do not include 7% VAT, and voice calls are rounded up to the next minute.

That call rate is relatively competitive, in fact the Government has mandated that the top two providers AIS/One-2Call and DTAC/Happy cap their per minute charge at 1 baht/min.

You can reduce and manage your costs somewhat by perhaps choosing a different service provider, SIM, promotion/plan. This requires quite a bit of work, and knowledge of your calling patterns, even down to who you call, which service provider they use and when you call. Some promotions offer reduced rate calling after the first minute, some on-net, some to special numbers, some at off-hours.

One-2-Call (AIS), Happy (DTAC), TrueMove are the leading providers here listed in order of most subscribers to least; TrueMove H is a True brand name focused primarily on reselling CAT 3G services. Each offers a wide, varied and ever-changing array of SIMs and promotions.

http://www.ais.co.th/12call/en/sim-card.html

http://www.ais.co.th/12call/en/promotion.html

http://www.happy.co.th/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=458&Itemid=66〈=en

http://www.happy.co.th/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=34&Itemid=68〈=en

http://www.truemove.com/en/prepay-newcustomer-sim.rails