Cheap Unlimited 3G/aircard Plan With No Contract?

[modafinil]

My girlfriend wants to get mobile internet, but she doesn't want to pay for metered access (200 baht/gig or whatever).

She's prepared to pay for some kind of USB/other device to connect her up.

What are the best deals currently out there, and what hardware would she need to buy? The internet doesn't need to be fast, but it does need to be unlimited (or good as unlimited, like 50 gig/month). She wants to be able to pay one month at a time and not be locked into a contract.

Thanks!

[thaigold]

Get a direct line into your house. 3G is useless.

[lomatopo]

I'm guessing she has a Windows PC?

A USB aircard ( ~ 1,500 THB) with an unlimited internet usage 3G mobile data plan from AIS/One-2-Call (900 MHz 3G - 2 GB unlimited for 550 THB per month) or DTAC/Happy (850 MHz 3G - 3 GB unlimied for 650 THB per month) might be best as both of these have fair-use speeds of 384 Kbps. TrueMove H's FUP speed limit is 128 Kbps.

I would verify coverage first.

[monty]

Unlimited 3G packages in Thailand all have a fair usage limit depending on the package you have.

From 1GB/month (around 350 Baht) up to 10 GB/month for around 1700 Baht.

After your limit is reached your speed is reduced to anywhere between 128 kbps and 384 kbps, again depending on the package and the provider you have.

And getting another 40-50 GB downloaded at those reduced speeds will be pretty hard!

[modafinil]

Yes, Windows XP. That's some solid advice from both of you, thank you.

We are hopefully going to head over to Patong, Phuket today to buy an aircard. My g/f tells me that AIS and DTAC don't have physical shopfronts, and I would need to buy the aircard from a mobile phone shop. Is she right, or should we be buying the aircard from elsewhere?

The fair-use speed of 384 kbps sounds fine for her, the most bandwidth she will use is watching lo-res YouTube videos

.

One other question. She wants to avoid signing a minimum 1-year contract if possible. With AIS and DTAC's 3G plans, does she need to sign up for a minimum contract or does she just pay once a month for as long as she needs service? Can she pay her monthly bill at the local 7/11?

Cheers!

[lomatopo]

Since you specified no contract in the thread title any suggestions made have been for pre-paid (non contract) monthly recurring plans. Most plans will auto-renew assuming you have enough balance on the SIM.

steps:

1.) determine if you have AIS/One-2-Call 3G coverage and/or DTAC/Happy 3G coverage.

2.) choose one

3.) purchase a USB aircard which supports either 900 MHz 3G if going with AIS/One-2-Call or 850 MHz 3G if going with DTAC/Happy.

4.) purchase a One-2Call ro Happy SIM.

5.) activate it.

6.) add value to it.

7.) subscribe to a plan

http://www.totalairc...ows-XP-Aircard/

http://www.ais.co.th...rnet-package/#2

http://www.dtac.co.t...et-package.html

Edited January 26, 2013 by lomatopo

[muratremix]

i would stay away from ais personally. Dtac has 199 baht / week 1gb and 384kbit afterwards weekly internet package, good for testing before spend more. i can download 44kbyte/sec non stop from 384kbit fup speed which is nice. in phuket dtac coverage pretty good, so does true-h

[Jiu-Jitsu]

DTAC's max is 5GB plus unlimited EDGE. AIS is 7GB and unlimited EDGE. True-H is 10GB plus unlimited EDGE.

[uhuh]

TOT 3G is really unlimited, no fair-use speed after a certain amount of GB

but 40-50 G will cost maybe 10000 B

"Get a direct line into your house. 3G is useless." was the best advice given here

[iluvbeaches]

Yes, Windows XP. That's some solid advice from both of you, thank you.

We are hopefully going to head over to Patong, Phuket today to buy an aircard. My g/f tells me that AIS and DTAC don't have physical shopfronts, and I would need to buy the aircard from a mobile phone shop. Is she right, or should we be buying the aircard from elsewhere?

The fair-use speed of 384 kbps sounds fine for her, the most bandwidth she will use is watching lo-res YouTube videos

.

One other question. She wants to avoid signing a minimum 1-year contract if possible. With AIS and DTAC's 3G plans, does she need to sign up for a minimum contract or does she just pay once a month for as long as she needs service? Can she pay her monthly bill at the local 7/11?

Cheers!

Dtac has a shop in jungcylon in the basement near walkway downstairs toward that's Siam or whatever that pseudo market is called.

Better off with tot hard line dsl. Much more gb better speed and more reliable.

[muratremix]

If you can find elusive TOT 3G NETSIM unlimited cards, they provide 2Mbits/s unlimited data via TOT 3G network. It was like 790 baht / 15 days and 1490 / 30 days before.

It is expensive, but you can download a lot at 2 Mbit/s 24/7 computer open and watch youtube videos at HD quality.

[modafinil]

Lots of good advice here, thanks very much.

I've had TOT and 3BB fixed internet connections in Phuket, both were very good. The GF will be travelling around for the next few months though, so 3G is the only option for her.

[YipYipYa123]

mobile will always be a poor substitute to a fixed line but it is improving even in remote areas

Edited February 2, 2013 by YipYipYa123

[bobl]

I'm almost certain the True-H info is outdated and their FUP speed is only 128kbps now.

CAT are currently best bang for buck (590/mo 4Gb 384kbps FUP) but need a contract because they don't (yet) do prepaid chips. Get this, if you can. Afaik, the 'contract' can be cancelled any time, it's not like the US where you sign in blood (typically for a subsidised phone) and are stuck for 3 years or an expensive ETF.

[Pete777]

Is there any 3G coverage on Koh Phangan? If yes, where can I buy USB-modem and package on the island?

[YipYipYa123]

Is there any 3G coverage on Koh Phangan? If yes, where can I buy USB-modem and package on the island?

dont know if theres coverage but they sell them in 7-11's ,usuallly behind the counter beside the cigarettes

[modafinil]

We bought a 7.2 DTAC aircard in the end that came with a month's free credit.

The free month finishes today. Does anyone know the simplest way to top up the SIM card?

Edited April 23, 2013 by modafinil

[Jiu-Jitsu]

If

We bought a 7.2 DTAC aircard in the end that came with a month's free credit.

The free month finishes today. Does anyone know the simplest way to top up the SIM card?

If the modem and packaging have the SIM phone number on it, then just pop into the 7/11 or similar and top the number up with at least 430 baht(as I'm not sure if their figures include the 7% VAT). The package should then renew automatically on the renewal date. If not, then you'll need to call DTAC and have them apply the package again or to put the SIM in a phone and enter *104*21*9#SEND

http://www.dtac.co.th/en/prepaid/products/happy-internet-package.html

[modafinil]

Just some followup info for anybody who has Googled this thread, I briefly got stuck at how to pay my monthly internet fee.

I put the 3G SIM card into my phone and dialled *102*9# which told me my number.

I then added 700 baht to that number at the 7/11 using their online phone credit terminal at the checkout, the cashier wouldn't/couldn't do 700 so I got her to do 300 twice and then 100.

I went home and dialled *104*23*9#, put the SIM card back into my 3G USB card, and my DTAC Happy internet connection started working again as normal.

I've had absolutely no problems with this service at all, for the price it's better than what is available in the UK/USA. Of course a landline connection is better, but not suitable for my particular situation.

The 399(428 inc tax) baht package is limited to a fair use speed of 64Kbps, a sluggish 8K a second which isn't much better than dialup. The 650/(696 inc tax) baht package gives you six times the speed at 384Kbps, which at 48K a second is good enough for streaming the low-quality youtube vids and web browsing.

Edited May 24, 2013 by modafinil

[4evermaat]

I'm almost certain the True-H info is outdated and their FUP speed is only 128kbps now.

CAT are currently best bang for buck (590/mo 4Gb 384kbps FUP) but need a contract because they don't (yet) do prepaid chips. Get this, if you can. Afaik, the 'contract' can be cancelled any time, it's not like the US where you sign in blood (typically for a subsidised phone) and are stuck for 3 years or an expensive ETF.

Yes, I can vouch for this. The plan prices have changed slightly, but you can get unlimited starting at 350/mo.

http://www.mybycat.com/products.php?id=14&sid=81

or the myAll packages have voice/sms/internet.

The contract has no minimum time; only a few hours to activate the sim. You can cancel anytime. The billing always ends at the end of the month, and is prorated if you start/cancel in the middle of the month.

And you arguably have the largest nationwide coverage on the CAT/True H 3G networks.

[bobl]

I'm almost certain the True-H info is outdated and their FUP speed is only 128kbps now.

CAT are currently best bang for buck (590/mo 4Gb 384kbps FUP) but need a contract because they don't (yet) do prepaid chips. Get this, if you can. Afaik, the 'contract' can be cancelled any time, it's not like the US where you sign in blood (typically for a subsidised phone) and are stuck for 3 years or an expensive ETF.

Yes, I can vouch for this. The plan prices have changed slightly, but you can get unlimited starting at 350/mo.

http://www.mybycat.com/products.php?id=14&sid=81

or the myAll packages have voice/sms/internet.

The contract has no minimum time; only a few hours to activate the sim. You can cancel anytime. The billing always ends at the end of the month, and is prorated if you start/cancel in the middle of the month.

And you arguably have the largest nationwide coverage on the CAT/True H 3G networks.

Yup... I was disappointed when they changed their plans but their old plan was b631.30 for 4GB and the new one's b802.50 for 5GB so it's essentially about the same price per GB. US$6-12 per GB is still pretty outrageous, but their 384kbps FUP makes it very palatable.

[4evermaat]

Yup... I was disappointed when they changed their plans but their old plan was b631.30 for 4GB and the new one's b802.50 for 5GB so it's essentially about the same price per GB. US$6-12 per GB is still pretty outrageous, but their 384kbps FUP makes it very palatable.

I think that there is a promotion for 100 baht discount for the first 6 months. Not sure if that is only limited to prior Cat CDMA customers. And the fair use cap internet is still usable. Not sure if they are using 2100 Mhz frequency in certain places. great backup internet to the 3BB adsl, or when traveling.