My sister will be visiting me in LOS in a few weeks and wants to bring here mobile phone from Australia. She was told by Telstra (service provider) that they will "unlock" her phone for use outside Oz for a $50- fee. Does this mean that her calls in LOS will be directed via Oz at international rates?

I advised her to simply buy a Thai SIM card when she arrives. Is this correct advice? Does anybody know? Thanks!

Put a Thai sim in it and it will work

I think the unlock fee will be to allow roam in thailand with her same australian number at international rates

My sister will be visiting me in LOS in a few weeks and wants to bring here mobile phone from Australia. She was told by Telstra (service provider) that they will "unlock" her phone for use outside Oz for a $50- fee. Does this mean that her calls in LOS will be directed via Oz at international rates?

$50AUD=1,500 THB (approx)

That's a heap of calls inside Thailand.

I advised her to simply buy a Thai SIM card when she arrives. Is this correct advice? Does anybody know? Thanks!

I agree... once she's got her Thai SIM, she could bulk-SMS her Oz friends with her new number if they needed to contact her.

Unlocking a phone just means that the phone will accept other sim cards in different countries.It's a f'ing joke really, considering that you already own the hardware.There are quite a few web sites around that can show you how to unlock your phone for free.Panthip used to do it..just can't remember how much it is.

I assume you are talking about unlocking her Telstra SIM for international roaming and not the Phone.

The phone can easily be unlocked for a fee at numerous mobile shops in Thailand. Some Oz mobiles on plans were locked to that provider in the past. I’m not sure if they still are.

If she did have her Telstra SIM unlocked for overseas roaming she will pay local Thai rates for calls to other phones in Thailand and overseas.

The downside: Any calls she receives will be charged to her account for the international Oz to Thailand leg.

I.E. A Thai phone calling her will need to make a call to Oz and your sister will also pay for the Oz back to Thailand leg. A person in Oz calling her will pay the local mobile rate for Oz and your sister will be charged the Oz to Thailand leg.

I personally would buy a Thai SIM on arrival and use it. If the phone doesn’t work once the SIM is fitted she will need to have the phone unlocked.

Apparently she has a Pre-paid Telstra card so I assume she can just replace the SIM with a Thailand SIM card giving her a local number at local rates? Nice if it's that simple! Thanks for all the suggestions.