Phone service when in Thailand only 3 months a year

[Searat7]

I have lived in Thailand for most of the past 10 years....had same number from DTAC....prepaid until 2 yr ago. Now postpaid for a reasonable 299b a month with Internet. I plan to move back to USA next year and spend only 3 months a year here. Dtac used to have long lasting cheap prepaid plans which covered long stays abroad but it seems those days are over. Any ideas or just keep paying 299b a month while I am gone ? Would like to keep my phone number.

[casualbiker]

As far as I'm aware if your postpaid you don't actually HAVE to have a plan. You can just pay for calls etc as an when!

[build6]

Dtac used to have long lasting cheap prepaid plans which covered long stays abroad but it seems those days are over

How did you come to this conclusion? You might want to reassess. It's possible to get prepaid up to one year's validity (many posts about this in this forum) and once you've got that it doesn't matter if you're only here a quarter of the year.

What I do is, have a prepaid number, and then activate data plans etc. as and when I require them, so it actually doesn't cost me any money at all when I'm outside of Thailand. Overall I find Thailand to be one of the countries with the most "flexible usage" for prepaid plans, worldwide.

[Gonsalviz]

We use AIS. I'm sure the others do the same. My wifes spends around 2 months a year here.

She uses the same number everytime. I used to do this too.

Top up a 100 baht just before you leave and then when you return.

There are both temporary and permanent SIM cards out there so make sure which on you buy.

[Langsuan Man]

For 20 Baht DTAC will extend the life of your prepaid account for one year, not too much to pay to keep a phone number that you have had that is tied to bank accounts etc. No need to "top it up" during the time you are gone

Just ask one of the girls at the DTAC shop to do if for you, or use the call center, and they will just deduct the 20 THB fee from you current balance

[Searat7]

Langsuan MN. Thanks for great tip

[elzach]

Dtac used to have long lasting cheap prepaid plans which covered long stays abroad but it seems those days are over

How did you come to this conclusion? You might want to reassess. It's possible to get prepaid up to one year's validity (many posts about this in this forum) and once you've got that it doesn't matter if you're only here a quarter of the year.

What I do is, have a prepaid number, and then activate data plans etc. as and when I require them, so it actually doesn't cost me any money at all when I'm outside of Thailand. Overall I find Thailand to be one of the countries with the most "flexible usage" for prepaid plans, worldwide.

The OP is correct. I was just going to post a question about DTAC-Happy prepaid. I just got off the phone with them. The days when you could top up for any amount and get 6-12 months validity are over (for example, with that int'l SIM card). They've been phasing it out this year. Now they add to your validity period in days, not months. ie. 60 baht, 1 week extra validity I believe.

As someone else pointed out, you can call customer service and extend your balance, 1 month for 2 baht, 2 months 5 baht and so on.

I told the customer service rep that they're going the opposite direction of True and AIS, which have been more liberal with validity periods, not less. When I top up my TrueMove number I get 1 month extra validity minimum.

[dddave]

Not positive still true but before on AIS/1-2 Call pre-pay, a one time top-up of B1000 or more would be valid for a year and all subsequent top-ups, no matter how many Baht, would be good for one year from each top-up date.

[build6]

The OP is correct. I was just going to post a question about DTAC-Happy prepaid. I just got off the phone with them. The days when you could top up for any amount and get 6-12 months validity are over (for example, with that int'l SIM card). They've been phasing it out this year. Now they add to your validity period in days, not months. ie. 60 baht, 1 week extra validity I believe.

(1) I've just got back to Thailand. Topped up my DTAC with a 60 baht scratch card. I got 30 days. I did it again, and got another 30 days. I don't know where you're getting that "1 week extra" from.

(2) 6-12 months validity per top up is from The Good Old Days, I think it may be something worth lamenting (like 10-cent burgers?), but not realistic or reasonable to pine for (one caveat, more below).

I'm aware of very few countries that still handle validity like this. Hong Kong still allows for 6 month validity per top up... while deducting a monthly "administrative fee", i.e. it costs money whether you use it or not.

Overall I find Thailand prepaid to be both inexpensive and effective. And, per your own post, you're already aware of paying-to-extend, the rates for which seem very reasonable to me (by comparison, in Malaysia, to extend 1 year it's RM30 (on Celcom), which works out to be about 300 baht, and Maxis prepaid doesn't seem to allow it at all). Paying to extend costs pretty little, and topping up for use gives me about 30 days per top up, which seems reasonable too. I like DTAC for it's flexibility in data plans, and also how they automatically cap your data plan usage at 49 baht (plus tax) per day even if you don't.

Caveat - has anyone tried TOT3G prepaid? I don't have the Thai language ability to understand exactly what the staff member was trying to tell me (and I am one of the (rare?) individuals who do not have a Thai gf to translate for me).

Whenever I asked about TOT3G validity (this was at a booth in a Central in the south) she kept repeating "1 year". It *might* be possible they're still using the "old" system where a top-up gives you another year. Since they're using the same network as True, that might be what you need (though I don't know anything about how well they work or their data access). It might be worth exploring for someone who has the language ability (or access to someone who does). There's a big TOT service centre just outside one of the Chit Lom BTS exits, for any of you who have the time to drop in...

Edited December 26, 2014 by build6