Cell Phone Post Pay - Need Work Permit?

[STUDMEYER]

So took the wife around to True and DTAC today to look at post pay plans as we are tired of topping up a pre paid. We decided after careful deliberation to go with True.

Was told flat out, at True in Airport Plaza mall, I needed a Work Permit to get a post pay plan. Thai drivers license i say? - No. 1 year non imm visa i offered? - No. Residency certificate i quipped? - No. Must be a work permit she said....

Anyone had a similar or perhaps better experience? What do all the people on retirement visas do? Makes no sense to me.

Please help

SM

[ovenman]

DTAC does not require a work permit or at least they didn't when I got my postpaid account a number of years ago. I think a non-immigrant visa was required in lieu of that though...

[neilrob]

I got a post-pay account from True (Central Festival office) about six months ago, on a retirement visa and without of course a work permit. I do have a tabian baan, which they asked for. However, I would think a residency certificate would do as well.

[elektrified]

Most of these companies will require a work permit.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

So.. you have a the wife, as per the original post.. If she's Thai then just let her open the account and be done with it? This is not to say that it's completely impossible without a work permit with some persistence and trying again with different branch offices / people, but it could just be done there and then by letting her open the account.

[bprinceuk]

I am on a retirement extension of stay and I just took out a package with TRUE last week without any hazzle. They asked for a copy of my work permit and I told the lady I on on retirement extension and she accepted that.

[elektrified]

So.. you have a the wife, as per the original post.. If she's Thai then just let her open the account and be done with it? This is not to say that it's completely impossible without a work permit with some persistence and trying again with different branch offices / people, but it could just be done there and then by letting her open the account.

Right. I think that is what most foreigners do who need this type of account. Just open it in the name of the Thai wife.

I think you can top-up up to 1,000 THB at a time pre-paid. How much time do you spend on the telephone???

[NancyL]

We don't have a prepaid phone with True, but we do have internet and TV service, both of which we obtained no problem with retirement visas. With the internet service we're billed for six months at a time. We pay both with a credit card.

We do have a smart phone with DTAC that's post paid. No problem getting that with a retirement visa and proof of address. Didn't even have to be a residency cert, just our lease. Maybe you just have to try a different phone service. Besides, the True office we use is always swamped with customers, while the DTAC and AIS offices aren't. That's one reason we didn't go with True for phone service, we didn't want to spend any longer in that office than we have to.

[technologybytes]

Getting Post Pay Mobile contract is a bit like opening a bank account, one branch will tell you that you need a work permit, another will have no problem. Don't waste your time discussing it with them or trying to reason, what they are really saying is that they don't want your business.

Try another branch, things may be different.

Both I and my wife had post pay in the past, eventually we both got inflated bills when they changed the plan without telling us and some bullshit reason why it can't be their fault. We switched back to pre-pay, it's nice and easy. I prefer Pre-Pay, I know where I stand.

[STUDMEYER]

Thanks for replies all. I suspected it might be like this. My wife and I are both Western, im sure if I had a thai wife this would jot be an issue.

The interesting part is that I have 3BB internet and a bank account and that was easy peasy.

Will report back after trying another office.

Thanks for the responses

SM

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Getting Post Pay Mobile contract is a bit like opening a bank account, one branch will tell you that you need a work permit, another will have no problem. Don't waste your time discussing it with them or trying to reason, what they are really saying is that they don't want your business.

Try another branch, things may be different.

I think Tech's analogy about bank account openings is an apt and accurate one here. The work permit demand is a variable one, depending on the staff you happen to get.

I've run into the work permit demand in connection with post-paid mobile phone service before, especially with True / True Move H.

Re DTAC, they actually advertise in English that work permits aren't required for their service. And, I've opened AIS post paid accounts in the past where no work permit was ever asked for.

As for True, I currently have post-paid service with them (and the other providers as well) despite never having had a work permit here.

In my case, already having post-paid home internet service with them (where True Online didn't require a work permit) helped eventually persuade True's mobile dunces that they could open a postpaid mobile account for me without requiring a work permit.

True actually has some pretty good value postpaid bundles where you get home internet, mobile service and their cable TV service for one monthly price, which usually isn't much more than just having their internet service alone. So in my case, I simply had them convert one of their internet only packages that I already had into a bundled package for all 3 services, and no permit was required.

[CLW]

AIS (Central Lad Prao Bkk) wants to have credit card issued by a Thai bank.

[NancyL]

Thanks for replies all. I suspected it might be like this. My wife and I are both Western, im sure if I had a thai wife this would jot be an issue.

The interesting part is that I have 3BB internet and a bank account and that was easy peasy.

Will report back after trying another office.

Thanks for the responses

SM

I don't think it's because you're both Western. Hubby and I are both Western and we have True post-paid home internet service. We actually do have retirement visas, though and Thai bank accounts and we've been here a long time. Maybe they don't want to set up accounts for people who look like they won't be here for a time. We brought various utility bills and the receipt for a major furniture purchase with us when we set up the internet account. I'm not certain why we brought the furniture receipt -- I think they were looking for a description of our address and location in Thai, which was nuts, because you can throw a stone at our place from their office. There were delivery instructions on the furniture receipt that I thought would be helpful for the internet installers.

[wump]

I think they do most packages if you "preload" your postpay account with sum X. If it's only internet True would give you a package without any visas or preloading, they just take a copy of the passport and ask for your address where to send the bill.

[siam2007]

DTAC does not require a work permit or at least they didn't when I got my postpaid account a number of years ago. I think a non-immigrant visa was required in lieu of that though...

That was my experience too. I don't even remember how it happened that I changed from prepaid to postpaid many years ago. I think they had even sent me an sms and offered this. I had used the same number for 6 or 7 years (and still do so until today, even now it's postpaid).

As the OP lives in CM, I would strongly suggest to go to the DTAC Center at Central Airport Plaza, they used to be very good (some years back, that is) and have decent English speakers.

In my case, they did not want to see a Thai-issued Credit card, my European card was sufficient, they just made a copy (something that I don't like actually, but was unavoidable) of it

[Lizard2010]

This may be linked to all Mobile Nos that have to be registered by July 1 so you can keep that number

Maybe office to office have different definition

I have heard that if you are a Thai it is easy to get post pay plans. Than a foreigner

[cmth]

I have no experience with True. I have an ED Visa and I have post paid accounts with both DTAC and AIS. Copy of passport, letter from school, and address in Thailand was all I needed. Same with 3BB and TOT. Bank accounts with KBank and Bangkok Bank, no problem. When asked for work permit I showed the letter from my school and my passport. If you have trouble with one office go to another and see what happens. Or go back to the same office at a different time. I think it just depends on who you talk to. Maybe ask a manger about the policy as well. If you are polite and stress that you want to spend your money with them, it won't hurt. For post pay phone service, it may help if you already have a phone and do not want to participate in a phone discount option. That leaves the provider better protection against loosing money. For the banking, I had a large deposit and made sure the bank knew how much I wanted to deposit to open the account. May not make a difference but don't think it hurts.