SIM card doomsday - the aftermath...

[bubba]

Does anyone know if/how people traveling from other countries to Thailand who are using their "native" phones to roam in Thailand may be affected?

I suspect thousands of foreign diplomats, VIPs, business people, tourists would like/expect to be able use their phones here, and the local providers all have mutual roaming agreements with partners in other countries. Will the NBTC require them to "register" their foreign SIM, so they can use their phones in Thailand?

No. Foreign SIMS do not need to be registered to work.

So let's say you are one of the fabled Southern terrorists who are stated to be the target of this draconian rule. And you want to use mobile phones to detonate a bomb.

Malaysian SIM cards anyone?

I was out there last year for the motogp. I purchased a sim. I had to produce my passport.

Just walk into any small shop in Malaysia. No passport with you? No problem - they just register the SIM to some other name and off you go.

[Don Mega]

So the sims are registered, thanks for confirming my post.

[samtam]

Both my and my partner's DTAC SIMs were inoperable today at around lunch time, despite the fact that I registered more than a year ago in the first registration campaign, and he registered about six months ago. In the latter I was with him and checked with DTAC that my registration was valid then, and they confirmed that it was.

DTAC in their shop today told me I needed to re-register, and the customer service hotline said the same thing. So, we went home and retrieved our passports and re-registered for the second time, and now the phone SIMs can be operated once again.

Anyone else had to register twice?

I am assured that this re-registration is valid, but like any assurance here....

Edited August 24, 2015 by samtam

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Both my and my partner's DTAC SIMs were inoperable today at around lunch time, despite the fact that I registered more than a year ago in the first registration campaign, and he registered about six months ago. In the latter I was with him and checked with DTAC that my registration was valid then, and they confirmed that it was.

DTAC in their shop today told me I needed to re-register, and the customer service hotline said the same thing. So, we went home and retrieved our passports and re-registered for the second time, and now the phone SIMs can be operated once again.

Anyone else had to register twice?

I am assured that this re-registration is valid, but like any assurance here....

It's a different registration process.

[samtam]

Did I miss something? Did DTAC not know about it when they confirmed I was correctly registered during the February to July 2015 registration period? I am confused.

What was the first registration process for/about?

Edited August 24, 2015 by samtam

[RichCor]

Both my and my partner's DTAC SIMs were inoperable today at around lunch time, despite the fact that I registered more than a year ago in the first registration campaign, and he registered about six months ago. In the latter I was with him and checked with DTAC that my registration was valid then, and they confirmed that it was.

DTAC in their shop today told me I needed to re-register, and the customer service hotline said the same thing. So, we went home and retrieved our passports and re-registered for the second time, and now the phone SIMs can be operated once again.

Anyone else had to register twice?

I am assured that this re-registration is valid, but like any assurance here....

It's a different registration process.

Did I miss something? Did DTAC not know about it when they confirmed I was correctly registered during the February to July 2015 registration period? I am confused.

What was the first registration process for/about?

SIM Card Registration has been required by the different Mobile Phone Operators over the years for different reasons.

Some members have remembered registering their SIMs in 2006, and verified that registration info still valid when the NBTC required nationwide registration beginning again on February 1, 2015.

Most of the Mobile Operators used the SAME data field in their customer/account database to hold this information over the many years and resumed calls for registration (so they have no idea when the data was placed there, or when that data was supplied to the government entity requesting it.

So probably what's happening now is the NBTC is sending turn-off notices for those numbers for which it hasn't received recent valid verification information.

Your initial attempts to register may have been fine and someone else mishandled the information sent or received from the NBTC.

Maybe your initial attempts to register were mishandled from the beginning by staff that wasn't well trained on the process. Maybe it's because you don't believe in and wear Buddha Amulets. So many things come into play here in Thailand, it's just easier to redo it than to question who/what/where/when/why/how it went wrong. Mai pen rai.

Hopefully this last attempt at registration will stick.

I'm still waiting for those 2006 guys to admit they had to re-register.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Did I miss something? Did DTAC not know about it when they confirmed I was correctly registered during the February to July 2015 registration period? I am confused.

What was the first registration process for/about?

If you registered during Feb to July 2015, I have no answer for you.

My SIM has been registered for many years, but this latest process needs a copy of your picture ID. Something not required previously.

[samtam]

Thanks Jiu-Jitsu! Your answer explains a lot, (information obviously not available from DTAC!) You are so right to say don't ask "why". Being the diligent chap I am, I naturally followed all the requisite registration when asked to do so, and I think I first registered in 2006, (when if memory serves, it was introduced as a security measure against mobile phone-activated bombs in the South). As you say, what happened with that information is anybody's guess. So much is collected here and either never used or improperly filed, (vide the lack of information on the alleged perp of the dreadful Erawan bombing etc). In the recent request for everything to be registered by July 2015, (subsequently extended till August 2015), I went with my partner in about Feb/Mar) to ensure that DTAC had all that was required under the new rules. We were assured that they did; they checked their database as we sat in front of the clerk in Siam Paragon, and my details were correct and the partner's were keyed in, both passports checked etc. However, in both cases no photo was taken. So yes, DTAC either didn't know the photo ID requirement, or that is the change that has now taken place, since when we shall never know. Yesterday the DTAC clerk photographed the passports with her mobile camera and sent them (the photos) with the SIM number to a database. We then received a code on our SIMs, which she then registered (or I assume that's what she did). Anyway, thereafter the phones were operable again; for now at least. As you say, let's hope this is it. But I will not be surprised if it isn't. Mai pen rai etc.

Edited August 25, 2015 by samtam

[thedemon]

Thanks Jiu-Jitsu! Your answer explains a lot, (information obviously not available from DTAC!) You are so right to say don't ask "why". Being the diligent chap I am, I naturally followed all the requisite registration when asked to do so, and I think I first registered in 2006, (when if memory serves, it was introduced as a security measure against mobile phone-activated bombs in the South). As you say, what happened with that information is anybody's guess. So much is collected here and either never used or improperly filed, (vide the lack of information on the alleged perp of the dreadful Erawan bombing etc). In the recent request for everything to be registered by July 2015, (subsequently extended till August 2015), I went with my partner in about Feb/Mar) to ensure that DTAC had all that was required under the new rules. We were assured that they did; they checked their database as we sat in front of the clerk in Siam Paragon, and my details were correct and the partner's were keyed in, both passports checked etc. However, in both cases no photo was taken. So yes, DTAC either didn't know the photo ID requirement, or that is the change that has now taken place, since when we shall never know. Yesterday the DTAC clerk photographed the passports with her mobile camera and sent them (the photos) with the SIM number to a database. We then received a code on our SIMs, which she then registered (or I assume that's what she did). Anyway, thereafter the phones were operable again; for now at least. As you say, let's hope this is it. But I will not be surprised if it isn't. Mai pen rai etc.

The confusion may be because (I don't think) Thai ID cards need to be photographed if registered by the mobile operator.

AIS have some level of access to a govt database that is able to verify a Thai ID card whereas obviously they wouldn't have that for foreign passports. Presumably the other operators have the same.

[harrry]

Does anyone know if/how people traveling from other countries to Thailand who are using their "native" phones to roam in Thailand may be affected?

I suspect thousands of foreign diplomats, VIPs, business people, tourists would like/expect to be able use their phones here, and the local providers all have mutual roaming agreements with partners in other countries. Will the NBTC require them to "register" their foreign SIM, so they can use their phones in Thailand?

No. Foreign SIMS do not need to be registered to work.

So let's say you are one of the fabled Southern terrorists who are stated to be the target of this draconian rule. And you want to use mobile phones to detonate a bomb.

Malaysian SIM cards anyone?

I am sure when I bought my Malasian simcard I had to show my Passport which was recorded. I am sure I did with my Singapore sim.

[KhunBENQ]

The confusion may be because (I don't think) Thai ID cards need to be photographed if registered by the mobile operator.

AIS have some level of access to a govt database that is able to verify a Thai ID card whereas obviously they wouldn't have that for foreign passports. Presumably the other operators have the same.

Indeed Thai ID cards can be read directly by a card reader.

I followed that procedure at 7/11.

Reading ID card on the handheld terminal.

Some typing on the phone, waiting, typing something on the terminal.

Done.

[samtam]

Both my and my partner's DTAC SIMs were inoperable today at around lunch time, despite the fact that I registered more than a year ago in the first registration campaign, and he registered about six months ago. In the latter I was with him and checked with DTAC that my registration was valid then, and they confirmed that it was.

DTAC in their shop today told me I needed to re-register, and the customer service hotline said the same thing. So, we went home and retrieved our passports and re-registered for the second time, and now the phone SIMs can be operated once again.

Anyone else had to register twice?

I am assured that this re-registration is valid, but like any assurance here....

It's a different registration process.

Did I miss something? Did DTAC not know about it when they confirmed I was correctly registered during the February to July 2015 registration period? I am confused.

What was the first registration process for/about?

SIM Card Registration has been required by the different Mobile Phone Operators over the years for different reasons.

Some members have remembered registering their SIMs in 2006, and verified that registration info still valid when the NBTC required nationwide registration beginning again on February 1, 2015.

Most of the Mobile Operators used the SAME data field in their customer/account database to hold this information over the many years and resumed calls for registration (so they have no idea when the data was placed there, or when that data was supplied to the government entity requesting it.

So probably what's happening now is the NBTC is sending turn-off notices for those numbers for which it hasn't received recent valid verification information.

Your initial attempts to register may have been fine and someone else mishandled the information sent or received from the NBTC.

Maybe your initial attempts to register were mishandled from the beginning by staff that wasn't well trained on the process. Maybe it's because you don't believe in and wear Buddha Amulets. So many things come into play here in Thailand, it's just easier to redo it than to question who/what/where/when/why/how it went wrong. Mai pen rai.

Hopefully this last attempt at registration will stick.

I'm still waiting for those 2006 guys to admit they had to re-register.

RichCor I did not give you the credit you deserve, my apologies. Thank you for the background which you provided which has clarified the usual bureaucratic nonsense. The whole process yesterday was not helped by DTAC's computer system being down whilst all this was going on. That part at least was probably not their fault.

Edited August 25, 2015 by samtam

[KhunBENQ]

Unregistered SIMs will be finally terminated on Oct 1.

Thats what the NBTC Secretary-General says.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/website_en/news/news_detail/WNSOC5808250010060

[balo]

Unregistered SIMs will be finally terminated on Oct 1.

Thats what the NBTC Secretary-General says.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/website_en/news/news_detail/WNSOC5808250010060

That will cause chaos for a while.

[Carmine6]

Unregistered SIMs will be finally terminated on Oct 1.

Thats what the NBTC Secretary-General says.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/website_en/news/news_detail/WNSOC5808250010060

Would have been nice if they mentioned this consequence when first announced. Also, would have been nice if they just let them be restricted functionality through busy season. Any residents who had a non functional card and didn't act aren't really tying anything up that can't wait another 3 months.

If they could make it past busy season, almost no one will have an active SIM anyway since that's almost a year of time for them to have acted. But it would allow frequent visitors who only come during busy season a chance to activate.