Implications of Shutdown of 2G Service ?

[Xiao]

It's 13 Sept and my dtac prepaid 2G dump phone still works. So are they trying to let us buy a 4G phone (free phone but you must sign up a monthly package for at least 299 Baht I guess) and if we don't, when do they stop the 2G thing? Thanks.

[In the jungle]

My AIS 2G post paid phone also remains working.

 

As I did not get much in the way of replies to my last post I decided to simply carry on using it until AIS pull the plug on the service.

 

I read somewhere, possibly the 'other' paper that there are still some six million 2G customers in Thailand.  Assuming an average bill of 200 Baht per customer each month that is 1.2 Billion a month in revenue.  

 

I doubt the phone companies want to lose that revenue and it would be unrealistic to assume that pulling the plug would make customers rush to buy new 3G phones as many of the people I see using 2G phones are on low incomes.

 

My guess is that the intention of the irritating SMS messages I get is to beat down the 2G customer base until the number of users is small enough that they do pull the plug.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Edited September 13, 2016 by In the jungle

[mtls2005]

DTACs 1800 MHz concession runs until the end of September, 2018. At the beginning of the year they still had close to 3 million 2G subscribers. They have a ton of promotions, with free phones and nearly free service, trying to get people to transition. You may be fine for another two years.

 

AIS had nearly 12 million 2G customers at the at the beginning of they year. They've dedicated a small slice of their new 900 MHz auction spectrum to 2G customers, and have close to 8 million subs roaming on DTAC. They also have a lot of promotions, including free phones (8 billion baht, for 10 million free phones).

 

I haven't seen any public figures recently, but six million remaining 2G subscribers seems a reasonable estimate, plus/minus 2 million across AIS and DTAC.

 

TrueMove H got special dispensation to use some of their 900 MHz auction spectrum for temporary 2G services. Not sure where that stands but they've been actively migrating 2G customers.

[jacnl2000]

On ‎4‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 11:20 AM, casualbiker said:

I find it absolutely ridiculous that the authority's are forcing the networks to stop their 2g network rather than find them suitable new bandwidth to use 3-4g on. Most if not all countries still run 2g. My mum in the UK is still using a Nokia 3310 I bought her 15 years ago!

 

Actually I do own also that most popular phone ever, the Nokia 3310, for 15 years, in the North East of Thailand, with a 12Call AIS prepaid SIM card, and, it is still fully functional, today, at the 18th of September 2016, despite everything what has been said here on ThaiVisa. However, what is absolutely not working anymore that is my old Dutch T-Mobile prepaid SIM card in that particular phone. Very very annoying. I do get constantly Access Denied errors when I try to contact the AIS network. Did not got these errors the last 15 years. So, my best guess at this moment is that somebody must have adjusted the chip in current new AIS prepaid cards, and, ... most likely,... the Dutch T-Mobile provider did not do so? Do I understand this correctly?

 

[mtls2005]

Your AIS SIM may work until 30 Sep 2018. Although coverage might become an issue over the next two years.

 

When was the last time your Dutch T-Mobile SIM worked here? Assuming the account is still active and in good standing, with international roaming enabled, it should work with a roaming partner here, assuming you have a compatible phone and coverage. You should check with T-Mobile/NL to find out which partner is used here, and on which band. My best guess is that you'll need a 3G/2100 MHz compatible phone. Maybe find someone with a more modern phone, pop your T-Mo/NL SIM in and see if it roams.

[jacnl2000]

58 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Your AIS SIM may work until 30 Sep 2018. Although coverage might become an issue over the next two years.

 

I'll simply wait and see.

 

58 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

When was the last time your Dutch T-Mobile SIM worked here?

 

Has worked during the last 15 years, always with AIS as steady roaming partner. Stopped working in 2016.

 

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

Assuming the account is still active and in good standing, with international roaming enabled, it should work with a roaming partner here, assuming you have a compatible phone and coverage. You should check with T-Mobile/NL to find out which partner is used here, and on which band. My best guess is that you'll need a 3G/2100 MHz compatible phone. Maybe find someone with a more modern phone, pop your T-Mo/NL SIM in and see if it roams.

 

Tried SIM card out in a Samsung smartphone GT-S6810p, but this phone receives "try again later" error messages instead of Nokia 3310 "Access denied"" errors. Large format SIM card does not fit newest smartphones in Thailand, because these phones do require a micro- or nano-SIM card, so ordered a smaller replacement at T-Mobile in the Netherlands, for trying out in smartphones in Thailand, and, also asked them what may have changed in their roaming agreements in Thailand. AIS may be no roaming partner anymore as Dutch T-Mobile did also recently change their marketing strategies in many countries world-wide. Expect to receive an answer soo via e-mail, at least within 10 days, but I do not expect too much of it: functionality today depends not upon available technologies anymore and does not depend upon coverage, but upon chosen much more unreliable marketing strategies of each of the companies involved. Exact same developments do happen in the world of HP printers and availability of cheap replacement cartridges. Also non-HP cartridges may stop working today or tomorrow because of a special custom-made chip each of these relative cheap cartridges do carry with them. As long as HP allows that everything will be ok.

 

Another large SIM card from the Dutch Kruidvat ( is Dutch KPN ) still happens to be working wonderfully well in the Nokia 3310, but who knows for how long. That may or may not also change tomorrow. Also here I will order a smaller replacement for trying out in available relative cheap but good and locally quite popular Thai Samsung Gaklaxy J7 dual micro-SIM smartphones. So, coverage does not seem the problem anymore, because I've never ever received so many different available networks on my Nokia 3310. Keep on making valid connections to available roaming partners, that seems to have become my major future problem here. I will sort it out, but that will take some time ( more in terms of a year than in days or months ).

 

So, are Nokia mobile phones really coming back? Maybe, maybe not. Who knows. I'll wait and see.

 

 Link on Thai visa: http://tech.thaivisa.com/nokia-mobile-phones-are-coming-back/15222/

 

[mtls2005]

If your T-Mo/NL could work here it seems like it should work in the GT-6810p. Maybe try again, turn it off, put the SIM in, turn it on, give a good 10-15 minutes.

 

When in 2016 (this year) did it stop working? Do you happen to remember? Prior to that it would roam on which network here? AIS?

 

The Nokia 3310 support GSM900/1800 so you have limited options; maybe AIS (new 900 MHz), True (new 900 MHz), CAT (old 1800 MHz) or DTAC (old 1800 MHz), but these physical networks might show up as multiple virtual networks. AIS has roaming agreements, I think, with DTAC and True (not sure about CAT), for some period.

 

SIMs need to be replaced, in order to avoid SIM exhaustion and to utilize new network capabilities. It could be that your T-Mo/NL SIM just needs to be replaced?