Asia - Mobile phone in Bangkok

Having lost my mobile phone and a brand new DTAC sim card 'Amazing Race' style in a taxi yesterday, I now have to contemplate buying a new mobile phone in Bangkok.

1. Any malls to recommend such purchases?

2. Any advice on how to lodge a 'lost' report with the police, or the Tourist Police in Bangkok - (for travel insurance purposes)

3. Anybody know whether it's cheaper to purchase one in KL than Bangkok, as I'll be heading there in a few weeks and I can live without. (how incomplete I do feel... :p )

Thanks in advance!

well, don't say you weren't warned! (but, i am sorry for your loss)

first, of all, i wouldn't waste my vacation time with that police report business. i've started buying basic phones simply because i loose them so often (cab seats appear to be designed in such a manner that facilitates extra "tips"); i've never once heard of a lost phone coming back to its owner.

replacing your sim card, however, should be easy and cheap. in china, it only costs around $2 to get a replacement card and you get to keep any prepaid airtime. of course, since you probably didn't have a lot of load on your phone and thailand sims are cheap anyway, you might be better off just getting a new card.

as far as phone pricing is concerned, i surveyed a number of electronics markets when i was there and found the prices to be a little more expensive than here and substantially more than hk. if i were you i'd pick up something low-end just to get by and hold off on a fancy phone (i don't think they have the latest models in thailand anyway) for a bit.

edited to add: i just noticed that the reason you want to file a police report has to do with travel insurance. in that case, i might suggest that you engage your concierge on the subject. chances are, he/she will be able to take care of most of the formalities for you.

Having lost my mobile phone and a brand new DTAC sim card 'Amazing Race' style in a taxi yesterday, I now have to contemplate buying a new mobile phone in Bangkok.

1. Any malls to recommend such purchases?

2. Any advice on how to lodge a 'lost' report with the police, or the Tourist Police in Bangkok - (for travel insurance purposes)

3. Anybody know whether it's cheaper to purchase one in KL than Bangkok, as I'll be heading there in a few weeks and I can live without. (how incomplete I do feel... :p )

Thanks in advance!


Skytrain to National Stadium. Depending where you are in BKK you may need to change trains at Siam Station. MBK shopping center at National Station, 4th floor, you will find no joke 200+ phone stalls. I bought a tri band Sony erricson brand new for 1800 Baht($45). New sim card 350 Baht($7.50). I find the cheaper the phone, sunglasses, pen etc. the less likely you are to lose it.
This phone works in Thailand and the US. I put my cingular Sim card in this phone in Florida and it works fine in both places.
Pgrin

MBK 4th floor is a good option, but do watch out a little -- if not careful, you're likely to end up with a second-hand phone. Fortune IT also has a lot of phone shops, many of them slightly more high-end (PDAs and that sort of thing), and I'd presume they're also a bit more reliable than MBK.

The mobile phone biz in Bangkok is extremely competitive and prices vary little. There's a "Jay Mart" in every other BTS station and if you're not too picky about what you want these are probably the easiest way to get a cheap phone.

And while I'm at it, some network comparison: DTAC's been recently getting a lot of complaints about "network busy", while Orange has more or less patched up the coverage problems they originally had. AIS, by far Thailand's largest operator, charges a bit of a premium but probably remains the best overall.

I have had a lot of problems with the phones that I have bought at MBK, I thought I was careful in inspecting but always had trouble a day or two later, buttons or parts coming off etc. Hong Kong is still one of my favorite places to get a good phone (new) for a decent price. I am not familiar with KL for pricing but I cant imagine it being an more expensive than BKK. As one post mentioned, the market is pretty much set in BKK and the prices are about the same no matter where you go. If you want to take a chance and get a second hand phone then MBK is the place but if you want a new one....then go about any place as the price will be about the same.

Nothing like posting from the road!

I'm sitting on MBK 7th Floor - cheap net access :cool: , so no guesses as to where I bought my phone (i.e. 3 floors down)! Jay-Time scared me into purchasing from them... kinda... by saying they subsitute batteries in the shops outside. Plus no surcharge for credit card etc. etc; I've bought a very basic model. Flimsy keys and all!

Thanks for all the tips/advice guys, I re-bought a DTAC simcard. Starter kits at MBK are THB40 cheaper! I note the comments re : network quality... I just hope it holds up elsewhere in Thailand.

As for the police report - I went and got one in Thai! They tell me I need to contact my own embassy to get it translated :confused: (it's the law!)

Hopefully, I will be finding myself in a hotel with a concierge in the next couple of days, so we'll see how that goes. :D

I lost a mobile once in BKK. I was staying at the Sheraton Grande and the consierge there was a great help. They took me on a car to a police station near the place I apparently lost it and one of the consierge staff helped me at the police station to fill in a report. It didn't take more than one hour.

I bought one at the Central department store because I could get a VAT refund at the airport.

FWIW, with One-2-Call (AIS) you can get your old number back, within 30 days, if you lose your phone/SIM. This is a pretty handy feature; I am not sure if dTAC offers the same thing but I imagine they do.

I'd recommend Jaymart or Telewiz (AIS/One-2-Call) for higher end shops. There are Jaymarts everywhere; there is a Telewiz shop in the Emporium shopping center (maybe one floor up from the "BTS" [Phrom Phong E5] entrance).

Current BKK prices on lower-end Nokia phones: 3120 (5,230 THB); 6610 (6,900 THB). Prices for new phones are pretty much +/- 25 THB at any outlet (name brand store, counter in MBK).

Also One-2-Call offers voice-mail, the service is free but you have to register for it. Calls into voice-mail (*99) are free until 31/12/05. You can call the AIS Call Center at 1175, press 2 for English, to register.