Asia - 1st time to Thailand - SIM card troubles

hi
Im spending 2 days in bangkok, 2 days in ko samui, and 6 days in phuket. Verizon has advised me that my U.S. phone will only work in Bangkok, and not on the islands, therefore i would love to know where to buy a sim card for thailand, here in the states before i leave b/c i need to get a phone number to leave behind for a sick parent. I already have a quad band unlocked phone. ive tried planetomni, they are sold out of thai sim cards and have no idea when new ones are arriving, telestial is a joke, no one there ever answers those phones, just an answering machine. they are ridiculous. and skype is great if you both have computers, and not everyone does, also, im not clear on the skypeIn calls, if anyone knows please let me know, I believe that is where I forward my skype calls to my NY cell phone, again, if there are no verizon towers in the islands, the phone wont work, also how would verizon be charging me for those calls?? crazy!! any other ideas where to purchase a sim card prior to leaving ny? or any other thailand travel tips would be wonderful! thanks so much!

hi
Im spending 2 days in bangkok, 2 days in ko samui, and 6 days in phuket. Verizon has advised me that my U.S. phone will only work in Bangkok, and not on the islands, therefore i would love to know where to buy a sim card for thailand, here in the states before i leave b/c i need to get a phone number to leave behind for a sick parent. I already have a quad band unlocked phone. ive tried planetomni, they are sold out of thai sim cards and have no idea when new ones are arriving, telestial is a joke, no one there ever answers those phones, just an answering machine. they are ridiculous. and skype is great if you both have computers, and not everyone does, also, im not clear on the skypeIn calls, if anyone knows please let me know, I believe that is where I forward my skype calls to my NY cell phone, again, if there are no verizon towers in the islands, the phone wont work, also how would verizon be charging me for those calls?? crazy!! any other ideas where to purchase a sim card prior to leaving ny? or any other thailand travel tips would be wonderful! thanks so much!
If you can tolerate waiting until you get to BKK to send back a phone number, get your sim card in BKK -- any 7-11 (yes, they have them there) sells them, I believe. When we visited my son there several years ago, he investigated the prices for us and got us cards from a provider called HAPPY...they had extensive on-line instructions in English, more limited printed material in English, and even English-language voicemail options, IIRC. You could also refill them in a 7-11. We had no problems, even used the cards again 18 mos later on a return visit.

More info than you want/need is at http://tinyurl.com/23ykhe
(http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/messagepost.cfm?postaction=reply&catid=51&threadid=1505453&messid=13338035&STARTPAGE=1&parentid=0&from=6)
(Google is your friend - try "Happy Thai sim card")

As for travel tips - 2 days in BKK is much too short - National Palace and Wat Arun are must sees, and a bike tour is a lot of fun. Take Skytrain and river taxis whenever you can, because traffic is unbelievable. If the mods here allow a cross reference to another forum, fodors.com has an active group familiar with Thailand in the Asia forum.

If you can tolerate waiting until you get to BKK to send back a phone number, get your sim card in BKK -- any 7-11 (yes, they have them there) sells them, I believe. When we visited my son there several years ago, he investigated the prices for us and got us cards from a provider called HAPPY...they had extensive on-line instructions in English, more limited printed material in English, and even English-language voicemail options, IIRC. You could also refill them in a 7-11. We had no problems, even used the cards again 18 mos later on a return visit.

More info than you want/need is at http://tinyurl.com/23ykhe
(http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/messagepost.cfm?postaction=reply&catid=51&threadid=1505453&messid=13338035&STARTPAGE=1&parentid=0&from=6)
(Google is your friend - try "Happy Thai sim card")

As for travel tips - 2 days in BKK is much too short - National Palace and Wat Arun are must sees, and a bike tour is a lot of fun. Take Skytrain and river taxis whenever you can, because traffic is unbelievable. If the mods here allow a cross reference to another forum, fodors.com has an active group familiar with Thailand in the Asia forum.You can buy the SIM at any 7/11 for a few hundred Baht and most if not all (sometimes even more) goes to the credit on the card. If you can't wait, go to ebay and search for thai sim card. There are offers for people who need the number in advance.

The problem isn't so much the SIM card as it is the phone you're using. Verizon uses a different kind of phone than most of the rest of the world (think of your Verizon phone as being AM radio while most of the world is on FM). Instead of trying to get your Verizon phone to work (it wont in most of the world), buy a cheap GSM phone and pick up a prepaid SIM at virtually any store in Thailand.

Check out the travel technology forum...you'll find all the information you need.

Tim

The problem isn't so much the SIM card as it is the phone you're using. Verizon uses a different kind of phone than most of the rest of the world (think of your Verizon phone as being AM radio while most of the world is on FM). Instead of trying to get your Verizon phone to work (it wont in most of the world), buy a cheap GSM phone and pick up a prepaid SIM at virtually any store in Thailand.

Check out the travel technology forum...you'll find all the information you need.

Tim

Tim is right, most verizon phones don't have sim slots. Only very recently did they start offering GSM blackberrys.

Hi, thank you all so much for your replies, I will be checking out the sites you suggested. i do have a quad unlocked gsm phone, so i'll go with that. i know, 2 days is not enough in bangkok, but since i didnt have much time to spend in thailand in total, i decided early on to just enjoy the islands relaxing instead of a crazy city, I live in ny and work in the city so i've just about had it with crowds and tourists and life :mad: Im using my Marriott timeshare in phuket for 1 week so I broke up the first week between bangkok and ko samui. I am dreading the 17 thai airways flight (in coach in case i didnt mention it earlier). i hear its not so bad and that the airline is nice. i sure hope so. also thanks to whomever posted how to catch a taxi at the bkk airport, very helpful info. thanks again... p.s. i maybe back with other questions if thats ok....;)

DTAC currently sells prepaid GSM SIMs at BKK outside customs for 99B with 35B value. You can get top up, as others have mentioned, at 7/11 or Family Mart.

If your phone is GSM900 or 1800-compatible then you will have coverage everywhere here, including the islands, provided you have international roaming enabled with Verizon. Call charges will be quite expensive.

What brand/model number is your phone? If your phone can accomodate a SIM and it is GSM900/1800 compatible then you could also buy a SIM here. Otherwise you can buy a new or used phone here for less the $50 (USD). SIM's are quite easty to purchase and top-up. Personally I'd recommend One-2-Call (AIS) but DTAC (Happy) also have decent coverage. Both AIS and DTAC have counters on level 2 at BKK just outside Customs. And there are thousands of mobile telephone shops here, and some convenience stores sell them. Top-up (scratch) cards are available at every convenience store.

There are some threads/posts in the Thailand sub-forum here ion FT which might help.

Duplicate post deleted

Previously discussed in detail:
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=666503