transpac

I think you missed the most important element in my post.

I'm arriving at BKK at almost midnight. Is there going to be a sim place open that late?

Or, I leave the following morning on an 8am flight. Will there be a place open before this time at BKK?



"Most important element" noted as a late arrival on DL, and answer addressed your "situation", yes the shops will be open when you arrive, and when you depart. They were open last week at 01:30 and 04:00, so assume they operate 7/24/365.


Sorry, I'm with Sprint.

Check with Sprint, I know Verizion allows contract customers to use Thai SIMs.


https://www.sprint.com/legal/unlocking_policy.html

Unlocking for international travel

Traveling abroad? Sprint customers traveling abroad for a short period of time may be eligible to have their Sprint service provisioned to allow for international roaming. See sprint.com/international for full details.

Sprint customers remaining abroad for an extended period of time may want to try to use their Sprint device with a foreign carrier. As a courtesy for our customers, for certain devices, Sprint may be able to unlock the device SIM slot for a foreign carrier's SIM card to be inserted. Customers must meet the following conditions to be eligible:

The device is capable of international SIM unlock
The person requesting the international SIM unlock is a current Sprint customer that can authenticate as the Account Holder or an Authorized Contact

The applicable device is currently active on a Sprint account and the applicable account has been active for at least 90 days.
The account is in good standing

Each phone number on the account is allowed up to two unlocked devices within a 12 month period.

The device has not been reported as lost or stolen, associated with fraudulent activity, or otherwise flagged as ineligible to be unlocked
For inactive devices, customers must contact Sprint Customer Care to request that their device be unlocked and may have to take steps to perform an over-the-air update to ensure the unlock programming has been relayed to the device. Additional validation may be required to ensure eligibility.

Please note that requesting an international unlock will not unlock a DSU-capable device for use with domestic (U.S.) SIMs. When using a foreign carrier's SIM it is important to note that all information, service and support must be provided by that carrier. You remain responsible for any charges to your Sprint account, as well as any charges from the foreign provider. Upon returning to the U.S., you may need to remove the foreign carrier's SIM to register on Sprint's network.

Customers who believe they meet these conditions can attempt to unlock their devices by logging on to their sprint.com account, clicking on the "My Account" tab, locating the applicable device from the device list, and choosing the "Unlock device to use int'l SIM" option from the "Manage this device" drop-down menu.

Customers unable to unlock their device for international SIM use via sprint.com or customers who prefer to speak to a Care representative can contact Sprint Worldwide Care to request an international SIM unlock. Sprint Worldwide Care can be reached via chat or email from sprint.com/swwsupport or by calling 888-226-7212.

355F1

Awesome! Thank you for your info! ^^^

tsmith12

So I can just get a 49Baht True SIM, which gets me 20 Baht calling credit? Or do I need to top it off with one of their plans? I just need a local number for GrabTaxi/incoming calls and will use TMobile for data/messaging.

Also, I'm guessing there won't be any issue getting a SIM for iPhone 5 and/or 6, right? Thanks!

transpac

At any given time there may be 20-30 promotional SIMs, each with a different price and feature set.

I did buy this TrueMove H SIM

http://truemoveh.truecorp.co.th/3g/s...aid/entry/5133

recently for someone who was visiting. It was 49 baht and did come with 20 baht worth of calls (at 1.5 baht/min not a lot of minutes).

I added 500 baht for them, via an ATM but you can use a 7/11 or top-up kiosk, and subscribed to a monthly data plan (I think it was 299 baht for 2.5 GB).

You can buy standard, mini, micro and nano SIMs. Not sure, but maybe the iPhone 5/6 takes a nano SIM?

It's relatively simple to get just about anything that might meet your requirements.

tsmith12

Thank you! ^ Incoming calls are free I believe, so 20 baht worth of calls will do for a week. Basically just need it for GrabTaxi and any incoming calls from hotel. Data/texting worked fine on my TMob phone last time around.

schoflyer

I just got a True Move H sim. I still really don't know how to use it however.

The Purchase:
Went to Terminal 21 to the True Store because I wanted to buy "direct". They said they do sell pre-paid there and I needed to go to 7-11 or to the phone accessories stalls across the (6th) level. Went there to check and they had 2 different packs of 4g true sims. One was branded "Social" and had a lot of App logos on it. Another was looking like a normal sim. They were priced at 200 and 250 respectively!!! I asked what the difference was and was told by the shop keeper that the 250 came with 500MB data.

My better (who lived in Thailand for 8 years) half advised those stalls may try and upset. So before I purchased I decided to check a "branded" retailer.

First I asked True shop and they said they didn't know about the sim pricing but it sounded about right (wrong!). The provided me a top-up promo list. Including VAT Data is running 213THB for 1.5GB, 319 for 2.5, 426 for 4, 747 for 8 and 854 for 12. But before buying the sim I wanted to compare 7-11.

7-11 staff were not fluent in English and pretty much unhelpful but it was obvious all the sims at Terminal 6th floor had price labels covering up 49THB and 79THB respectively!!! It was a total TiT experience. I would't mind paying an extra 3 bucks to the stall if they were honest and helped me setup which I'm sure they would have but they tried to rip me off.

So for whatever reason, I decided to buy the Social sim because social apps ran on data. My goal was buying a sim for an unlocked iPhone 5c that I could use as a hot spot and stay connected via email and iMessage while traveling.

Well actually what I got was a sim with free unlimited "Social Apps Data" including FB, Instagram, What's App, Line.

True sends you an SMS when you activate and you can call 9304 to toggle to English SMS.

So for me, I kinda decided to use us line for messaging and assorted free wifi from my hotels/locations for email and internet so basically I've got my trip covered in terms of messaging for 49THB.

I guess the next question that could be helpful to answer is how does one add a "plan" to do more than the Social apps. And how do I "top up" to add "extend life" to my sim for my next trip which is 10 months out.

I hope this was helpful!

transpac

You can top-up, or add value, at any 7/11, or by using a top-up machine. These top-up machines are everywhere, including inside most BTS stations on the ticketing mezzanine. You can do up to 12 individual top-ups, at 12 baht each (10 baht goes to the balance, 2 baht is the fee), and each will extend the validity for 1 month/30 days, up to a maximum of 365 days.

http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph/image...ine/u_load.png

There are a gazillion other ways to add value: ATM, credit card, True service kiosk, TrueMoney...

http://truemoveh.truecorp.co.th/3g/topup?ln=en


TrueMove generally does not sell pre-paid SIMs in their retail outlets, preferring to outsource this low-volume activity to phone shops and their corporate "brother" 7/11. Terminal 21 is a bit of a tourist haven so expect to get gouged a bit as their rents are quite high. You can buy any SIM, add value, then subscribe to the services you require. A lot of the "promotional" SIMs are targeted at specific groups.


Once you add value you can subscribe to a monthly, recurring data plan, if you want.

I usually recommend the 4G plans:

http://truemoveh.truecorp.co.th/4g/s...aid/entry/3340


You can also subscribe to a plan in a 7/11 as they have a rack with all packages. http://truemoveh.truecorp.co.th/3g/t...try/3559?ln=en

schoflyer

Thanks Transpac!

OK so I can go and add value via a machine for example if I wanted 11 months of validity and perhaps the 399 plan for 1 month now, I could go add 50 baht 10 times. This give me 10 additional months of validity? Then from there I could redeem by using a code I punch into the phone and the 30 days of data service plan starts and the 500THB balance I have applied to my account is reduced by 399+VAT. Did I understand that correctly?

Or I could add much smaller amounts to extend the validity and go buy a hanging card at 7-11 which I assume has a code on it that I punch into my phone to activate my data?

transpac

OK so I can go and add value via a machine for example if I wanted 11 months of validity and perhaps the 399 plan for 1 month now, I could go add 50 baht 10 times. This give me 10 additional months of validity? Then from there I could redeem by using a code I punch into the phone and the 30 days of data service plan starts and the 500THB balance I have applied to my account is reduced by 399+VAT. Did I understand that correctly?

Yes.

Or I could add much smaller amounts to extend the validity and go buy a hanging card at 7-11 which I assume has a code on it that I punch into my phone to activate my data?

The card rack at 7/11 is more for packages, you'd choose the card, hand it to the clerk along with the cash and they'd give you back a slip with a code, which you enter into the phone.

For a top-up, you hand them cash and they give a slip with a long code which you enter in your phone, the details of which are printed on the slip. Not sure what the minimum value is though (might be 50 baht)? There are top-up machines right outside almost every 7/11. The minimum on these machines is 10 baht

schoflyer

Right On. Thanks!

foofighters816

True and AIS are reliable. Internet is good even in the south. You can purchase them at any convenience stores or mobile shops.

invisible

Folks, I am flying to Thailand tomorrow and then by end of the March, so I will need SIM card with more than one month of validity.

I searched on Dtac web site and seem come to the following

http://www.dtac.co.th/en/search/pack...0&pmn=NET&pmt=

So it is SIM card (50B) and 1.5GB of data for 30 days for another 199B.

Does anybody know, what would happen after first 30 days? SIM is deactivated? Something else?

If I top up with 250B and use 200B for internet, will be remaining 50B enough to keep the SIM operational?

Last question - where is DTAC's shop in Phuket's airport?

P.S. Checked other packaged options and I think either are either more expensive or expire after a week. I really do not need too much data - 500MB would be enough, but I need the SIM to be active when I am going back.


Thanks

transpac

I think DTAC offers the option, maybe only on their Tourist SIMs, to pay 50 baht for 180 days, or 100 baht for 360 days. They do have another scheme, which costs 2 baht/30 days nut that may require ownership for at least 90 days.

The simplest thing to do would be to use a top-up machine, and add 10 baht (12 baht with the 2 baht fee) to get 30 days. You can repeat this for a max. expiry of 366 days.

Or simply top-up 50 baht in a 7/11 to get another 30 days.

Not sure what happens after the expiry. Expect you get some extensions, like incoming calls only for some grace period?

I searched on Dtac web site and seem come to the following

http://www.dtac.co.th/en/search/pack...0&pmn=NET&pmt=

So it is SIM card (50B) and 1.5GB of data for 30 days for another 199B.


Yes. There are other SIMs as well: Smartphone SIM (49 baht); Happy 4G SIM (69 baht) among others. You can buy any SIM, add value, subscribe to a data plan.


Does anybody know, what would happen after first 30 days? SIM is deactivated? Something else?

No clue. I expect you can continue to receive calls/texts.

If I top up with 250B and use 200B for internet, will be remaining 50B enough to keep the SIM operational?

Yes, but remember VAT (7%), so a 199 baht plan becomes a 214 baht plan.

The DTAC website does not show a shop at HKT. Maybe there is a convenience store or phone shop land-side?

invisible

BTW, do you know how to check balance/usage from the phone? Was not clear from the website.

Tourist SIM would be a good idea, but 229B option is for a week and I assume that it would want to charge another 229 every week, even if it has validity extended. Not what I had in mind. The same way - more expensive packages are also time limited and I expect that they needed to be periodically charged.

Anyway, thanks for suggestions. I will try today.

transpac

BTW, do you know how to check balance/usage from the phone? Was not clear from the website.


https://www.dtac.co.th/en/prepaid/se...ppynumber.html

*101*9# SEND

Check remaining balance, remaining Emergency Refill and expiry date
Direct Number (USSD)*101*9#

IVR*1001 Press 9

Interactive USSD (UMB) Dial *100*9#When your mobile displays menu for you to choose reply, please choose and type reply menu number 1 and follow the steps.

You may be able to use the web as well:

https://my.dtac.co.th/esv/en/login (request a pin code sent to your phone)

or even an app:

https://itunes.apple.com/th/app/dtac...8142?l=th&mt=8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....android&hl=en

(you need to be on a mobile data connection - not WiFi - for these apps to work.)

After the period is up on the tourist SIM, you would have to add value and subscribe to another data plan; the 229 baht would not automatically recharge.