SIM card for infrequent user

[Guest mauRICE]

My friend needs a prepaid SIM card. She rarely uses her mobile but needs it for emergencies and text messaging. Suggestions, anyone? GB?

[Guest joseph44]

My friend needs a prepaid SIM card. She rarely uses her mobile but needs it for emergencies and text messaging. Suggestions, anyone? GB?

 

Uhm, not sure, but ask the AIS Call Center 1175.

They'll probably know what to do.

If you go to just some cell phone shop, they'll sell you a sim card stating that there won't be a problem.

 

By the way......if your friend needs to phone for an emergency, that will work, even without a sim card; as long there is battery power. Emergency number in Thailand is 191.

 

[Guest laurence]

My friend needs a prepaid SIM card. She rarely uses her mobile but needs it for emergencies and text messaging. Suggestions, anyone? GB?

Can you give more info? Does she have a Thai phone or a cell phone from her home country? I use the 1,2 Call card and can keep my number valid for a year by a modest amount of baht. Any phone shop can do this for you. Best not to skimp in real emergency.

 

[Guest buaseng]

I use the 1,2 Call card and can keep my number valid for a year by a modest amount of baht.

Same, same for me, had the same Thai SIM for two years now (installed in a cheap Nokia phone without the frills like camera/video/MP3 etc which I keep on purpose just for use in Thailand for local voice and SMS calls on my visits).

 

I use my Thai SIM for about three or four weeks twice a year for the odd text message and local call and an occasional quick message or call back to the UK. At other times, when I am back in the UK, I make sure I have at least 300 THB loaded and usually make a quick text (costs about 40 Baht) to a Thai friend once a month to keep the phone activated.

 

When you buy the SIM get it from a recognised phone shop or better still and best of all from an AIS outlet (there is one in the arrival foyer at Suvarnabhumi). Ask them to set it up for international roaming - the 1-2-Call 'Freedom Planet' service. It costs nothing to set up if you get it done when you buy the SIM. This can of course be set up through their service centre (Dial 1175) but you take pot luck on how good the service agent's English is!

[Gaybutton]

I think Buaseng's advice is best. If you are in Pattaya you might also be able to get it set up at Tuk Com. In Bangkok, the only place I know to go, besides the airport, where you can be sure to get it done right would be Pantip Plaza. Maybe someone more familiar with Bangkok can recommend other places.

 

[Guest]

I have 1-2 Call and it lasts a year if you put enough money on it. I did not know you were able to get an International plan on this as that is a great idea to send a text once a month. Is this easily done with a sim card you purchased at Tut com? Do you have to go to the main office to get this or if you call the number, can you have a Thai speaker ask to have this put into place?

[Gaybutton]

Maybe that's yet another reason to open a Thai bank account. If you have a Thai bank account with online banking, you can add to your 1-2-Call online, with as little as 50 baht. Obviously, with online banking you can do that from anywhere in the world.

[Guest]

Maybe that's yet another reason to open a Thai bank account. If you have a Thai bank account with online banking, you can add to your 1-2-Call online, with as little as 50 baht. Obviously, with online banking you can do that from anywhere in the world.

 

You are a smart man GayButton!

[Gaybutton]

You are a smart man GayButton!

 

Thank you. There are plenty of people out there who would vehemently disagree with that comment, but I appreciate it.

[Guest buaseng]

I have 1-2 Call and it lasts a year if you put enough money on it. I did not know you were able to get an International plan on this as that is a great idea to send a text once a month. Is this easily done with a sim card you purchased at Tut com? Do you have to go to the main office to get this or if you call the number, can you have a Thai speaker ask to have this put into place?

It is done for free if you get the 'Freedom Planet' option set up when you buy the SIM, or later, at an AIS outlet. Whether it can be done (free or otherwise) through a phone shop at e.g. Tukcom when buying a SIM, I don't know. (I already had my SIM for about 7 months, bought it at a phone shop on 2nd road but that's now closed, before someone told me about the Freedom Planet service and I had it added the next time I went through the airport).

 

You can certainly get it installed if you call the 1-2-Call service centre (Dial 1175) but you take pot luck whether you get a decent English speaking agent. I imagine getting a Thai speaker to make the call would solve that problem.

 

An acquaintance at my hotel tried to set it up via the call centre after I told him about it but got so frustrated in trying to make himself understood that he gave up. Instead he called in at the AIS shop at the airport a couple of days later on his way for a long weekend stay in Bangkok (he was going past the airport anyway so he did not have to go out of his way very much).

[Guest GaySacGuy]

An acquaintance at my hotel tried to set it up via the call centre after I told him about it but got so frustrated in trying to make himself understood that he gave up. Instead he called in at the AIS shop at the airport a couple of days later on his way for a long weekend stay in Bangkok (he was going past the airport anyway so he did not have to go out of his way very much).

 

If you have this added at the AIS shop at the airport to an existing phone, do you keep the same phone number that you have now???

[Guest buaseng]

If you have this added at the AIS shop at the airport to an existing phone, do you keep the same phone number that you have now???

Yes, I was able to keep mine.

[Guest mauRICE]

Thank you all for the chocful of information. Yes, she can use her phone in Thailand but doesn't know what SIM to get. I've advised her to go an AIS shop and consider the Freedom Planet service.

[Guest laurence]

Can someone explain more about the Freedom Planet Service? What it is, what it does, etc?

[Guest buaseng]

Can someone explain more about the Freedom Planet Service? What it is, what it does, etc?

It is the AIS version of international roaming for their pay as you go One-2-Call and Sawasdee call options.

 

You can pick up a small booklet about it at any AIS shop/outlet. It includes the top-up options, Value-added services and the call charges by country for local calls, calls to Thailand, Incoming calls, SMS roaming and GPRS roaming.

 

Here is the introduction page:

 

"Freedom Planet Services

By AIS One-2-Call and AIS Sawasdee

 

. With AIS One-2-Call and AIS Sawasdee, you can still have the same number and handset wherever you go.

 

. Share your experiences with no boundary and no limit.

 

. Enjoy more value added services such as GPRS Roaming that is as easy as when you are in Thailand along with SMS Roaming that lets you text messages when abroad."

 

Value Added Services information:

 

"Value Added services

 

GPRS Roaming. You can stay connected to the internet via mobileLife/WAP site, send MMS, Video or audio files without new setting on your phone

 

SMS Roaming. The service allows you to send SMS to mobile phones anywhere in the world. " (examples of how to send text messages to/from overseas numbers follow this)

[Guest buaseng]

Thank you all for the chocful of information. Yes, she can use her phone in Thailand but doesn't know what SIM to get. I've advised her to go an AIS shop and consider the Freedom Planet service.

Remind her she needs to ask for a One-2-Call SIM first !