SoiCowboyTony Posted December 1, 2005 Report Share Posted December 1, 2005 Alright...I give up...WTF is a SIM card? I see you folks talking about them all the time. I'm going nuts with curiosity. If I take my Verizon Wireless cell phone with me to the LOS, will a SIM card allow me to make calls? Help!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted December 1, 2005 Report Share Posted December 1, 2005 Perhaps you could Google it? Nevermind, I did it for ya: WikiPedia: SIM Card. And no, your Verizon phone is CDMA I believe. Thailand (and 99% of the world, actually) use GSM, which uses different frequencies and protocols. I think only Cingular in the US has a GSM network. But no matter. Come to LoS, buy a cheapie GSM phone (used B1K, low end new B3K at MahBoonKrong Shopping Center) and a starter pak for pre-paid calling (~B200) and you will have your very own SIM card. Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enigma Posted December 1, 2005 Report Share Posted December 1, 2005 I could be wrong, but I don't think Verizon is one of the (very few) mobile companies that provide GSM service in the States (GSM being the standard everywhere else in the world). No GSM = no SIM card. American cell, er - mobile - service blows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCgringo Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 USA may be called GMS , but I do not think its the worldwide standard, better to buy one at MBK , you can also use it if you go to Europe , just get that countries Sim card OC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 Same standard (i.e., GSM is GSM), but possibly different frequency than LoS. My tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz) phone bought in Sillypore works fine in LoS and the USA (& Oz, & China, & HK, & Taiwan...) Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALHOLK Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 Hi! GSM is the air interface standard. The frequencies quoted are the carrier frequencies. As a side note CDMA (GSM is TDMA) is gaining ground in Europe. Originally developed for millitary purposes as it is more difficult to jam and tap into it has now become stable enough for civilian use. I have worked with radio networks and CDMA is clearly more complicated than GSM but in some respects superior. regards ALHOLK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boring_Man Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 The cheap Nokia triband is only a little over 3k Baht at the Nokia store at Emporium. No camera or bells and whistles, but a good little phone which'll work pretty much wherever you go, as long as you don't go to Japan. VFM, IMO. Also worth it to buy from a place that'll still be around the next day. You can save a little money (sometimes, not always) at MBK, but not a whole lot in this price range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 If I buy a cheap phone at MBK along with a simm card, next month, will I be able to use it in Thailand, Cambo, Laos and Burma and does it cost a lot more to call Thailand from any of those countries (as opposed to calling Thailand to Thailand)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 dean said:If I buy a cheap phone at MBK along with a simm card, next month, will I be able to use it in Thailand, Cambo, Laos and Burma and does it cost a lot more to call Thailand from any of those countries (as opposed to calling Thailand to Thailand)? Cambo & Laos depend upon your service provider. AIS (1-2 Call) for sure, others dunno. But you *must* register the SIM to be able to roam first, so it will not work. Burma has no (OK, some, but very, very limited and meaningless for this context) recriprocal agreements with anyone so roaming is not possible there. Tho' my experience is more than a year old, so maybe coverage is better as Toxin has been kissing the junta's arse to get biz there. Of course the price is high. Not sure if 1-2- call is the same rates as post-paid (likely 1-2 Call is higher), but look here for roaming rates. To translate Thai-lish, "nation call" is a call withing the country you are in (outgoing) and "outgoing call to Thailand" also is the rate to any other country as well. Note that you are charges for incoming calls as well, but not incoming SMSs. Cheers, SD - three weeks on biz in Indo equaled a B20K AIS bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boring_Man Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 The junta tends to be pretty paranoid about mobile phones and there are reliable stories of phones seized and/users questioned. After all, you might be the advance man for the inevitable invasion or doing something subversive like tyring to order a pizza--and requesting the 1st Marine Division to deliver it. A foreigner using a mobile phone in public in Myanmar is bound to attract attention. Up to you whether you enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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