Best bet in a cell phone for visitors?

[short-time]

Fellas,

 

 

 

Since my US cell phone will not work in LOS and prices there seem to finally have come down, I'm thinking of buying one next trip. As I only visit about twice a year what would be the best deal for the occasional visitor? Does anyone offer a plan where you can purchase several hundred minutes at a time with no monthly fee? Would you have to get a new number each visit and pay an activation fee? Does anyone rent them? I don't need a top of the line phone with lots of extras either. A small size, dual band model with good performance is all I require.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

 

 

ST

 

 

[iuytrede]

for someone visiting twice a year only prepaid makes sense.

 

AIS's one2call has the best coverage if you travel a lot to villages. DTAC's Dprompt is cheaper. Orange's JustTalk covers Bangkok, but not much more (don't know about Pattaya). Orange is much cheaper if you always call the same couple of numbers: you can chose 5 numbers as friends and family for 1 B/min nationwide instead of 5 B (not sure they still have this offer).

 

You can buy handset and number for about 3900 B (Orange used to offer a 3310 for this price, certainly the best choice) including about 1500 B worth of airtime, good for about 2months.

 

It maybe cheaper to buy a new SIMcard everytime you come and just put it in your handset. New SIMcards with 1500 B (Orange) or 2000 B (DTAC) airtime have been available in MBK at a 50-60% discount for quite some time, but this can change.

 

If you want to keep your number you must buy refill cards. If you hardly ever use your mobile DTACcards are better because even a 300 B card is good for 100 days, so 1200 B let you use your number more than one year.

 

The other providers' cheapest cards a not good for such a long time. But most people use up the value on the cards way before the time limit, so it doesn't matter.

[Guest]

I agree with iuytrede.

 

 

 

You can get either a One-2-call (AIS system) or a Dprompt (DTAC system) package. AIS has better coverage outside of Bangkok.

 

 

 

In both systems you use refill cards to top up with money and airtime days. In order to not lose your phone number, you will have to calculate that the amount you refill will last until your next trip. Also, in both systems refilling with more cards are cumulative in air time, i.e. a 300 baht card lasting 30 days plus a 800 baht card lasting 100 days will give you 1100 baht lasting 130 days. In One-2-call, when your days or money run out there is a 37 days suspension period before losing your number. Therefore if you have put in 1100 baht, you will have 167 days before being cut off.

 

 

 

DTAC are more value for money at the moment. Their cheapest phone package is 3500 baht. They also give better airtime days. 300 baht lasts 100 days if you put in 3x300 baht cards you get 300 days. Be careful though, all their cards are for 100 days so if you put in a single 1200 baht card you only get 100 days. You must put in 4x300 baht cards to get 400 days.

 

 

 

So what do you get?? :-)

 

If you spend all your time in Bangkok go for Dprompt.

 

 

 

If you spend much time outside of Bangkok, say in Pattaya, go for One-2-Call. In this case you can buy a phone package for 3900 baht. Put in a 800 baht card (100 days) and a 500 baht card (50 days) which will give you 100+50+37=187 days before losing your number. This is suitable if your trips are at exactly 6 month intervals.

 

 

 

Obviously, you must leave some money in your account to get the full airtime period.

 

 

 

Here are the relevant links:

 

http://www.dprompt.co.th/eng/index.htm

 

http://www.one-2-call.com/One2Call/eng/system.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thalenoi]

Ultra,

 

 

 

Are you sure AIS refils are cumulative by date?

 

I purchased a 500 baht refil on may 8th and had 99 baht left with an expiry date somewhere in June. After the refil the balance check call mentioned a validity date of 18 Aug 2002. That's 100 days from the refil to me.

[Guest]

I purchased a new cell phone with more minutes than I used in 3 weeks minutes for 3000 BT at MBK. It included voice mail.

 

 

 

It worked well in Pattaya & BKK & was supposed to work CM & other metro areas.

 

 

 

I left it with LT.

[iuytrede]

"Are you sure AIS refils are cumulative by date?'

 

 

 

yes, sure - lots of experience

 

I cannot explain what happened to you, though

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Hi Thalenoi,

 

 

 

The answer is yes because I refilled with two cards on my last trip and got the cumulative airtime.

 

 

 

This is from the One-2-call faq on their web site:

 

 

 

"Question: Can I use different types of Calltime Refill card to connect to the system at the same time?

 

 

 

Answer : Yes you can. If you use different Calltime Refill cards to connect to the system at the same time, your credit will be increased automatically. For example, if you use card value Baht 800 (100 days) and Baht 1,500 (200 days), your total balance will be Baht 2,300 and valid for 300 days."

 

 

 

(I have amended the airtimes associated with each card price because the faq was out of date)

 

 

 

I think you may have to put both cards in at the same time to get the cumulative airtime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thalenoi]

Ultra,

 

 

 

Thanks for the info, the refil I purchased was for 500 baht, maybe that does not give 100 days. Not big deal anyway, will be back in LOS 26 June, way before the expiration date.

[Guest]

Hi Thalenoi,

 

 

 

A 500 baht refill gives you 50 days.

 

 

 

 

[GatLoS]

This has been one of the clearer answers on this subject I've seen. Since you guys seem pretty informed I've got another question. Can you use these phones with prepaid cards in other countries? Buying prepaid cards from the respective countries, of course. How about through out Europe? The last time I was in Germany, we got a phone (for work) that worked all over the place.

 

 

 

I tend to travel quite a bit, and this seems like a cheaper way to keep in touch with out spending the huge roaming rates the US carriers charge (the few that allow roaming outside the US that is).