Telco Tips for Thailand

For many people staying in touch with family friends is a top priority when travelling. Thankfully the good old mobile phone (cell phones for the American readers amongst you) makes it easier than ever to keep the lines of communcation open (some may argue for the worst!!!)

Most travellers simply ensure international roaming is active on their phone service before they leave their home country so they can roam onto one of the networks in Thailand while here. I think a far better and cheaper option is picking up a prepaid sim card and making this your sole method of phone contact while in the land of smiles.

Happy Sim on the DTAC network and One-2-Call on the GSM/AIS network are the leading prepaid products due to sheer availability of refill vouchers that can be purchased anywhere there is a Family Mart or 7-11 store. I mostly use the Happy Sim product on the DTAC network but have found the One-2-Call service on the AIS network to have better reception especially indoors and in more rural locations outside the cities.

When arriving in Bangkok at Suvarnibhumi Airport some people may need a prepaid sim ASAP. The place to go is Family Mart located on level 2 a few stores away from Starbucks. Just ask for a Happy Sim card or One-2-Call sim card. They both come with 99 baht credit so you will be able to start calling within minutes. If you prefer to wait you will be able to pick up a sim card pack at any 7-11 or Family Mart store once you’ve settled in.

The reason I love using local Thai prepaid sim cards is the insanely cheap call rates – most call rates are between 1-2 baht per minute – this means a 30 minute call within Thailand will set you back only a dollar – crazy! Calling overseas from your prepaid service is a lot more expensive so try to stick with using text messages instead which only cost a few baht to make contact back home.

There are many promotions running for cheap call rates so make sure you dial the promo line for your prepaid service to hear all the available rates at any particular time.