Making phone calls in Thailand

HI

Regarding mobile operator AIS

I use AIS and for international calls at low cost I use the international prefix code for AIS which ensures it is a low cost call.

00500+ country code + number.

I spend approximately 1300 THB p/month.

It costs 2.5 THB per minute for me to call UK using the above 00500 prefix.

I also have Line chat so I add AIS as contact to receive their special Internet offers which are very good.

With Dtac,they are ok and my service is quite good. NOt a big user but there is a need for a true ; unlimited calls plan for bigger usersl unlimited should mean unlimited, not with a cap. They all drop out, part of mobile life.

The best system by far is True. Fast est Internat and best mobile availability. Use their service and you never need to pay long distance. Skype is fast on their internet. Also you use a VPN service like "Strong VPN" it costs 200 baht a month. With it you can watch TV from back home, see all Netflix movies and sports.
There is no need to ever pay LD charges with True internet services as the speed and reliability is as good as home.

different to what I heard, my advice has been that True never deliver the speed they charge you for.

A landline is good for quality internet and WIFI; but best bet is to have a cell. Most of the companies offer the same rate. It all depends on how much you use your cell. Buy an unlocked cell and pick up a SIM card at the 7-11 and buy time there as well. I have used Happy SIM cards and time. For calling out of the country; hook up to Skype or other inter net calling service. Hope this helps

Hi, i think it is useful for you to have some information about how to survive in Thailand specially capital city Bangkok and to know what budget is suitable monthly  during your staying in Bangkok.

The mobile operators are different including :AIS 1-2 call 2-True mobile operator 3-orange and U
To call out side of Thailand is very very expensive on your mobile phone but local calls is less cheaper.
The monthly budget is different depending on the personal ability and the shelter and what kind of food you use , if you plan to rent one of the hotel rooms it seems expensive than to rent apartments rooms .
If I guess how much is enough to you monthly budget it is almost. $ 300 if you rent a cheaper apartments and cook your food in your room but like hotels and expensive apartments is more expensive.  If you plan to eat food in restaurants the budget may increase double.
I hope this will help you more .

You buy a cell phone.

Call T.O.T.  Telephones of Thailand for a home line and or wifi.

I brought my Android phone with me from the U.S. after cancelling my service there. When I got over to Airport Plaza and visited the D-TAC store there. They installed a new SIM card dtac Website and I purchased 500 minutes since I'm here for several months. It's worked out great. Check them out. And if you want to talk to other providers they're all there on the same floor at the Airport mall (3rd Floor I'm thinking).

3 main mobile suppliers: 1 to call, Dtac, & To move. Each have a variety of packages Cheap + all related to time of day.
and time on line. When opening an acct they require passport & photo. My mobile bill is around 200bht per month.
The copper wire connection is TOT (Thai Govt) apply to them direct, they want a connection in a Thai name. (easy to organize) My monthly bill for TOT including internet is around 900bht more if many direct calls.
All providers offer cheap overseas calls depending on time of ;can be as low as 1bht per min. to US. again see providers promo stuff. For high speed internet fiber optics is limited to some metro areas only.
Have fun

I have a DTAC sim card for local calls and have to use TOT wifi for inet as where I live there are no hard lines and TOT will not install one for me as I am too far from the local town.
TOT inet is is 1O Mb down and 512 Kb up as this is their fastest wifi according to the people at the local office
Mostly it is much slower.
I use Skype to communicate with my family and have Skype Credit which is very cheap and use this for all overseas calls.
For the constant electricity interruptions I have a UPS on the wifi router.I have at least one interruption a week here which then caused endless problems to reset before I had an UPS.
Wifi is 631 THB per month uncapped.
My total communications cost is about  1200THB per month
I have True satellite TV at 2200THB per month.

Call TOT to set up your landline. This landline will allow you to also set up ADSL internet service from either TOT or TRUE or other ISPs.  Price range depends on your required bandwidth, etc.  You will need a work permit, a retirement visa, etc to get a land line.

As for mobile providers, A lot depends on your location for the best speed and coverage.  The big three, AIS, TRUE, and DTAC are pretty competitive in BKK.  True has a multi-tiered long distance service which I like and their data coverage for where I go upcountry turned out best for me, but I also have an AIS number as well when I can't get a TRUE signal.  Costs for me is around 2000 baht a month, but I make a lot of long distance business calls.

In short, try out a couple of services and see how it fits your particular needs.  Don't sign any long term contracts if possible until you find out the best combo for you.

If you an American the best way is to get Vonage, its a USA number you can call anywhere in the USA, Europe, Australia, Japan, many other countries for free.  Monthly its $45.  Great service, and same as a landline, a normal phone.  I have had it for 8 years and I really love it, it is great.

I have DTAC for my local thai mobile, its no problem also.

My wife and I live in Nangtakean Samutsongkram on the border of Samutsakhon. The land line out here is not very efficient and have opted for using cellphones. Since there is a cellphone tower close to here, we can call the United States without problems and anywhere in Thailand easily. I use my old cellphone from the US and my wife uses one bought here. Also the cost of using a cellphone is very low. A couple of hundred baht allows us to call Hua Hin, Ubon Bangkok Nonthaburi or elsewhere.

In reply to Sevenwinds I would like to reply that the two TOT technicians servicing this area visit me regularly,this being as in the beginning the service inet service went down at least 3 times a week for a day at a time and I called TOT Head Office in BKK and reported this on several occasions.
They then got it in the neck and came to see me and asked me to call them instead of HO.
Since then we have become friends. They call me regularly and ask if I have any problems. I am the only one with wifi inet,as a matter of fact inet in this area, and there is no way they are going to install a line here according to the HO manager as it would not be viable for TOT.
I have accepted this.
I had 3BB here a while ago and they informed me that they could also not instal Fibre here due to the distance from the village and I being the only one using inet.
The kids sit on my stoep in the afternoon and use the inet.
I do not mind as this at least assists them with some education.
Where they get money for the phones heaven knows as the parents are mostly "technicians"working for the "BIG" Technician at 3 to 400 THB per day and then drink out 50% of the money in  the evening in his "Outside Tavern"
Sorry of the topic but I live with the wifi until something better comes up.
All 3G signals here are pretty weak.

When i move (have move 6-7 time in nearly 5 years) i go to a True shop in the area, to sign up for internet, tv and chose a packed that have it all, with a land line.
That way i don´t pay for it, it is being my experience they always have a "promotion" of some kind, where it is free, all so free to get the internet, free for satellite dish.

This time we have fiber. normal price to get 12.000 baht, but was free because "promotion"



I all so have 2 sim card, True H, And D-Tac (Happy) in my mobile phone.
I use total for around 200-300 baht per month on my mobile phone.

I use True H 006 45 XX XX XX XX to call Denmark, cost is 3 baht per minute to landline, and 8 baht to mobile phone.
So cheap i think, that no need to do it in other way.

Yes, barrytaylor I agree that location makes a big difference on the availability of TOT landline service.  I live in Bangkok and also have a resort up in an area near Chaiyaphum (25kms away).  Had to wait almost a year for them to get service up in that area and then it was a chore to get it up and keep it running.  All is well now and we even get ipTV. 

The OP did not state where they would be living, but for likely first timers, I suspect it would be somewhere like Bangkok or other large city.  In that case landline service would be readily available.

Since wifi stopped working well where I live, signed up for TOT Broadband. They installed a fifteen foot tall antenna that picks up the signal very well. You might want to try it. Monthly rate is cheaper than wifi.

I use Line Premium Call which is super good quality, and cheap! For example, call rate to Malaysia is as low as THB 0.53 /min to Landline, and THB 0.96 to mobile number. With DTAC's 004 prefix, you have to pay THB 2.50/min to call landline/mobile. And it is not very clear sometimes.

I have been using DTAC 004 to make international calls back home in the past few years, and my monthly bills always more than THB 1,000. With Line Premium Call, you can buy more credits at line.me for even cheaper rate, and use for a long time. Now my bill is around THB 850.

Have to clarify that I always use Line Premium Call while connected to a Wi-Fi AP. It is much better quality than using Skype-Skype call, or Line-Line call.

For making international calls I use an app called MobileVOIP (Voice over IP) - so it relies on a Wifi connection to the internet. You need to add some credit to the MobileVOIP account, and then can make free calls to the UK. I use my old UK Android mobile phone (which I converted to pay-as-you-go when I came to Thailand), and it works really well and is very easy to use. I can't remember exactly what the credit is used for, but I seem to have only used a few pence so far.

You are absolutely right, and AIS has a much better service and availability / connections.
I was with happy for 6 years and was happy for 5, then they got worse and worse so I switched to AIS and have no problems and connections everywhere plus a low cost and fast internet.

How do you use collect call in Thailand?

Dial the operator connect & request.

I have found the best deal for where I am in NE Thailand is AIS 799 bht a month get unlimited calling in Thailand and 2 GB data.

Hello friends.
I am travelling to Thailand soon and i have two cellphones ,one of them is IPHONE and the other is ANDROID ,which one is more convenient in THAILAND to activate? Should i unlock the device before coming to Thailand? Can i use map quest or Google Map with my phone?
Thank you .please comment .

Best to unlock at home before leaving so you have recourse if they brick the device.

I know a couple people that have used www.unlockunit.com before leaving the US without any problems.

If you wait till arrival then one of the many shops at MBK in Bangkok is a good place to unlock.

Can obtain SIM for either phone at the airport if unlocked before arrival and use it right away.

I have android phone and use Google Map everywhere in Thailand.

Perfect answer.Thank you