What is a good smartphone for Thailand?

[Hockeydude]

Just found this interesting page that compares the different carriers. I'll let you guys know how it works for me on the unlocked iPhone 4S.

 

http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Thailand

[Okamoto 004]

Sorry I was wrong, it is only the Verizon iPhone 4 that does not work in Thailand. The 4S or newer if unlocked does work.

Sorry for the bad info.

[Hockeydude]

Ok, so I'm FINALLY in Thailand!!!  WHoohoo... 5 minutes off the plane and I got my Iphone 4S working with DTAC.  They had a booth in the airport lobby, and got unlimited data for about 300 bhat.  There were no issues with the sim card working since the Iphone 4S works on both GSM and CDMA. 

[Crash]

I have an American Verizon Iphone 5.  I tried to have it unlocked and jailbroken in Thailand, but they were not able to do it.  So instead I bought a cheap Nokia phone for Thailand.  I use the iPhone when I have wifi, and occasionally I turn it off of airplane mode and use it paying international data rates.

What everyone seems to have missed is that you are talking about an iPhone 5.

 

All Verizon iPhone 5's are sold unlocked.  When Verizon bid on the 700 MHz LTE block, they had to commit to selling devices for this band unlocked (thanks to Google - the original bidder).  Now Thailand is not anywhere near an LTE deployment but you still reap the benefit and the Verizon iPhone 5 will also work with the various UMTS/HSPA bands available there.  Yes the Verizon iPhone 5 is also a GSM phone.

 

There is no need to jailbreak it unless you have other reasons.

 

You will need a nano-SIM from a Thai carrier.  Some shops will cut down a micro-SIM for you.

 

Depending on the carrier, you may also have to visit http://www.unlockit.co.nz/ to set the APN to the new carrier.  I just bookmark it and set it in a wifi zone or as I am getting on the plane.  Note that this step is only for data, phone calls will work without doing anything.

[Luv2Phuket]

Ok, so I'm FINALLY in Thailand!!!  WHoohoo... 5 minutes off the plane and I got my Iphone 4S working with DTAC.  They had a booth in the airport lobby, and got unlimited data for about 300 bhat.  There were no issues with the sim card working since the Iphone 4S works on both GSM and CDMA. 

 

Awesome!  Please keep us updated on how it works -- I'll be landing with my iPhone 4S in a month, and 300 baht sounds like a great price

[Hockeydude]

Awesome!  Please keep us updated on how it works -- I'll be landing with my iPhone 4S in a month, and 300 baht sounds like a great price

 

so far it's been working great in BKK and patts!

[charlesd]

Thanks for all the advice.  Here is what I ended up doing.

 

Many places in Pattaya said that my American Verizon iPhone 5 would not work in Thailand, or that it could not be unlocked.

 

I then went to Tukcom.  On the second floor, there are places that advertise that they unlock iPhones.

 

They charged me 1,500 baht and it took about an hour for them to unlock it.  They switched out the SIM card with my Thai SIM card.  They had to cut down my Thai SIM card to fit it in the phone, but they have a tool to do that pretty neatly.

 

I then went to 7-11 to buy credit.  I then called DTAC to activate monthly internet access.

 

My American Verizon iPhone 5 works great here.  I have phone and Internet access just about everywhere.  

 

The interesting thing is that when I used my American SIM card with International roaming, I could get Internet access only some of the time.  So the Thai SIM card gets me access much more places than the American SIM card did.  I was concerned about the iPhone hardware not working in Thailand, but it works great.

[Little Evil]

Wait a sec. Verizon iphone 5 is a world phone that has the GSM radio unlocked right from the factory. So yes, you should be able to pop in any SIM card without trouble and without having to "unlock" anything. And no, you can't use the CDMA radio overseas. I believe Verizon has done it that way since the 4s. Not sure why you had trouble with it, unless you happen to have some pre-pay plan back home and Verizon gimped the phone on you. 

[bdw]

AIG seems to have cost me the most.

 

Yeah, AIG is expensive, but they are an international insurance company.

 

They've got their own building in NYC:

 

[bdw]

Verizon iphone 5 is a world phone that has the GSM radio unlocked right from the factory. So yes, you should be able to pop in any SIM card without trouble and without having to "unlock" anything.

 

It probably would have worked fine if he'd only tried it, judging from the fact that the Unlockers in Dteuk Com had to cut his SIM for him. He had never even tried it. He probably got charged 1,500 Baht for getting his SIM card cut to size.

 

 

They had to cut down my Thai SIM card to fit it in the phone,

[Little Evil]

It probably would have worked fine if he'd only tried it, judging from the fact that the Unlockers in Dteuk Com had to cut his SIM for him. He had never even tried it. He probably got charged 1,500 Baht for getting his SIM card cut to size.

 

I was thinking the same thing. They probably played Angry Birds for 59 minutes and then took the last minute to cut his SIM card.

 

Wondering if Verizon brands IOS. Reason I'm wondering is maybe OP was confused about the branding and thought that meant it was locked.  

[Woofiee]

Yeah, AIG is expensive, but they are an international insurance company.

 

They've got their own building in NYC:

 

Heh!  Nice one...

 

Clearly I meant AIS..