Which Pre-Paid SIM Card for 3 Months in the North-East (Nan etc.) ?

[Henrik2000]

Hello, what is the best PRE-PAID SIM card for tourists for North-EAST Thailand? (I mean Nan, Phayao, Phrae, Uttaradit; not Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai; not Isarn.) I need the SIM card 59-89 days (aware of visa requirements). I will be 2 weeks in Bkk and Jomtien, then 4-8 weeks in Nan etc.

I need mainly some domestic calls and lots of mobile data. NOT many international calls, no gaming, no streaming, no outrageous downloads. Expect to have wifi in accommodations. In remote areas, I might feed internet from phone to laptop for internet searches if no wifi is available.

I'd love easy top-ups without scratch-cards or typing endless numbers into the message app (maybe at 7-11 just telling them my phone number). I'd also love easy operation, esp easy checking on remaining credit and easy voice mails with rational English menu. I'd appreciate logging into Wifi hotspots they might offer.

On previous trips to Thailand I often had DTAC. I thought it was easier to handle for foreigners (more service messages in English, and more more easy to understand, etc.) than AIS. Anything other than DTAC would scare me, but I'll listen to your reasoning. (Also in Bangladesh DTAC was a very good option.)

I will get the Thai SIM card in the arrival hall of Suvarnabhumi airport, if not totally overcrowded; otherwise in a phone company's brand store in Pattaya. Or would you recommend another place to buy the the SIM card? I will ask staff to change all my phone settings as required, and will get a lot of credit ("top-up"). If there is any useful way to purchase it already from the west, you could tell me. My phone can swallow two conventional SIM cards, but no e-SIM I believe. (Not interested in really using 2 different phone companies if avoidable. In the PH it might be necessary.)

I guess that after 29 days I need to buy some more credit ("top-up") to keep the SIM card active.

I don't need the cheapest, but also not the superfastest. Mainly it should be very reliable and smooth. I might return as a tourist to TH 1 year later, but who knows. I won't pay to keep the SIM card active for a year.

If you are an expat in Thailand and have a POST-PAID SIM card (monthly billing), you might get a better signal than a PRE-PAID SIM card from the very same company. At least that's what Thai people told me. And sometimes Thai people (with POST-PAID) had a signal somewhere where I had not (with a PRE-PAID SIM card from the same company).

Thanks for your advice!

[Hollander]

How did it work out for you, signal wise?

[Henrik2000]

Hello, I had an AIS prepaid SIM card and I was very satisfied with it from Bangkok to Northern Thailand. First I bought a superfast SIM card (1 month 1700 THB) at the airport down near the BTS station and near the cheap cash changers. The AIS lady there was gruffy and happy to get rid of me quickly.

For the second month I had to visit AIS offices again and then I got a cheaper, slower rate which was still very fine for me. I found that 2mbit are really enough for me, and cost only some 200 Baht/month. Amazingly, these rates seem to have unlimited data volume. At least I never had a warning about my volume, but then I did not use it excessively.

At AIS Telewizard Phayao I had an excellent consultation and they changed this and that including service messages from Thai to English. Another very good consultation was at the small phone shop in Jomtien, soi 5, corner of Beach road.

Still till the end I did not fully understand how I could use AIS super Wi-Fi which is offered in quite a few public places for AIS SIM card users. It did not work the way I (believe I) was told it should work.

Anyway, always good mobile coverage and AIS mobile data was better than some Wi-Fi in a few hotels. It was also markedly better than what I remember from DTAC in the last decade. But DTAC may have improved since then also.

Oh, at one point I tried to make an international phone call by WhatsApp and I believe I got a message like "your phone service provider does not allow this". So for that call I had to use my SIM card, not WhatsApp, and I didn't try Skype or Line.

I would certainly use AIS again. Actually I will, because on my last days in TH I paid some small money to keep the SIM card active for another year. At that time I had a very good phone talk in great English with AIS hotline and the lady deducted some amount from my credit so that the SIM card would remain active for another year. That was great service and I liked it much more that way than having to type in some lengthy code myself.

From that phone call I remember that the lady told me that now she would call me back, because the phone call to the English hotline was costing me money, which I hadn't understood before. She also asked for my name early on and then kept calling me "Khun Henrik". I should have asked for her name too, as she was great. Finally she advised that the inevitable customer satisfaction survey would follow after our talk and and without having to say more I understood that she would like me to give her a good rating. That I did with full conviction.