AIS sim card not working/connecting after returning to Thailand (30 days away)

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

I just got back to Thailand after a month's trip away (back home). While I was away, in the UK I wasn't using my Thai SIM obviously but I was still using my phone whenever wifi was available. Now I get back to Thailand and I expected the AIS sim card to work right away but its not connecting at all. So I can't use my mobile data (which I'm still paying for and I pay every month so there's no question of unpaid bills leading to disconnection). I've checked all the usual things suggested as solutions - flight mode, roaming, restart phone. None of that makes any difference, there's no connection. 

Another thing not working is my AIS app - even using a wifi connection, it just freezes. Its also stuck on the UK region (myAIS in United Kingdom). 

So I'm wondering is this an AIS issue?  I know I can visit an AIS store and ask them but I would prefer to avoid the long long wait in that queue.

[ricktoronto]

Obvs. go to an AIS shop. You can't connect to the app nor use the phone. Unless you have another 4G phone handy then try that.

Also make sure you have the APN set for AIS though there's no reason a phone should suddenly forget the APN settings. Phones usually get the APN automatically but you can set it manually.

I add an entire year to the SIM expiry every trip so it doesn't expire even if I don't use it. So this is not a payment issue, it sounds like.

[Zeb]

Delete App and reinstall ?

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

Got the app working ok now (didn't need to remove then reinstall), not sure why it wasn't working before. My account looks fine on the app and I've enough credit to cover the monthly package so I don't see any issues there.

But still it won't connect to the Internet whenever I'm away from wifi.

I'll go the shop and hopefully they can resolve it - I bet its something really basic and stupid. 

[Snowbird99]

This isn’t going to be much help, but I had a similar problem after time away from Thailand . AIS sim connected but at minimum speed, useless, ignoring my data subscription. Also app didn’t work, just doze trying to load. Did all the obvious, delete and re install etc. Didn’t help. 
 

Visited AIS in Central. Resolved the data speed issue but not the app problem. Anyway, worked for the duration of my trip. 
 

For no apparent reason the app started working a few weeks after my return to UK, and continues to work. 
 

Have to say not really bothered about a local SIM as it’s so easy to download an eSIM. 

[ricktoronto]

2 hours ago, Jumpin Jack Flash said:

Got the app working ok now (didn't need to remove then reinstall), not sure why it wasn't working before. My account looks fine on the app and I've enough credit to cover the monthly package so I don't see any issues there.

But still it won't connect to the Internet whenever I'm away from wifi.

I'll go the shop and hopefully they can resolve it - I bet its something really basic and stupid. 

Did you check there is an APN and the APN is that of AIS? It's under the SIM card settings. The APN is normally pushed by the SIM card but it can disappear and needs to be manually added which is very easy.

The last time I had a no connection issue with a known good SIM, I looked in the SIM settings and there was no APN at all, and I looked it up with the cellular provider and added it manually.

By way of example DTAC is www.DTAC.co.th and is the first setting under access point names in settings on an Android phone. 

It may not even be there in which case you simply add a new APN, name it AIS and enter the settings, which appear to be nothing more than (the MMS settings are for text messages):

 

AIS APN Configuration Details 

• Name: AIS Internet (or anything)
• APN: internet
• Username: (blank)
• Password: (blank)
• MMSC: http://mms.mobilelife.co.th (for MMS)
• MMS Proxy: 203.170.229.34 (for MMS)
• MMS Port: 8080 (for MMS)
• Authentication Type: CHAP or None
• APN Type: default,supl (or just internet) 

 

Android Settings

1. Go to Settings > Connections > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names.
2. Click Add or + to create a new APN.
3. Enter internet in the APN field.
4. Save the settings and ensure it is selected. 

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

On 30/04/2026 at 23:09, ricktoronto said:

Did you check there is an APN and the APN is that of AIS? It's under the SIM card settings. The APN is normally pushed by the SIM card but it can disappear and needs to be manually added which is very easy.

The last time I had a no connection issue with a known good SIM, I looked in the SIM settings and there was no APN at all, and I looked it up with the cellular provider and added it manually.

By way of example DTAC is www.DTAC.co.th and is the first setting under access point names in settings on an Android phone. 

It may not even be there in which case you simply add a new APN, name it AIS and enter the settings, which appear to be nothing more than (the MMS settings are for text messages):

 

AIS APN Configuration Details 

• Name: AIS Internet (or anything)
• APN: internet
• Username: (blank)
• Password: (blank)
• MMSC: http://mms.mobilelife.co.th (for MMS)
• MMS Proxy: 203.170.229.34 (for MMS)
• MMS Port: 8080 (for MMS)
• Authentication Type: CHAP or None
• APN Type: default,supl (or just internet) 

 

Android Settings

1. Go to Settings > Connections > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names.
2. Click Add or + to create a new APN.
3. Enter internet in the APN field.
4. Save the settings and ensure it is selected. 

I checked the mobile networks in settings and it already has under Access Point Names

AIS Internet

AIS MMS

IMS

xcap

 

I then clicked on the gear icon for "AIS Internet" and also for "AIS MMS" and it has all those values you listed above.

A lot of the fields say "not set" but it has all the ones you listed (MMS proxy, MMS Port etc) exactly the same.

 

My phone does recognise there's an AIS SIM card, under SIM Manager it says :

SIM 1

AIS

Unknown number

 

I wonder if "Unknown number" is the issue - maybe its lost my number somewhere after going to the UK and back to Thailand.

 

I'll go to the AIS shop on Monday.

[ricktoronto]

Have you switched slots and tried it in slot 1 or tried it in another phone?

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

My current phone doesn't have multiple slots (it also doesn't support eSIM which was a point someone made earlier). And the SIM card won't go into my other older phone (model is too old).

[Holtime]

I had a similar problem in December 2025, I could load baht & select a plan but would not work, I am using a tourist sim I got from July 2025 .

 

Had to go to the AIS shop & verify my identification then it worked.

 

Was told foreigners have to verify identification every 60 days.

 

 

[ricktoronto]

1 hour ago, Holtime said:

Was told foreigners have to verify identification every 60 days.

This isn't the case with DTAC because I was last here November and as soon as we landed I was connected to DTAC almost six months later. When I went to DTAC corporate booth he did not ask for my ID, he just extended the date, and figured out how much I had to pay for 50GB data for a month using some of my balance and some cash. I paid 150B cash for a 300B internet package and left 100 or so for SMS or calls. 

You want to minimize data use if your package expired but you still have cash credit with DTAC because it will start working immediately and at the non-package data rate, which is very expensive.

[momo5]

4 hours ago, Holtime said:

Was told foreigners have to verify identification every 60 days.

 

 

No, not for AIS at least.  There have been a couple of times over the past 10 years or so that I was requested to re-verify … usually due to some changing legal requirement … and when I get a new passport I stop in an office to reverify and have my passport info updated on my AIS account.  But nothing every sixty days.  I’ve had this AIS number for over ten years now … 

[ricktoronto]

10 hours ago, Jumpin Jack Flash said:

My current phone doesn't have multiple slots (it also doesn't support eSIM which was a point someone made earlier). And the SIM card won't go into my other older phone (model is too old).

I meant just use any other person's phone and see if you swap SIM cards they are online. 

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

Another thing is, my AIS Thai number is still working - I've received a few calls from delivery guys. So the issue is only with the data - its not connecting with the Internet.

[ricktoronto]

Well, try another device compatible with the SIM or wait until Tuesday when this overly long holiday is over.

Any phone even someone on DTAC/True will work because it will download the APN data as necessary and then if it connects, it's your phone, if not it's the SIM card itself, or something to do with the plan not showing data as part of the plan.

The telephony (other than VOLTE) and SMS can work when data does not. 

[Zeb]

12 hours ago, momo5 said:

But nothing every sixty days.  I’ve had this AIS number for over ten years now … 

Yes. I am the same.

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

Went to AIS shop and they solved it, eventually. I wasn't sure what they did exactly and the lady couldn't tell me much beyond it works now, but she did transfer my sim card into another phone, then back again, then dialled some magic number and voila - internet working again.

I got back home and was reading thru various SMS messages from AIS when I spotted one I hadn't noticed, from the end of March, the very day I landed in the UK. And there it is, telling me my Internet is now switched off. Not sure why exactly, something to do with roaming maybe ?  But I just hadn't read this, at the time.  

And that number to dial must be what the AIS lady did at the desk 😄

[ricktoronto]

It would have been nice to know that *129*2# thingy.

[worldpunter]

1 hour ago, ricktoronto said:

It would have been nice to know that *129*2# thingy.

Rikki don't lose that number ,

Steely Dan  , 1974