SIM-cards have been and still are a source of trouble. At the moment, I am keeping SIM-cards for four countries (Germany, Thailand, Taiwan, Myanmar) valid.
Germany
Decades ago, if your SIM-card expired, the remaining balance was lost. But then the European Union made a law that made telephone companies refund the remaining balance. Thus, when my German SIM-card expired around 2010 (after over 10 years of usage, but spending most of my time abroad and returning to Germany only a few times per year, there must have been a phase of inactivity of over 6 (?) months that led to deactivation and my number could not be re-installed in service center), I wrote to my telephone company and received a new SIM-card (with a new phone number) with the balance of the old SIM-card.
Nowadays I check balance once per month. That is free even when abroad and counts as use of SIM-card.
Leaving the SIM-card in Germany for my parents to top-up and use is not an option, as I need when I land at the airport to call my parents when I will be home and whether to pick me up at railway station or not.
Thailand AIS
Inspired by the loss of my phone number in Germany, I registered my SIM-card in Thailand around 2011 (long before it became compulsory around 2018), hoping this way I would be able to get back the same number even after card expires. My SIM-card expired between two holidays around 2012, but I was wrong about getting my number back! Buy a new SIM-card and keep it active by transferring balance or validity with friends who are in Thailand permanently.
https://www.ais.co.th/one-2-call/service/en/service_credit_transfer_700.html
*140*2*DestinationNumber*Transfer Amount (max 100 THB)#call (cost 3 THB)
https://www.ais.co.th/one-2-call/service/en/service_validity_transfer_700.html
*140*2*DestinationNumber*Days of Validity to transfer (max 20 days)#call (cost 3 THB)
That SIM-card could not handle data, so when I bought a smartphone in 2013, I need a further SIM-card for data (and keep my old SIM-card for calling because my friends know that number). Around 2017, I went to an AIS service center and got a SIM-card that has my old phone number and can handle data.
I didn't bother to check data plans* (information from telephone companies is not well presented in the internet) and probably paid too much for data for years.
*I'm not the only one: recently (Mar2020) I talked with Thai friend Top and he says he spends 49 THB for 3 GB of data EVERY DAY so he can watch videos all day. (That's 1500 THB for 90 GB per month; whereas I spend about 500 THB for 5 GB per month).
Then around 2016 I asked one of my clever Thai friends and he showed me this table (volume-duration-price):
https://m.ais.co.th/package-ontop/?appName=worker&lang=en
which is the best presentation of data plans I have come across.
And elsewhere you can choose speed and duration in a table and buy at the specified price:
And around 2017 I talked with yet another of my clever Thai friends, and he showed me how you can set up my favorite data plan directly: 2 GB within 30 days for 239 THB with code *777*75# auto renewal.
And in 2018 I talked with a Farang friend about SIM-cards, and he recommended I get AIS app which offers some advantages in managing SIM-cards over e.g. requesting remaining balance or data by SMS:
Auto renewal means that as long as you have balance on your SIM-card, the telephone company will deduct the money. But as I spend a lot of time out of Thailand, I keep my balance below 239 THB to avoid paying for data while I'm out of Thailand. There will just be an error message, and when back in Thailand I subscribe again.
For trips abroad, I bought a SIM-2-fly http://www.ais.co.th/roaming/sim2fly/en/ that has served me well on many trips.
Roaming border countries unlimited data 7 days 99THB
*111*407# (tested in Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand)
Roaming Asia unlimited data 8 days 299 THB
*111*354# (tested in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam)
You have to be careful when returning to Thailand, the roaming SIM works in Thailand, but on a very expensive package.
Later I found that the boarder roaming works with a normal AIS-SIM-card by dialing the code above, no need for a SIM2Fly.
Thailand true-move
Then I got a tip from friend who has no WiFi or data by telephone line, but does all his internet business by mobile data from true.
He told me "True Max 4M unlimited volume 150 per month" but didn't know how to subscribe. So I went on a search on the internet
and https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1103010-where-do-you-find-truemove-internet-packages/page/2/#comments
*900*1767# 1 GB 7 days 41.73 baht
*900*1776# 4 GB 30 days 160.5 baht
These codes did not work for my SIM-card, but finally
the following package: *900*8837# 1.5 GB (high speed?) within 30 days, overuse 384 kbps 199 THB + 7% VAT = 213 THB worked great! The key point is the unlimited free overuse at 384 kbps which is fine for me (can even watch movies at that rate), whereas before with AIS, data was capped at 2 GB and overuse would be charged dearly.
A negative for true-move is that you cannot transfer balance or validity between numbers. The plan is auto-renewal, and I had more balance than the monthly cost when I left Thailand on 1apr2020. At Don Mueang airport, I canceled my data package with code *902*02# whereupon I got cancellation message and could not go online any more (i.e. cancellation is immediate, not at end of term).
But when I topped up from Germany to extend validity, I found that 213 THB have been deducted for renewal! That problem seems to be general:
https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/776974-how-to-cancel-one-internet-package-with-truemove-h/
https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/858142-how-to-personally-cancel-monthly-internet-plans-on-truemove-h/#comments
https://iservice.truecorp.co.th/
The only thing I could do is send a few SMS at 12 THB each to a friend to bring my balance under 213 THB, so subsequent attempts by true-move to deduct the monthly fee fails.
Taiwan
SIM-card expires after 180 days of inactivity. I left some money with a friend in Taiwan and have him charge the SIM card five months after my last usage.
Myanmar
I'm going to spend more time in Myanmar in the future, so I got a local SIM-card. So far it seems validity is up to 1 year which is fine.
Further reading
Mobile Phone Charges etc by Jun » Wed Jan 22, 2020 11:20 pm
https://gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10206
https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Thailand
https://sawatdeenetwork.com/v4/showthread.php?22941-eSIM-experience-with-dtac-be-careful!
Copyright 2020 ChristianPFC
Data package on my German SIM-card (vodafone) is auto-renewal and the telephone company will deduct the money as soon as there is enough balance. Whereas auto-renewal on true will try to deduct one month after applying for data package.
ReplyDeleteTrue validity can be extended by 90 days for 12 THB. The 90 days count from the day you extend validity. I did so one week before expiry and lost that one week. Not a big issue, but it means you cannot extend, say for a year, all at once, but you have to put the 90 days in your calendar to remind you.
ReplyDeletethnks
ReplyDelete