Why Importing an LG Nexus 4 to Thailand was a fail

Sometimes you can be too smart for your own good!!!

I decided a month or two back that my next phone would be an LG Nexus 4 but was then surprised to find the Nexus cost Bt18,000 locally when it was just Bt12,000 in UK, (inc. VAT).

A friend happened to be travelling out to Thailand from UK around that time so I decided to save myself Bt6k and get him to buy the Nexus 4 in the UK and mule it out to me. Job done. Well yes and no.

When I'm using my sexy new Nexus 4 when travelling around Pattaya, calls drop out when I assume I'm crossing cells. Not just that, it seems parking in the shade of a palm tree can give it a 'nose bleed'. I should add that the Nexus 4 is included in my earlier Facebook post on the Top 8 Smartphones of 2013.

I happened to be in the HTC shop in Tukcom and mentioned to the owner there that my heapo cheapo HTC phone held calls better than my new super sexy Nexus 4, imported from UK. He started laughing which was something I wasn't expecting. He explained that phones made for sale in the west have cheaper comms chip sets in them as the cell coverage there is so good. He said phones sold in Asia need a more expensive comms chip sets built in to them to compensate for the broken cell coverage. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and I wasn't laughing.

I've now had more than Bt6k worth of 'P' taken out of me by pals and the best comment so far was from One Shirt who said, "Most people buy a Nexus 4 mobile but I'd bought a Nexus 4 Static......." $%^&$#

There is one major upside. I nearly always lose the signal when I'm talking to One Shirt so that's a result. Not only that, I can now just close a call with him when I've had enough and tell him the signal dropped when I drove passed a lamp post.......

If you are thinking of importing a phone..... think again.