Thailand 3G - quirky set up process and slow performance

On Monday, I called in at the AIS counter in Tukcom and signed up for a post paid 3G contract. When I say I signed, it's a bit of a lie. I have no work permit so I have to get a Thai to sponsor me, (sign docs and hand over copy of ID card). The lady at the AIS counter said I should receive an SMS from AIS in the next 14 days advising me of my application approval and at that time, I should return to AIS Tukcom to complete the 3G account set up.

After 2 days, (yesterday), I received the SMS confirmation message  Problem is, I'd been reading bad reports of poor 3G performance in Thailand so I decided to hold off switching from 2G until things had improved.

This morning, (Thursday), I was on a call, (incoming), when I lost the signal. I couldn't receive or make calls. It remained that way for the remainder of the morning which had me suspecting AIS had cut off my 2G link to encourage me to move to 3G.

So this afternoon, back to Tukcom. My contacts were transferred from old to a new Sim, (same #, free), and after 30mins of AIS working on my phone, I was told everything was done but I'd have to wait a further 2 or 3 hours for my new 3G account to be activated... Return home, do not pass Go, do not collect $200... After 4 hours my phone was still off so on the grounds I'd nothing better to do, I powered my phone off and on. Presto, new 3G account active.

First impressions.


It's the first time I've switched from 2G to 3G so I have no reference point for the process involved. That said, two visits to Tukcom, possible 14 day wait, a 2 to 3 hour wait with dead phone are all part of a process that I reckon would excite Heath Robinson

For Internet browsing, AIS 3G is as fast as the slow Wi-Fi connection I had with 3BB. It's not a radical improvement but it works and seems stable around central Pattaya.

It's hard to distinguish any difference on phone calls between the 2G and 3G services. Friends will tell you that's because of my crap phone........

Apps that were dormant with a wi-fi connection are beavering away like mad with an open data connection. Apps guilty of covert data usage are Google Play Store; YouTube; Drippler and Line. If you don't get a grip of these apps you could pretty quickly exceed your monthly data usage limit and run up penalty fees. For Android users, check out  Onavo,  a quality data usage monitor. For IOS users, who cares...... if you can pay over the odds for a fashion item, you can pay penalty fees..... you've probably paid for an unlimited plan anyway......

Conclusion

It's early days but I'm no worse off than I was on 2G and things can only get better.... right? Who's laughing?????

3G in Thailand just got confusing

I was in Tukcom Pattaya today and thought I'd check out AIS's 3G packages.

The AIS staff were keen to push a Bt599 per month package which included 150mins of call time and 1GB of Internet data. It wasn't the cheapest and wasn't the most expensive package they had which meant the AIS staff had read me pretty well......

As the few people I know generally phone me and as I do most of my Interneting at home I decided to go for a Bt299 package which gives 150mins/month of call time and 500mb of data/month. The staff were at pains to point out that if I exceed the data limit, the charges would run up pretty quickly. Hence, their preference for the 1GB per month data package.

My preference was still for the Bt299/month package so I decided to hold off making a decision until I had a better feel for what 500mb of data represented in browsed pages.

Now for the confusion. To complete this post, I went online to AIS to get details of their other 3G packages as I know one or two Rag readers are a bit flush and might want to spend more than Bt299/- per month on 3G....

Online the Bt599/- per month package comes with 300mins call time and 1.5GB of data. In Tukcom, for the same price, I was offered 150mins call time and 1GB of data. Did I make a mistake. Well no, cause I have AIS Tukcom's hand written offer in front of me clearly showing the lower numbers.

It's possible in the fast moving telecom's world that AIS have changed their 3G packages and not had time to update their web site. It's possible but it was odd that the AIS counter in Tukcom had no printed brochures with package details and rates. They were handing out only hand written quotes.

My next move will be to check package details with the AIS shop in Central or with their Call Centre on 1175. If you are planning to move to AIS 3G just be aware of the the AIS online package details when dealing face to face with AIS staff.

Footnote -  If you don't have a work permit you will need to register for post paid 3G in a Thai name.

               - 3G packages for iPhones