Avoid Roaming Charges with a Tourist SIM Card in Thailand

Before visiting Thailand, check with your mobile phone provider that roaming is available, and whether it is covered under any "free-roaming" clauses. Currently, mobile provider Three (in the UK) on its Go Roam package include 71 destinations around the world at no extra cost. Unfortunately Thailand is not one of those included. To avoid astronomical roaming charges on your return home, it is well worth purchasing a local sim card package for use on your trip

Luckily most mobile phone providers in Thailand provide a tourist Sim package, But which one should you choose? We ran through the following process on a recent trip to Thailand including Bangkok and Don Mueang airports and on to Phuket.

All 3 of the Thai mobile sim providers are located in the arrivals hall at Bangkok airport however, for those travelling outside Bangkok to other parts of Thailand or to any of the surrounding islands, it is well worth checking which providers offer the best coverage at your destination.

Fortunately there is a website called opensignal.com that will provide you the information on Network speed. In our case, TrueMove H came out on top in both Bangkok and Phuket.

Now knowing which provider I require, I just need to see which is the best package for my needs. Most providers offer 7, 15 or 30 day tourist SIM packs and as I was staying for around 25 days, I opted for the 30 day 10 Gig of data package.

I was not really bothered about free local or sim to sim calls given that WhatsApp is considerably more cost effective for international calls - as a result, the data package is the more important factor. With TrueMove (and likely most other providers) you can use unlimited WiFi at many of the hotspots around the country. (This review was written and posted using the trueWifi at Don Mueang airport).

To access the service and receive your pass-code just text *871*4# and you will receive a text within seconds.

Login onto the @TRUEWIFI

The following screen will ask you for your Telephone Number and pass-code to give access to the service, easy as that.

It maybe that the prices of packages at the airport are subject to a small premium over the retailers in Bangkok but I was happy to pay an extra few Baht for the service and have the sim fitted and service checked.

The true stand is located in the international arrivals hall opposite baggage carousel 17.

Opting for the 30 day, 10 Gig tourist SIM package all that’s was required was my passport (which the helpful woman at the desk took a picture of on her mobile phone), 850 Baht and the new SIM was fitted in seconds. Make sure to keep your Home SIM card safe.