Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Fairly nice Ъah·đé (batik) is available in the south in patterns that are more similar to the batik found in Malaysia
than in Indonesia.
Telephone
The telephone country code for Thailand is 66 and is used when calling the country from abroad. All Thai tele-
phone numbers are preceded by a '0' if you're dialling domestically (the '0' is omitted when calling from overseas).
After the initial '0', the next three numbers represent the provincial area code, which is now integral to the telephone
number. If the initial '0' is followed by an '8' or a '9' then you're dialling a mobile phone.
International Calls
If you want to call an international number from a telephone in Thailand, you must first dial an international access
code plus the country code followed by the subscriber number.
The standard international direct-dial prefix is 001. It is operated by the Communications Authority of Thailand
(CAT) and is considered to have the best sound quality; it connects to the largest number of countries but is also the
most expensive. The next best is
007, a prefix operated by the telecommunications company TOT, with reliable
quality and slightly cheaper rates.
Dial 100 for operator-assisted international calls or reverse-charges (or collect) calls. Alternatively, contact your
long-distance carrier for its overseas operator number, a toll-free call, or try
001 9991 2001 from a CAT phone and
1 800 000 120 from a TOT phone.
Mobile Phones
The easiest phone option in Thailand is to acquire a mobile phone equipped with a local SIM card.
Thailand is on the GSM network and mobile phone providers include AIS, DTAC and True Move.
You have two phone options. You can buy a mobile phone in Thailand at one of the urban shopping malls or phone
stores near the markets in provincial towns. Or you can use an imported phone that isn't SIM-locked (and supports the
GSM network). To get started buy a SIM card from one of the carriers (AIS and DTAC are most popular), which in-
cludes an assigned telephone number. Once your phone is SIM-enabled you can buy minutes with prepaid phonecards.
SIM cards and refill cards (usually sold in 300B to 500B denominations) can be bought from 7-Elevens throughout the
country.
Thailand finally has a 3G network and True Move is offering 4G LTE coverage in Bangkok. Coverage and quality of
the different carriers varies from year to year based on network upgrades and capacity. As of 2013, True was regarded
as having the highest data connectivity though this could change. Carriers usually sell talk-data packages based on us-
age amounts.
There are various promotions but rates typically hover at around 1B to 2B per minute anywhere in Thailand and
between 5B and 9B for international calls. SMS is usually 3B per message, making it the cheapest 'talk' option. The
299B 'Happy Internet' SIM card (through DTAC), that's usually offered to tourists, offers one week of free data and is
probably the best deal for those staying for two weeks or less in Thailand who use data on their phones.
Calling overseas through phones in most hotel rooms usually incurs additional surcharges (sometimes as much as
50% over and above the CAT rate); however, sometimes local calls are free or at standard rates. Some guesthouses will
have a mobile phone or landline that customers can use for a per-minute fee for overseas calls.
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