What Should I Do About Cell Service When Moving to Thailand From the US?

Transfer your number to google voice, it’s free

Here's some good article about a sim card in Thailand:

I bought a SIM card from True Move . I set up an account with Skype and called my bank in the US . I told hubby to cancel cricket in the US and save $110 a month and pay Skype 3.50 a month for unlimited phone call to the US. Hubby doesn't listen but it's ok it's his money 😂

Get Ais card at airport when you land , very easy , will put sim in your phone for you , just after you pick your bags up , loads of different ones but I find Ais best service , get tourist sim first , month about 500 baht , then when you get your bearings change to Thai , easy

So you are moving here , for good in mid December and you don't the most basic thing how to change cell service? 🤦🏻‍♂️

I moved here 5 years ago and for the first two years paid AT&T $50 a month just to receive texts and voice mail.

Now I use numberbarn. You port your old number to them, I think that was $20, then pay $7 a month and when you get a text or vm you get an email.

As for cell service here, if your phone is paid off any service will work. I use AIS and paid 1,800 baht for 6 months unlimited Internet and keep maybe 100 baht on my sim for the very few calls I make.

More than anything, numberbarn was a game changer for me since I still need to get US texts from time to time for internet banking and stuff.

AIS has the best coverage overall all across Thailand. Probably has the best 5G services too.

While you are in Vegas sign up with a VOIP phone service called "2ndLine". Pick the area code you want to use, and then you have a choice of local numbers for that area code. Buy the premium plan at $38 for the whole year, not a month. If you don't do this your number will go void after about 3-5 days of no use. By buying the premium package, and it is the cheapest VOIP phone service, you keep the number. I have been using it for 4 years, with no problems. All my banks accept it, and any calls I make to the states is charged as a local call here in Thailand. It works real good. Sign up while you are in Vegas, or if you try to sign up here you'll need to use a VPN .

DO NOT cancel your USA number. There is too many things tethered to your US number. I switch to pre-paid but almost never use it. Sometimes you need codes sent to your US number, keep a burner phone with you in Thailand and have your US SIM in this phone. Set up a Thai sim in your main phone. If you need to call US number use Skype/What's APP etc.

Call Verizon and see what international services they offer. I have used Sprint and Metro in Thailand without buying a SIM card but use WIFI often.

I use a VIOP number which has no sim.

Depending on provider, works with US banks and Government 2FA, etc.

Comes with other features also, like voicemail, video calls and recording, sms.

It's just an App with service.

I moved to Thailand from San Diego. I am trying to maintain a few things like a US bank account and my longtime phone number for a lot of reasons. I transferred my phone number to Google Voice and got a new phone number on Google Fi. The new number is practically unused. I got a 2nd sim card and phone plan from AIS. It seems to work out well. The Google Fi account is currently paused. I un-pause it when visiting the US.

Ais I found better when opening my thai banking apps.

I found Dtac slower.So I switched to Ais and apps opened up faster.

But having said that my phone is android.

Not sure if it makes any difference.

Your phone should be sim free to be able to switch to a thai sim.

If you're moving permanently, I would cancel your US service.

But take note, that if you plan to continue using banking or other accounts in the US, they will want a US phone number to send your two factor authentication codes to in order for you to login or use services. This might mean you need to keep some kind of US cell service.

Then is your phone completely paid off? Are you on a lease or subsidized phone in any way? If so, you cannot use your phone with another company's sim card. You'll need to pay it off completely first before they will "unlock" it.

But then just bring it here and go to any of the major cell phone companies (go to one in a big mall, they will speak english) and sign up for a new plan/sim card and you're done. If you need to keep a US sim and a Thai sim, I did that with AIS and used an AIS e-sim.

I like d-tac