@David **

As opposed to last year when I came here to Asia for several months and was unable to access my investments, banking , insurance etc b/c i had no way to access my American phone # ? And had no way to get to my money in America ?? Absolutely i will keep paying $20 per month for such a simple solution, especially when you factor in that the cost of AIS service in Thailand is so cheap, so you are saving there as well… But mate, “forever” is a very long time, i estimate that i will probably continue paying $20 per month for the next couple of years until a better, free solution comes along.. some people already use such services as GoogleFi, Google Voice(?), and others but they are not as foolproof and straightforward for me at this time as the dual eSIM solution .

Whoever told you that AIS only uses physical SIM cards is incorrect… For me, the solution I used this time, that has worked brilliantly so far - is i upgraded to a new iPhone 15 before I left the USA…  iPhone 15 is eSIM only, there is no physical Sim card capability .. Then I switched from ATT to Mint Mobile, which only costs me about US$20 per month… then when I arrived at the Bangkok airport, I went to the AIS booth and they installed an AIS eSIM .. now I just toggle back and forth between my USA phone number and my Thai phone number, whenever I need an OTP or a 2FA code…  I have had zero issues yet with that set up, and I only have to carry one phone .. ETA : Make absolutely sure that whatever new phone you purchase is UNLOCKED.. wound up having to buy my new phone directly from Apple Store since they sell them unlocked, other more shady dealers (looking at you ATT)- tried to sell me a locked phone , which would not have worked in Asia .

@Myles ******

PM sent

@Ally ***********

Im interested in an IPTV subscription, can you recommend a provider or the best way to go about signing up for it ? Feel free to DM details to me if you’d like, thanks

For anyone who has been, would Cha-Am qualify ? I haven’t been , but was thinking of checking it out since it’s close and pretty nice from what ive heard .

@Richard **********

Hmm, interesting.. That hasn’t been my experience … i purchased the Mint 10 day Intl pass for $20, a couple of days before i departed USA.. so it was active here in Thailand for approximately my first week, but since then it expired, I’ve been on my regular Mint unlimited plan and receiving 2FA/OTP codes just fine.. They did advise me though to set on my phone settings the Roaming to ‘off’ once the Intl plan expired, and to turn Wi-Fi Calling ‘on’.. maybe that has something to do with it (?) .. or perhaps someone who is more tech savvy than myself can chime in with an idea .

@Richard **********

No problem , safe travels !

Just a quick update.. Have been back in Thailand for a little over one week now.. before i left the US i upgraded to an iPhone 15 with eSIM only, switched to Mint Mobile from ATT.. got an AIS eSIM when i landed last week in Bangkok and now i just toggle back and forth from Thai # to USA # whenever i need a bank code.. Has been working like a charm (at least, so far 😬 ).. Im not saying that this is the ONLY solution; but for myself, not being super-tech savvy- it seemed the most uncomplicated and economical way to go, minus the phone upgrade, but i think you can accomplish the same thing with older models that are eSIM capable .

@Tony *********

Im not sure which one worked, like i said i turned off location services both places within general settings and within the app .

@Tony *********

Yes it worked, thanks again ! I was thinking of cancelling YoutubeTV, but since it’s now working I’ll probably keep it so i can watch American football (NFL & college) in the Fall.. fwiw i had to go into settings and turn off location services AND had to go into the individual app settings for YoutubeTV in settings and turn off location services there too, then made sure the Surfshark VPN was on when i logged back into YoutubeTV .