Mobile
Telephone Services
Four cellular telephone systems
are in use in Thailand: New 800 (analog), Cellular 900 (analog),
Digital GSM 900, and Digital 1800. All four systems provide
reasonable reception in the main urban centers. In the mountains
or rural areas of the country, reception can be patchy or
non-existent. Visitors bringing their own mobile phones to
Thailand can use them provided they have international roaming
turned on. The phone charge is calculated from the home country
to the destination number and is likely to be very high.
Digital GSM and Cellular 900
mobile phones can be hired from FoneRent, a service of AIS,
during your stay in Thailand. For details call +66 2 535-3598
- 9. Full payment by credit card is available and there is
a counter at the international airport.
Internet
Services
Internet usage in Thailand
is growing rapidly, especially among students and in the metropolis.
Estimates for the number of users vary from 600,000 to as
many as 800,000 or a million. Internet services are available
in all the large provinces at Internet cafes, hotels and guesthouses,
and restaurants and bars. Rates vary from around 2 baht per
minute up to 6 baht per minute.
Right now there are 17 Internet
service providers (ISPs) in Thailand with an hourly charge
rate of around 15 to 20 baht. Actual transmission speed is
around 36 Kbps on ordinary telephone lines, depending on the
ISP. Contact points in many upcountry locations are notoriously
unreliable. A high-speed cable system has been launched by
UBC but this is primarily designed for business users and
the monthly charge is very high.
Computers are virtually the
only means of accessing the Net in Thailand. Access by mobile
phone using WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is likely
to arrive in late 2000. The mobile phone charge rate for this
service may prove prohibitively high for many users.
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