Thailand By Telephone

Placing International Calls. To call Thailand from home or to call home from Thailand, dial:
1. The international dialing prefix. To call from Australia, dial 0011; Canada or the US, 011; Ireland, New Zealand, or the UK, 00; Thailand, 66.
2. The country code of the country you want to call. To call Australia, dial 61; Canada or the US, 1; Ireland, 353; New Zealand, 64; the UK, 44; Thailand, 66.
3. The city/area code. Let’s Go lists the city/area codes for cities and towns in Thailand opposite the city or town name, next to a }, as well as in every phone number. If the first digit is a zero (e.g., 020 for London), omit the zero when calling from abroad (e.g., dial 20 from Canada to reach London ).
4. The local number.

Calling Home From Thailand

Prepaid phone cards are a common and relatively inexpensive means of calling abroad. Each one comes with a Personal Identification Number (PIN) and a toll-free access number. You call the access number and then follow the directions for dialing your PIN. To purchase prepaid phone cards, check online for the best rates; www.callingcards.com is a good place to start. Online providers generally send your access number and PIN via email, with no actual “card” involved. You can also call home with prepaid phone cards purchased in Thailand.

Calling Within Thailand

The simplest way to call within the country is to use a coin-operated phone. Prepaid phone cards (available at many restaurants, shops, and guest houses), usually save time and money in the long run. Phone rates typically tend to be highest in the morning, lower in the evening, and lowest on Sunday and late at night.

Computerized phones will tell you how much time, in units, you have left on your card. Another kind of prepaid telephone card comes with a PIN and a toll-free access number. Instead of inserting the card into the phone, you call the access number and follow the directions on the card. These cards can be used to make international as well as domestic calls.

Cellular Phones

Cellular phones, from the normal garden-variety flip phone to the more exotic (and entertaining, one can guess) karaoke phone, are extremely popular in Thailand. They are also extremely useful, as cell phone coverage includes all urban and most rural areas of the country. They can be found in cell phone or electronic stores in most large towns and cities, and many are readily available at airports.

The international standard for cell phones is Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM). To make and receive calls in Thailand you will need a GSM-compatible phone and a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card, a country-specific, thumbnail-sized chip that gives you a local phone number and plugs you into the local network. Many SIM cards are prepaid, and incoming calls are frequently free. You can buy additional cards or vouchers (usually available at convenience stores) to “top up” your phone. For more information on GSM phones, check out www.telestial.com, www.orange.co.uk, www.roadpost.com, or www.planetomni.com. Companies like Cellular Abroad (www.cellularabroad.com) rent cell phones that work in a variety of destinations around the world.

Gsm Phones. Just having a GSM phone doesn’t mean you’re necessarily good to go when you travel abroad. The majority of GSM phones sold in the United States operate on a different frequency (1900) than international phones (900/1800) and will not work abroad. Tri-band phones work on all three frequencies (900/1800/1900) and will operate through most of the world. Additionally, some GSM phones are SIM-locked and will only accept SIM cards from a single carrier. You’ll need a SIM-unlocked phone to use a SIM card from a local carrier when you travel.

Time Differences

Thailand is seven hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). It is 14hr. ahead of Vancouver and San Francisco, 11hr. ahead of New York, 6hr. ahead of London, 3hr. behind Sydney, and 5hr. behind Auckland, although the actual time differences depend on Daylight Saving Time (DST), which Thailand does not observe (see below). A useful resource is the World Time Server (www.worldtimeserver.com), which lists the current time in numerous locations worldwide, as well as whether the location is operating on Standard Time or DST. Take note that from early April to late October Bangkok will be 1hr. further behind the other countries in the chart below.