Phuket - Global Line for international call - a phone card

cadia · #1 04-11-2004, 10:11

Hi members,

I have just purchased a phone card named Global Line for international call from zaptel.com. In zaptel.com, it's said that the toll free number is 001 800 120 664 870, however, limited access in country. I wonder if any members of Phuket forum have used phone card to make international phone call before, or more specific, if any members have used this type of cards before. Does it work in Bangkok and in Phuket/ Phi phi island?

Thank you.

stevescottcfi · #2 04-11-2004, 12:20

I'd be interested in the answers to that, and whether one can get a sim card in Phuket to install in a GSM phone. OR is it better to initiate intl. service from home?

Schmeen · #3 04-11-2004, 14:16

Buy a SIM in Thailand, foreign phone cards will not work.

If you dial 007 instead of 001 to dial overseas from thailand, then it will be a lot cheaper.

cadia · #4 04-11-2004, 20:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schmeen

If you dial 007 instead of 001 to dial overseas from thailand, then it will be a lot cheaper.

Hi Schmeen,

Do you mean my phone card? So do you know the toll-free number for 007? Could you please tell me? I have searched online and I only found toll-free number begins with 001 (to call from Thailand to US).

Thank you.

LivinLOS · #5 04-11-2004, 20:27

Not sure if I have just read the above advice incorrectly but it seems wrong...

Foriegn sim cards will work fine here (providing of course you have international roaming set up and your phone can use either of a GSM 900 / 1800 network)...

Much cheaper to buy a Thai sim (couple hundred baht depending on how much credit is on it) an leave a message on your home voicemail so other people can pay the international leg of the call... I had a very busy number in the past that I had to carry.. getting back from LOS for a month to find a grands worth (euro) of phone bill becuase I had to pay for them to call me is not fun (and means your still working while here)... I also reccomend 12Call or second DTAC.. Orange is not as good coverage down here on Phuket.

As to buying an international phone card many of them do work.. You need to check with the provider as to if they have a freephone connection in Thailand. The number listed above does connect from my cellphone and asks for pin number.. Testing both before and after a 30 sec call (I let it ask me lots of times) I have exactly the same credit on the card to the satang so can only assume the above dialup number is free from cellphones and presumably from payphones (dont have one in the house to test

sorry) or housephones (but wont see a bill until next month)...

cadia · #6 04-11-2004, 20:52

Thank you for your help.

Schmeen · #7 05-11-2004, 04:32

The International Dialing Code from Thailand to anywhere is 001 followed by the country code.

So to call the US would be 001 1 .....
To call the UK would be 001 44 .....

If you dial 007 instead of 001 it is much cheaper...7B a minute to Europe.

I have no idea about Phone cards, I'm talking about using a Thai SIM

LivinLOS · #8 05-11-2004, 19:18

But you also stated foriegn sims dont work... They do.

Schmeen · #9 06-11-2004, 03:49

and where did I say that?...found it yet?...didn't think so....I'd had to be pretty dumb to think that...so lets try reading again shall we??

Quote:

Buy a SIM in Thailand, foreign phone cards will not work.

I said foreign phone cards do not work. That was what the question was about.

I am referring to those cards you can buy in USA and Europe, where you dial a toll free number, and then dial the number out. You cannot dial a toll free number in the USA free of charge to use such a service. The Thai telephone company won't honour that.

Now using the number quoted "001 800 120 664 870" from thailand 001 would get you outside taking you to country 80. The short point being the international access code in Thailand is different to the one in the US and Europe.

cadia · #10 06-11-2004, 05:45

I have just found out that zaptel.com is not really good. My evidence is that I will have to pay 36cent/minute for a call from mainland China to USA (Massachusetts), while at ecallchina.com (http://www.ecallchina.com/default.asp?index=6), it costs only 13.5 cent/minute. Stupid me!!!

From zaptel.com, the cheapest price for calling from Thailand to USA is 33 cent/minute. Do you know any other sites that have better deals? Or could you please suggest a better way - call more for less - from Thailand to USA - in Bangkok/Phuket?

I am looking forward to hear from you. Thank you.

Schmeen · #11 06-11-2004, 06:34

I thought I already had

Get a Thai SIM and dial 007 instead of 001 as the international access. Actually 009 also gets a reduced rate, not sure which is the cheapest. 7B a minute to Europe.

cadia · #12 06-11-2004, 06:59

Oh, I am sorry that I didn;t tell you more clearly. I don;t have a cellphone - oh actually my bf doesn't have a cellphone, so he will call me from a normal phone (I dont know how to call it - fixed phone - desk phone..) at his hotel.

And a SIM is for a cellphone, right?

Schmeen · #13 06-11-2004, 13:41

God help us all............

LivinLOS · #14 07-11-2004, 11:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schmeen

and where did I say that?...found it yet?...didn't think so....I'd had to be pretty dumb to think that...so lets try reading again shall we??

I said foreign phone cards do not work. That was what the question was about.

I am referring to those cards you can buy in USA and Europe, where you dial a toll free number, and then dial the number out. You cannot dial a toll free number in the USA free of charge to use such a service. The Thai telephone company won't honour that.

Now using the number quoted "001 800 120 664 870" from thailand 001 would get you outside taking you to country 80. The short point being the international access code in Thailand is different to the one in the US and Europe.

OK without wanting to have the last word

A) by making a statement about sims and then stating that phone cards dont work it is easy to confuse (see

) the reader into infurring that one statement related to the other, phone cards = sim cards. Also by reading seperate posts like this

Quote:

foreign phone cards will not work.

Quote:

I have no idea about Phone cards, I'm talking about using a Thai SIM

again makes it sound like you are talking about SIM cards.

B) Dialling 001 800 gets you to the international free phone numbers. This is not a country (80 or 800) at all, as I showed by dialling the number you say wont work it does work. You get access to the zaptel phone network at no line costs here in Thailand.

C) Many many foriegn phone cards DO work, as I stated initially the trick is to find one with a freephone number that works from Thailand. Having an international free phone number or a Thai freephone number is key. Most of the big players in this market do have such numbers. So even in its corrected (or correctly interpreted) way that statement is still untrue. I dont dissagree that it is possible for some small scale cheap USA outbound only service may exist, simply dont use it.

Anyway, he can either sort this out prior to going, get a calling card here, geta SIM here and dial, get a SIM here and dial 007, not bother calling his GF and play with the bar girls and soapies.. As they say Up to you