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Prepaid to postpaid. Advantages? Disadvantages?


phetphet

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Received an SMS from AIS yesterday offering 12 months free of their PLAY movies if I changed to postpaid.

 

I am trying to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of whether it's worth it or not.

 

On the whole, I can't really see much difference. I can top up online, I mainly use for internet, email, etc.  I presume that the calls might be a bit cheaper, but I don't make too many, and for international calls I use FaceTime or Skype. I always buy roaming packages when I travel.

 

For those of you that do use postpaid, why? What are the advantages for you? are there other perks that I am not seeing? 

 

TIA

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Postpaid is more expensive

 

Advantages:

1. A few, specialized services are only available for postpaid users. If you have to ask,  you don't need them. 

2. Your limit can be set very high.  If you want to make calls for 50000 baht,  you don't want to do this prepaid. Yes, this is possible. 

3. No need to refill.  Monthly bill can be deducted automatically from your bank account. 

4. If you are a long-standing high volume customer (let us say 3-5 years 1500-2500 baht monthly)  they give you all kinds of perks that the general public doesn't even know of.  Free insurance, special promotions. Can be a very god deal.

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I only use postpaid because I want to settle the charges end of the month. It is like using credit card. Some prefer to pay up front for things they buy and some like to use credit card and delay payment until the end of the month. In terms of call/data rate, both plans are not that different.

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postpaid is so much better than prepaid. more perks, discounts, etc. call up AIS and say that you're considering to switch to postpaid. try to negotiate for the best deal you can get (50% off at most) and you're most likely to get it. if they can give you serenade status upon switching, even better. 300 mins + 20GB 4G + unlimited wifi would cost around 300-400 per month (after some haggling and "wooing" on their part). DTAC and True has comparable postpaid packages, so be sure to look into them.

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15 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

i guess things have changed. i have AIS and was told Farang can only do prepaid, not postpaid. 

As with everything in Thailand...it depends. I live here, switched from prepaid to postpaid upon renting homes on yearly contract. Pay bill online. Current one just emailed to me 381 B for last month.

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1 minute ago, wwest5829 said:

As with everything in Thailand...it depends. I live here, switched from prepaid to postpaid upon renting homes on yearly contract. Pay bill online. Current one just emailed to me 381 B for last month.

i will try calling AIS again. as soon as the tranquilizers kick it.

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Ditch AIS! Get LINE mobile postpaid. Unlimited and watch what ever tv or vids you want. AIS are criminals. Im paying around 700b per month completely unlimited and watch netflix, youtube, run cctv etc all off my phone. Its brilliant.

Dont try and change your ais number to another service. they will hold it to ransom and demand more money for service time when not used. Ill never use them again and i was a postpaid few k per month user for many years.

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What about horror story of kids or other member of the family using the phone and receiving those horrible  20,000 THB ++ bills ….. And if you loose you phone , someone can make  many overseas call before your report he phone loss or stolen ?

 

Can you limit the total monthly amount to be billed each month ?

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Whether you use postpaid or prepaid, a lot of people don't realize that there are many packages you can change to, to fit your needs. I have a package that is no longer available, but is still in effect for me, that charges me 1 Baht for the 1st minute and 25 Satang for each minute after the 1st minute. If I talk for more than one hour per day, all calls after that, within the 1 2 Call/ AIS network are free until midnight. Here's the current promotions available: http://www.ais.co.th/one-2-call/promotion/en/nonstop.html

 

Another good tip that is not widely known: If you top up your prepaid phone service at an AIS store that has kiosks, you get 30 days validity for each 20 Baht note you use. You have to do it 20 Baht at a time, but 240 Baht gets you a years worth of validity and the 240 Baht worth of talk time as well.

 

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2 hours ago, cnx355 said:

What about horror story of kids or other member of the family using the phone and receiving those horrible  20,000 THB ++ bills ….. And if you loose you phone , someone can make  many overseas call before your report he phone loss or stolen ?

 

Can you limit the total monthly amount to be billed each month ?

Yes, you can.

The connection will be cut off when your monthly limit has been reached. 

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5 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

i guess things have changed. i have AIS and was told Farang can only do prepaid, not postpaid. 

Usually AIS wants to see a work permit. 

DTAC may be more flexible. 

But it really depends. 

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21 minutes ago, uhuh said:

Usually AIS wants to see a work permit. 

DTAC may be more flexible. 

But it really depends. 

I switched from AIS pre-pay to AIS post-pay last year at Siam Paragon customer service center..  50% off first 6 months.  Only passport asked for.  WP never mentioned

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If you use it mainly for email you should consider staying on PAYG and getting one of the 1 yr data plans they run at 600 baht/6months 1200/1yr for unlimited 1/yr and price goes up if you want 2, 4 or 6mbps, all very good value.

I personally paid 1200 baht for 1 yr unlimted 4mbps but it was with True.

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I have prepaid AIS for calls and SMS only as I use my lap top with ToT fiber (which I prefer to other ISPs) for internet and etc and I have to top up AIS regularly to keep my telephone number valid...which is annoying as I always have a surplus of 6 - 700thb as I don't make many calls...would it be better to get a cheap postpaid AIS data package to keep my phone number valid and like pay once a year?...

 

 

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Depends how much you use your phone ........ My contract was costing over 400 baht a month but i only make about 10-20 calls a month, so ditched it and returned to my PAYG sim .... spend about 50 baht a month. At home (where i mainly am) have internet package for computer and TV, so can get WIFI access to internet there on the phone. Only thing i miss is no internet while waiting for daughter outside school - about 15 minutes a day!

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On 1/22/2019 at 4:45 PM, cnx355 said:

What about horror story of kids or other member of the family using the phone and receiving those horrible  20,000 THB ++ bills ….. And if you loose you phone , someone can make  many overseas call before your report he phone loss or stolen ?

 

Can you limit the total monthly amount to be billed each month ?

Most Phones now need a pin or fingerprint to unlock, you don't have anything to worry about unless you disable those 

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I went to ask about changing to postpaid internet yesterday. thinking it would be better/cheaper. It's not. Prepaid 30 day 300 bht 1mbps speed is the go to plan for me.

Also service ladies still quite disinterested to help. Working for monopoly companies is fantastic. Do a bad job. No problem.

Also had to recover 700 baht sneaky fees. Keep an eye on your usage history in app. You're most likely being charged for services not requested.

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I'm a light user, but just find the postpaid option easier. I switched over about five years ago, all they wanted was my passport.

 

I'm on the AIS 4G Max Speed Non-Stop package, the cheapest at Bht299, gives me 100 mins plus 1Gb 4G/3G unlimited after that 128Kbps. Usually the bill with a few sms (not in the voice package) is about Bht340 per month.

 

Additionally I have a data SIM package for my Huawei MiFi, my Internet backup, the AIS Buffet Net Plus Bht450 package I have gives me unlimited Internet at a max speed of 2Mbps.

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