Roaming in SouthEast Asia

Hi,

I will be travelling to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore next month and I
need some help with roaming. I can roam with T-Mobile but that would cost me
a fortune!

I want to be able to make calls to home but my main concern is receiving
calls. I usually talk to my friend in the USA for an hour a day and that
would bankrupt me with normal roaming charges! So I am planning to buy local
sim cards for each country and get my friend to call me using a calling
card. So far, I have bought a Thailand Sim card but I am having trouble
finding local sims for Malaysia and Singapore. I looked into a global sim
card but they are UK numbers and would cost a lot to call from America. Are
there any other ways?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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› See More: Roaming in SouthEast Asia

On 2006-12-22, Tony <[email protected]> wrote:
> I will be travelling to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore next month and I
> need some help with roaming. I can roam with T-Mobile but that would cost me
> a fortune!
>
> I want to be able to make calls to home but my main concern is receiving
> calls. I usually talk to my friend in the USA for an hour a day and that
> would bankrupt me with normal roaming charges! So I am planning to buy local
> sim cards for each country and get my friend to call me using a calling
> card. So far, I have bought a Thailand Sim card but I am having trouble
> finding local sims for Malaysia and Singapore. I looked into a global sim
> card but they are UK numbers and would cost a lot to call from America. Are
> there any other ways?
>
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I've never done this in Malaysia, but in Singapore I think they
now have a requirement that you show ID and have your name registered
with the SIM when you buy prepaid service. I think you may hence need
to buy the SIM in Singapore; I'd be careful about buying a SIM outside
the country even if someone offered it.

I don't think it is difficult to find prepaid SIMs when you get there,
however. I vaguely recall buying mine at a 7-Eleven, though I couldn't
swear to this (I know I got refill cards there). The two mobile operators
I remember are these

http://www.starhub.com.sg
http://www.m1.com.sg

and the web pages mention the location of company shops.

If you want free incoming calls be sure to ask about that when you
buy the SIM since I don't think this is the default way that Singapore
mobile calls are charged.

Dennis Ferguson

Dennis Ferguson wrote:
> On 2006-12-22, Tony <[email protected]> wrote:
> > I will be travelling to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore next month and I
> > need some help with roaming. I can roam with T-Mobile but that would cost me
> > a fortune!
> >
> > I want to be able to make calls to home but my main concern is receiving
> > calls. I usually talk to my friend in the USA for an hour a day and that
> > would bankrupt me with normal roaming charges! So I am planning to buy local
> > sim cards for each country and get my friend to call me using a calling
> > card. So far, I have bought a Thailand Sim card but I am having trouble
> > finding local sims for Malaysia and Singapore. I looked into a global sim
> > card but they are UK numbers and would cost a lot to call from America. Are
> > there any other ways?
> >
> > Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> I've never done this in Malaysia, but in Singapore I think they
> now have a requirement that you show ID and have your name registered
> with the SIM when you buy prepaid service. I think you may hence need
> to buy the SIM in Singapore; I'd be careful about buying a SIM outside
> the country even if someone offered it.
>
> I don't think it is difficult to find prepaid SIMs when you get there,
> however. I vaguely recall buying mine at a 7-Eleven, though I couldn't
> swear to this (I know I got refill cards there). The two mobile operators
> I remember are these
>
> http://www.starhub.com.sg
> http://www.m1.com.sg
>
> and the web pages mention the location of company shops.
>
> If you want free incoming calls be sure to ask about that when you
> buy the SIM since I don't think this is the default way that Singapore
> mobile calls are charged.
>
> Dennis Ferguson

and SingTel
http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/singapore.html
http://home.singtel.com/consumer/consumer_mobile.asp

3 networks in Malaysia
http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_my.shtml

Here is a global sim that can give you a number from one of several
countries. US included. If you go with a US #, it will not cost your
friend anything to call you. You will just pay to receive.

http://www.yackiemobile.com/