Question about getting a SIM card in Bangkok last year

I landed in Bangkok last summer, figured I'd grab a local SIM at the airport like always. The kiosk guy sold me a plan that was supposed to be unlimited for a month. Got to my apartment, and my phone just... wouldn't connect. No data at all. Spent the whole next day going back to the airport kiosk, then to two different carrier stores in the city, sitting in each one for over an hour while they tried to fix it. Turns out the plan needed some special activation text I never got, and my phone's APN settings were a mess from my last country. What should have been a 20-minute task ended up taking me almost 8 hours of running around and resetting my phone three times. It really messed up my first workday there. Has anyone else had a SIM or data nightmare that ate up a whole day?

3 comments

3 Comments

jadej502mo agoMost Upvoted

I once spent six hours trying to get a SIM card to work in Lisbon. I'm pretty sure the phone store guy still tells that story.

alicemurphy2mo ago

Was it one of those tiny shops where they just shrug a lot? I had the same thing happen in Rome, felt like I was trapped in a tech support nightmare. You start to think you'll never get your phone working again.

angelaw782mo ago

Ugh, that sounds so frustrating! I had a similar mess in Tokyo once, wasted a whole afternoon just trying to get online. It really ruins your whole day.