Hier was aktuelles aus der Bangkok Post vom 29.4.
Exploiting the loopholes
For years, mobile-phone companies have kept a firm grip on the market, selling overpriced handsets with SIM cards and engaging in other monopolistic practices at the expense of the consumer. The fact that, until the emergence of TA Orange recently, there were only two operators in the country further exasperated the situation.
But DTAC and AIS didn't have a complete stranglehold. Canny entrepreneurs discovered loopholes in the system and began exploiting them, setting up little shops here and there, of which the largest congregation is in the Mahboonkrong shopping centre. Now jammed with cellphone booths, MBK offers a variety of services that benefit cellphone users in many respects, most importantly in lowering usage costs.
The services offered are not technically illegal since the provisions of the Telecommunications Act have not yet been implemented (see main story) to regulate this grey area. But beware of buying illegally imported or low-quality handsets, caution cellphone operators.
The following are some of the services on offer.
- Even though IMEI locking was recently discontinued, or so operators claim, you may discover that your cellphone doesn't work with your existing SIM card, or the one you've just bought from a service provider. Why does this happen and what to do?
This is unlikely to occur now that DTAC and TA Orange have discontinued IMEI locking. But while AIS claims to have followed suit, several spot checks carried out recently indicate that AIS SIM cards don't work with some non-AIS handsets.
IMEI modification is possible. It simply involves the duplication of an existing IMEI number. This means the number allocated to your cellphone by the operator can be secretly copied by cellphone shops and given to 10 or more other handsets. This will not pose any problem to the owner of the original handset. However if the handset is lost or stolen and the owner asks the operator to cancel the service, the operator will lock the IMIE number, resulting in a loss of service to all the other cellphones surreptitiously using the same number.
But if all operators discontinue the practice of IMEI locking, the modification service offered by phone shops will soon become redundant, said one dealer at MBK.
Second, it's possible that your handset has been programmed to accept only certain numbers used by a particular operator. This is colloquially known as ``SIM lock'' and an operator does it to prevent you from using SIM cards from rival firms. In some countries, this is a normal practice in cases where free or very low-priced handsets are offered by operators.
SIM lock can be remedied at these ``alternative'' cellphone shops at MBK and elsewhere. Phones can be adjusted to recognise the customer's desired service operator. At present, the fee for this service is comparatively low _ 200 to 300 baht. Not so long ago you could be charged up to 4,000 baht for the service.
- What can you do when an attractive post-paid promotion comes to an end but you are happy with your handset and don't want to change your phone number?
Basically, since monopolies are still the order of the day, when attractive, low-cost promotions end, you will naturally be charged the regular rate per minute and monthly fee levied by the operator in question.
If you want to continue enjoying the benefits of the same promotion and using the same number, you'll generally have to buy a new handset. You could of course buy a new phone with a new number but then you've got all the bother of notifying your friends, customers and business contacts of the change.
Either way you'll have to shell out a not-inconsiderable sum of money. At many cellphone shops in MBK, Tawana Mall Bang Kapi, etc, you can buy promotion packages separately from handsets. According to one shop owner, you can sometimes pay as little as 1,000 for this, depending on the promotion and how well you can bargain.
- Purchase of old handsets and sale of second-hand ones.
Fashionable, latest-model handsets from abroad are available here, usually for a high price. And second-hand handsets will of course be cheaper to buy than new ones.
``But you do so at your own risk,'' warned a source at one local cellphone operator.
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