Optimize Your Smartphone for Traveling in Thailand
Imagine traveling to majestic Thailand — without a phone.
Oh the horror!
A smartphone is probably the single most essential item you bring with you in your day-to-day life.
Beyond the call and text functionality, it’s also how you stay virtually connected to the world. It’s how you get rides, order food, or look up things to settle debates. You can listen to music and stream videos. Essentially, it’s your direct line to modern conveniences.
And when you’re on an international vacation, it’s basically the personal assistant you can’t live without. You’ll have everything on there: your airplane tickets, your hotel bookings, your maps, your translation apps, your camera, you name it. The only thing it doesn’t provide you with is air to breathe, which is arguably the only other thing keeping you alive!
So to prevent any hiccups, delays, or inconveniences, here’s a checklist for your phone when you’re on traveling to Thailand:
Local SIM
The first thing you’ll want to do to make sure your phone is as useful as possible is to buy a local SIM card. You can get a prepaid one at most airports and they’ll normally come preloaded with some mobile data. By doing so, you’ll be able to make use of the local network to connect to the internet.
There are three main cell providers in Thailand and they all offer products aimed at travelers. Note: As of this writing, $1 = 34 Thai Baht
- dtact — The dtact Tourist SIM comes in four variants. The cheapest comes in at 49 baht and is pay-as-you-go. There are three other variants, priced at 149, 299, and 599 baht. Each comes with unlimited mobile internet, the main difference being the maximum download speed, with the cheapest having download speeds that top out at 5gb, the mid-range topping out at 30gb, and the high-end coming in with 60gb download speeds.
- AIS — AIS is the biggest cell provider in Thailand in terms of market share and network coverage and they offer the AIS Traveller SIM. There are three variants of this SIM card. The cheapest variant costs 299 baht and gets you 15 gb of high-speed internet and is valid for 8 days. The second variant costs 599 baht, last 15 days, and comes with 30gb of internet. The third variant costs 1250 baht, has 300gb of internet, and lasts for 30 days.
- TrueMove — TrueMove has the Thailand Tourist SIM. This line has 6 products divided into two tiers; the first tier is priced at 49, 299, and 599 baht. The first one allows you to use social media apps with no data surcharges, and the latter two come with unlimited internet and are usable for 16 or 30 days depending on which you get.
The second tier has three products priced at 399, 699, and 999 baht and are valid for 8, 15, and 30 days respectively. All three products come with unlimited 5G internet.
Travel Adapter? You’re Good
You might think that you’ll need a travel adapter to plug your devices into wall outlets, but you don’t. The electrical outlets common in Thailand are compatible with the flat parallel prongs that are used in American devices. So you don’t need a travel adapter. Bring one just in case, but you aren’t likely to use it.
Power Bank
What you will need, however, is a power bank. While most phones nowadays have massive batteries and power-optimized software, it will be wise to bring extra juice with you.
Remember, you’ll be out and about sightseeing and experiencing a new city all day. You’ll be using your camera and your GPS for maps. You’ll also probably be on social media posting your photos all day. All those are power-hungry applications and can run your battery far faster than you’d expect.
You probably won’t have time to stop and plug your charger into a wall socket. You may not even have a wall outlet to plug your charger into. So make sure to keep a power bank on your person so you can keep your phone charged.
Map App
However, it’s not just physical things that you’ll need to optimize your smartphone usage while traveling. If you’re traveling in Thailand, there are a couple of apps that you’ll need. The first is a map app. Most phone manufacturers that use their operating software (OS) or a customized variation of an open-source OS like Android, will have their own map app preinstalled.
Grab App
An app that you’ll definitely want to have while in Thailand is Grab. Grab is the Southeast Asian equivalent of Uber. Uber actually used to operate in the region, but was bought out by Grab several years ago. You’ll want to have this app on your phone so you can book rides as well as have food delivered to wherever you’re staying.
Translator App
While many Thai can speak English as it’s a common language in Thailand, you’ll still want to have a translation app at the ready in case you run into the infamous language barrier or if you’re in an emergency and need to get your point across as quickly as possible.
Airline App
If you’re traveling in Thailand, chances are that there’s already an app on your phone that books your flight. If, however, there isn’t, then you’re going to want to get one so you can easily book flights.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can book flights at a moment’s whim to any domestic location.
Even if you don’t use it to book flights, it’ll store your flight information and your boarding pass.
Hotel App
You may, like a lot of travelers, not decide to have a hotel or Airbnb prebooked for the entire duration of the trip. This is because you can probably make better booking decisions once you are in the country and have a better sense of its landscape and scenery.
As you tour and survey Thailand, you may find underrated pockets within or outside the city with several lodging options for you to take at more preferable price points. As long as you have a booking app, you can always afford to travel light and just wing it.
A Digital Wallet
You’ve probably used Venmo or Apple Pay or some other digital wallet back home. It’s convenient to not have to pull out your wallet and just pay with your phone. Thailand has similar services. They’re not popular or all that widely used, but the market is growing, so you may want to get one of the apps.
The three main digital wallets that are used in Thailand are TrueMoney, Rabbit LINE Pay, and PromptPay.
Using digital payments won’t just help you save on your cash, they’ll also help you keep track of your expenses.
Your phone is not just a phone. It’s an internet communicator. It’s a media player. It might even be your wallet if you mainly use digital payments as opposed to cash. Traveling isn’t going to change how much of a lifeline it is, so make sure you’re able to optimize your usage when in Thailand.
