Thailand forum

Unless home has a particularly high rate there must be some mistake here.

Which service did you use?

with most services calls to most Western countries seem to be around 5 to 8 baht per minute.

A SIM card can be bought for as little as 49 baht - and even then has about 15 baht credit on it.

So your 200 baht card should have had more than 150 baht of credit already.
So if you topped p your phone with even more cash this call would be nigh-on impossible to use in such a short time. - were you topping up correctly?....and checking your balance (for 12Call star-121-hash)?

When dialing an international line from Thailand it is best to use 007, 008 or 009. This is instead of using 001 or "+" before the country code.

Some companies - True offer special low rates but you need to check coverage.
The 2 main pre-pay companies are 12Call and Dtac.

I always point out that with your own mobile not only can you stay in touch but others can ring you - this of course costs you nothing! - and you get the benefit of local calls to hotels new friends etc as well as no need to hunt around for a suitable place to make a call.

Thanks Khunwilko, I was not dialing anything before the country code, that will probably make a difference, I will give it a try. I don't know what service I'm using, I just bought a SIM from the 7/11. I'm also phoning South Africa so it will probably be more expensive than most western countries but shouldn't be ridiculous, like I say last time I remember being suprised at how cheap it was.

It depends on what suites you. If you don't want to pay for any of it, sign up for skype. An international phone card is good too but a SIM card or temparary phone I think is better. When My uncle went to Greece, he bought one from www.rangeroamer.com See if they have an idea of what you want.