Mobile phones in Vietnam

Hello,

I have a Mobifone (Mobicard) mobile phone, which I bought during my last trip to Vietnam, and used on 3 March 2010 for the last time.

I will return to Vietnam next week, it is my second trip there.

Will my number be operational still, or will it have expired, if not used for six months, like in many European countries? I cannot use it here in France where I live, maybe because I did not ask for the roaming service when I bought it.

Thanks in advance for any reply.

u should press *101# to check the validity of ur Mobicard. Bue i think its maybe not work now. Let buy a new simcard, it's very cheap here

yep. it will have expired if not used for six months

could you tell me where i could buy a mobile phone in Ho Chi Minh City, and is there a pay as you go service available

@flipmysoul: if u had a mobile phone already, u could unlock ur phone and just need to buy a Simcard :) There have many places where sell Simcard (Mobicard or Vinacard is good) in 'foreign town' in Bui Vien - Pham Ngu Lao :). Enjoy ur trip here :p

Basic mobile phone handsets are very cheap here. Any phone shop should have models from about 150,000 VND ($8 USD) through to $500,000 VND (25 USD). Obviously you can pay a lot more for the latest models with all the bells and whistles. Typically a new SIM card sets you back about $8-$10. I bought mine for 180,000 VND ($9 USD) and that included 150,000 pre-paid calls. Actual calls can be expensive depends on what mobile system you are on. SMS is cheap though. Also, end of 2009 Vietnam changed some of the pre-paid plans. Often, if you buy call cards for 50,000 or 100,000 VND it has a use-by date, usually 1 month or 3 mth respectively. One thing the phone companies dont tell you is that you can dial *900# and register your phone for 365 days plan and only takes seconds to do, this gives you a year to use your call credits provided you make at least one call every 3 months! This bypasses any use by dates.