Getting a mobile phone in Vietnam

There isn't much of a subscription to a phone service. You can have a Mobifone SIM pot in your phone upon arrival and usually it's 200.000vnd ($10) per month for some days and call minutes. If you have an unlocked phone too can use that. I used my iPhone 5 before it was stolen. Then I bought am ASUS for a reasonable price new. Any phone that takes a SIM card can work here. Be done with any contacts from home though. It's a nightmare dealing with them abroad.

Emiliee21 wrote:

so I'm moving to Vietnam next week (HCMC) and I need a mobile phone . What are the rates like for a good phone with a year contract ? And any ones that may have cheap international rates ? Or should I bring a pay as you go sim out with me and use two different phones one for local and one for international ?

As my knowledge  you can't  buy phone with year contract.

Gorgeg wrote:

As my knowledge  you can't  buy phone with year contract.

Yes, that's right, as far as I know. The business model of getting a phone with a 1-2 years subscription like in most western countries is not popular or nonexistent in VN.
As a vietnamese I just go to one of the phone/sim card seller and ask for a sim card with a good rate. I usually go with mobifone (provider) and use a prepaid service. I think they will charge you about 100, or 150k for that inital purchase and that will include some credits for your calls, probably 50K max. You can buy additional credits by buying those little scratch cards with codes and activate them on your phone. After that you can purchase data packages for your mobile internet usage and a bunch of other entertainment subscriptions via a webinterface or via sms, or UDDI code. It's pretty confusing at the beginning...
If you have friends over there, they will show you.

You just need to buy a Vietnam sim card for your mobile phone (if your phone is international version). Cost for using mobile phone in Vietnam is very cheap, spend you only about 10$/month.

Hope, we can buy one at the airport, right? Mobifone?

FTP Shop

Vienthonga

Viettel Store

I'd suggest buying one from any of these 3 stores, because they're represented in most cities and will usually honor warranties without much of a fuss. 

You're going to have to spend about $100 to $150 for a decent phone.  Samsung and Apple reign supreme, as their pricing reflects.

You can run those links through Google Translate, assuming that you aren't fluent in Vietnamese.

Mal you can get a sim at several vendors at the Saigon airport terminals. They will install it for you and get your number working. Or you can find a hotel or travel agent in the tourist zones.  [Travel tip: pack some paperclips, difficult to open the sim tray with a toothpick, on my iphone anyway]

Also at the airport there are ATMs and banks to exchange cash. [Tip2: Americans hold onto your dollars and play forex investor! Also USD is the currency in Cambodia.]

Bring your unlocked 'international' phone. When I left the US, my iphone was still under contract. I went to the carrier (Verizon) and paid off my contract. It wasn't much because the annual contract was paying down the cost of the phone every month, and you don't need to pay for the future service you won't use.

An iphone or samsung cost 20-30% more here than the US. Check phone prices using Teacher Mark's links above. Pay-as-you-go voice and data so cheap. Wifi everywhere so you can limit your data usage. In 6 months my phone voice/text/data cost was maybe $USD25. I have had no problem with Mobi except for all the text msg ads they send. You will need someone to show you how to read the arcane status screen for your available minutes. I still can't remember.

Mobifone and Vinaphone are owned by the same company. Viettel is the other big carrier, you can search expat.com for recommendations from oldtimers.

I use skype or google voice for free international calls over Wifi . From the US (don't know about other countries) reserve a google voice phone number before you leave. You will have to tie that number to your mobile phone just to set it up. Then you can get rid of your cell service, because when you arrive, you are going to use that phone with the new Vietnamese phone number on your new sim card. Tip3: since I am using the computer for voice calls, I brought earbuds and a good external microphone for better voice quality. My little Samson Go Mic is only $USD32 in the US Amazon now, I paid $90.