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LAOS
Communications
Poste restante services are available in Vientiane and Louang Phabang;
always address mail using the country's official name, Lao PDR,
rather than "Laos".
The best place to make overseas telephone calls is the Telecom Office
in Vientiane. A few towns have similar offices (8am-9pm); elsewhere,
international calls can be placed at the post office, until 11pm.
To call abroad from Laos , dial 00 and then the relevant country
code . Calls to the UK and North America cost approximately $3 per
minute, $1.50 to New Zealand and less than $1 to Australia. There's
no facility for collect or reverse-charge calls , but you can almost
always get a "call back" for a small fee: ask the operator
for the minimum call abroad and get the phone number of the post
office you're calling from. International fax services are available
at upmarket hotels in Vientiane and Louang Phabang and at most provincial
post offices.
Public card-phones are wired for both domestic and international
calls, but at the moment aren't much use for the latter. Phone booths
are usually stationed outside post offices in provincial capitals,
and occasionally elsewhere in larger towns. Phone cards ( bat tholasap)
are sold at post and telephone offices in denominations of 100 and
500 units; these are units of time rather than money. When the cards
first came out they offered a relatively good deal for international
calls, but by late 1999 it was impossible to make an overseas call
that lasted for more than three minutes. You can also place domestic
and local calls at hotels and guesthouses for a small fee. Regional
codes are given throughout the guide: the "0" must be
dialled before all long-distance calls.
The emergence of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Laos has
drastically reduced the price and increased the availability of
access to the Web. Currently you'll find email and Internet services
at cybercafés, computer shops and some hotels in Vientiane,
Louang Phabang, Vang Viang and Pakxe, although it won't be long
before these services spring up in other tourist centres around
the country. Charges range from 500K to 2000K per minute, depending
on how far you are from the capital, where the lone ISP - Laonet
- is based. If you plan to do a lot of emailing or Websurfing, contact
Laonet, Samsenthai Road, mezzanine floor of the Lao Hotel Plaza
(tel 021/218841-2; services@laonet.net), about setting up a temporary
account ($20 for 21 hours of usage). For details on using email
as an alternative to poste restante. |
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