cell phones

You can also purchase cellphones in Mandalay where I bought a Telenor phone and SIM card. However it would not work in Ngapali where I was told only MPT coverage worked.

MPT still has the best national coverage. But if you are going to the main tourist sites, Yangon, Mandalay, Inle, Telenor and Ooredoo are fine too.
You can buy reasonably cheap phones- my $90 Huawei Honor takes 2 simcards, works fine.
But if you have your own GSM or CDMA phone, you can put in a Myanmar card for about $1.50 and buy topups for a few dollars.
Not like the old days when a simcard cost $2,000

Thanks for that info
I have an Alcatel one touch cell phone purchased last year in New Zealand. Assume it will work with a Myanmar/Thai SIM card;
How do I find out whether it is GSM or CDMA?

Both GSM and cdma work in burma, but roaming does not thats why you need to buy a burmese company's SIM card. By the way new zealand has only GSM, no cdma network anymore.
Soo your thai card wont work unless - this phone company offers roaming in burma.

CDMA is still a bit more widespread in Myanmar but you need GSM for Thailand. MPT is better if you are a bit off the beaten track. I got an MPT card for my standard quad-band GSM phone, didn't have to buy a special phone. Met a few travelers using Telenor who didn't have service outside of the more central areas.

Thailand has rolled out 4G LTE since January this year operated by 2100MHz and 1800MHz spectrum. (I'm not sure about 900MHz). If your phone is not support such bands, the local sim card may not work properly.
It may more convenient if you rent the local pocket wifi (mobile router). It supports all wifi-enable devices. Then, you'll not worry about internet connection. Try this >> thaisims.com. It's not too much expensive.

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