Mobile Phones

[flameproof]

GSM

Your unlocked GSM mobile phone will most likely work perfectly in China. If you're coming from North America, ensure that you have a tri- or quad-band phone as the North American standard uses 850/1900 MHz, whereas China uses the 900/1800 MHz GSM standard, which is the most common standard. A North American tri-band GSM phone will support 850/1800/1900 MHz and quad-band will support 850/900/1800/1900 MHz.

There are 2 large providers in China, China Mobile and Unicom.

It's probably easiest to go with a prepaid (pay as you go) plan. These also do not require you to provide your passport. China Mobile offers two popular prepaid plans called Shenzhouxing and M-Zone.

You can buy a GSM starter kit in any shop that sells mobile phones. The starter kit can be as cheap as 60 RMB. The shop may try to sell you more expensive kits based on the desirability of the number, especially being a foreigner, so you may have to ask a few times for the cheapest numbers.

The recharge is a little tricky and I suggest you let it be done by the staff where you buy the card. Recharge cards are RMB50 and 100.

Once you get your card, you may want to consider activating a monthly "package" to get free incoming minutes, SMS messages, or some data access. These packages cost from 10 RMB/month and up.

Unicom has a unique card for HK users, that gives you 2 number, a number in China, and one in Hong Kong on the same SIM card. Mean, for those who travel often between China and HK they don't have to switch cards and don't have roaming cost. If somebody calls the China number while one is in Hong Kong, only the local cost will be charged.

Xiaolingtong (小灵通)

It looks like GSM, but is not related. The SIM card looks the same too, it will not work in any GSM phone. With Xiaolingtong you get a local phone number with area code (i.e. 0755 ********* in Shenzhen), the phone will then only work withing the 0755 area. Receiving calls is free. You only pay for outgoing calls. A starter set including phone is around RMB400.

A note about calls: When in China with a local number you will get from time to time "missed calls" - calls that ring once, then hang up. Don't bother to call back if you don't know the number. It's usually advertising. But note that many Chinese friends do that too to save their own money.

A weblink to check in which area a China mobile phone is registered:

http://www.imobile.com.cn/search.php

Edited July 23, 2008 at 01:39 AM by flameproof