Mobile phone roaming between cities in China

[adrianlondon]

I've always found this topic a bit confusing; when I was in Beijing I bought and used a cheap SIM card and never left the city.

Last year I went to Shanghai and did the same. I tried to use my old SIM card I bought in Beijing but it had expired. I don't know if it would have worked, anyway.

In a couple of weeks I fly to HK, spend a few days, and then either fly or train to Beijing also for a few days.

Will the SIM I bought in Shanghai (China Mobile) work in HK and Beijing? I know I'll pay more than just using it in Shanghai but it'll still be much cheaper than using my German PAYG SIM, right? Or should I buy one in HK? I'd really like to use the same SIM in both HK and Beijing.

[gougou]

What plan are you on? For Shenzhouxing, you need to sign up for HK/Macao roaming. I think this can be done over the 10086 China Mobile hotline.

It's quite expensive (SMS are 1 kuai, calls to the mainland 3.6, if I recall correctly) but I'd be surprised if you got away cheaper with your German SIM.

[roddy]

It'll certainly work in Beijing, assuming the card itself hasn't expired. As Gougou says, Hong Kong will depend on what plan you are on and if you need to activate anything.

[adrianlondon]

It's a shenzhouxing card. I'll see if I can still work out how to get to China Mobile's online site and check whether the card is still activated and what credit I have left.

I'll then get it activated for HK/Macau roaming. Thanks for the quick replies!

[roddy]

Shanghai Mobile Shenzhouxing - that's where you could try to log on. However you need a password. If you don't have one you can get a one-time password sent to your phone,but if you're not in China, good luck getting that.

[skylee]

You could also consider using this -> http://www.hkunicom.com/information01c.html

[adrianlondon]

Thanks - I managed to log on (as I did set up a password while in Shanghai) and can see that I have a huge balance of 9y and also that the card expires on 15th February.

There's another website that says these cards can be reactivated by adding money to them within 3 months of them expiring, but I still have the issue of getting roaming enabled presumably by calling them from here in Germany.

As I'm going to lose my 9y on 15th February anyway, and the card didn't cost anything, I might as well just get one in HK when I arrive, ensuring that it'll work in Beijing too. Thanks for that link Skylee.

[roddy]

If you're fussed about keeping the number you should be able to get someone in China (why, even me, if you ask nice) to buy you a card and recharge your phone for you. And you should be able to activate HK roaming by calling 13800100186, which you could do from overseas or Skype.

Or you could just be dull and buy a new card in Hong Kong.

[adrianlondon]

Cool. I might just do that. I'll get my collection of polite, fawning vocabulary ready and send you a PM. I don't want to be thought of as dull.

I'll get roaming enabled too. Much appreciated everyone!

[adrianlondon]

Thanks Roddy and Gato for your help! It's all sorted. To explain ...

Roddy bought me a 50y recharge card for my shenzhouxing (神州行) SIM which I'd bought in Shanghai last November. I tried to charge it by logging into China Mobile's portal but it's not possible. All recharges have to be done either from a nominated bank account in China or by calling the service number 13800138000.

That number uses caller-ID to work out where you are, and refuses to work at all from abroad. So I asked Roddy to charge my SIM for me. Interestingly, it's only possible to recharge a card when calling from a mobile pone *within the city the SIM was purchased in*. Why? No idea.

So I asked Gato, who lives in Shanghai, to call for me. Using his mobile (13800... is a free call) he charged up my SIM. I actually ended up with 41y credit as I was obviously on some sort of talk plan (with a charge of a few yuan per month) and it was at -9 when the 50y was added to it. In future I guess I'll either cancel this charge or simply get a new SIM. I would have just got a new SIM this time except I thought it'd be handy to have one ready to go for when I arrive in HK. But ...

I gave up with activating roaming for HK. Thanks to Gato who rang up to check, one needs to add a minimum of 400y to the SIM before they'd activate it. And as the call charges are still high (as with any roaming) I'll just use my German SIM while in HK and switch to my Shanghai one when I get to Beijing.

What I'm still not too sure on, although I'm also not too concerned anyway, is whether I will be charged more to make/receive calls in Beijing with my Shanghai SIM than when I was in Shanghai. Maybe those few yuan per month were to give me free incoming calls. I'll play around online and see if I can cancel that subscription.

Next time I'll probably just get a new SIM, especially as they expire after a few months of inactivity anyway.

[roddy]

within the city the SIM was purchased in

To clarify - you seem to only be able to recharge a phone registered to the same city as yours. I have a Beijing phone, Adrianlondon's is Shanghai, hence it wasn't possible. I guess I could have spoken to a live operator or dropped into a China Mobile to see if that helped, but I didn't.

[gougou]

Interesting. I'm pretty sure for my Beijing number I didn't have to add a large amount to my balance to activate HK roaming.

[gato]

For Shengzhouxing customers, apparently one needs to have between 200 to 600 in the account to activate international roaming (depending on how long one has had the account and whether the account is registered under one's real name).

See here:

http://www.sh.chinamobile.com/brand/easyown/essence/inter/userobject1ai1721.html

短期国际漫游业务办理方式：

[gougou]

Hmm, 200 sounds possible. But the regulations might vary in Beijing, as well - there's quite a lot of differences between different cities. By what I heard, we pay most in Beijing...

[roddy]

What I'm still not too sure on, although I'm also not too concerned anyway, is whether I will be charged more to make/receive calls in Beijing with my Shanghai SIM than when I was in Shanghai

Definitely will be, and it's quite possible that any packages you got in Shanghai - free incoming calls, eg - won't apply up here in the political and cultural capital. But unless you're a very heavy phoner, I'd imagine the cost of the SIM card will outweigh any potential savings.