Getting a mobile SIM card

[adrianlondon]

I'm gonna be in Beijing for a week and can't live without my mobile. I'm after a shenzhouxing (神州行) from China Mobile.

Things seem to have changed since the last time I did this, when I went into a tiny dusty shop and flicked through pages of numbers before parting with 40y for the card (no credit). In Shanghai last year I went to a China Mobile office, registered, paid nothing and selected my number from a computer screen.

Is this how Beijing works now? And if so, is there a China Mobile at the airport which'll give/sell me a card for the same price as the ones in the cown centre?

[roddy]

I doubt you'll get one at the airport without paying a few quid extra - might be worth it if you want to hit the ground running. Otherwise any street will have little mobile phone places that will happily sell you a SIM card - could be anything from a newspaper stall which buys in batches and resells them, to a full China Mobile 营业厅. Can't see that it makes much odds for you where you actually go, just look for China Mobile signs, or boards with big lists of phone numbers on. There're bound to be some south and east of 鼓楼, which I seem to recall might be close for you.

M-Zone (感动地带) is China Mobile's other PAYG option, so you could get one of those also. How the actual packages differ I don't know.

[adrianlondon]

In Shanghai, the SIMs are free if you go to China Mobile, otherwise you pay (depending on how may 4's and 8's are in the number). If I see a China Mobile in Beijing T3 I'll ask.

[XiaoBin]

From what I know, China Mobile M-Zone cards are the cheapest. In BJ you have to pay for your SIM card (depending on how many 8's are in there). Outside BJ you get them for free.

There is a "blue" card from china mobile which is more expensive. It's 6mao/min. I think there is a package you can buy to call cheaper, but I didn't want to go through the trouble.

M-Zone is 2.5mao/min I believe. You have to pay for receiving as well but you can buy a package of 6kuai/month I believe, which allows you free receiving.

[adrianlondon]

Thanks for that. As the cards expire within 3 months (unless you keep charging them) it's irritating having to buy one each time I come, which is why I liked the Shanghai (free!) system. Maybe I'll try and sell mine when I leave, and let some poor new tourist deal with the odd phone call they'll get asking for me

I paid 100y for a China Mobile "easyown" 神州行 card, which came with 50y credit and an unlucky number. The guy in the shop implied that the M-zone wouldn't be as suitable/cheap but I wasn't sure why.

[skylee]

I think many people have stopped getting a local sim card if the travel period is not really that long. I rely on roaming and international sms (the sms charge is very reasonable considering that I don't need to go through the trouble of researching/getting a local sim card or even a telephone card).

But of course I make very few local phone calls. And I am sure I paid much less than if I had bought a local sim card (at least for my most recent trips to Malta and Italy).

I used to have a mainland sim card but I don't think it is necessary any more.

[adrianlondon]

I thought of that but I'm on PAYG (pay-as-you-go) in the UK so get no discounts. It's £1.20 to receive and £1.60 to make a call per minute. And 50p per text. Plus my Chinese friends are unlikely to want to call/text a foreign mobile number, and I don't blame them.

So I divert my UK mobile to voicemail (which I can pick up online - how cool) and splashed out 100y on a local sim card. This gives me 50y of call credit which should cover me. Who knows, I might even be able to sell my sim to someone at the airport. I'll give it a go!

[chrix]

well, how much does it cost to get a new SIM card?

I try hard to avoid roaming costs...

Also I like to use my cell phone to access the internet, and roaming for data plans usually is horrid too. There's all these horror stories about Americans having to pay thousands of dollars because their iPhones accessed the internet during their one-week trip to Europe, and there was this one lorry driver from Germany who got a charge about 40,000 € when he was driving in or near France...

[tortue]

Hi,

this is my experience during last week:

1. Airport: When I stepped out from customs to the main hall, there was a friendly girl behind a little removable counter selling shenzhouxing (神州行) cards. Cheapest number was RMB 150, more expensive several hundreds.

2. Wangfujing: In a shop above that restaurant floor close to subway exit A, they took out a folder with a couple of sheets full of numbers to choose from. Cheapest Number 550RMB, most expensive over 2000. 250 minutes local calls included. As I wanted to leave, they proposed me to have a number I couldn't choose for RMB 280. Anyway, I had to think about it...

3. A small China Mobile shop / counter in a electronics store at Dawanglu: Got my SIM card for RMB 60. Credit included was RMB 50, equivalent to 250 minutes local calls, so this seems standard. No number to choose from of course. I only needed to show my passport and to write my address.

Cheers,

Chris

[adrianlondon]

Interesting. So you paid 10y for a card I paid 50y for. But then mine wasn't an official shop and needed no passport/ID/address. However, I would quite happily show my passport for 40y.

I did try going to a China Mobile place but they were shut (I was up very early on a jianbing hunt) so went to a little sell-everything shop.

[hanxue]

Hey guys, I need some help.

I'm going to BNU in February and will stay there for 1 semester. I will be bringing my Motorola cell phone with me, but need to clarify a couple of things:

1) Will it work in China? It supports WCDMA 2100, GSM 900/1800/1900.

2) Which telecompany's SIM card should I get? China Mobile? Unicom? Anything else?

I will need my cell phone mostly for a little bit of calling, texting and perhaps receiving an occasional international call. I will spend most of my time in Beijing, but also plan to travel down south at some point, so it would be great if I could have phone service available wherever I'll be located at.

What would be the most reasonable choice?

P.S.: I've seen several topics around this forum, but got a bit confused by so many different answers, so I'd appreciate a more straight-forward answer.

Thanks in advance!

[imron]

If you want to use the WCDMA functionality then you'll need to go with China Unicom. They are the only operator that provide WCDMA service. If you're happy to make do with GSM, China Mobile generally has better coverage, reception, pricing etc.

[silencer22]

would like to add that if u r intending to get from the beijing airport

once exit the arrival hall, turn left and head to towards the mcdonald

the china mobile store there is selling the same card as those from the kiosk for 60 rmb with 50 rmb call time

[hanxue]

So the price is the same as anywhere else in BJ?

[Sirina]

Hello! Last time I was in Beijing I had a China Mobile card and as far as I can remember, local calls were quite cheap. I am going back to BLCU in February for 6 months. Does anyone know which type of China Mobile cards is the cheapest? M-Zone maybe?

I am going to be receiving calls from Europe as well...