3G Mobile USB Internet

[jraitchi]

First post, sorry if this has been asked recently, all I found via search were very old topics.

I'm heading to China soon, and obviously looking for a 3G USB mobile internet stick. Any suggestions? I'm only going need it for about 3 weeks, and I'll be all over the country so someone with good coverage countrywide would be ideal. China Mobile? China Telecom?

If you've got any advice on picking one up in Beijing (I don't speak Mandarin) that would be awesome too. Thanks very much

John

[imron]

China Unicom uses WCDMA for its 3G network, which is the same 3G used by more or less the rest of the world. I bought one of their 3G USB sticks last time I was in China. It was ~400 RMB for the stick itself, and they had pre-paid plans requiring a minimum of 200 RMB recharge, but that only used 80RMB a month or so. I was only in country for about a month, and just put it down as a 200 RMB cost. I'm heading back shortly for another month or so, and plan to do the exact same thing (only this time I won't need to buy the USB stick).

I bought the stick and the plan separately, because all the Unicom stick+plan options were for year-long deals. The month by month pre-paid options were only available if you already had your own stick. Most electronic retailers will be able to sell you the stick (just tell them you need something that works on the China Unicom network, and make sure you see WCDMA on the packaging), and any Unicom outlet will be able to provide you with the necessary SIM card and plan (don't forget to take your passport).

Not being able to speak Mandarin will make things more difficult, but not impossible

[jraitchi]

Thanks for the quick reply. Since I waited until the last minute (getting in to Beijing on Wednesday) and my Chinese is non-existent I went ahead and bought something online that will hopefully be waiting at my hotel. I'm a little worried about it actually showing up, but it looks like it's through a somewhat reputable travel company and I paid with my CC and PayPal so I guess if it doesn't I'll be able to open a fraud/dispute. Admin Edit: Company name and link removed.

Cost is $70 for a month (with a $200 deposit..so $270 sitting on my credit card right now), supposedly 10 GB of data, and it's through China Unicom. I'm really only worried about the Yangtze part of the trip, the boat charges an arm and a leg for internet access, even if I only get intermittent service there I'll be happy. The one positive is that it's a "hotspot" so my family will hopefully be able to hop on at the same time, might be slow though, we'll see.

I'll report back in a week or so and let you guys know if it actually showed up and if so how well it works.

[imron]

Assuming you get your full deposit back, $70 is not an unreasonable price for a once-off, one month use of the device. You'd spend at least that much (and probably more) purchasing a stick and your own data plan.

For long term, or repeated use, the equation changes significantly and it starts to become more cost effective to purchase things directly.

Also, just a quick note, I removed the company name and link from your reply. Due to rampant sock-puppeteering that tends to happen on the Internet, we're a little wary of first time posters asking a question and then replying to their own question in their second post with a company name and link.

[jraitchi]

Ah yeah, no worries that makes sense, if anybody is looking just do some googling on the subject and there's more than 1 company that offers the same hotel delivery and whatnot.

If you're going to need it for more than one month I agree, buying the device is probably going to save you money, then you just have the recurring cost of the actual service every month. I travel to Central America quite a bit and it's the same, just head in to one of the major telecom stores and they'll be able to set you up. A lot of them will even give you the modem for free if you buy at least one month worth of service, the data limit is usually 3-5GB though. That's making me pretty skeptical of 10GB for $70, hotel delivered, but we'll see. Speaking zero Mandarin and not having a clue where to go or what to do (and little time to figure it out on my own, which is usually what I like to do) it's actually a pretty decent deal I think.

[imron]

10GB in one month for $70 does seem cheap, especially considering Unicom sells yearly packages of 6GB for more than that on their site. I'm guessing the travel company figures you won't use nearly that much, and/or they have bought in bulk for a significant discount.

[jraitchi]

Just wanted to pass the word along that the mobile internet I used worked great. I realize this forum is more for expats, but for any travelers to China the service I used was great. Only problem was having to mail it back to the company at the end of the trip, luckily our guide helped me work that out with the hotel. $70 for a month, 10 GB of data, and it worked everywhere. The only intermittent connection problems were on the Yangtze, but that was expected. I won't post the company I got it from spam reasons but if the admins or anyone else wants to know send me a private message and I'll try to get back to you.

John

[imron]

Thanks for the follow-up. Out of curiousity, do you remember how much of the 10GB you actually used?

Also, feel free to post the name of the company. We actually don't mind useful businesses being promoted, it's just the pattern of "post a question as first post, followup with answer and link to company in second post" that sets off warning flags.

[jraitchi]

We used a lot but only because a lot of my family ended up using it too, about 8 GB. I travel for work a lot though and even using Skype a good bit, lots of email and surfing, I typically only use 2-3GB of data a month (downloading big files/streaming any kind of video will obviously put you way over that ridiculously fast though).

I was originally looking for just a USB stick but ended up finding this: http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/wifi-rentals/

It's a hotspot, which was nice for the family to use. Just some notes: I had to pay $270 up front, then after I mailed it back and they refunded the $200 pretty quickly. If you lose it or break it I'm guessing they'll keep that $200. I was a little skeptical having done everything here in the US through email (so I actually used PayPal with a credit card, haha just in case it was a scam) but didn't have any problems. It's a service provided through a large travel company I believe. The hotspot was waiting in my hotel when I got to Beijing; the hard part was mailing it back, which would have been really hard had I not been on a ridiculously commercialized trip with a guide that I asked to help me. I mentioned to them they should send it with a pre-addressed return package which they seemed to think was a good idea, no clue if they'll actually start doing it. I don't think they have many people that use the service though, the return address they gave me was actually missing a "district," luckily the shipping guy new which district within the city their particular address was in.

On a side note, I used StrongVPN to get around the firewall. I paid a little more for the OpenVPN, then when I got to Beijing the Open didn't work but their cheaper standard VPN did! Everywhere outside of Beijing the Open worked well though.