American cell phone in China?

[Lauren88]

Hi,

I'm curious if it is possible for me to use the cell phone I have here in America in China... of course, I am speaking here just of the phone, assuming that I'd have a Chinese provider/plan.

If not, about how much would you say a standard cell phone sells for in Beijing?

[geraldc]

Is your mobile phone triband? If it has GSM 900 and/or GSM 1800 it should be fine.

[laohu489]

It is doubtful that you will be able to use your American cell phone in China. But you can buy an awesome cell-phone that American phonese won't even come close to having all the functions and/ or inherent coolness of an asia market phone.

American technology is so backwards in this area, it is better to get a great Chinese cell phone and then sign up for a provider in the States who will let you use sim cards. This is the key in the equation. Unless your phone is GSM and has a SIM card slot, no you can't use it in China.

You can get a phone for how ever much you want to pay, maybe with 500 RMB being bottom end for reasonable utility.

[prolyfik]

The first response has it right. If your phone is a tri-band phone than it will likely work in China.

[etcetera24]

I'm currently using an American cell phone in China and it works fine Your main considerations in bringing a phone here are:

1) is the phone triband GSM - does it have a SIM card slot? When you arrive, you can just purchase a number/ pay-as-you-go SIM card from a local provider such as China Mobile or China Unicom and the SIM card will work with your phone. I believe T-Mobile and Cingular/ ATT have a GSM network. Verizon is still mostly TDMA.

2) is your phone unlocked? Most American cell phones are locked by the provider to only work on the network so unless it is unlocked, it will not work in China. I have a Samsung SGH-S105 that was on T-Mobile. T-Mobile will give you the unlock code for free provided you have been on contract for a while (just call customer service). Other networks may charge a fee to unlock your phone.

3) Keep in mind your phone probably will not be able to display or type Chinese characters, meaning that the SIM card menu will be in gobbledyguk and you will not be able to receive or send text messages in characters. While my cell works perfectly well for calling and english texts, its inability to display hanzi is the main reason why I'm considering buying a new phone.

Hope this helps!

[SamanthaTea]

Etcetera has it pretty much right. However...

You can get almost any phone unlocked. Althought it's better to do in your home country, they can do it here in China. Check out

www.thetraveelinsider.info/roadwarriorcontent/unlockingfaq.htm

whew, that's a mouthful. But they've got a great how-to on unlocking.

The other thing you can do here in China is (at least in large cities) get the software swapped for a Chinese version (which almost always includes English).

If you're in Beijing, you can go to the Xidan Mobile phone market and go downstairs and they can do it for you for about RMB 300.

Buying a cell phone will cost you RMB 300 for a bare bones Nokia to RMB 2000 for a glitzy color screen little thang to RMB XX,XXX for full on what-have-you.

-S

[roddy]

I've never tried to do it, so I could be completely wrong, but I've been told it's very hard to get phones unlocked here, as ALL phones in China are sold unlocked, and therefore there's no market for people unlocking them. I could be wrong, as I say, but you might want to find out for sure before you arrive.

Roddy

[etcetera24]

Update:

Depending on your phone model, some cell phone stores can unlock the phone or alter the software so it is hanzi capable.

I just had my Samsung cellphone software changed at a China Mobile store (the one in Wudaokou) so I can now text in hanzi! Cost was 150 kuai and I had to leave the phone in the store overnight.

Word of warning though: back up phone numbers if they are saved to the phone and not to the SIM card. Editing the software will very likely delete any numbers saved to the phone.