Text messaging in Beijing

[Meng Lelan]

I'll be in Beijing for three weeks this October.

I'm thinking of buying a cell phone there. Two questions:

1. Is it possible to send and receive text messages in Chinese in Beijing?

2. Is it possible to send and receive text messages in English to and from the US?

Lelan

[md1101]

for number 1: Yes

for number 2: id say yes. you can send to and from australia. so i dont see why you wouldnt be able to with the us

[imron]

If your phone supports Chinese display and input then you can send Chinese text messages in Beijing. Any phone bought in China will support this, but phones from other countries may or may not support this, depending on the region and whether or not it makes sense for the manufacturer to include the Chinese fonts and input software for that region.

Support for sending/receiving international text-messages differs from country to country. Some countries support it and others don't. This thread seems to suggest sending text messages to the US works.

The other thing you will need to consider is that the phone you buy in China might not work when you get back to the US because phones in the US operate on a different frequency from those in China. It is possible to buy dual, tri and quad band phones that work across multiple frequencies and countries, so you'll just need to make sure you get one that supports the frequencies you need.