Mobile Phones

[Jamoldo]

I have an Italian Cell Phone (GSM). Would it work in Beijing? I know they do GSM in China too, and I would rather not buy a new phone... Naturally, I would buy a China Mobile SIMcard or whatever, but would this technically work? I know my US CDMA phone would not... if it would not work, would there be a way to make it work?

[Erikssc]

Jamoldo, I know that a GSM mobile from Norway works just fine in Beijing. I guess it would be the same for an Italian. You just change the SIM card and its ok. But of course you will not be able to use Chinese characters on it....

[Jamoldo]

Eric, thats fine that I cant use characters. It's not like my chinese is any good anyways.. I guess I'll be bringing along the Italian cell phone.

[Josh-J]

You might want to check if the phone is locked to a specific network though - if it is you'd need a code to use a chinese SIM card. I don't know about italy but my phone bought in the UK was locked to Virgin/T-Mobile and when I tried putting in a chinese SIM it just asked for a code and wouldn't do anything else. You can ask your provider for the code or there are various other ways of generating them.

I just bought a new, cheap, phone in China, and I can use it here in the UK with my UK SIM because its not network locked.

[Jamoldo]

Josh, besides going to Italy, I would have no way of finding this out. I'll just take it and if it does not work, then I'll have to get a phone at the Nurenjie market...

[Qcash3]

What is the going rate for a fairly new flip/camera phone at the Nurenjie market? I don't mind if it is used.

[Jamoldo]

Phones are definitely used at the market, never have seen a new one, but I've only been twice. Always good to bring someone who speaks Chinese well, but you can always deal numbers with calculators... Have a set willingness to pay and don't go 1 RMB over and you won't get ripped off.

Prices will be much cheaper than new, though fairly often enough there are replaced parts and its a bit of a risk. But you'll still pay a fair bit. Instead of 300 bucks (US) you might pay between 100 (yeah right) - 275, depending on how far up they start. Main things to remember are to bargain, and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Keep your reciept and remember what the dealer looks like and booth number and all. (these are all things I foolishly did not do, but in the end I didn't need to).

To minimize risk I make sure to get quotes from several dealers before bargaining and to take out the battery case and see what kind of labels there are, as well as battery type. I also definitely go for much lower end cell phones. I got a phone (which I then gave to a friend in India after leaving China) and it worked perfectly, though they gave me a bad charger, that did not work. A simple trip to a cell phone repair shop solved the problems as the kind repairman gave me one that worked.

PM if you or anyone wants more details, I know this is a long post.