Best Phone for China
Aug 18th, 2008 | 02:50 PM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 35
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Best Phone for China
I was thinking of buying an unlocked quad band cell phone to take with me to China. I figure I can buy a SIM card in Beijing. Will this be cheaper than renting a cell from a Beijing vendor or signing up for one of those permanent-number deals where the phone purchase price is very low but the actual cost per minute of calls is very high? Any ideas?
Pellegrina
Pellegrina
Aug 18th, 2008 | 03:20 PM
#2
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 585
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You can buy lots of phones without signing up for any permanent number deals in China. You can get a cheap China made handphone with a pre-paid card. The phones are generally sold unlocked and have lots of features. It's increasingly common for them to support 2 sim cards.
Aug 18th, 2008 | 04:17 PM
#3
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,778
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If the phone you want to buy is one that you would buy anyway and use at home, then go ahead. Remember that particularly if you live in North America phones often come tied into particular service providers, and you will have to pay to have it unlocked before you travel.
If not buying a phone through some scheme that required a year or two's subscription to a particular provider, then you'll certainly find it cheaper to buy a phone in China. All the major brands are represented there, and indeed models are often steps ahead of those commonly available in the West. You'll have to spend some time shopping around, however, need to look at official suppliers in order to avoid fakes, and should be prepared to bargain to get the best price. Model knowledge is necessary to avoid being told by a vendor that you have a tri-band or quad-band phone when it isn't any such thing.
If you just want a phone to use in China then excellent phones can be obtained for under US$100, and perfectly usable ones for well under that. There's a lively second-hand market and you can get a phone through that route to use for a couple of weeks for next to nothing.
The cost of renting a phone will be stratospherically higher, and this route need not be considered.
Just buy a SIM card (SIM ka in Mandarin) on arrival, but NOT at the airport, where you'll pay five times too much, but when you get into town and away from the big tourist spots. There are assorted plans, and a choice of two companies, but you need not worry about the details: a no monthly fee pay-as-you-go will be what they assume you want, and the call prices are very low, by Western standards. Simply point to the empty SIM card slot to show what you want. China Mobile is probably your best choice. Vendors have books with lists of numbers each with a price beside it. As a rough rule of thumb, the more eights in the number the more you pay; he more fours, the less. There's plenty of choice under ¥100. Value can be added by buying top-up cards at any mobile phone shop (and these are innumerable) or corner store.
Peter N-H
If not buying a phone through some scheme that required a year or two's subscription to a particular provider, then you'll certainly find it cheaper to buy a phone in China. All the major brands are represented there, and indeed models are often steps ahead of those commonly available in the West. You'll have to spend some time shopping around, however, need to look at official suppliers in order to avoid fakes, and should be prepared to bargain to get the best price. Model knowledge is necessary to avoid being told by a vendor that you have a tri-band or quad-band phone when it isn't any such thing.
If you just want a phone to use in China then excellent phones can be obtained for under US$100, and perfectly usable ones for well under that. There's a lively second-hand market and you can get a phone through that route to use for a couple of weeks for next to nothing.
The cost of renting a phone will be stratospherically higher, and this route need not be considered.
Just buy a SIM card (SIM ka in Mandarin) on arrival, but NOT at the airport, where you'll pay five times too much, but when you get into town and away from the big tourist spots. There are assorted plans, and a choice of two companies, but you need not worry about the details: a no monthly fee pay-as-you-go will be what they assume you want, and the call prices are very low, by Western standards. Simply point to the empty SIM card slot to show what you want. China Mobile is probably your best choice. Vendors have books with lists of numbers each with a price beside it. As a rough rule of thumb, the more eights in the number the more you pay; he more fours, the less. There's plenty of choice under ¥100. Value can be added by buying top-up cards at any mobile phone shop (and these are innumerable) or corner store.
Peter N-H
Aug 21st, 2008 | 02:30 PM
#4
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 222
Likes: 0
Yes. Your best bet is to buy an unlocked GSM phone. They are very cheap these days even here in the USA. You can get a basic quadband (e.g. the Moto V195) for less than $50. Also, it's actually quite reasonable to call the US from most of the prepaid carriers in China.
Funny enough, I just orderd a dual-sim/quadband from Hong Kong. I bought it via dealExtreme. I do not want to have to change sim cards when I travel internationally. I can just have my local sim and my international sim in the phone. I will have my AT&T sim in my PDA.
Funny enough, I just orderd a dual-sim/quadband from Hong Kong. I bought it via dealExtreme. I do not want to have to change sim cards when I travel internationally. I can just have my local sim and my international sim in the phone. I will have my AT&T sim in my PDA.
Aug 27th, 2008 | 01:59 PM
#7
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 222
Likes: 0
flycatcher, here is the one I bought. It's a very nice phone indeed. It's loaded with features. I currently have 2 international sims in it, they register on AT&T and Tmobile. They go back and forth depending on coverage.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13014
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13014
