Just back monday. bought a SIM for 189 Yuan ($25 or so) and it worked fine in my unlocked GSM. Later bought a 50Y recharge.

Easy.

BTW, Vonage has a 1 cent/minute rate to China ...

Just back this past Monday also.

Here's a part of my TR regarding cells:

FYI, I did buy a cell phone specifically to use in China from Tiger Direct before I left. It fit all the specs needed for China. At the airport I immediately headed for the SIM card/IP card station. I bought one there. They could not get it to work. So, then I tried it at the Peninsula. The concierge was nice enough to try for a couple of hours to get it to work with her SIM card and colleague's cells and it wouldn't work. I went down the street from the hotel and went to a mobile phone store. They assured me the SIM card would work, etc. I asked them to call each other with it and sure enough it again didn't work. So I ended up buying another mobile phone in China and used that. So if I had it to do over again, I would not buy one in the states. I know people had suggested I just go to China to buy one, but I was afraid I would not be able to communicate enough do to it. I should have just done it the first time.

I have been doing some research since my first post and am close to making a decision. However, I would appreciate your input on the following:

l. Does it make a difference if the phone is triband or quadband?
2. Is E-bay still the best recommendation for buying a phone?
3. Are refurbished phones all right to buy?
4. Since I need to have a SIM card before going to China, where is the best site to buy one?
5. Are there roaming charges assessed to a SIM Card or just charges per minute of phone usage?
6 Separate from the cell phone, I also need to have a phone card. Which one's are recommended? If I need it before leaving, where can I purchase one?

I understand that it would probably be cheaper if I waited to get the SIM card and phone card in China, but, due to some personal stuff, I have to have everything in place before leaving.

Thanks.

Sorry, I can't answer all those questions, but as stated before, US GSM networks operate on 850/1900 Megahertz (MHz) frequencies and most other countries use the 900/1800 MHz bands.

The Samsung triband phone I bought before travelling to North America provided 900, 1800 and also the US 1900, but not the US 850 band. If you wanted to use the phone on return to the US, I'm not sure whether missing 850 would be a problem, but there may be spots where that's the only band you can pick up, in which case a quadband, which includes all four, would be the safest bet. GSM coverage in parts of the US can be patchy at the best of times.

The following website provides more info: www.gsmworld.com.

As it happens, I had the same problem as LostinChina when I tried to get my Australian-bought phone to work with a US prepaid SIM card - i.e., it didn't, even though I knew the phone to be unlocked. I still don't know why. I gave up, threw the phone back in the bag and used phone cards to call home.

I don't know about roaming charges, but I'm told that with both Unicom and China Mobile SIM cards calls are much more expensive when made outside the phone's local area. Unlike Unicom though, China Mobile cards can be recharged when you're out-of-area.

As for phone cards, we always used Chi-Tel to call family members living in China, and had few problems, so I guess they'd be OK for China-originated calls. The rates are very cheap.

Yes, you can buy a prepaid Chinese SIM here, but you pay a lot for them. One company is telestial.com, which sells a China Mobile SIM for $69, but with only $18 of credit. Plus $8 of shipping, minimum.

Also, their SIM is a Guangdong Province SIM, so calling from other provinces will cost you quite a bit more.

There are probably other companies that sell such SIM here in the US. Do a Google search and see what you find.

As suggested, I've been doing a computer search. Does anyone know anything about the site: Pandasim.com. Reliability, etc?? I've been reading about their GSM phone rentals (prices don't seem too excessive for rentals) and Chinese SIM cards. Need input before I proceed.