I thought I knew all about sim cards until I try to purchase a Shanghai sim card.

The eBay ad says that the $29 card includes unlimited in-coming calls, 260 mins of local calls and US$8 worth of air time. What is air time???

If I am in Shanghai and calls another person in Shanghai, the time of the call will be deducted from that 260 mins. Are they also charging air time - kind of double-dipping???

If I call long distance from Shanghai to US or Canada, I pay the long distance rate (something like 45cents a minutes). So if I make a 10-minute call wouldn't my charge be just $4.50??? am I also paying another charge for that 10 minute air time I'm using??

Does anyone know and can explain? Thanks

Ebay item number?

It's actually a website not eBay:

http://www.china-mobile-phones.com/China-SIM-card.html

The China Unicom Shanghai sim card says:
"$8 airtime, 400 local calling minutes in Shanghai, or 100 mins in other China cities."

Maybe what they mean is: the $29 sim card includes the phone number (of course) plus $8 worth of calling time as per the calling rate. So if you are making local calls within Shanghai, that $8 is equivalent to 400 mins of calling other Shanghai phone numbers.

I must have read it wrong when I assumed that $8 air time is separate from the 400 calling minutes.

All I see is that they're making ~$21 of profit, as you should be able to get the same card in China for the equivalent of $8 or so.

I thought when you initially buy a sim card, you always pay a bit more because you are buying the phone number plus the air time.

At least that's what I paid for buying a United Mobile Riiing card: a 25 euro sim card gives you maybe about 15 euro of air time. It's only when you top up your existing sim card, that you pay exactly the air time. That is, when you top up, you pay 10 euro for 10 euro air time.

If you are sure that locally in China (Shanghai) I can buy a brand new sim card with, say $10 worth of air time, for $10 (or even just a bit more), I'll wait till I get there to get a sim card.

Thanks.

I have to say I don't know exactly which card they're giving you, but in general, there's no start up cost for getting a SIM in China or Hong Kong.

I look at their Hong Kong-only cards, and I know <b>for sure</b> they're making a ~$20 markup on those. No reason why it's not the same case with the Chinese one.

Now, if one needs to know the number of the SIM card before the trip, or must have a card to use the minute the plane touched down (or even before), then it may be worth paying for those benefits.

johnmango
$29 should include the pre-activated sim card, pre-assigned phone number in China, in your case US$8 credit of air time and the vendor's profit. I hope it also includes shipping.
You may want to check out a lower cost, similar item #150077672969 on eBay. By the way, make sure China Unicom uses 900 or 1800 mhz frequency.



rkkwan
You are right - the vendor is making about US$21 profit. One is paying for the convenience. As soon as one gets off the plane in Shanghai, you can start using the cell phone. This also means one less hassle for a non Chinese speaking person to buy a sim card in China.

Thanks!

That's why I like Fodor - getting tips and valuable advices from fellow travellers.

Has anyone heard of Pandasim.com? I need to have a sim card before going to China and found this site on the computer. Any info about them and their sim card?

It's the same China Mobile SIM that most of these types of resalers are selling. But at $29 with $16 of air-time, that's one of the lesser markups I've seen.

One thing you need to ask them is where in China is their SIM based. As you can see from their chart, there's a range of air-time costs. That's because each card has a &quot;local&quot; area that has lower airtime cost then when you're in the rest of China. If you're touring and moving from place to place, then it doesn't matter. Assume to pay the higher rates. But if you're staying in say Beijing for most of your stay, then it makes no sense to get a card with Shanghai as its local area.

I want to emphasize the prior comment. Once you leave the base city of the sim card, it eats up the prepaid amount fast, both with incoming an outgoing calls! It's very easy to buy the card when you get there, and they are reasonably priced, but I ran out of card time long before I ended my trip.