Anyone with input on taking a cell phone to China?
Jul 28th, 2002, 02:51 PM
#2
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It's a little difficult to see what the question is here. Is it, 'Can I rent a cell phone to take with me to China?' or 'Can I rent a cell phone in China?'<BR><BR>If it's the former then the answer is that it depends where you are starting out from. GSM phones in China use the same frequency as those in Europe and Hong Kong, but not those in North America. To use a North American phone you would need a dual- or tri-band one, capable of accepting a Chinese SIM card.<BR><BR>You can certainly rent mobile phones in China, but for three weeks you'd almost certainly be better to buy one. For under Y1000 (about US$125) you can get a brand new phone and SIM card with Y100 of air time on it. In fact you should be able to do this for about Y900, or a little more if you want a spare battery. Over three weeks this works out cheaper than renting a phone.<BR><BR>These phones work on a pay-as-you-go system, and have numbers beginning with 136. The recharge cards for them (called 'shen zhou xing') come in Y50 and Y100 denominations and are available from myriad mobile phone shops, post offices, and many kiosks and convenience stores throughout the country. The menus on the phones can be set to English, the recharge instructions on the cards are in English, and when you dial in to recharge your phone the menu voice is also in English if you press 2.<BR><BR>You will be given the option to buy a SIM card with a lucky sounding number and pay extra, but pick any number with a 4 in it, for instance, and there's no extra charge. From walking into the phone shop, asking for a discount from the marked price (if any), to making your first call can be as little as five minutes. It couldn't be easier.<BR><BR>Phones include SMS-message ability, including that of recieving messages from overseas but not sending them there. You can also call overseas (not advisable in terms of costs--use an IP card instead) and receive calls from anywhere.<BR><BR>And, of course, you can defray costs further by selling the phone when you leave.<BR><BR>Peter N-H<BR>http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html
Jul 29th, 2002, 12:15 PM
#3
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Peter: Thanks for the info. As I stated: I usually rent a phone and take it with me to Europe. <BR><BR>That way I can give all my contacts my number before I leave the country in case they need to call me. <BR><BR>If I get the phone in China, this will not necessarily work. Too many people to contact after I am on the trip. <BR><BR>Looks as if I will rent as usual and let the business pay for it as usual as it is all business related calls.<BR><BR>Thanks again for the confirmation.
Aug 16th, 2002, 07:23 AM
#6
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For anyone who travels a lot and uses a cell phone. For our company we had been renting phones. But instead many carriers offer tri band phones for no extra charge. We are on nextel for instance. Our plan didnt change but two of use have tri band phones that are capable of working all over the world. China is included , I checked for my trip in may. It is great.. anyone that dials my local number here gets me no matter where I am, provided there is a signal. But for Europe, Asia and many of the other places it works great. Then my clients dont have to pay Long distance to me either. I just pay my rate for receiving the call. Check it out .... I think other carriers have similar plans. Then when im not traveling. The phone is just like any other.<BR><BR>Just a suggestion if you travel a lot.
Aug 16th, 2002, 12:01 PM
#8
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Just as an aside on the question of signal, in eastern China at least it's very strong even in the most rural areas. China is one of those countries developing its phone infrastructure very late, and which has found it easy to install microwave masts than land lines. This was partly driven by the fact that even in big cities the state monolith China Telecom was taking two years to install a land line for all except those with guanxi (influence). You needed connections to get a connection. Whereas there were competing companies in the mobile sector and you could walk into a shop and be on-line in five minutes.<BR><BR>I was astonished to receive a call from London while up in the mountains for a remote area of southern Zhejiang earlier this year, and the signal stayed steady even as the bus I was on wound its way around the mountains. In the fields, peasants were still using water buffalo to pull the plough. When I picked up a local map showing the area's often unpaved roads, it also showed the locations of microwave towers.<BR><BR>Peter N-H<BR>http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html
