Originally Posted by
trueblu
md and ifly know this far better than me, but getting data plans is not that straightforward in China for such a short visit, i.e. you can't (as far as I know) get a data plan from a kiosk vendor, you need to go to a Unicom office, which necessitates some Chinese fluency. And note that google maps (and most other google apps) only work intermittently, if at all, without a VPN.
tb
Since posting, it occurred to me that there probably isn't much point for him to go on a plan during a 4 day visit because most --though certainly not all-- new SIMs come loaded with a fixed amount of data/minutes. The SIM I'm offering up to him, for example, started out with 1g and 50 minutes of talk time (free incoming). That having been said, it's still worth calling Unicom because sometimes they pick a plan for you, which will surely drain down any excess funds if you are out of the country and don't stay on top of things.