Originally Posted by
vincepoy
as it seems like the way CUHK does it, they will try to drain your card with additional costs like making a call and make you top up before you can even add any data pack
Try dialing *118*35# before trying to make a voice call and see if that works. Otherwise I use 400-888-0808 (JAL Customer Service) as an initial voice call.
Originally Posted by
moondog
but even if true, it's still possible to buy unregistered SIMs (I get these for visitors on a regular basis because I hate waiting in line at Unicom/Mobile stores).
I figured this one out. When I took the exchange students to the train station they were all too happy to sell us unregistered SIMs. I asked and was told that the police run sting operations to catch people selling unregistered SIMs so they never sell them to Chinese or even Chinese-looking people (such as myself), but never with foreigners so they know they're still safe selling to people who look obviously not Chinese.