Originally Posted by
moondog
I'm nearly certain that we told you that SIM was overpriced before you bought it. The China Mobile cross border SIM is currently a better product, and data only costs ~HK$30/G if you get on a plan (need HKID or cash deposit). But, if you fall off of LTE, and don't have a phone that supports other protocols, you're relegated to Edge.
Yeah, but I was still shocked by how overpriced the card was. I mean, I expected that it was maybe 1.5x to 2x overpriced. The shocker was that it was more like 7-9x overpriced
Hopefully this situation with China Mobile gets better in the near future. Google's already given notice that my Nexus 5 won't be getting the Android N update, and security updates will stop sometime around September-October this year (3 years after initial availability or 18 months after it was last sold at the Play Store)...meaning, I'll likely be buying the upcoming Nexus device rumored to be manufactured by HTC. I hope that they were able to put TD-SCDMA into North American model (or they just release one model instead of two).
Originally Posted by
moondog
Regarding buying SIMs on the street, the new laws have certainly limited the playing field, but the very closest 小卖铺 to me still sells pre-registered Mobile and Unicom SIMs (much higher prices than a year ago, though, and the SIMs usually aren't Shanghai numbers).
Yeah, but you guys also warned me that those types of places only sell cards to tourists who don't look Chinese, due to recent sting operations that always involve people who look Chinese. And my problem is that I look way too Chinese. I mean, when people try to talk to me, I find myself having to constantly say things like "我不懂中文". Another amusing story is that at Shanghai Disneyland, at the fastpass kiosk, there is a touch screen where you select either "中文" or "English", then you select the ride you want a fastpass for. There was a Cast Member standing next to the machine to assist guests who might be unfamiliar with the machine. Well I walked up and pressed "English" because I have no idea how to write the name of the ride I wanted to go on in Chinese; the Cast Member then pressed the "中文" button, I'm assuming to try to be helpful. Sigh. I'd be willing to bet 200 to 1 payout odds that this doesn't happen if I look Caucasian, black, Indian, etc.