So...both China Mobile HK and China Unicom HK used to sell dual number prepaid SIM cards (I even had one of these at one point, but unfortunately I forgot to top it off and it expired). Now it seems that both companies have responded to the real name registration requirement on the +86 number by ceasing to sell prepaid SIM cards, and now only sell postpaid cards with the 1-card-2-number feature. CSL also appears to have a 1-card-2-number feature, but again, it's postpaid and requires a contract for the best rates.
I am in China probably 1-4 weeks per year, so it doesn't make sense for me to do a long term contract. I currently have a China Unicom HK SIM that I keep active at all times (HK$6 per month service fee), but it has only a HK number, not a China number. This is annoying for all of the wifi hotspots with those damn captive portals that for some reason require a +86 number in order to use (you enter the +86 number and it texts you a code that you can use to enable wifi). So, I would like to get a card with a +86 number on it.
Anyone know of any of the 1-card-2-number products that are currently sold, like this one
https://1cm.hk.chinamobile.com/onlin....html?cid=1328
or this one
https://www.cuniq.com/hk/services-pl...ared-plan.html
(1) Can be purchased without a contract (so you'd pay a higher monthly fee but not be locked into paying that fee every single month)? and
(2) Can be suspended for a much smaller cost than paying for the service itself? Ideally, between HK$6 and HK$30 per month.
For example, China Unicom mainland SIM cards do have the option to suspend the service for something like 2-6 RMB per month. If I could sign up for one of these services, give them my passport to enable the mainland number, and then suspend the service when I leave and re-enable it when I come back, that would be ideal. It looks like CMHK charges HK$18/month just for the mainland number (not sure if that would apply while it's suspended too, if that's even possible), but I might be willing to deal with a greater monthly fee just to get rid of the annoyance of not being able to use those wifi hotspots unless I ask my wife for the code that the portal returns to her phone.
I'd rather avoid getting a mainland SIM card because then I'd have to keep my VPN running when I am on LTE, which kills the battery faster.