Originally Posted by
zippy the pinhead
We greatly appreciate the way the seasoned folk here can cut through all the chaff to get us right to the wheat, so to speak.
These days, do large Chinese unis typically have a student union-ish facility with shopping, food, and a bank branch or two?
I live quite close to Jiaotong University (Shanghai), and am unaware of such a facility there, but it's a moot point because banks and restaurants are ubiquitous throughout Chinese cities.
Last time the phone they issued him was pretty good, from what I heard. No idea if it will be the same this time. (Different city, some unknowns right now.) It worked great for him locally but we tried texting it from our end and it never got through. We were good with that, however, because it allowed him to focus and not have to constantly deal with distractions from home. I'm pretty sure he got accustomed to leaving his iPhone in the host family's place when out and about, unless he was taking pictures. He uses a T-Mobile iPhone, which I believe has both CDMA and GSM radios it it, but regardless, it also worked well enough last time with the T-Mobile SIM card. I heard other kids with phones from different carriers had much less success with connectivity in Xi'an.
I'm not sure when he was in Xi'an, but it might not matter whether or not your texts get through during his next trip because SMS is now ignored by many, if not, most...though I do still pay attention to the messages from my bank that come through immediately after I buy things.
I guess we could try putting the issue phone's SIM into his iPhone, except for the aforementioned issue (being unable to contact his issue phone from outside China). His iPhone has not been unlocked yet, but I will definitely make sure it is unlocked and ready this time.
If he likes his iPhone, this seems more sensible to me than optimizing a new phone. With respect to
889 about the possibility that the Chinese phone will be better, the iPhone might not get 5g, but it will certainly work quite well otherwise.
We appreciate the suggestion in re: Schwab and HSBC and will pursue that.
Upon further reflection, I don't think you should sweat the bank thing too much at all. [MENTION=747881]889[/MENTION] reminded me of my own experience as the director of a study abroad program; one of our main agenda items was to insure that all students were able to get bank accounts shortly after arrival. Schwab isn't super important. I just like it because when I pull money from it here in China (or anywhere), there are no ATM fees, and they don't gouge me on the FX rate.