I think this is the issue. I have had occasional trouble with google maps, much moreso a few years ago than now. These days, when used with VPN, it's pretty accurate _most_ of the time (I have very occasionally had off-set issues).

The more problematic issue is multiple place names in English for the same place...much rarer these days than before, but still an issue on occasion.

tb

I should have read this thread before buying. Now, 80 RMB and an hour later (what a grossly complicated process), I'm stuck with 500 MB of China Mobile 2G speed because their 4G is incompatible with most phones of the world. I'm used to picking up a SIM card at the airport and it just works. Not here.

Can't load any Google site at all. Not even on wifi. Good way for me to be totally disconnected from the world, I guess.

The stupidest part is that they say I should go in person to deactivate the # (rather than just stop using it), or else I will be put on a blacklist and can be banned from buying SIM cards in the future. But they only allow deactivation after 3 months.

FWIW, the unlocked iPhone 6/6+ is compatible with China Mobile's TD-LTE network (and pretty much every other standard used anywhere).

Check out the VPN thread. The net nannies have decided that we shouldn't have access to Google/Facebook/Twitter/myriad other things, but a VPN can get you around this using either mobile data or Wi-Fi (though I'm not sure if 2G is fast enough to support the VPN overhead). If you have a corporate VPN, this should also work.

That's because technically the SIM you got is technically a prepaid contract, not a "traditional" prepaid SIM. You should be able to cancel earlier than three months, but you'll have to pay out the "contract" through the three months. If you just let it die, they'll kill it after a few months of being unpaid and associate your ID with a "debt" for those months. You won't be able to get a new registered SIM until you pay off this balance or get a new ID number.

Last time I was in China I couldn't load any Google sites at all from my laptop. That's China's Great Firewall, not the SIM provider.

Yes, don't get a contract, just get a normal prepaid card. There are all sorts of different plans on offer, the details are complex, and, as you discovered, it's easy to sign up for one that turns out not to do you much good.

As to VPNs, there's no guarantee these days that any given VPN will work in any given place in China.

Are you saying I just need to pay the price of the 3 months, and then I can deactivate the # legitimately? I am leaving China in 7 days.

I would love to know how.

At least with Unicom, yes. You can go to one of their offices, pay for the remainder of the three months of service, and then they should be able to cancel it for you.

"I would love to know how."

Simple. Just buy a SIM card from one of the small shops on the street, then add cash to it as you need to. Yes, there are different flavours of prepaid cards and if you want the cheapest and most appropriate card for your intended use, then you'll have to be able to speak Chinese with the vendor or bring along a friend who can. Otherwise, just take a standard tariff card. If you're going to use data, make especially sure the telecom network you pick works with your phone.

(You can often recognise shops that sell SIMs because they'll have a big board posted with available numbers; numbers that sound good in Chinese will be more expensive.)

That's nice. The Mobile agents say can't cancel until 3 months pass. The plan I bought includes $30 in monthly fees, each month deducting $6, so I'm automatically paid off for the 3 months requirement. Still they say I must cancel in person or have someone go with a photocopy of my ID (which is what I plan to do, but it's really a pain in the ...); if I just let it run out of money, even though I fully paid the monthly fees, I will still be put on a blacklist.

Thanks, noted.

You are probably getting sick of hearing this from me, but I will say it again: express (almost) always works! I rely upon it for my job.

I've found ability to use a particular VPN varies a great deal. Even in the same city, it'll work some places and not the next. It'll work not on a hotel wifi network, but work on a 3G connection. It'll work on a desktop with a plug-in connection but not a tablet using an app. Or, most commonly, it'll work at first but then 15 minutes later, stop working.

So unless you've tried Express under a large number of circumstances, with a large number of devices, and in a large number of places across China (all since January when the latest tightening occurred), I'd say it's difficult to generalise from your experience. This is very much a YMMV situation.

Suggestions for one week trip - Shanghai
 

Hi

I would appreciate suggestions for what kind of SIM to buy for iphone5 for short trip. A few texts daily, a few phones calls for the whole trip, wichat, google maps if able - thus not much data use. Child speaks mandarin if that helps.

I am clueless about this, even after reading this thread, so specifics would be appreciated.

Thank you

Just get a Unicom SIM. You probably won't be able to get a 4g SIM from a street vendor, but 3g is good enough.