phone stuff
 

I also have this 8830 phone & 'global' sprint service. the bb works great on emails, just abet expensive on the sprint plan phone calls, In some china cities you may need to go manual to select the network mode if in the outside china areas. You will want China mobile as the option. You will also receive local calls from the US from people who do not know you are in china. because of the time difference, if the phone is on it night it may wake you up...

As mentioned in this post, a local sim card is very cost effective & they do work in unlocked phones, (Best buy sells these in the US).

On my trip next week, I plan on buying a new phone that is made in Shenzen.
The brand name is 'Pulid' It has the ability to hold 2 sim cards. I will try that with various sim cards that i have. hopefully then i do not need to carry so many phones with me.
Oh, same phone features can be had from Nokia, but it's a knock-off.

Lastly, in china if you log on to flyerTalk, its really slow !. even when cabled up at good hotel business centers.

If you're going to int'l roam from the US you might as well pick China Telecom (the CDMA carrier).
For data, most computer markets will sell data-only (all kinds- China Unicom for 3G, either that or China Mobile for EDGE/GPRS) SIMs with airtime included, no ID needed. These are usually made for long-term usage, however (the shortest prepay period I've seen was three months, I think).

I usually go to a China Mobile office to buy a SIM card, every time there's been someone who spoke english to help iron out the details. I think CM has better coverage than China Unicom.

I agree with the bolded statement, but street vendors are cheaper than China Mobile offices, don't require ID, and the entire purchase process takes less than 30 seconds.

Then, I hope you can help me out and hopefully explain what I need to do differently. You're right, it takes awhile in the China Mobile office, ID, forms, etc. When I've been to street vendors, they always want 100rmb min. while the China Mobile office always gives me a card for 50rmb that works all over China. I'm only interested in voice and the 50rmb card is usually enough for me. What's the right thing to say to the street vendors? Thanks!

Some SIM cards are preloaded with y50, y100, y200, etc. In such cases, you need to pay for this in addition to the card itself, but that's no big deal because chong zhi ka are rarely discounted by more than 1%.

Moving on, average street prices tend to be significantly lower than China Mobile offices. In fact, you can usually get a relatively good number for around y100, while bad and really bad numbers typically sell at a loss (iirc, I've seen Shen Zhou Xing sim cards for as cheap as y25).

I used to have a post paid number, which was cheaper on all fronts (and you can search through thousands of numbers), but those take around 40 minutes to set up and you need a local bank account as well.

Back to your question, like Jamoldo suggests, just say, "sim ka".

Can you tell me what chong zhi and shen zhou xing mean, both literal and meaning if they're different?

I'm still a little confused, if I buy a sim card with y50 usage value, how much do you think I should expect to pay from a street vendor?

I went to one place at the Oriental Plaza and the lowest price they'd give me was y240. I didn't buy.

Check out this for info on shenzhouxing:

http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archive...enzhouxing.htm

Chongzhi ka means recharge card, similar to "top up" or "load" (terms used in other countries where prepaid is popular).

Oriental Plaza? When we talk about "streets", we mean sidewalks and the like. Just look for vendors that have lists of phone numbers with prices next to them.

Thanks for the info and the link. Is there any possibility you could you give me the characters for chong zhi and shen zhou xing?

I've also tried hole in the wall type places on the sidewalk or where there's no actual sidewalk. y100 was the lowest quote I got there for a y50 value prepaid sim card.

Which means the card itself costs y50. Even if that wasn't cheaper than China Mobile's retail prices, the time savings alone justify the $6 expense.

Top off card is 充值卡

Thanks! I appreciate the help.

I checked out the aforementioned site, and it states that international roaming isn't available on either pre-paid card.

I'm going to Shanghai first for 4 days, then off to Hong Kong for another week. Would either of those cards work in Hong Kong or would I be stuck buying a card in Shanghai, then another local HK card.

No, they won't work abroad unless you register your SIM card with your provider. (Wouldn't recommend the hassle.)

You can get a HK Sim for free (almost, costs 2 or 3 HKD, and there's just the value of 50HKD+ on it) at almost any store, including 7-11s. Plenty of providers: PCCW, one2free, three, etc. Plus there are day passes for 3G data usage, wifi etc.

cell phone coverage in Gansu and Xinjiang
 

I'll be touring Silk Road sites in Gansu and Xinjiang next month.
Does China Mobile or China Unicom have better coverage there?
Should I buy a SIM in Lanzhou?