Data SIM Card
 

Hi. Just found this SIM Card at ebay.com. Can somebody tell me if this is a new package, because I haven't found it in the past.
Is it necessary to activate this package to the first day of the next month, like china mobile or is it automatically activated? How long will the card be valid after purchase? Is it valid for gprs or edge, too?
And I asked the seller about this, too. But maybe you can give me a answer a little bit faster than him:)

Edit: Answer of the seller is "The SIM will be activated when you use it.
6 month valid date."

If the balance is less than ¥180, it doesn't worth the $20.

You can get such a data SIM card anywhere in e-market (like Zhongguancun in Beijing) with a discount of 20% to 30%. A ¥600-worth SIM card may sell for only ¥480. Once you used up this balance, just throw it away and buy a new card at discount rate. I always do it like this.

Official rate (monthly):
• 1 GB – ¥80
• 3 GB – ¥150
• 5 GB – can't remember, maybe ¥200 or ¥250?
• 10 GB - ¥300
• maximum 15 GB - ¥800

But a normal tourist will not stay for month, so why should they buy a sim card for ¥480? I think 1GB will be enough for most persons who want to use their smartphones in holiday.
And is the ¥480 SIM Card automatically activated from the first day of use?
I know that you have to activate a gprs package for china mobile before the first day of month to use it. This unicom package seems to be activated immediately.

Your ebay link appears to be a good deal. You just need to ask the seller relevant questions and be patient. His answers will be far more pertinent than any speculation we can offer.

I already copy the answer from him in my first posting.
Sim is valid for 6 month after first use and the 1GB is valid until you used, so this can be up to 6 month if you use only 100mb a month.
I still dont know if its for EDGE or only for WCDMA.

I cant try the card because I will not be in china for the next months. But I think its a very good deal for travelers.

Why not ask him follow up questions? Based on my reading of his ad (not the Unicom site), it appears that there might not be a monthly fee at all (simply draw down on 1G until it's gone or six months pass). While I realize that most of us pay monthly fees, telecom products are always being packaged in new/different ways, so anything is possible.

Frankly, in light of the seller's incredible ebay rating, I'd be inclined to just grab it and sort out the details once I arrived in China. If it turns out there is no monthly fee and you don't use 800M+, you'll probably be able to unload it for the same $20 before you return home. If there is a monthly fee and you use it for one month, your total out of pocket would be $35 and you could presumably fetch y100 for the partially used card. A great deal in either case.

Maybe another one can asked him, I send him three emails and think it should be enough for one buyer ;)
If its really like he told me (1gb valid for 6 month, without any additional fees and activated from the first day of use) its a very good deal and a lot better than the other offers i found before.
Would be nice to know if this package is also available at a shop in china and whats the price for it. Maybe someone from china can check this.

Like some of the others here, I'm in China, but I don't fancy visiting a Unicom shop on your behalf (simply not pleasant), even in exchange for a big beer at Paulaner.

Since you're in direct contact with the seller, I suggest you continue to pursue that avenue. In the event he gets tired of your questions, you should simply take the plunge; I'm 90% sure that he's offering you a good deal.

You dont have to go there if its not pleasant enough for you. But than we cant be sure that this offer really exist. I can ask the seller everything, but I am not able to verify his answers.
Maybe its pleasant enough for you to check the website of china unicom, is the package listed there? I can only go there with google translate, but didn't found the package.

How is this package different to any other package?

If you sign up in the store Unicom will ask for a large deposit. They know you will not use that much credit and they consider it pure profit.

The data should be good for 1 month and the sim for 6 months. If your lucky this guy has a special deal with Unicom and the data is valid for 6 months. Definitely no such deal for tourist who walk in to a Unicom store.

The guy told me its really valid for 6 month after activating the card. But even if its valid only for 1 month, it will still be a good offer because you can use it direct after arriving in china. You don't have to wait for the first day in the next month.

Question: How long will the 1gb data transfer be valid, the whole 6 month, too? or it it only for use in the first month? if i use only 0,25gb a month it will be valid for 4 month?

Answer: 6 months

;)

If you don't recharge a sim card they expire. He probably means the card will expire in 6 months unless you recharge it.

Maybe but this was a question I asked seperatly.

Next answer of him "You could add more value in the Card,but it's cheaper to buy another SIM.Thanks." Question was "still need to know what is the
price to buy more data traffic for this sim card after the first 1GB are
used."

Ok I asked the seller now about 20 times, and he still tell me that the 1GB will be valid for 6 month. Its a promotion SIM Card. It makes no sense to recharge the card because they will bill 286RMB/month then.

A chinese Friend called Unicom Callcenter and they didnt know anything about this Sim Card.

Just buy the thing. Once again, the seller's approval rating is off the charts.

I buy it two days ago... But I cant test it immediately.
Can somebody translate this:

全国不限漫游 联通3G无线上网套餐 联通1G流量2个月资费卡 介绍：
中国联通WCDMA资费卡，全国漫游免费，5、6两个月随时激活使用；
可（5月、6月）或（6月、7月）两个月每月使用1G流量。
温馨提示：拿到资费后马上联网通过联通网上营业厅获取随机密码更改服务密码以便日后查询。
特别注明：此只是一张资费卡，不含无线上网卡硬件!

Its from here, maybe its the same card.

I could, but google does a good enough job 100,000x faster than me:

My gut tells me that you've stumbled upon a really great product/seller. In the event that this is not the case and you end up burning $20, you can always nail him with some negative feedback; if you were to knock him down to 99.8%, he'd surely lose more than $20. But, since you already bought it, you have absolutely nothing to gain by continuing to pester him with questions.

I translated it with google first, but wasnt sure about "Can (5 months, 6 months) or (6 months, 7 months) 1G traffic per month for two months."

Maybe you read it, but I cant test the card before december. So how could I give him a feedback? This was the reason why I asked here.

This would give me enough pause to contemplate asking ONE more question, but since you've already hit him with 20+, you're on the verge of becoming one of those customers that businesses simply write off as a waste of time (I'm not trying to be rude).

You say I should ask him ;)

No it's not 5/6/7 months, but May/June/July. As far as I can see this SIM card only lasts two months, and you must activate it in May or June.

------

The China Unicom SIM card you are talking about is kind of a PAYG/post-paid hybrid. You're basically prepaying for a bundled voice/data plan that gets deducted monthly at a fixed price, e.g. 240 minutes + 300MB data.

It's not good for tourists but has some advantages for those who visit China on a regular basis. The main one is being able to call in to "freeze" service, although reactivating is a bit of a pain and requires a visit to a China Unicom store.

China Mobile still seems like a better deal and I have been pretty disappointed with CU's 3G data service. Very sketchy in the Guangdong area.

So, you're saying that he gets 240 mins/month of voice plus 300 mb/month of data for 6 active months and doesn't have to pay a dime more as long as he stays within these limits? 300mb is a bit on the light side, but would suffice for email and basic web surfing (i.e. steer clear of video clips and downloading large attachments).

adding data to existing phone number?
 

I bought a china mobile SIM card a couple of visits back -- and now several contacts in beijing have this number for whenever I'm here, so I don't want to get a new SIM/number.

However, now that I have a smart phone, would appreciate using the features if possible. Can I get a sort of data top-up on my existing SIM card, and if so, how would I go about doing this?

Any help much appreciated.

tb

I bought a Unicom SIM recently for my Ipad. There are pre-paid choices with fixed data with 6 month and 12 month expiry. You need your passport with you and it is pretty simple to do.

I'm just trying to confirm whether or not after you bought this card you had to wait until the first day of the next calendar months before you could start using it? - it seems hard to believe but there are a lot of references to a policy of that sort in this and other sim-related threads.

As a print out of these two cards is right next to me, here some info. ;)

To answer you question, the card gets activated immediately on the first use, you do not need to wait to the 1st of a month.

I assume you are referring to the aforementioned Unicom prepaid 6 and 12 month card with 3 and 6 GB, respectively?

China Unicom ("liantong") data options

Chinese version found here:
http://3g.10010.com/3gindex/3gfee/wirelesscard.html

Name:
Prepaid, 3 GB, 6 months, 50 text msgs, 300 CNY: 预付费3GB半年卡
Prepaid, 6 GB, 12 months, 100 text msgs, 600 CNY: 预付费6GB年卡

An additional traffic/ text msg: 0.10 yuan/MB, text msg, respectively.

Ask specifically for this card in a Unicom store.

Terms:
- 无线上网卡3GB半年卡套餐包含的流量和赠送的短信在180天内有效，6GB年卡套餐包含的流量和赠送的短 信在360天内有效。
- 在此期间内，如套餐内包含的流量用完，则有效期提前结束，未使用完的赠送短信作废，不能再使用。超过期限后 ，套餐未使用完的流量和未使用完的赠送短信同时作废，不能再使用。
- 本产品只允许使用激活，不允许充值激活。当用户首次上网或首次发送短信时激活本产品，其它方式 均不能激活。
- 本产品使用激活后立即扣除套餐费用并赠送相应的短信条数。
- 本产品的默认有效期为产品激活次日零时起计算的累计天数。有效期到期后，用户充值后可以继续使 用。

In short: The period starts running the first time you activate the card. You can only activate it by sending a text or using the internet. You cannot top up the card during the period. Any remaining credit after 180 or 360 days becomes invalid.


Post paid data options:
Same URL, overview:

80 CNY/Month 1 GB
150 CNY/Month 3 GB
200 CNY/Month 5 GB
300 CNY/Month 10 GB

Additional MB 0.10 CNY

For students
50 CNY/Month 600 MB

All prepaid options require a passport, nothing more.

Excellent, many thanks - looks like the 3GB card is perfect for my needs - and for Y300 is good value for me.... I only need coverage for 10 days, but really want to have data coverage all the time while in China so that I can use my smartphone to navigate/translate etc.

BTW, If anyone on FT would like the card after I leave China just pop me a PM with your address and I will mail it on as I leave.

When are you leaving?

leaving
 

Middle of August 2011.... we fly out of HK on 16 Aug.

Saw a store by the Lo Wu boarder crossing selling a card similar to the one the op is asking about.