Data SIM cards in China?
May 19, 2017 | 3:25 am
#17
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Location: AU
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May 19, 2017 | 6:17 am
#18
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Penang, Malaysia
Posts: 146
May 20, 2017 | 6:26 pm
#19
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Update on this - was easy to get in the terminal 3 luggage carousel area. They even accept foreign credit cards so I could pay with that (which is good in what is still a cash economy at least when it comes to foreign cards, McDonalds for instance only accept the UnionPay). The woman behind the counter also spoke English - I could easily access the Internet on the train from Dandong and to Beijing. It also worked fine with the VPN tunnel to Norway so I could access all the blocked websites - ie post out a message on Facebook that I survived North Korea and use Gmail (which is for some reason blocked in China - did not remember it was blocked on my last visit in 2014)...
Highly recommend this if you are travelling by train and things get abit boring or simply need to use Google Maps in the city etc.
Highly recommend this if you are travelling by train and things get abit boring or simply need to use Google Maps in the city etc.
As for trains--we took one, wi-fi on board (as with other public Wi-Fi in China you need to be able to receive a text message to use it--they do not allow anonymous use of public Wi-Fi, although hotel Wi-Fi doesn't use this rule.) However, the connection between the Wi-Fi and the internet was spotty once we were past Suzhou.
May 20, 2017 | 6:43 pm
#20
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Location: AU
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SIMs in China are the same as other places. A SIM will come with its own number. If you take out your old SIM and put in the new one from China then you will have a Chinese number.
May 21, 2017 | 2:12 pm
#22
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: HEL
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When in China, you might also consider roaming. There are data packages in the region that cover also China. I got one such in Singapore at Changi airport, Starhub Happy prepaid. It includes roaming in many Asian countries, China included + the Anglo-Saxon ones. No Great firewall, no registration (or actually they register in S: pore when you buy it), good 4G speeds.
The same strarter pack served me well in SG, MY, HK and CN. If you travel around Asia, one such card might be more useful than the China specific ones.
The same strarter pack served me well in SG, MY, HK and CN. If you travel around Asia, one such card might be more useful than the China specific ones.
May 21, 2017 | 7:45 pm
#23
Join Date: Aug 2008
Programs: HHonors Gold, Marriott Lifetime Gold, IHG Gold, OZ*G, AA Gold, AS MVP
Posts: 1,944
Yep, when I'm in China I now use a CMHK SIM with a daily rate for mainland use when I'm here short-term (or need lots of data) and book fixed amounts of data when I'm here longer.
May 21, 2017 | 8:34 pm
#24
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Penang, Malaysia
Posts: 146
May 21, 2017 | 8:35 pm
#25
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Penang, Malaysia
Posts: 146