Tourist Sim Card
 

Hi,

I'm visiting China this summer and I was wondering what the best SIM card for tourists is?

For other Asian places like Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand there are special tourist SIMs, but I haven't seen anything like that for China.

I'm currently with China Mobile HK, and they charge 48HKD per day for unlimited data - which is a lot (and I mean A LOT) more that I have spent to buy SIMs for elsewhere.

So, does anyone know somewhere where I can get a reasonably priced SIM, with lots of data (Say 0.5 to 1GB per day (talk time is unimportant)) that would work for two weeks?
I can either pick-it-up in Beijing or Hong Kong.

Thanks :D

There is no SIM card for tourists.
You just get a regular Chinese SIM, preferably from China Unicom. hey have a variety of plans but I don't think that you'll find one for 10G+. You are planning to watch movies every day?

HK SIM Vendors
 

Ap Liu St, Shum Shue Po MTR

If you can't find it there you don't need it!!!

Sham Shui Po is a good place to head to if you know what card you want. It is not a good place to shop in the browsing around sense. Just vendors at stalls with tons of cards in trays and crowds of buyers. Not much patience for customers who aren't sure what they want at Sham Shui Po, or anywhere else in Hong Kong for that matter.

Best to look at the websites of the telcos and decide first what card you want, then take a printout with you.

If you do go, take a magnifying glass since the terms and conditions on the cards are almost unreadable.

I haven't found a HK pre-paid for less than 48HKD/day for more than a week (Im also heading to China, via HK, for 2 weeks in May)

If you need data only you can get a data SIM from China Mobile in China. Take your passport to register.
280RMB for 11GB ... 180RMB for 6GB.

Those seem like much more reasonable prices.

Are they available in Beijing airport and do you have a link for the offer?

Thanks :)

No idea about Beijing ... I got a collegue in Shanghai to get the information (process for a tourist getting a data sim card) from a China Mobile store, and she noted the prices for me.

I will reply to this thread, on how I got along, when I get the card next month .... assuming flyertalk is accessible through the GFC :)

BTW Have a look at this video thats got an excerpt from Apliu St.


Some of the cards seem heavily discounted, but you need to research the ones that will do Macau.

Thanks Psuedo. I tried looking on the China Mobile Chinese site with Google Translate - but I couldn't really understand lots of it.

I don't mind going to Apliu St, but I have no idea what I'm looking for.

As an occasional (once a year) Apliu St shopper-

There's lots of MVNO SIMs as well the SIMs directly from the network providers. I'd ignore the MVNO SIMs (I once bought an EasyCall SIM to use in Japan in the future and they went bankrupt or something before I could use it so that was roughly HK$80 wasted).

If we limit to the network providers themselves (in the mainland context, CMHK->CMCC and Unicom HK->China Unicom) then you don't have a whole lot of options. If the SIM you have is the one I think you have, then that's as good as it gets for CMHK (since the largest fixed-amount package is 2GB for HK$198). And at least with the HK$48 you're effectively paying less when you do the "add $300 get a bonus $115" top-up online. If you work on that basis you're effectively paying less than HK$35 daily for 8 days. HK$600 would last you for the two weeks. Not cheap by any means, but not horrific.

A 7-day 2GB SIM from Unicom HK is HK$114 from Unicom themselves online, haven't paid attention to prices on Apliu St since I just use CMHK but it has to be cheaper, and then fixed HK$100 per 2GB/up to 7 days after. Roughly HK$50/GB.

Now, if you have a VPN subscription that you can use, local mainland-based data SIMs can be very very cheap, but it requires navigating Beijing's equivalent of Apliu St (I normally go to Shanghai so I have no idea where that would be). Otherwise China Unicom in Beijing officially sells a nationwide 12GB data-only SIM for 500RMB. At 42RMB per GB, that becomes roughly the same as their 2GB Hong Kong-based SIM. There's also the "Ice Cream Plan" (冰激凌套餐) mentioned on their website, which is 198RMB/month for 1500 domestic minutes and 15GB nationwide full-speed data + throttled to 3Mbps after (so you should have full speed data all through at 1GB/day for two weeks). Works out to 13.2RMB per full-speed GB plus the reassurance that you have more data if you need it.

EDIT: I can't figure out if the 12/24 month commitment for the "Ice Cream Plan" is required or optional (to cut the fee for the 398RMB 40GB plan to 199RMB) and the first month is 398RMB regardless, so I'm removing it. Since OP mentioned 0.5-1GB/day, the 198RMB plan should do the trick if no commitment is requierd. Also, OP didn't mention where else in China they'd be. If Beijing data is all OP needs then data can be even cheaper than this. If nationwide data is required then not so much.

As an occasional (once a year) Apliu St shopper-

There's lots of MVNO SIMs as well the SIMs directly from the network providers. I'd ignore the MVNO SIMs (I once bought an EasyCall SIM to use in Japan in the future and they went bankrupt or something before I could use it so that was roughly HK$80 wasted).

If we limit to the network providers themselves (in the mainland context, CMHK->CMCC and Unicom HK->China Unicom) then you don't have a whole lot of options. If the SIM you have is the one I think you have, then that's as good as it gets for CMHK (since the largest fixed-amount package is 2GB for HK$198). And at least with the HK$48 you're effectively paying less when you do the "add $300 get a bonus $115" top-up online. If you work on that basis you're effectively paying less than HK$35 daily for 8 days at a time. HK$600 would last you for the two weeks. Not cheap by any means, but not horrific.

A 7-day 2GB SIM from Unicom HK is HK$114 from Unicom themselves online, haven't paid attention to prices on Apliu St since I just use CMHK but it has to be cheaper, and then fixed HK$100 per 2GB/up to 7 days after. Roughly HK$50/GB.

Now, if you have a VPN subscription that you can use, local mainland-based data SIMs can be very very cheap, but it requires navigating Beijing's equivalent of Apliu St (I normally go to Shanghai so I have no idea where that would be). Otherwise China Unicom in Beijing officially sells a nationwide 12GB data-only SIM for 500RMB. At 42RMB per GB, that becomes roughly the same as their 2GB Hong Kong-based SIM. There's also the "Ice Cream Plan" (冰激凌套餐) mentioned on their website, which is 198RMB/month for 1500 domestic minutes and 15GB nationwide full-speed data + throttled to 3Mbps after (so you should have full speed data all through at 1GB/day for two weeks). Works out to 13.2RMB per full-speed GB plus the reassurance that you have more data if you need it. If you sign up before 1 May, the price of the higher tier is cut to 199RMB, which is unlimited domestic minutes for 40GB full-speed data + throttled to 7.2Mbps after (which should be more than the average person on a 2-week trip knows what to do with unless you're live-streaming every minute of it).

I would be wary of buying a SIM card from the street in China.

http://first2board.com/pointssummary...paid-sim-card/

Best to go to a proper store and buy it with ID etc.

While I'll stop short of saying that it's impossible to get ripped off, data (only) Sims are extremely straight forward, and needn't be registered.

Straightforward, yes. Needn't be registered, if you can get the seller to register it for you. Otherwise the official rules are supposed to be that they also need registration, as explained to me by China Unicom and China Telecom staff in Shanghai back in January.

China Unicom is now registering Hong Kong SIM cards that have a Mainland number. It's fairly quick online: just fill in your name, passport number and nationality, and attach photos of the front cover and data/signature page of your passport. A few hours later you should get an SMS that your registration is effective. Much quicker than doing the real-name registration in the Mainland itself.

To register online, you first need to receive a confirmation code by SMS. So if you're not in the Mainland or HK, you might have a problem receiving the necessary SMS code.

China Unicom says you'll lose your Mainland number if you don't register by August 30.

www.cuniq.com/hk/realname.html?country=hk_en

China Mobile has a counter at the Beijing airport in terminal 3 in the luggage carrousel area. No idea about other terminals.

How did you "determine" this? They told you? As far as I know, this is an urban legend.

I remember a few years back only China Unicom supported 3G on iPhones, is this still the case or does China Mobile offer 3G/4G for iPhones now?

Check Flexiroam's local data plan in China. They offer 7 days 200mb for only $7.00. If you are not that data hungry just the usual web browsing, maps usage and research it's a good deal. You need to buy a starter pack which cost around $29 dollars which includes 1gb data valid for 3 months which i think is enough for traveling in China. Pretty cheap compared to local data plans in China.

There are plenty of stalls along Apliu Street selling 5-day China data SIM cards for $50-60 HKD. Just tell them data SIM and how many days you need and the seller will show you the option and price. Prices are typically marked on the pile of cards already. I recall it's just pop in and it activates on its own. No registration of ID whatsoever and the card breaks through the Chinese firewall as they are HK SIMs. Happy Telecom cards are a bit more complicated so stay away from those.

As of July 1, China Mobile has eliminated the distinction between local and national data plans. All data on a plan can now be used throughout Mainland China. This makes buying data easier, since you no longer have to check the fine print to make sure you're buying the right kind of data.

I don't know about the other operators, but they usually act in lockstep.

Anyone know if you can buy a sim that will work in China inside the transit part of HKG airport?

I don't find this "pretty cheap compared to local data plans" at all. But your claim is not surprising considering that all your post are about (self-promotion) this company.

​​​​​​I'm not sure how I missed the post you quoted. Forget about disagreeing with "pretty cheap"; "obnoxiously expensive" cuts to the chase.

​​​

This seems the best thread for my question. How easy is it to get a "pay as you go" SIM for China? My plan is to buy a SIM and then use it on my intermittent visits to the country, maybe 3 per year. I know that I will now have to register the SIM using my passport, but is it possible to load it with, say, RMB 100, and then use it anytime. I would not want a data plan or a limited-time SIM.

I'd rather get one of those Thai sim cards... SIM2FLY the best-value roaming SIM for everyone! 4 GB for 299 THB valid 8 days or 15 days for 799 THB.

That is pretty cheap, and I'm guessing no VPN is required, but Unicom is probably a better bet for semi-frequent visitors because you can actually make/receive calls without incurring roaming charges (e.g. people will be reluctant to call you on a Thailand number).

Really surprised no one could answer this questions. I can report that SIM cards were available multiple locations throughout the air side of the airport.

Nobody answered your question because we didn't know. The best place to buy mainland SIMs is in the mainland.

Obviously. That is what I was surprised about, that no one knew! HKG generally being the travel gateway to the mainland for many, I thought perhaps collective knowledge of this forum would know. Now it does

Needed to be able to make a phone call immediately upon landing which is why I didn't want to buy in the mainland.

With all due respect I can't see any of the active knowledgeable members on this forum ever have the need to get at SIM at HKIA.
I can give you all the HSBC ATM at HKIA in 3 seconds

Indeed, if I needed China Mobile service in HK I'd go to Central.

You are splurging. I am cheap so it's SSP Duck St for me.