889

Lots of places sell SIMs but he wants to make sure the hotel understands he has to head to a 营业厅 Yingye Ting to do the registration.

plunet

jlc9779 wanted their SIM to be "good to go" on arrival at the airport so I doubt the process to register a local SIM card is really going to work. But with few other details it's hard to advise further.... Where they are coming from, what connectivity they need whilst they're here, how much data, etc. The lack of any details on the 3gsolutions website would concern me, the T&C's are very vague. Not knowing which network the SIM is issued from would be a concern, although I suspect it's HK. If the OP is coming from the UK, the CMLink SIM already suggested is a slam dunk easy option that is guaranteed to work provided the data allowance is enough.

jlc9779

Really appreciate the help. We are flying from the uk and have only 2 weeks to visit Beijing, Xian, Chengdu, Yangshuo and Shanghai ro are trying to maximise our time. We have booked everything independently like we do for all our holidays, so have no tour rep or friends in China to help us. The main concern is paying for things, as we understand cash is no longer used and it is all Alipay or Wechat. So the most important part is getting a sim card to use for that, and we don't want to get to Beijing and find out nothing works and we are stuck for paying for things for the fortnight. We just want to get on enjoying the place, easting out and enjoying China. I have heard 3gsolutions use the China Unicom network, but obviously people do not rate them on here, so looking for other options.
So the main concern is getting a phone payment system working so we can relax and enjoy the very short time we have there.

plunet

If you read the last few pages of Opinion: without Alipay and Wechat Pay, you are screwed in Shanghai you will see that in the past few weeks you can now link a foreign card to Alipay or WeChat pay, so provided you have some sort of data connection then you shouldn't have payment problems.

The query with 3gsolutions is not that it uses the unicom network, but on what foreign network the sim card is issued - it has to be a foreign roaming SIM card or they wouldn't be able to offer access to western social media. It's just that the website is all marketing and no detail of what they're offering actually works.

As someone travelling from the UK you're fortunate that China Mobile have a UK based MVNO and to give you assurance if a working service as you land CMLink UK is a really easy option for you.

You used to be able to pick up HK based SIM cards online with decent roaming bundles for visits into China but these are harder to get hold of these days because of real name & ID registration requirements introduced in HK for most SIM cards.

jlc9779

Can you explain the CMLink UK option. I asked on their support page and was told I would have to buy in the UK. Sorry for all the questions!

moondog

What phone number (not actual number, just the provider) did you bind to WeChat and Alipay? Changing this is a mild pita that you wouldn't have to deal with if you roam.

plunet

Just as you would buy a non-contract SIM from a MVNO like Lebara or Lyca or Virgin in the UK, you buy this one from CMLink which is brand of China Mobile in the UK. In the UK it operates on the EE network, but in China it uses China Mobile. You should order it a couple of weeks before you travel. You must activate the SIM in the UK before you leave.

If you take for example the �11 40G bundle you would need to top �11 and then send the appropriate message to the SMS short code to convert your �11 credit into the 40G bundle. This gives you 36G of data in the UK and 4G of data to use in China, plus some minutes to use in UK and some to use in China. The SIM card has a UK number, unless you opt to also have a Chinese number at extra cost (I don't see the point for your short trip). Activate the SIM card and it's bundle a few days before you leave the UK and just make sure it's working, check your bundle using the word "check" to the SMS short code. Then make sure you have roaming enabled on the SIM in the phone and it will just work when you arrive into China. Any data you use is whilst in China is tunneled back to UK and will break out onto the internet in the UK so you can still access the socials, BBC news and radio, etc.

The bundle will try to renew after a month so unless you expressly selected options for auto top-up if there is no PAYG credit balance then the bundle can't renew and that's it.
​​​​​​
It's a hassle free option that eliminates the need to faff with VPNs to get to Gmail, etc.

jlc9779

Had a quick look at the CMlink webpage which has proved really useful. Does anybody know if the one off bundle will work.

ONE-OFF ANNUAL BUNDLE

12GB Data

200 Voice Minutes

200 Text Messages

The resources of this bundle can be used in the UK/EU/mainland China and Hong Kong

Valid for 1 year (365 days)

Just looks a good deal. I can buy this beforehand, activate in the uk and then us in China.

plunet

That's a new bundle they're offering. I've not personally used it but it seems like a sensible option if as suggested all of the 12G allowance is usable in UK/EU/CN

mlin32

Reviving this thread in anticipation of my trip next month to the mainland. Scrolled quite a bit through the last couple pages of this thread, but not truly relevant to me, especially given many users are are North America based.

I'd like a prepaid SIM with a local number of course. Don't think I'll be a heavy data user, as I manage with 5 GB/mo here in Europe on prepaid plans. But as a prepaid user, I cannot add non-EU/EEC roaming, so I'm used to just buying local SIM cards wherever I go. Of course, I've only ever bought dual-SIM, unlocked mobile telephones for this reason.

I looked at pre-ordering from Unimobile, but the tarif is expensive (80 $US ?! I pay 10 EUR/month here......). For 2 weeks, 5 GB and some voice/SMS would be enough.

I guess I could take the easy way out and buy one upon arrival at PKX; how much more expensive are the plans/tarifs there ? I'll be arriving on a Sunday afternoon, so I'd expect airport shops to be open.

I could also try and go to a store in the Beijing city centre with my passport, but I also don't want to spend half my day trying to get this done, even if I can speak/understand (but not read) mandarin.

Tips and advice appreciated.

moondog

You're going to need a passport to register in any case (e.g. even if you buy a sim from a street vendor), so you might as well identify a store near your hotel that can pull off the entire process. I suppose it might be worth inquiring at the airport upon arrival as well but tmk most airport kiosks can't handle the registration step.

mlin32

So only certain stores can handle the registration ?

And now that I think about it, when I get the chinese SIM, that would kind of nullify the Alipay and WeChat Pay set up where I linked it to my foreign credit card, right ? As in, I'd have to re-setup the payments with that chinese number, or ?

narvik

Yeah, you're better off to decide beforehand if you want to get a Chinese SIM or not.
For a short trip to China, I can't see it being worth it, IMO.
If you can get Alipay/WeChat setup before coming to China by using a foreign SIM, and you have decent call/data rates, you're probably better off just doing that.

gudugan

At PVG a travel SIM was either 120RMB or 200RMB for a week or two. I�m leaning towards the former. This is expensive by China standards but cheap compared to your other mentioned option. I don�t know if it comes with a phone number.

The plus side is they should know how to do the passport registration so it will get done fast. The city ones may have no clue (my experience).

You can change your phone number on Alipay and WeChat Pay if you do the right verifications. However I agree that a phone number may be overkill on a short trip unless you want to register for a bunch of local apps. Renting bikes on the street requires a local number, but it also seems to require a Chinese ID in most cases, so you might be screwed anyway.

mlin32

My prepaid SIM cards from France & Germany simply do not function outside the region, as in, zero reception. This is what happens when I land in say, Taiwan, the US, or Alg�rie and it's not a question of frequency, simply as a function of being prepaid cards, the option of using them outside the EU/EEA is blocked. So the utilisation of my existing sim cards is not an option.