Lifulty

^ Didn't know of this until recently. Can confirm, friend told me of this workaround.

hfly

Yes Coolers, it always worked until the last 2 weeks or so, with all the issues in Hong Kong...............and then it doesn't work so well right now.

DMSFCA

I've been to China three times this year so far and it's getting harder and harder. I have Private Internet Access and pretty much every endpoint (they have a lot) was blocked by China. I found one obscure one on a weird port in Romania (?) that worked but performance was bad if course. I think i'll set up pfSense or something at home and VPN back to just go out there. Since our corporate VPN isn't blocked it makes me think they are just blocking known VPN CIDR subnets rather than doing deep-packet inspection to look for tunnels or IPSEC.

The phone thing does indeed work. My AT&T phone gets everything and performance is reasonable. I can't tether with an international plan but that HK workaround sounds good.

How much data per month can you get in China with an HK plan and tethering?

bocastephen

It depends on the data package you choose in HK - and not all of the HK sim cards will work, it's best to check online for current options. In most cases you can top up for more data when you use up the original package, or just buy multiple SIM cards.

tentseller

It all depends on your plan.
You can buy disposable 7, 14 or 30 days cards with different amount of China data in HK. There are places where you can get these at a big discount from face value, even more buying in quantities.
You need to qualify for an HK monthly plan if that is what you meant or want (residence status in HK with a verifiable HK address and an HK credit card or bank account for auto-payment). You need a plan with China data, not just HK data. China data is usually an add on to a basic plan.

My present plan has 20GB/month out of which 5GB can be used in China.
I carry with me two 7 days 1GB disposables in case I run out. These are from a different carrier than my main line.
I also have a Pokefi which can also give me HK access while in China.

When communication is mission-critical you need a spare for the spare.

synthkeys

I've been using an HK China Mobile SIM on a monthly plan for over a year now, 6GB at $218HKD per month with data roaming across China. I don't have an HK residence permit so getting the monthly plan was a little tricky. US passport was fine but they want a mailing address for HK and do verification. Before applying, I created a free account with tiptrans.com which gives you a mailing address. China Mobile HK accepted this but required validation by mailing a verification code to the address. Tiptrans does mail and package forwarding and I had the letter forwarded for something like $5USD. I think tiptrans might offer scanning service for cheaper. While pending verification, the SIM worked fine. I think it gave me 60 days for the verification.

Before that I used a China Mobile HK SIM card with China roaming with 2GB per 28 days. I don't remember the exact charge up fee for 2GB but it was definitely less that $100HKD. Check their website looks like some decent deals going on now -- 8GB for 365 days at $168HKD for China Roaming.

Also checkout China Unicom HK, sometimes they have better deals than China Mobile with similar plans. I see they have 6 GB / 30 days at $148HKD that's rechargeable.

You can order any of these SIM cards online and have them delivered before your trip.

Moderator2

Best and Fast VPN for China ?

We'll close this Travel Technology thread and ask future parties interested, to visit an active"China" board discussion linked above. It has north of 175 responses on the broad subject.