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  1. #1
    Ski
    Guest
    Hi
    I will be flying to China (Chongqing) soon for 1 month... Was wondering what
    options I have in using a mobile phone over there? I know Vodafone (my
    current carrier) will roam there but the rates look awfully expensive...
    I want to mainly use SMS (to Australian numbers) whilst I'm there; and I
    have a Nokia 6280 phone to use (China uses GSM, no?)
    Can anyone give me any advice as to what carrier to choose and approximate
    call/sms rates?


    Ski





    See More: Mobile phone options in China?




  2. #2
    DaN
    Guest

    Re: Mobile phone options in China?

    Im going to China on the 28 of June and im with optus.

    My call rates are very expensive
    http://www.optus.com.au/portal/site/...0029a67c0aRCRD

    I can only suggest checking other carriers websites to find wich is
    cheapest.

    You will probably have to enable roaming before you go so I suggest you
    ring vodafone to turn it on.

    ~DaN

    On Fri, 26 May 2006 20:40:51 +1000, Ski wrote:

    > Hi
    > I will be flying to China (Chongqing) soon for 1 month... Was wondering what
    > options I have in using a mobile phone over there? I know Vodafone (my
    > current carrier) will roam there but the rates look awfully expensive...
    > I want to mainly use SMS (to Australian numbers) whilst I'm there; and I
    > have a Nokia 6280 phone to use (China uses GSM, no?)
    > Can anyone give me any advice as to what carrier to choose and approximate
    > call/sms rates?
    >
    >
    > Ski





  3. #3
    Albinus
    Guest

    Re: Mobile phone options in China?

    Ski wrote:
    > Hi
    > I will be flying to China (Chongqing) soon for 1 month... Was wondering what
    > options I have in using a mobile phone over there? I know Vodafone (my
    > current carrier) will roam there but the rates look awfully expensive...
    > I want to mainly use SMS (to Australian numbers) whilst I'm there; and I
    > have a Nokia 6280 phone to use (China uses GSM, no?)
    > Can anyone give me any advice as to what carrier to choose and approximate
    > call/sms rates?


    AFAIK China only has two GSM carriers; China Mobile and China Unicom.
    China Mobile covers Chongqing comprehensively, however I can't
    understand Chinese so can't look up China Unicom's coverage maps. China
    also has very extensive CDMA coverage if you want to buy a phone
    outright there. Not sure about SMS back to Australia though, doesn't
    China like cracking down on contact with the outside world?



  4. #4
    Paul Day
    Guest

    Re: Mobile phone options in China?

    Ski <[email protected]> may have written:
    > I will be flying to China (Chongqing) soon for 1 month... Was
    > wondering what options I have in using a mobile phone over there? I
    > know Vodafone (my current carrier) will roam there but the rates look
    > awfully expensive...


    Welcome to GSM Global Roaming. Best to divert all calls to voice-mail
    and set your greeting to something like "I'm currently overseas where
    mobile call costs are hideous. To reach me, send an SMS to this number.
    If this is an emergency, leave a message after the tone..."

    > I want to mainly use SMS (to Australian numbers) whilst I'm there; and
    > I have a Nokia 6280 phone to use (China uses GSM, no?)


    Like Australia - they have both. Although, IMHO, they're unlikely to
    ditch their CDMA like we are.

    > Can anyone give me any advice as to what carrier to choose and
    > approximate call/sms rates?


    You'd have to check with your carrier for the prices.

    As mentioned in other posts in this thread, the two GSM carriers are
    China Mobile and China Unicom. China Mobile's coverage is truly amazing
    - much more than shown on gsmworld's maps. I suppose that's what you get
    when it's cheaper to deploy mobile than PSTN in developping parts of a
    country. It made me chuckle when I was getting better coverage in
    middle-of-nowhere back-country China than I could two months later in
    semi-inhabited back-country USA.

    SMS to the outside world on either carrier will be no problem, although
    I notice Telstra's roaming page (incorrectly - based on personal
    experience!) claim you can't do SMS on China Mobile. GPRS reception is
    available on China Mobile, but the majority of the more sparsely
    populated areas are still 2G only.

    As mentioned elsewhere, China Unicom also do a CDMA network - although I
    haven't used it. You could try picking a handset up once you're in China
    if you're there for long enough to justify it. Telstra now offer CDMA
    roaming onto it but, like most of their CDMA roaming, claim you can't do
    SMS.

    PD

    --
    Paul Day
    Web: http://www.enigma.id.au/



  5. #5
    Paul Day
    Guest

    Re: Mobile phone options in China?

    Albinus <[email protected]> may have written:
    > AFAIK China only has two GSM carriers; China Mobile and China Unicom.
    > China Mobile covers Chongqing comprehensively, however I can't
    > understand Chinese so can't look up China Unicom's coverage maps.
    > China also has very extensive CDMA coverage if you want to buy a phone
    > outright there. Not sure about SMS back to Australia though, doesn't
    > China like cracking down on contact with the outside world?


    I had no problems.

    PD

    --
    Paul Day
    Web: http://www.enigma.id.au/



  6. #6
    AndreA
    Guest

    Re: Mobile phone options in China?

    Ski ha usato la sua tastiera per scrivere :
    > Hi
    > I will be flying to China (Chongqing) soon for 1 month... Was wondering what
    > options I have in using a mobile phone over there? I know Vodafone (my
    > current carrier) will roam there but the rates look awfully expensive...


    A international simcard?

    United Mobile (Liechtenstein prefix) has free incoming calls in China
    for example.

    --
    Andrea de Florence © - Blog TLC: http://andtrap.mondo3.com





  7. #7
    AndreA
    Guest

    Re: Mobile phone options in China?

    Scriveva Paul Day lunedì, 29/05/2006:
    > SMS to the outside world on either carrier will be no problem


    Exactly. For roamers no problems, anyway it's almost impossible to
    send/receive to/from chinese numbers if you use a local sim

    --
    Andrea de Florence © - Blog TLC: http://andtrap.mondo3.com





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