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- 05-26-2006, 04:40 AM #1SkiGuest
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?
- 05-28-2006, 03:49 AM #2DaNGuest
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
- 05-28-2006, 04:28 AM #3AlbinusGuest
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?
- 05-28-2006, 05:57 PM #4Paul DayGuest
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/
- 05-28-2006, 05:59 PM #5Paul DayGuest
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/
- 06-01-2006, 08:40 AM #6AndreAGuest
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
- 06-01-2006, 08:42 AM #7AndreAGuest
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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