[CalmInControl]

Originally Posted by naemlo

To all the 大哥 in GZ, 小弟 is going GZ for a few days then travel to other cities/province. It has been about 2 yrs since I last stepped into China and my current sim card expired.

I did a research online and know China Unicom offers 3G but I am a bit confuse.

1) They mentioned I need to go to any Unicom branch to register in order to use 3G else I will be using the old Edge. True?

2) Unicom sim card comes with package, XXX data, XXX voice.... can I purchase a card without? Just pay whatever air time I use for voice or data?

3) I will travelling around the China, is there a recommended Unicom sim card I need to purchase in GZ airport? Or all the sim cards are the same?

4) The sim card will deduct 5 RMB every month till balance goes zero and the card will expire. True?

1. Unsure if your SIM Card will even be active after 2 yrs. I'm pretty sure they kill SIM Cards after 3-6 mths.

2. When you purchase a China Unicom SIM Card I think it just charges what you use. Usually on the wall in the China Unicom they will have plans you can use your credit to buy into. Usually the plans are much cheaper.

3. Usually China Unicom is (as far as I know) what most foreigners use. As far as I know it's a choice between that and China Mobile. I've used China Unicom my last two trips. Do note that if you buy a SIM Card in Guangzhou and you travel to Beijing they will NOT be able to use their machine to automatically top-up the SIM Card. You can still top it up using Taobao or buying a pre-paid voucher but to my knowledge the machine in the little China Unicom stores won't let them add money to SIM Cards from other regions within China.

4. China Unicom SIM Cards have a set expiry so they can recycle the numbers. However, I believe you can set it into dormant mode by calling them and this drains 5 RMB per month until the SIM Card has no funds. I'm not sure if this is limited to SIM Cards w/ foreign passports associated or anything though. I've never done this but I've read about it.

Useful Links:
http://javiercha.wordpress.com/2012/...m-in-shanghai/
http://support.mobipassport.com/china/