Short Term 3G Plans for Travelers from China Unicom
Posted: Oct. 24, 2009
More good news for travelers coming to China with iPhones who would like to sign up for short term phone service with a 3G data plan! As of October 2009, China Unicom has begun offering more liberal plans which do not lock you into a year’s contract. There are two caveats. First, as far as I know, if you purchased your iPhone in the US or any other country that is “locked” into a single carrier, then you will have to “jailbreak” and “unlock” the iPhone in order to use a local China Unicom SIM card. Since I purchased my iPhone in Hong Kong, I don’t have this issue, so I’m unable to test. The other caveat is that if you purchase a plan from China Unicom from your trip, you must cancel the account at the same branch of China Unicom that you opened it at before you go back home.
If these two caveats are OK with you, all you need to get started is your passport, RMB 200, a little bit of personal information, and the address of your nearest China Unicom office. We’ve actually made a little PDF form to print out and help guide you through the whole process.
The form will help you ask a taxi driver to take you to the nearest China Unicom office, and will help you get set up with a basic China Unicom 3G number / plan when you get there. It costs RMB 96 per month and gives you 240 domestic minutes of calling and 300 MB of data download per month. A previous post has more general information about China Unicom’s 3G service, including a detailed breakdown of China Unicom’s other 3G plans and rates.
Once you get to the China Unicom office, give the filled out form to a customer service rep and they will guide you through the rest. The only tricky part might be selecting the actual phone number. Memorable and auspicious numbers are sold at premium prices. Since this is a disposable number for most travelers, a checkbox has been included to let the service rep know that you don’t care what the number is and to just pick a number from the least expensive group.
Keep watching the Chinabites blog for more information about getting your mobile internet on on your next trip to China, more exciting information is in the works.
