China Mobile Prepaid SIM Card – China Internet Users & Data Plan

Be it a short-term travelling or a long-term living in China, if you are going to spend time in this massive country, it’s recommended that you get a China mobile prepaid SIM card. In fact, if you are working in China, then you are required to have a new China SIM card in order to open a bank account (your phone number might be your user ID for the online banking). Moreover, since the prices of China mobile prepaid connections could often be tricky for foreigners, it’s good to do careful research about buying a good China data plan. In this post, I’ll share information for the foreigners who are either considering to be China internet users or buy a SIM. 🙂

Btw, I live in Suzhou, so the observations highlighted in this post could be directly useful if you are living in Jiangsu (and particularly in Suzhou, which is a part of Jiangsu province).

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How & Where to Buy a China Mobile prepaid connection

There are three main telecom operators to provide you a China SIM card-

1. China Mobile (中国移动, Zhōngguó Yídòng);
2. China Telecom (中国电信, Zhōng guó diàn xìn);
3. And, China Unicom (联通集团, Lián tōng jítuán).

You’d need to visit a store of any of these telecom operators with your passport. As such, you’d be given a Chinese prepaid SIM card within 5-10 minutes’ time – the process is really very simple.

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circles for prepaid China SIM card

A Chinese SIM card, depending on where you buy, may usually have three types of circles-

1. Municipality level –in one of the relevant municipality (Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Tianjin);
2. Provincial level (Jiangsu, Guangdong, etc.);
3. National level – entire mainland China.

So if you buy a SIM card in Jiangsu, and visit other provinces, you’d need to buy a data plan that allows you a cheaper internet access outside Jiangsu. Without a proper China data plan, you’ll pay a price based on per MB usage, and it could be quite expensive. As such, when you buy a China data plan, you need to find out if the data can be used only in one circle/province or in other parts of China as well.

Example of my China Mobile prepaid sim card

I bought a China Mobile prepaid SIM card (the operator being China Mobile). Let me briefly tell you about the plan details-

1. The SIM is free, but we need to pay a monthly amount based on a subscribed plan. I pay RMB 68 each month (there wasn’t a more reasonable option). In fact, we need to pay a minimum amount each month to China Mobile. In my case, RMB 68 is the minimum monthly payable amount.
2. Promotional offer- as part of the promotion at the time of buying a SIM (Nov 2017), I was given a 22 GB of data for each of the first three months. Out of the 22 GB data, 2GB data could be used in whole China, 20 GB was for only in the Jiangsu province. The 2GB data will be consumed first, and subsequently the rest of 20GB.
3. The promotional data balance can’t be carried forward to the next month. Let’s say you spend 10 GB in November, so the rest of the 12 GB can’t be carried forward to December. But if you spend only 1GB data in a month, your remaining 1GB will be carried forward to the next month. Your 20 GB of provincial data would expire on the last day of each month.
4. After the first three months (when the three promotional months are over), I only get 2GB data each month for RMB 68.
5. RMB 68 is a must pay amount (every month), even if I don’t use the 2GB data. This 2GB can be carried over to the next month given that you have paid RMB 68 to China mobile.
6. There are some calling value associated with my plan, but since don’t make phone calls, I’m not sure how much is the calling value each month. However, I’s make a few calls and sent out messages (and it was never an issue to make calls or send messages).
7. No fee for receiving incoming calls.

   

A common china data plan for Mobile phone and home Computers

After buying a laptop in China, I needed an internet connection in my apartment. Let me tell you about my China data plan first, some more details would follow in the next section-

1. I bought a China data plan associated with a new China SIM card (my 2^nd SIM in Suzhou)
2. Documents required – only a photocopy of passport
3. Operator – China Telecom
4. I pay RMB 129 online every month
5. This plan allows me to use internet on computer, laptop and mobile phone (mobile internet data) for just RMB 129/month. To be more precise, the money is deducted on a daily basis -RMB 4.3/day. So, for 30 days, I’ll pay 30*4.3= RMB 129, for 31 days -31*4.3, and for 28 days (February) I’d day 28*4.3.
6. I had the leased line internet ports in my apartment and I bought a router (RMB 100) to get Wi-Fi in my apartment.
7. 500 minutes of calling value in China
8. It’s a prepaid internet connection and I have uninterrupted Wi-Fi in my apartment
9. Unlimited internet data on mobile phone across Jiangsu province.
10. 1GB mobile internet data outside Jiangsu province (in whole China -excluding Jiangsu), each month, can’t be carried forward to next month if not used in a given particular month. To say again, this 1GB whole China data will be consumed only if you are outside Jiangsu. Once you finish 1GB, you’ll need to buy additional data (for outside Jiangsu). As long as you are in Jiangsu, and pay RMB 4.3/day, you don’t need to worry about internet data usage limit. 🙂
11. Unlimited computer data in my apartment – the internet speed is 20mbps
12. Initial cost breakup – a China telecom representative came to the apartment to set up the internet connection, he’d finish the internet installation in 5 minutes. I paid him RMB 308 for installation. This is a one-time fee. After that I need to pay RMB 129 each month for this plan. So the total initial expenditure was RMB 308 + RMB 100 (including a 3 antenna router).

    

What if you Change your address?

Well, in May-2018 I changed my apartment (in the same building). I plugged in the router in the new room and my phone was soon collected to Wi-Fi. The signal strengths were excellent; however, the data was not being transferred. As such, there was no Wi-Fi internet on my laptop or phone (mobile phone data remain unaffected). I again contacted the middleman- the China telecom guy. He told that it would cost me RMB 208 to transfer the Wi-Fi to another apartment. I transferred him the same amount of money using WeChat Red Packet. The master came again and changed some Wi-Fi settings in my room. There was no change in the Wi-Fi username or password. The Wi-Fi was working fine.

Why did I choose China telecom?

Well, I had no other option. It seems that the operators have some short of a building based monopoly in Suzhou. For example, in my building, only China Telecom can provide internet services, and one just can’t subscribe to other operator’s internet in the whole apartment.

In fact, if you are new to China, make sure to check the internet availability when you finalize an accommodation. I didn’t know this when I came to China. Later, I didn’t want to change my apartment just because of the internet. Moreover, I really like apartment. 🙂

The problem with new sim card

As mentioned earlier, initially I had China Mobile prepaid SIM card. Later I got a China Telecom SIM card and I wanted to keep only one SIM (as two would be expensive). Since I was using Xiaomi Redmi dual sim card phone (a handset with slots for two SIM cards), when I got my new China Telecom SIM card, I just inserted it in my phone. Soon I realized that I was able to use data, but the calls were not allowed (even with one only China Telecom SIM card).

Can you use two sim cards in one phone in China

Yes, you can, given that you phone supports two connections simultaneously. My Xiaomi Redmi phone didn’t support calling with a China telecom SIM card.

What did I do? Bought one of the best Chinese phones

Well, I bought a new phone that supports two SIM cards and can be used to make/receive calls when both cards are together in the slots. But the data are allowed only from one SIM card at a time. Basically, I ordered a new Huawei phone on JingDong (Android OS). I invited one of my Chinese colleagues who were already using two SIM cards. With his help, I was able to buy a new phone. However, since I can’t open its back cover, the memory can’t be extended. That’s why I bought a 128GB storage phone (4GB primary memory). Huawei phones are considered to be one of the best Chinese phones, and so far seems to be good to me.

Which one you should buy – China mobile or china telecom?

It depends on your personal preferences. I’d give you some general personal observations here. Three main criteria-

1. Internet speed on computer/laptop – I guess they are both the same. For example, if you have a 50mpbs internet connection, it would work the same on your laptop whether it China Mobile or China Telecom;
2. Calls and internet on the phone – It seems that China Mobile has the stronger signals. I have seen the internet connection of China Telecom disappearing very fast when I go to talk to the receptionist at the ground floor of my apartment. Quite often, the same happens when I am in a bus/subway passing through the tunnel. As such, I didn’t face signaling issues with China Mobile and overall I’d recommend a China Mobile SIM card. In my case, as I mentioned earlier, I had no other option in my apartment than to go for China Telecom. Moreover, I wanted to have just one-time top-up pay facility for all my internet connections.
3. Maintain two SIM cards– I know some people who use China Telecom for Wi-Fi internet at home, and China Mobile for mobile phone. It seems to work fine for them, because they have Wi-Fi in the home and office. For the rest of the time, RMB 68 for 2GB/month internet data looks enough for them. But if you want to have an unlimited data on the mobile phone as well, China telecom could be opted for.

Anyways, these are mere my personal observation, and you are suggested to do your own research.

How to check balance on China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile?

If you want to Check internet or call value balances for the Chinese telecom operators, then you should send text messages as follow:

1. China Telecom – 108 to 10001
2. China Mobile -101 to 10086
3. China Unicom- CXLL to 10010

The Cheapest plan

The cheapest China Mobile prepaid plan was for available for RMB 18/month. The package gives you 100 MB internet data each month. No free calls/SMS. You can, of course, top-up your SIM card and make calls for 0.19 RMB/minute, and RMB 0.1/SMS (in China). In fact, this plan could be opted if you switch to another operator (e.g. China Telecom) and still wish to keep your old SIM card active. This is what I did after I bought a China Telecom SIM card. 🙂

That’s all in this post.

If you have any question about the China mobile prepaid SIM card or China data plan, feel free to post in our forum so that others could also contribute and learn. For regular updates like us on Facebook, or follow on Twitter!

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Happy online laptop shopping in China.

Cheers!

Last updated: Friday, November 15, 2019