Matt's Shanghai

A Cellphone in China

When I got here I bought a SIM card for my new cell phone. The SIM card has my China Mobile number and stores your minutes. The card and 100RMB was on the card as well. I bought everything for 66 RMB (US $8.16). It's funny because you see the stands all along the road and in the metro stations with all of these bright green envelopes that have the cell phone SIM cards in them.... you see huge lists of all of the phone numbers that each booth has and you can go pick the number you want off of the list and they'll find the envelope with the SIM card with the number on it.

Using the cell phone is just as expensive as using it in the U.S. if not more. Text messaging is more common than actual phone calls in China. Luckily all cell phones, at least for foreigners, are prepaid so there are no surprises at the end of the month with a high-priced bill. I had the phone turned on to make International calls, but they're expensive. You also have to re-register to make international calls every two weeks, so it's really inconvenient.



SIM Card Envelope

posted by Matt Dull @ 8:05 PM