Image by warrenski via Flickr
Staying in touch is more important than ever in this fast fast go go world. And for that, the luxe flashpacker uses local prepaid SIM cards. In most countries, it’s pretty easy to purchase a local SIM. Walk into 7-11, walk out with a new local number that’s a bargain to make calls and even more so to send SMS on. Some of these SIM cards even allow you to roam, making and receiving calls and SMS, albeit at a really expensive rate.
Sometimes it’s not necessarily worth the bother to purchase a local SIM for a 3 day trip; that roaming will be fine since all that will be sent is SMS. That’s what I thought on my recent trip to Shanghai via Hong Kong. I have maintained a New World Mobility prepaid roaming SIM for a few years now. I can receive and make calls/SMS in the US and Singapore with it. Considering that mainland China is 40 minutes away via KCR, it should work there too, right?
Nope. As soon as I landed PVG, I turned on my phone and tried to call my friend who was to meet us at the airport. I manually selected China Unicom and CMCC (China Mobile) and registered on their networks respectively and tried to make a call. China Unicom said my call was “Barred” and China Mobile asked me to pay my bill. No roaming this trip. SMS went through fine both ways. No calls. So what to do? After having to make a call desperately, I fired up my AT&T Sim locked iPhone and made a 1 minute $4.00 phone call. No more!
When I returned to Hong Kong, I picked up a new prepaid from Peoples (AKA China Mobile HK). They have a prepaid that has China roaming, slightly cheaper prices for aforementioned roaming and most interestingly, a Guangzhou phone number in addition to the HK number. Since it’s part of China Mobile, it should work over there. And we will see in December…
