The All-Things China Mobile thread...

[NYC VZ guy]

If that Treo you speak of is CDMA(Verizon branding), your only hope is voice service (with a lot of work). If you bought one unlocked, then yes, you can buy a pre-paid SIM with data (China has just put regulations on service, requiring ID now for all mobile signups. I found out from the news broadcast today (I am a Chinese who just happens to be American) so try to buy from the small stands in convienience stores if possible.

Ii have a quad band GSM phone, just looking for prepaid data (and international voice calling) services for a trip to China.

[yangj08]

OK, in that case, you might be better off with a China Mobile and a China Unicom card. China Mobile provides GPRS, and China Unicom provides inexpensive international dialing (17911 before your phone number). I recommend getting one of each because China Mobile does not allow international calls (you'll get a message like "This phone is not set up for IDD service") and China Unicom only provides CSD data (9.6k, wooooo ), and you can get a dual-SIM kit at quite a few places in Shanghai. I can recommend one , if you can speak Chinese.

[NYC VZ guy]

OK, in that case, you might be better off with a China Mobile and a China Unicom card. China Mobile provides GPRS, and China Unicom provides inexpensive international dialing (17911 before your phone number). I recommend getting one of each because China Mobile does not allow international calls (you'll get a message like "This phone is not set up for IDD service") and China Unicom only provides CSD data (9.6k, wooooo ), and you can get a dual-SIM kit at quite a few places in Shanghai. I can recommend one , if you can speak Chinese.

I don't speak Chinese, and although I'll have a guided trip, I don't want to delay the trip/inconvenience others to do. Can I buy a China Mobile SIM with GPRS and use a calling card to make international calls? I assume a callback system won't work because I won't be able to reach international to get a callback (although I could use my US gsm SIM to generate a callback).

[yangj08]

Well... I have not tried that, but it may be possible, as long as you get an IP card that makes you go through voice prompts, and not just a dialing prefix, as China Mobile somehow manages to block my international calls, even with the IP prefix. Also, if you are going to Shanghai, you will see a few options for China Mobile SIMs that you won't see elsewhere in China, so that may make a decision difficult. Some SIMs don't support GPRS, and some give high rates, like Shanghai's E-Tong SIM(I managed to use ¥150 in the space of 1/2 hour tethered to my computer with my SIM), so you may need a local's help. My dad has a prepaid SIM made specially for datacards which gives a better rate on GPRS, but I have no idea how much that costs for voice. It depends if you'll be using GPRS a lot. If you do, then you might be better off with a GPRS plan, which can give 6MB/month of data usage for ¥10/month.

[pizzachris15]

Hi i am a noob. for some reason the forum wouldnt let me start a new thread but this was as close a thread as i needed. i need some help, i brought my old american nokia 3560 back to china and i am currently trying to get it work. using the *3001 trick i can get into the inner workings of the phone but i need to know what country code to put for china and all the other little settings i need to change to get it to work on china mobile, i already have a china mobile sim card so i just wanna program this nokia to work with my chinese cell account.<my chinese phone is a sack of crap> even if you say it wont work can u plz just tell me the settings, i like to try these things out for my self, THANKS SO MUCH for any help u can provide.

[uwoliu]

Hi i am a noob. for some reason the forum wouldnt let me start a new thread but this was as close a thread as i needed. i need some help, i brought my old american nokia 3560 back to china and i am currently trying to get it work. using the *3001 trick i can get into the inner workings of the phone but i need to know what country code to put for china and all the other little settings i need to change to get it to work on china mobile, i already have a china mobile sim card so i just wanna program this nokia to work with my chinese cell account.<my chinese phone is a sack of crap> even if you say it wont work can u plz just tell me the settings, i like to try these things out for my self, THANKS SO MUCH for any help u can provide.

just pop in the China Mobile SIM, the SMS center number should be set automatically according to the info stored in the SIM...if not, it should be something like +8613800xxx500, xxx is area code, add 0 if less than 3 digits, like 10 for Beijing, 21 for Shanghai, 755 for Shenzhen, so +8613800210500 for Shanghai, +8613800100500 for Beijing, +8613800755500 for Shenzhen...set the number to the sim card's home city or your sms may get denied voice mail center: 13800xxx166, xxx is the same as above, you need to activate voice mail first.

GPRS(may need activation before use, leave blank for neglected fields)
IP: 10.0.0.172
port: 9201
home page: http://wap.monternet.com
apn: CMWAP

CSD
number: 17266
ip: 10.0.0.172
home page: http://wap.monternet.com or http://wap.chinamobile.com
bit rate: 9600
user: wap
pass: wap
port: 9201

MMS (leave blank for neglected fields)
MMSC url: http://mmsc.monternet.com
apn: cmwap
type: GPRS only
ip: 10.0.0.172

country code for China 86, put + or 00 before country code when placing intl calls, put 0 when placing LD calls within China. But if you call another cell phone from your cell, no need to add 0...just call 13xxxxxxxxx regardless its local or LD. but add 17951 before the number when make LD and intl calls will save you a lot $$$. See this thread for more information:

http://65.254.44.186/showthread.php?t=716961


btw: does your phone work with GSM 900/1800?

[pizzachris15]

no it has 800/1900. but i dont care. oh btw it doesnt have a sim card. but hell the *3001 menu has all the stuff thats programmed into a sim card.
what about everything else? whats the mobile station id? the homesystem id? the psid/rsid number?the connected system id? the operator code? should i change the psp or pof? if so to what?
thanks
yeah if u sayt it wont work i dont care, i need my damn nokia, my bird phone sucks i have dropped it so manytimes the speaker dont even work so it dont ring. just plz tell me that info!!

[AndySMS]

Hello, I need some help

Can someone recommend a China Mobile Prepaid SIM-Card that supports
international roaming (Germany) and SMS, so I can use it in Germany and
send SMS from Germany to a China Mobile phone in China?

Andy

[uwoliu]

Hello, I need some help

Can someone recommend a China Mobile Prepaid SIM-Card that supports
international roaming (Germany) and SMS, so I can use it in Germany and
send SMS from Germany to a China Mobile phone in China?

Andy

...why not get a German prepaid SIM and save some money?

almost all prepaid plans of China Mobile don't have intl roaming, but as far as i know Shanghai mobile provides a special prepaid plan called "YiDa" that works almost like the postpaid plan GoTone and allows auto intl roaming, only that you need to put $$$ into your account before you can use it. Note there is a 50rmb monthly fee which is not seen in any other prepaid plan and and im not sure if you can get price plans like those for GoTone. You may need to activate and pay a monthly fee for some other features like caller ID, GPRS, WAP, etc., SMS is available by default tho. if you read Chinese plz see

http://www.sh.chinamobile.com/products/dfpp-yida.htm

[AndySMS]

...why not get a German prepaid SIM and save some money?

I'm interested in a China Mobile SIM-Card in case there are problems sending SMS to China via a German provider.

With T-Mobile it doesn't work until at least Januar 2006 and with Vodafone Germany there also seems to be some problems at the moment. Please see http://www.howardforums.com/showpost...6&postcount=18

Sending and receiving SMS with o2 Germany works fine at the moment, but it would be nice to have an alternative, just in case.

Thank you, uwoliu, for the link of China Mobile Shanghai.

Andy

[ama991]

hello,

Need help! I need to get an SMS SHort Code that is accessable for all Chinese users. How can I get this?

any advice, website, etc, would be great!!

[uwoliu]

hello,

Need help! I need to get an SMS SHort Code that is accessable for all Chinese users. How can I get this?

any advice, website, etc, would be great!!

It seems to me that every local company of China mobile has a different set of SMS Shot codes, as they're providing different plans and many codes are plan related...but I GUESS some of them such as YECX (check balance), HFCX (check transactions), MMCX (request password for your acct), etc., are common to all provinces...check the website of the local company to which your SIM belongs...e.g. for Shanghai:

http://www.sh.chinamobile.com/products/dxzl.htm

please note if you're roaming outside of the home city, your SMS code should be sent to

0+area code of the home city+1861 (e.g. 0211861 for Shanghai)

or the local 1861 center will refuse your request... so you only need to know the codes for your home city

[yangj08]

also, if you know chinese, there is an extra menu that will automate the sending for you. It does not show on all phones, however, and it is in Chinese anyway, but it saves you the trouble of having to remeber the Short Codes.

[yangj08]

Also, about the YiDa plan, it also mentions a 1.5RMB/day fee, and I have no clue if that's the 50RMB/month fee (it doesn't add up anyway, 1.5RMB/day is about 45RMB/month) or if that's an additional fee. I am not 100% fluent in chinese, despite having Chinese parents, so I may be wrong about that 1.5RMB/day being a fee.

[jia_zhuang]

does anyone know where i can get my v3 system software changed to enable chinese menu? i live in london btw. thanks